App Overview

Pleco Chinese Dictionary icon

Pleco Chinese Dictionary

Pleco Inc. · Reference

Pleco is the ultimate Chinese learning companion: an integrated dictionary / document reader / flashcard system with fullscreen handwriting input and live OCR, from a company that's been making the world's best mobile...

Free · In-app purchases

PRICE
Free
In-app purchases
BUSINESS MODEL
Freemium
No overall Grossing estimate available
RATING
4.7
1,907 ratings · Top 15%

Evidence scope: No current overall US chart position is available. Category-chart positions shown in discovery are a separate scope. Revenue is a directional model estimate, not verified earnings.

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A product spec, screen plans, and build steps for your coding agent.

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What's included19 files

A product spec, phased build plan, differentiation notes, and screen references.

  • START_HERE
  • AGENTS
  • EVIDENCE
  • SPEC
  • BUILD_PLAN
  • DIFFERENTIATION
  • skills/
  • screens/
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Illustrative example: an invoice app for independent contractors. Your kit is tailored to the app you choose; this is not its generated content.

Feature spec

Goal: Send a clear invoice after finishing a job.

  • Add a client, line items, a due date, and payment instructions.
  • Preview the total before exporting a PDF.
  • Keep an editable draft if export fails.

Screen plan

Invoice editor: Client at the top, editable line items in the middle, total and preview action at the bottom.

States: Empty draft, validation errors beside each field, exporting, and a retry action that preserves the draft.

Differentiate and validate

Hypothesis: Contractors need faster repeat invoices more than more templates.

First experiment: Test duplicating a previous job with five contractors. Watch where they hesitate before expanding the feature set.

The full kit adds a phased build plan, evidence notes, tool prompts, and implementation guidance. It is a plan for your coding agent, not a finished app.

Usage: Mechanics are fair game; never reuse the original name, branding, assets, or verbatim copy.

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Quick prompt

> SELECT BUILD PLATFORM:

Good fit for mobile-first iOS and Android prototypes with managed app scaffolding.

// RORK SYSTEM PROMPT
Rork plan preview for Pleco Chinese Dictionary: map the core Reference workflow, choose the smallest differentiated feature set, define the data and monetization boundaries, then prototype the riskiest user journey first.
            

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Opportunities

AI-GENERATED OPPORTUNITY HYPOTHESES

These are generated suggestions, not verified review quotations. Check current App Store reviews and speak with users before treating a possible gap as a requirement.

Hypothesis 1

Implement offline caching of words and definitions.

Assumption to check: Limited offline functionality

Validate with people who use this workflow before building.

Hypothesis 2

Simplify navigation and focus on core features.

Assumption to check: Cluttered UI with too many options

Validate with people who use this workflow before building.

Hypothesis 3

Optimize search algorithm for faster results.

Assumption to check: Slow search performance for large datasets

Validate with people who use this workflow before building.

Hypothesis 4

Improve the favorites management interface.

Assumption to check: Difficulty in managing favorites

Validate with people who use this workflow before building.

App evidence

Original App Store material. Ratings and screenshots describe the existing app, not proof of demand for your version.

App Store description

Pleco is the ultimate Chinese learning companion: an integrated dictionary / document reader / flashcard system with fullscreen handwriting input and live OCR, from a company that's been making the world's best mobile Chinese learning apps since 2001. Major features: ($ = paid add-on) • Amazing dictionaries. We offer two free built-in dictionaries: the popular open-source CC-CEDICT, with over 110,000 frequently-updated entries, and our own PLC dictionary, with 125,000 entries, parts of speech, and over 25,000 example sentences (with Pinyin). More than two dozen other dictionaries are available as free and paid ($) add-ons, including licensed titles from well-known publishers like Oxford, Longman, FLTRP, Tuttle, SLPH, and Commercial Press. • Powerful merged search: look up words by Chinese characters, Pinyin (spaces / tones optional), or English, with support for wildcards and full-text search. And no need to tediously flip between all of those dictionaries to find a word - just type in your search term and instantly get a combined, frequency-sorted result list. • Links and cross-references: easily look up character components, break down words into individual characters, look up lists of words containing a particular character, and search across all dictionaries for example sentences containing a word. • Gorgeous typography: see it for yourself in our screenshots - we think we're one of the best-looking Chinese dictionaries around. Alternate Kai/Song/Xing-style Chinese fonts are also available ($). • PRC/HK/Taiwan-friendly: every part of Pleco supports both traditional and simplified, headword readings can be shown in Pinyin and Zhuyin, and some dictionaries even support Cantonese. (note: stroke order diagrams do support traditional characters, but use PRC order) • Audio: Hear Mandarin and Cantonese for words and example sentences using iOS' free built-in text-to-speech system. We also offer add-ons ($) with native-speaker Mandarin recordings and higher-quality Mandarin TTS. • Document Reader: bring in text from the clipboard and tap on words in it to instantly look them up. Upgrade ($) adds support for tap-lookups in text, HTML, DOC, DOCX, PDF, and EPUB files. We also offer graded readings ($). • OCR: look up words simply by pointing your device's camera at them, or by tapping on them in a still image. ($) • Fullscreen handwriting: use your device's whole screen instead of just a little box. Extremely accurate and highly tolerant of stroke order mistakes. (enhanced $) • Flashcards: create a card from any dictionary entry with a single button tap, import premade word lists, use advanced memorization techniques like SRS, and study in a variety of modes including fill-in-the-blanks handwriting and tone drills. ($) • Stroke Order Diagrams: animations showing you how to draw each character; 500 characters for free, 28,000 in paid ($) version. • User dictionaries: create new dictionary entries right on your device as you encounter new words. ($) • No ads. We also offer famously excellent customer support and an active user community at http://www.plecoforums.com. And we're constantly working to make our products better; our sales and customer base have been growing for two decades across 4 different platforms. You can be confident that we'll still be fixing bugs and adding features for years to come. Paid add-ons can be transferred to other devices that link to your iTunes account just like any other paid iTunes content; simply install our free app, open up the "Add-ons" screen, and tap on the "Restore Purchases" button to activate your purchase on each device. Please contact us at [email protected], via the form at http://www.pleco.com/contact.html, or using the in-app "Contact Support" command with any questions - we'll be delighted to hear from you.

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Screenshots

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Build scope

Plan a focused first version with your coding agent. These are planning assumptions, not a delivery guarantee.

Define the first version

Choose one audience and one core workflow. Use the kit to agree on its screens, data, and acceptance criteria before building.

Set boundaries

Decide which secondary features, integrations, and platform support can wait. Your version does not need to reproduce everything in the original.

Check the hard parts

Validate external services, specialist technology, data access, and ongoing costs for your chosen scope.

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From the Build Kit assessment.

A reliable timeline needs an agreed scope and a technical check. Ask your agent to estimate the phases in BUILD_PLAN.md after that review.