HanCam
Chinese to Pinyin Camera Translator
汉字拼音相机
Point your iPhone at a menu, a sign or a textbook. HanCam reads the hanzi, shows pinyin with tone marks and gives you the English translation, live in the camera view. Everything runs on your device, so it works offline.
Free for iPhone and iPad · iOS 18 or later · 10 free translations a day
Hanzi, Pinyin and English in One View
Real screenshots from the app. The camera shows the Chinese characters, the pinyin and the translation together, so you can read and say what is in front of you.
A Chinese Character Reader Built Around Pinyin
Most camera translators only give you the meaning. HanCam also gives you the sound, so learners, travellers and students can actually read the characters in front of them.
Real-Time Camera OCR
Point your camera at any Chinese text and see instant recognition of both Simplified and Traditional characters, with no photo to take first.
Pinyin With Tone Marks
Every character gets accurate pinyin with tone marks (mā, má, mǎ, mà), so you can say what you read and learn the pronunciation, not just the meaning.
English Translation
Understand the meaning instantly with on-device English translation powered by the iOS Translation framework.
Photo Import
Import screenshots or saved photos from your library to read Chinese text you captured earlier.
Translate From Any App
Select Chinese text in Safari, Messages or a PDF, tap Share and choose HanCam to see pinyin and English without leaving the app.
How It Works
Point Your Camera
Open HanCam and point your iPhone camera at any Chinese text: signs, menus, books, packaging or a screen.
Instant Recognition
HanCam detects the Chinese characters in real time with on-device OCR and converts each one to pinyin.
Read, Say, Understand
See the original hanzi, the pinyin pronunciation and the English translation in one view. Copy or share with a tap.
Read Chinese Anywhere. Offline.
HanCam is a Chinese character reader for iPhone and iPad. It turns hanzi into pinyin and English in real time, so you can read a restaurant menu in Taipei, a street sign in Shanghai, a product label or a page of your textbook without typing a single character or drawing strokes into a dictionary app.
Recognition and translation both run on your device. Text recognition uses Apple's Vision framework, and translation uses the iOS Translation framework, which downloads the Chinese-English language pack once and then works with no network connection. Nothing you scan is uploaded. HanCam has no account, no analytics and no ads.
Simplified and Traditional Chinese are both supported. Pick your default in Settings and switch any time you travel between the mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong or Macau. Pinyin is shown with tone marks rather than tone numbers, matching how textbooks and most learning apps print it.
Free to start, one-time purchase to unlock. The free plan includes 10 translations per day. HanCam Premium is a single in-app purchase that removes the daily limit. There is no subscription, and you can restore the purchase on any of your devices.
HanCam works best on clear, horizontal printed text. Handwriting and vertical text are not reliably recognised yet. For tips on getting the cleanest results, see the hanzi to pinyin guide or the HanCam support page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does HanCam show pinyin for Chinese text seen through the camera?
Yes. As soon as HanCam recognises Chinese characters in the camera view, it shows the original hanzi, the pinyin with tone marks and the English translation together in one panel. You do not need to take a photo first.
What is the difference between hanzi and pinyin?
Hanzi (汉字) are the Chinese characters themselves. Pinyin (拼音) is the official romanisation of Mandarin: it spells the sound of each character with Latin letters and tone marks. Seeing both lets you pronounce what you read, not just understand it. Read more in our guide to hanzi to pinyin with your iPhone camera.
Does HanCam work offline?
Yes. Character recognition runs on your device with Apple's Vision framework. Translation uses the iOS Translation framework, which downloads the Chinese-English language pack once (iOS will prompt you); after that, translation works without a network connection.
Does HanCam read Simplified and Traditional Chinese?
Both. Choose Simplified or Traditional as your default in Settings and switch whenever you travel between regions.
Is HanCam free?
HanCam is free to download and includes 10 translations per day. HanCam Premium is a one-time purchase that removes the daily limit. There is no subscription, and Restore Purchases brings Premium to your other devices.
Which devices does HanCam support?
iPhone and iPad running iOS 18 or iPadOS 18 or later. iOS 18 is required because HanCam uses Apple's on-device Translation framework.
Can I translate Chinese text from other apps?
Yes. Select text in Safari, Messages, Mail or a PDF, tap Share, and choose HanCam. The extension shows the pinyin and English translation on top of the app you are in.
Why doesn't my camera translator show pinyin?
Most camera translators, including Apple's built-in Translate app and Google Translate's live camera view, are designed to overlay the translated sentence on the image. Pinyin is either not shown or only reachable by tapping through to a text result. HanCam is built around pinyin and shows it next to the characters as you scan. See our comparison of Chinese camera translators.
Guides & Help
Hanzi to Pinyin With Your iPhone Camera
What pinyin and tone marks are, Simplified vs Traditional, and how to get clean readings from signs and menus.
Read the guide →Chinese Camera Translators Compared
HanCam next to Apple Translate and Google Translate: pinyin, offline use, privacy and price.
See the comparison →HanCam Support & FAQ
Setup, the share extension, Simplified/Traditional, Premium and Restore Purchases, troubleshooting.
Get help →Privacy Policy
What HanCam does and does not do with your camera, photos and text. Short version: nothing leaves your device.
Read the policy →Privacy First
All text recognition and translation happens entirely on your device. Your images and text are never uploaded to any server, and we don't collect any data. Read the privacy policy.
Start reading Chinese with pinyin today.