Start Writing

Handwriting is muscle memory, and muscle memory needs the right kind of repetition. Start Writing gives you a proper practice sheet, correct stroke order, and a scheduler that brings each character back just before you'd forget it.

WRITE THREE SCRIPTS Chinese characters, Japanese kana and kanji, and the Latin alphabet, each with its own paper. Chinese and Japanese get the square grid with diagonal guides that teachers use; English gets the four-line baseline grid.

STROKE ORDER, ANIMATED Watch any character draw itself stroke by stroke, then trace over the model and write it from memory. Stroke-order data covers the characters you'll actually meet, not just a starter set.

SCORING THAT TELLS YOU SOMETHING Every attempt is checked against the reference form for stroke count, position and proportion, so you find out which stroke drifted rather than just seeing a number.

REVIEW AT THE RIGHT MOMENT A spaced-repetition scheduler tracks each character separately. Characters you write cleanly move further out; the ones you fumble come back sooner. Your daily goal splits new items from reviews so a session has a clear finish.

BUILT FOR APPLE PENCIL Pressure and tilt come through to the stroke. Choose ink colour and stroke width, or turn on finger writing when the Pencil isn't nearby.

THIRTY-FOUR THEMED SETS Numbers, family, body, colours, nature, animals, food, time, school, greetings, actions and places — written in parallel across all three scripts and graded from beginner to intermediate. Twenty-five starter sets are free.

RADICALS AND KANA TABLES 223 Chinese radicals ordered by stroke count, the full gojūon tables for hiragana and katakana, and the alphabet in upper and lower case. Every entry is practiceable on its own.

TRACK WHAT YOU'VE DONE A contribution-style activity map, streak count, per-character history and mastery breakdown. All of it computed on your device.

NO ACCOUNT, NO TRACKING Start Writing collects nothing. There is no account, no analytics and no advertising SDK. Your writing history stays on your device unless you turn on iCloud sync, in which case it goes to your own private iCloud database and nowhere else.

ONE PURCHASE The full version is a single purchase — no subscription, no expiry. It unlocks importing your own articles and word lists, iCloud sync and restore, Home Screen widgets, ink colour and stroke width, nine word and sentence sets, and unlimited books.

Free forever: stroke-order animation for all three scripts, scoring, tracing, twenty-five starter sets, daily goals, practice history and statistics.

Character shape data comes from the Make Me a Hanzi project (Arphic Public License) and letter models from open-source school teaching fonts (SIL Open Font License). Full licence texts are in Settings › About › Open Source Licences.