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HanCam
Point your iPhone at Chinese, see pinyin and the meaning
HanCam reads printed Chinese through your iPhone or iPad camera and shows three lines at once: the characters, the pinyin with tone marks, and the meaning in your phone's language. Everything runs on the device, so it works offline and nothing you scan is uploaded. New in 1.1: draw your own reading area, pinch to zoom, Copy All and Share, and the app in 12 languages. Reading is free; copying is free 10 times a day, with a one-time Premium unlock.
Hi Product Hunt! I'm Michael, and I made HanCam.
Translation apps answer "what does this mean?", but not "how do I say it?". Point the live camera of Apple Translate or Google Translate at a Chinese sign and you get the meaning, but no pinyin. HanCam keeps the characters on screen and adds the pinyin with tone marks and the meaning underneath, so you can read it out loud.
It's for people learning Chinese, travellers in China, Taiwan or Singapore, and anyone who grew up hearing Chinese but never learned to read it.
A few things that matter to me:
• Everything runs on your device: no account, nothing you scan is uploaded, and it works offline after a one-time language download.
• Version 1.1 lets you draw your own reading area and pinch to zoom. That came straight from a user review.
• The meaning follows your phone's language where Apple's on-device translation offers it, and the app itself is in 12 languages.
It reads printed, horizontal text best. Handwriting and vertical text are not supported yet.
If you don't need the camera, there are free pinyin tools in the browser at blaris.com/hancam: a pinyin chart with audio, a tone typer, names to pinyin, Simplified/Traditional, and Chinese text from a picture.
I'd love to hear what you would use it for, and what's missing.
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About HanCam on Product Hunt
“Point your iPhone at Chinese, see pinyin and the meaning”
HanCam was submitted on Product Hunt and earned 3 upvotes and 1 comments, placing #139 on the daily leaderboard. HanCam reads printed Chinese through your iPhone or iPad camera and shows three lines at once: the characters, the pinyin with tone marks, and the meaning in your phone's language. Everything runs on the device, so it works offline and nothing you scan is uploaded. New in 1.1: draw your own reading area, pinch to zoom, Copy All and Share, and the app in 12 languages. Reading is free; copying is free 10 times a day, with a one-time Premium unlock.
HanCam was featured in Education (79.4k followers), Languages (14.5k followers) and Travel (42.7k followers) on Product Hunt. Together, these topics include over 55.7k products, making this a competitive space to launch in.
Who hunted HanCam?
HanCam was hunted by Michael Bruun-Larsen. A “hunter” on Product Hunt is the community member who submits a product to the platform — uploading the images, the link, and tagging the makers behind it. Hunters typically write the first comment explaining why a product is worth attention, and their followers are notified the moment they post. Around 79% of featured launches on Product Hunt are self-hunted by their makers, but a well-known hunter still acts as a signal of quality to the rest of the community. See the full all-time top hunters leaderboard to discover who is shaping the Product Hunt ecosystem.
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Michael Bruun-Larsen