On 5 November 2026 Zitou went live on the App Store as Zitou: Learn Chinese & HSK. It is free to download, for iPhone on iOS 15 or later.
The same app, one more door
The iPhone app is the same Zitou as zitou.app: a native shell around the web app. That was a choice, not a shortcut. A fix or a new HSK mock paper reaches the website, the Telegram Mini App and the iPhone app in one deploy, without waiting for a review.
What the shell adds is what only a phone can do:
- Sign in with Apple, next to Google and Telegram, all leading to the same account and the same progress.
- Daily reminders, planned on the phone itself, because a web view has no web push.
- Pro through the App Store, monthly or yearly. The server checks every transaction with Apple before it switches Pro on.
- The share sheet, and zitou.app links that open in the app instead of the browser.
Android
There is no Google Play version yet. Until there is, Android users open @zitouggbot in Telegram, where the whole app runs as a Mini App, or use it in the browser. The site now says exactly that under its download buttons, instead of a button that leads nowhere.
What changed on the sites
- The App Store button on every landing page is live; it said "coming soon" until this week.
- Safari shows its own "Open / Get" banner for the app on every page, except over a live lesson on a classroom screen.
- An iPhone browser is sent to the App Store, instead of being taught to add an icon to the home screen.
- The Telegram bot's greeting ends with the App Store link.
What I am not claiming
No download numbers in this post. I will publish them when I can show where they come from.