Hanbi support
Hanbi is a handwriting practice app for Chinese characters on iPhone and iPad. A question, a problem, or a character that looks wrong? Write to us.
Write in whatever language you're comfortable with: English, Chinese or your own. We reply in English or Chinese. We read every message and reply as soon as we can.
Want an answer? Email us. If you don’t need a reply, you can also send feedback anonymously, with screenshots, from Settings in the app.
Common questions
Why don’t I hear the pronunciation?
Hanbi speaks with your device’s built-in Chinese voice, so it works offline. If no Chinese voice is installed, open Settings › Accessibility and add one. Until you add one, Hanbi skips Listen and write and uses the other prompts.
Will my progress move to a new phone?
Yes. iCloud Sync is on by default: install Hanbi on the new phone, signed in to the same Apple Account, and your progress comes over by itself. iCloud Drive needs to be on in the Settings app, and right after you install, it can take a little while. Without iCloud, use a backup file: in Settings, tap Back Up to File and save the file to Files or iCloud Drive, or AirDrop it. On the new phone, install Hanbi, then tap Restore from File in Settings. Get Full Access back with Restore Purchase.
I wrote on two devices and something is missing.
If both devices had new writing before they synced, Hanbi keeps the one you wrote on last. The other device first saves what it had as a backup and tells you once. To get it back, go to Settings › Backup and restore that backup. Restoring replaces what’s on the device now, and your other devices get it too.
How do I restore Full Access?
Sign in with the same Apple Account you bought it with, tap the gear on the Today screen, then Restore Purchase. Purchases are handled by Apple; for a refund, use Apple’s Report a Problem page.
Which characters are included?
Hanbi has 6,500 common characters, from China's official list of standard characters. 3,088 of them follow the HSK 3.0 syllabus across HSK 1–9, and 1,200 of those are the ones you learn to write. The other 3,000+ are outside HSK: search for them, or add them to a list to practice writing them. 129 have no stroke data yet, so you can look them up but not write them. HSK 1 (246 characters) is free, and so are the first two lessons of every other level. Hanbi is not affiliated with the HSK exam or its organizers.
Why don’t some characters come up in my daily practice?
At each level, HSK 3.0 asks you to write some characters and only recognize others. New characters come from the ones to write. To practice the others too, turn on Also practice characters to recognize in Settings, or open any character and tap Learn Now.
I teach a class. How do I send my students a character list?
Open Make a Character List Link, type or paste the characters, and you get a link and a QR code to send to your class. Or, in Hanbi, open a list in My Lists and tap Share List. Students open the link and tap Add List to put it in Hanbi, or print a practice sheet. They need Hanbi 1.3 or later.