Editor's Review
Looking up a Chinese character you cannot pronounce is an old problem. Radical and stroke-count lookup in a paper dictionary is slow, and typing needs a reading you do not have. Dev CHOE's app takes the direct route: sketch the character in the box with a finger and it offers a list of candidates to pick from, along with pronunciation and meaning.
This is a single-purpose tool and it behaves like one. Stroke order does not have to be perfect for the recogniser to guess well, which matters for learners copying something off a sign or a menu. The interface is plain, the app is small, and it opens straight to the writing pad.
The 4.13 rating reflects the complaints you would expect from handwriting recognition: hurried or unusually formed strokes produce the wrong candidate, and dense characters need a steady hand on a small screen. As a lookup aid sitting next to a proper dictionary, though, it does the job it advertises.
Features
Finger handwriting input with a candidate list of matching characters
Pronunciation and meaning shown for the character you select
Tolerant of imperfect stroke order while drawing
Small app that opens straight to the writing pad
Pros
Solves the specific problem of looking up a character you cannot type
Free and light enough to keep installed for occasional use
Cons
Recognition misfires on hurried or unusually written strokes
Dense characters are awkward to draw accurately on a phone screen
Not a full dictionary, so you will still want one alongside it
