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Best Apps to Learn Mandarin Chinese in 2026

The best app to learn Mandarin Chinese in 2026 is really a small stack, because no single app covers tones, characters, vocabulary, listening, and reading equally well. For most beginners the stack is: one structured course (HelloChinese or Busuu), a dictionary (Pleco), something for volume of understandable Chinese (an immersion game like Second Language or graded readers like Du Chinese), and later a character-writing tool (Skritter) if you care about handwriting. Below is what each does, what it costs as of September 2026, and where it stops.

Disclosure: Second Language is our app. Its Chinese course is its oldest and deepest one, and we have tried to describe it exactly as strictly as the others.

Start here: a structured course

HelloChinese

Platforms: iOS, Android. Price: first unit free, then subscription.

The most recommended beginner app for Mandarin, for good reason. Its lessons cover pinyin, tones, characters, vocabulary, and grammar in a sensible order, with native audio, speech recognition, and short videos. The gamification is light and does not get in the way. Where it stops: it is a course, so the language you see is the language the lesson wants to teach, and lessons stay short. Best for: the first two or three months.

Busuu (Chinese)

Platforms: web, iOS, Android. Price: free tier, premium subscription.

CEFR-aligned lessons plus a community where native speakers correct your writing. Less Chinese-specific than HelloChinese, but the corrections are valuable. Best for: people who want structured lessons and human feedback in one app.

Duolingo (Chinese)

Free with ads. The Mandarin course is weaker than Duolingo’s European courses, teaches characters slowly, and gives little on tones. Fine for a daily habit, not sufficient on its own.

Always: the dictionary

Pleco

Platforms: iOS, Android. Price: free core app, one-time purchases for extra dictionaries and add-ons.

Every Mandarin learner ends up with Pleco. Handwriting lookup, camera lookup, stroke order, example sentences, and the best dictionaries available in an app. The free version is enough for years. Not a learning app; the app you use next to every other app.

Then: volume of Chinese you can understand

Courses teach you the pieces. What makes them stick is hours of Chinese at a level you can follow, in situations where you have a reason to follow it. There are two ways to get that volume as a beginner.

Second Language RPG

Platforms: iPhone, Android, desktop web. Price: 100% free.

An open-world game where every conversation, quest, and puzzle is in Mandarin, with explanations and hints in English. You explore, talk to characters, and can only move forward once you have shown you understood what they said, which is what makes the input active rather than something that washes over you. Every sentence is voiced by native speakers, so tones are heard hundreds of times in context rather than memorized from a chart, and spaced repetition runs inside the game. The intro course covers about 250 words and 2,500 sentences over five to ten hours, which is roughly the vocabulary of HSK 1 and the start of HSK 2. Where it stops: it is finite, and it is not a grammar reference. Best for: the daily session in your first months, especially if courses bore you.

Du Chinese

Platforms: iOS, Android, web. Price: subscription, some free lessons.

Graded reading: short texts at each HSK level with native audio, pinyin toggle, and tap-to-define. The best way to get reading volume once you know a few hundred characters. Best for: HSK 2 and up.

Comprehensible-input video

YouTube channels such as Comprehensible Chinese and Lazy Chinese speak only Mandarin at graded levels. Free, passive, and excellent for the long stretches when you want to listen and not tap.

Later: characters and review

Skritter

Platforms: iOS, Android, web. Price: subscription.

Handwriting practice with stroke-order feedback and spaced repetition. If you want to write characters by hand, this is the tool. If you only want to read and type, you can skip it entirely; many learners do.

Anki

Platforms: everywhere; free on desktop and Android, paid on iOS.

Flashcards with spaced repetition and a huge library of shared HSK decks. Powerful and joyless. Best used for review of words you have already met in context, not as the place you meet them.

Two games worth knowing

Lingo Legend

iOS and Android, free daily allowance then subscription. A card-battle game where vocabulary flashcards power your moves, Mandarin among its ten languages. Good for the daily habit.

LangLandia

iOS and Android, free with an optional pass. A Pokémon-style online game with Mandarin among its languages and pronunciation activities. Good if you want something social.

The stack, by stage

  • Month one: HelloChinese for the lesson, Second Language for the daily half hour in the language, Pleco open next to both.
  • Months two to four: keep the game and the course; add comprehensible-input video for listening volume.
  • Around HSK 2: add Du Chinese for reading, Anki for review of what you have met, Skritter only if handwriting matters to you.
  • Any time: one conversation a week with a person, on italki or anywhere else.

If you want to understand why Mandarin has the reputation it has and what is actually easy about it, we wrote about that separately, along with a practical plan for immersing in Chinese without living in China.