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| Chinese app icon |
19 months ago, we started. We hacked for 3000 hours, sending out 87 builds to 78 testers, who spent 4491 hours and sent 2236 feedback emails while testing it, leading us to fix 851 issues. Today we exhaustedly and proudly announce that the Skritter Chinese iOS app is done, it’s amazing, and it’s on the App Store waiting for you!
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| Classy film shoot |
There’s a video on our app launch page that you should see. We used to have a teaser video there, where you could sign up your email to get notified when the app launched. That was a good video–we just sent out over 15,000 emails–but this new one rocks, showing off the app, George’s classy personality, Nick’s emphatic Chinese, and a bunch of people Skrittering all over the place. The number one thing that testers liked about the app is the freedom to Skritter anywhere, anytime. So get the app, get outside, and start turning life’s spare moments into extra characters in your mind. Just watch out for people who ask you now just what is that you’re doing–they’re out to interrupt your studies with fascinated inquiry! (I can hardly Skritter for two minutes on a plane before the guy next to me sees and gets excited. Every time.)
If you like the app, please write a review in the App Store, gabble to your friends, plusliketweet our googlefacetwitter buttons, blog it, share it, bop it, and make sure everyone and their Chinese-learning pets’ grandmother-animals all know about it. We made this app extra wonderful so that you, our existing Skritter users, would have a brilliant time with the app at no extra charge, but we’re also hoping to attract a new generation of Skritterers with it, and for that we need your help. It takes a lot of buzz for a little guy to get noticed in the App Store. (Here we offer special thanks to Marjolein Hoekstra for all her help with this!)
“At no extra charge?” you keenly spot. That’s right: the app is a free download with a one-week trial, just like on the site, and it uses your existing Skritter account, syncing magically so that you can study anywhere, on any number of devices, and even without internet access (except for adding new words). You wouldn’t believe how hard we worked on that. We can’t use conveniently auto-renewable subscriptions in the App Store, so we’re offering in-app launch sale prices on longer subscriptions up to two years. You can easily continue to use your normal Skritter account subscription, too, for more flexibility.
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| Japanese app icon |
Thanks for your patience, everyone. If you have an iOS device, I know you’ll find the app was worth the wait. If not, then give us a moment to catch our breath and we’ll be as excited as you to make improvements to the web version. We’re a bit behind: my twin brother got married last week, George got married on Saturday, my girlfriend is going to want to get married incessantly for at least two weeks, and then we’ll develop the full iPad layout and single-list study for the Skritter Chinese iOS app, improve example sentences and Android support on the web app, and start preparing the almost-finished Skritter Japanese iOS app for its own launch.
Questions? We lurk eagerly in the comments like friendly kraken.
What bloggers are saying about it:
John Pasden at Sinosplice: “Bottom line: very cool app.” (John knows what he’s talking about, being both pro at teaching Chinese and also having released the free, very-useful AllSet Pinyin iPad app.)
Steven Daniels at Lingomi: “If you are learning to write Chinese characters, I can’t recommend it enough.”
Sara Jaaksola at Living A Dream In China: “With the app, learning is like playing a game, and you will always learn more when you feel it’s fun!”
Niel de la Rouviere at Confused Laowai: “I do not own a iPhone, but my word does this app make me want one really badly. Could it be the killer app for Chinese learners!?”
Our own Jacob Gill at I Learn Mandarin: “47 hours in a single month, all while attending graduate classes… yeah the Skritter iOS app is really that addictive!”
Hugh Grigg at East Asia Student: “That’s fine, but please get working on a native app for your loyal Android customers!”
Greg Bell at En Route To Fluency: “It’s the only subscription service I use right now, if that is any sign of how important I think it is.”
Bastiaan Vroegop at iPhoneclub: “De iPhone-app Skritter Chinese lost dit op door je juist deze tekens te laten oefenen door ze op het scherm van je iPhone te tekenen.”
JP at You Don’t Have To Read V2.0: “They’ve already got the character writing/recognition skill down, and they’ve managed to do it with a kinesthetic twist. And on top of that, the iOS app is sexy.”
Gottardo Zancani at Il SinoNauta: “Devo dire che con questa App sono stato capace di esercitarmi per un un’ora consecutiva senza sforzo (e senza consumare le impronte digitali!).”
Richard Burger at The Peking Duck: “I can’t say strongly enough how much it has improved my reading ability, now that I know so many new characters.”
Ly-ann at An Alternative Education: “Reading, Writing, Tones and Meaning. This on iOS is the write app to rule them all.”
Nicki, who doesn’t believe in iOS devices: “But this, this could almost make a girl turn, make her join the dark side!”
Ryan McLaughlin at Lost Laowai: “It absolutely nails one of the most daunting tasks of Chinese study — writing and remembering the glut of characters required for any level of literacy in this language.”
Sara Jaaksola again at How Can I Learn Chinese: “I also made a simple introductory video on how the Skritter app works on iPad.”
The ChinesePod blog: “Their new iOS app really takes it to the next level, allowing you to practice your writing wherever and whenever you want.”
Becky Ances at Writer, Traveler, Tea Drinker: “I have the attention span of a fish and doing anything for more than 3 minutes is tricky. And yet, I just kept going and going.”
Lin Ai at Zhongweb: “Skritter is a truly outstanding app for learning Chinese.”
You can view all these reviews in a slideshow, too.