6 apps for learning Korean: Which ones are most useful?

Six Korean-learning apps were tested on an iPhone using free Apple App Store content to assess their usefulness. Teuida was judged the strongest overall for real-world situations, focused lessons and pronunciation practice, while BNR, Drops, Bravolol, HeyKorea and Patchim Training each had notable limitations. The comparison found that popular apps still offer too few opportunities for human-centered learning and genuine language production.

BNR emphasizes listening, writing, reading and Hangeul but its free version includes frequent ads and may make intermediate users repeat basic lessons.

Drops limits lessons to five minutes with mandatory waiting periods and requires users to complete every lesson in a session to unlock the next checkpoint.

Bravolol provides slow pronunciation guidance and recording comparisons, but relies heavily on romanization and places several categories behind a paywall.

Teuida organizes lessons into days, uses real-world situations and provides repeated pronunciation checks, but its free version includes long ads and study-key restrictions.

HeyKorea offers listening, repetition and Hangeul tracing practice, while Patchim Training uses simple games including Hangul boxing, Hangul BBQ and Hangul crossword.

Published Oct 10, 2026 7:00 am KST

Hangeul Day celebrates the creation and excellence of the Korean alphabet. To mark the holiday this year, I tested six of the most popular apps for learning Korean, based on Google Play downloads, to discern which are actually worth a download — and perhaps more importantly, your phone’s precious memory space.

I’m at an upper-intermediate level in Korean, but it’s taken years to reach this point. I’ve taken lessons here and there and downloaded apps to improve my fluency. Remembering where I was when I downloaded my first language app, Drops, gave me a good point of reference. I’m well aware of how quickly apps start to feel tedious or too far removed from actual language lessons.

I tried to keep the comparison as simple as possible. Each app had to specialize in Korean, rather than offering various languages. I tested each on an iPhone, using the Apple App Store versions, and focused primarily on content accessible for free. The results here are a personal reflection on my overall experience and reflect how I felt about each app.

BNR has a simple, polished interface using high-contrast colors, and there are no time limits on the lessons. Its main focuses are listening, writing and reading, with a strong emphasis on Hangeul in early lessons.

If you plan to use the free version, be prepared to endure frequent ads and popups, including during the lessons. Intermediate learners may also find themselves forced to work through more basic lessons before reaching the appropriate level.

Drops is easily the most gamified of the apps I tested. At first glance, the interface is similar to BNR's sleek, clear design. I liked that you can work towards small goals while tracking larger language milestones.

Though it starts out engaging enough, the structure quickly starts to feel very restrictive. Lessons are limited to five-minute sessions, with strict wait times in between. To unlock the next checkpoint, users must complete all the lessons in a session, which will undoubtedly prove frustrating for intermediate learners who don’t need to practice each and every vocabulary set.

Coming up with positives for Bravolol wasn’t easy. The app offers slow, clear pronunciation guidance for the phrases it teaches, and its strongest feature is the ability to record, listen to and compare your pronunciation with the provided examples.

The downsides are that the app’s interface is extremely outdated, and frequent ads and popups interrupt the learning process. Several of the categories are locked behind a paywall, which feels particularly limiting for an app with such a small scope to begin with. A bigger issue is the app’s heavy use of romanization — it might feel comfortable to beginners, but over time could discourage learners from actively engaging with Hangeul.

Screenshot of Teuida

The best of the bunch, Teuida makes excellent use of real-world situations featuring young, clear, engaging instructors. Lessons are organized into “days,” with a clear progression from introduction to review. The short, focused format teaches a few expressions at a time, then immediately puts users into a situation to practice them. Teuida also provides generous checks for pronunciation throughout each lesson, making this app especially well-suited to those focused on conversational skills or planning to spend time physically in Korea.

However, without paying for the "pro" version, users need “study keys” to skip certain lessons, meaning intermediate learners have to start at a much earlier level than may be appropriate. Users also have to sit through relatively long ads between lessons, which interrupts the otherwise smooth experience.

The best part of HeyKorea is its listening and repetition practice, which would be most helpful for beginners. There’s also Hangeul “writing practice” through tracing exercises to encourage confidence in writing.

However, I couldn’t get past the robotic voices used during the lessons. They change frequently, sometimes even within the same sentence, which gets distracting. Another frustration was the writing exercises. The tracing function had serious issues on my iPhone, and I found myself attempting to trace the same lines over and over again.

Screenshot of Patchim Training

If you grew up with old school computer games, Patchim Training’s approach will probably feel pleasantly nostalgic. To my surprise, I enjoyed it much more than I originally expected. It felt as though its creators were deliberately trying to make something different, with original games like “Hangul boxing,” “Hangul BBQ” and “Hangul crossword.” They’re simple, quirky, and reminiscent of the educational games people played in the 1990s.

Unfortunately, the old school charm is the same thing that makes Patchim Training feel noticeably less polished and more outdated than the other apps.

While testing these six apps, one thing became clear: Even among the most popular options, there’s still a noticeable lack of human-centered learning and, more importantly, opportunities for genuine language production. It shouldn’t be this hard to find tools that understand how people use language authentically and prepare learners for everyday situations.

Just as Hangeul was created in part to help make the Korean language more accessible, the tools we choose to use should make the language feel less intimidating, more intuitive and enjoyable.

Emily Kim is the owner of Looking Seoul , a "room for ideas" in western Seoul's Yeonhui-dong. She’s committed to building a more engaging literary community in Seoul. She can be reached at emily@looking.kr.

