Audio-first Mandarin
One syllable.
Four meanings.
Get the pitch wrong and mā (mother) becomes mà (a scolding). ToneDeck trains the one thing Mandarin apps skip: your ear.
Works in your browser now · no install · now on iPhone, Android coming soon
The plateau, explained
Apps teach tones once, in lesson one. Native speakers hear the difference forever.
Tones are the meaning
Mandarin has ~400 base syllables stretched across 4 tones. Pitch isn't polish — it's vocabulary.
Your ear fossilizes
Skip ear training early and wrong tones harden into habit. Every conversation quietly confirms you're hard to understand.
Drilling fixes it
Minimal pairs, instant audio, spaced repetition. Twenty focused minutes a day beats three hundred mindless streak days.
Inside the deck
Four rooms. One job: make tones automatic.
Tones
Ear training, the killer feature
Minimal pairs drilled side by side with pitch contours, then a listen-and-guess quiz that scores your accuracy per tone. This is the muscle most apps never train.
Review
SM-2 spaced repetition
The same algorithm behind Anki. Again, Hard, Good, Easy — each answer reschedules the word at the moment you're about to forget it. Streaks keep you honest.
Words
A soundboard for vocabulary
Tap any of 5,500+ words to hear it instantly. The full HSK 1–6 vocabulary, plus the 1,000 most common words by frequency. Pinyin is colored by tone, always.
Speak
Record. Compare. Repeat.
60+ real two-voice dialogues across everyday topics. Play any line, record yourself, then A/B your pronunciation against the native audio until you can't hear the difference.
Use it right now
Train your ear in the browser. No install.
The full tone trainer, ear-training quiz, and HSK 1 deck run at tonedeck.app today. Create a free account and your progress is waiting on your phone the day the app lands.
Now on iPhone · Android coming soon
ToneDeck is on the App Store. The trainer works right now.
Download ToneDeck for iPhone today, and your progress syncs across every device. Prefer the browser? The full tone trainer runs at tonedeck.app right now, no install, free to start.
Pricing
Free to start. Pro when it sticks.
- · All 127 HSK 1 words, by topic
- · Full tone trainer + ear quiz
- · Guided beginner course
- · 10 spaced-repetition reviews / day
- · Starter conversations
or $39.99/year, save 44%
- · 5,500+ words: full HSK 1–6 + frequency decks
- · Unlimited daily reviews
- · All 60+ conversations
- · Record & compare your pronunciation
- · Per-tone accuracy stats
Questions
Why obsess over tones?+
Because tones aren't an accent — they're the meaning. Say mā with a falling pitch and you've called your mother a scolding. Mainstream apps cover tones in one early lesson and never return; learners plateau because their ears were never trained.
Do I need to install anything?+
No. The web app runs in any browser at tonedeck.app, nothing to download. Premium audio is spoken by a neural voice and cached after the first listen, and your progress syncs to your account, so it follows you to the iPhone and Android apps.
What's in the free version?+
All 127 HSK 1 words, the full tone trainer and ear-training quiz, the guided beginner course, daily spaced-repetition reviews, and a set of starter conversations. Pro removes every limit and unlocks all 5,500+ words.
Is this for beginners or intermediate learners?+
Both. Beginners build the right habits from day one. Intermediate learners use the ear-training quiz to fix the tone deafness that's been fossilizing in their speech for years.
Free guides