我们使用苹果应用商店的免费内容，在iPhone上测试了六款韩语学习应用程序，以评估它们的实用性。Teuida在真实情境、重点课程和发音练习方面综合表现最佳，而BNR、Drops、Bravolol、HeyKorea和Patchim Training则各自存在明显的不足。对比结果表明，目前流行的应用程序在以人为本的学习和真实的语言表达方面仍然提供的机会太少。

BNR 注重听、写、读和韩文，但其免费版本包含频繁的广告，并且可能会让中级用户重复基础课程。

Drops 将课程时长限制为五分钟，并强制设置等待时间，要求用户完成会话中的每一节课才能解锁下一个检查点。

Bravolol 提供慢速发音指导和录音对比，但严重依赖罗马化，并将几个类别置于付费墙之后。

Teuida 将课程按天组织，使用真实世界情境，并提供反复的发音检查，但其免费版本包含冗长的广告和学习要点限制。

HeyKorea 提供听力、复述和韩文描摹练习，而 Patchim Training 则使用简单的游戏，包括韩文拳击、韩文烧烤和韩文填字游戏。

发布于2026年10月10日 上午7:00（韩国标准时间）

韩文日是为了庆祝韩语字母的创造和卓越成就。为了庆祝今年的节日，我根据 Google Play 下载量测试了六款最受欢迎的韩语学习应用，以找出哪些应用真正值得下载——更重要的是，哪些应用不会占用你手机宝贵的内存空间。

我的韩语水平达到了中高级，但这花了我好几年时间。我断断续续地上过课，也下载过一些语言学习应用来提高流利度。回想起当初下载第一个语言学习应用 Drops 时的情景，让我对现在的学习状态有了很好的参照。我也很清楚，应用很容易让人觉得枯燥乏味，或者与真正的语言学习相去甚远。

我尽量简化了比较过程。每款应用都必须专注于韩语，而不是提供多种语言。我使用苹果应用商店的版本在 iPhone 上测试了每款应用，并且主要关注免费内容。以下结果是我个人对整体体验的总结，反映了我对每款应用的感受。

BNR界面简洁美观，采用高对比度色彩，课程没有时间限制。它的主要学习内容是听、写、读，并在早期课程中着重讲解韩文。

如果您打算使用免费版本，请做好心理准备，您会频繁看到广告和弹窗，甚至在课程进行期间也会遇到。中级学习者可能还需要先完成一些基础课程才能达到相应的级别。

在我测试过的所有应用中，Drops 无疑是最具游戏化元素的。乍一看，它的界面与 BNR 简洁明了的设计类似。我喜欢它的一点是，你可以一边朝着小目标努力，一边追踪更大的语言学习里程碑。

虽然一开始挺吸引人，但这种结构很快就会让人觉得非常局限。课程时长限制在五分钟，课间还有严格的等待时间。想要解锁下一个进度点，用户必须完成一次课程的所有环节，这无疑会让那些不需要练习所有词汇的中级学习者感到沮丧。

要找出 Bravolol 的优点并不容易。这款应用会针对教授的短语提供缓慢而清晰的发音指导，其最强大的功能是能够录制、聆听并与提供的例句进行对比。

缺点在于该应用的界面极其过时，频繁的广告和弹窗会打断学习过程。部分类别需要付费才能访问，对于一款本身内容就比较有限的应用来说，这显得尤为局限。更大的问题在于该应用大量使用罗马音——虽然对初学者来说可能比较方便，但长期使用可能会让学习者对主动学习韩文失去兴趣。

特乌伊达的截图

Teuida 是同类应用中的佼佼者，它巧妙地运用真实情境，并由年轻、清晰、富有感染力的老师授课。课程按“天”划分，从介绍到复习循序渐进。这种简短精炼的教学模式每次只教授几个常用表达，然后立即将用户置于实际情境中进行练习。Teuida 还在每节课中提供大量的发音检查，因此这款应用尤其适合那些注重提升会话能力或计划在韩国进行短期学习的人。

然而，如果不购买“专业版”，用户需要使用“学习密钥”才能跳过某些课程，这意味着中级学习者不得不从比他们实际水平低得多的级别开始学习。此外，用户还必须在课程之间观看相对较长的广告，这会影响原本流畅的学习体验。

HeyKorea 最棒的地方在于它的听力和复述练习，这对初学者来说非常有帮助。此外，它还提供韩文“书写练习”，通过描摹练习来增强书写信心。

然而，我始终无法接受课程中使用的机械语音。这些语音频繁变化，有时甚至在同一句话中也会变化，这非常分散注意力。另一个令人沮丧的地方是写作练习。我的iPhone上的描摹功能存在严重问题，导致我不得不反复尝试描摹相同的线条。

帕奇姆训练截图

如果你从小玩老式电脑游戏长大，《Patchim Training》的风格可能会让你感到愉悦的怀旧。令我惊讶的是，我比预期更喜欢它。感觉它的开发者是有意尝试一些与众不同的东西，比如“韩文拳击”、“韩文烧烤”和“韩文填字游戏”等原创游戏。它们简单、有趣，让人想起上世纪90年代人们玩过的那些教育游戏。

可惜的是，这种老式魅力也正是 Patchim Training 与其他应用程序相比显得明显不够完善和过时的原因。

在测试这六款应用的过程中，我们发现了一个显而易见的问题：即使在最受欢迎的应用中，仍然存在以人为本的学习方式匮乏的问题，更重要的是，缺乏真正进行语言输出的机会。找到能够理解人们如何真实运用语言并帮助学习者应对日常情境的工具，本不应该如此困难。

就像韩文的诞生部分是为了帮助人们更容易地学习韩语一样，我们选择使用的工具也应该让这门语言感觉不那么令人生畏，更加直观和有趣。

Emily Kim是位于首尔西部延熙洞的“思想空间”——Looking Seoul的创始人。她致力于在首尔打造一个更具活力的文学社群。您可以通过emily@looking.kr联系她。