Minor update with data file updates for CC-CEDICT and our embedded Chinese font files, plus support for adaptive icons and a few bug fixes.
Policy compliance update
Bug fixes.
- Rewrote layout code for screen reader/OCR to hopefully find the edges of the screen more reliably; this includes a new checkbox on Android 9/10 to manually tell Pleco if the navigation bar is on the left
- Hid screen reader notification on Android 13 - we're no longer required to show one, and it had gotten pretty useless since we're also no longer allowed to close the notification shade when you tap a button
- Stroke order backgrounds now use correct aspect ratio
- Lots of other bug fixes
Fix a couple of newly introduced crashing bugs in Android 13.
Bug fixes.
Check out the new 6th edition of "Chinese History: A New Manual," available in "Add-ons."
Bug fixes.
3.2.85/6:
• Clip Reader + Tablet Screen Reader bug fixes
3.2.84:
• Made Clip Reader 'reload' button always visible to deal with slow clipboard refresh on some devices.
3.2.83:
• Added experimental neural network HWR - enable in Settings / Input Methods / Handwriting.
• Added HSK 3.0 in Import/Export / Premade Cards. (tap "Yes" and you'll see an additional prompt)
• Added min font size for Screen Reader.
• Eliminated erroneous clipboard messages.
• Improved landscape Screen OCR dimensions.
3.2.85:
• Fixed Clip Reader crash on some devices
3.2.84:
• Made Clip Reader 'reload' button always visible to deal with slow clipboard refresh on some devices.
3.2.83:
• Added experimental neural network HWR - enable in Settings / Input Methods / Handwriting.
• Added HSK 3.0 in Import/Export / Premade Cards. (tap "Yes" and you'll see an additional prompt)
• Added min font size for Screen Reader.
• Eliminated erroneous clipboard messages.
• Improved landscape Screen OCR dimensions.
3.2.84:
• Made Clip Reader 'reload' button always visible to deal with slow clipboard refresh on some devices.
3.2.83:
• Added experimental neural network HWR - enable in Settings / Input Methods / Handwriting.
• Added HSK 3.0 in Import/Export / Premade Cards. (tap "Yes" and you'll see an additional prompt)
• Added min font size for Screen Reader.
• Eliminated erroneous clipboard messages.
• Improved landscape Screen OCR dimensions.
• Updated in-app purchase library for more reliable payments.
3.2.82:
• Removed Facebook/Twitter links from About page in order to comply with Google Play policies
• Fixed crashing bug in New OCR
3.2.81:
• Added option to limit spaced repetition flashcard tests to a specific # of cards. (though we still don't recommend that)
• Bug fixes
Also, see the "Flashcard Exchange" forum at plecoforums.com for an early set of flashcards for the new HSK 3.0 test. (it's unclear when the HSK will actually adopt those lists, which is why we haven't built them in yet)
3.2.79:
* Fixed a couple of bugs relating to accessing third party services on Android 11.
3.2.78:
* Fixed upside-down images in "New OCR" when paused.
* Fixed upside-down images in "New OCR" when paused.
3.2.77:
• Fixed file download bugs on some Android 11 devices like the Pixel 5
3.2.76:
• Improved Screen OCR placement / accuracy on some devices
• Bug fixes
3.2.75:
• Fixed an urgent Screen Reader bug on Android 11 Beta
3.2.74:
• Improved handwriting accuracy on devices with large screens.
• Fixed Screen OCR sizing/placement bugs on some devices with notched screens.
• Added a Screen OCR 'exit' button on devices configured to use gesture navigation.
• Fixed some 'please try again' Screen OCR opening errors.
• Improved image rendering in Night Mode ebooks
• Fixed an obscure indexing bug that made 'covid' not searchable.
• Improved handwriting accuracy on devices with large screens.
• Fixed Screen OCR sizing/placement bugs on some devices with notched screens.
• Added a Screen OCR 'exit' button on devices configured to use gesture navigation.
• Fixed some 'please try again' Screen OCR opening errors.
• Changed the way we handle images in e-books in Night Mode so that they're now faded instead of inverted.
• Fixed an obscure indexing bug that made 'covid' not searchable.
• Other bug fixes + tweaks
Bug fixes, including a fix for a database indexing issue that could cause some English full-text searches in PLC and CC to be missing results.
- Bug fixes.
- Made Pleco's Night Mode setting automatically match Android 10's Dark Mode one; to turn this off so that you can configure Pleco Night Mode separately, go into Settings / Colors and turn on 'Ignore System Dark Mode.'
- Bug fixes for Android 10, including issues with opening files in certain formats and with invisible notification buttons.
- Fixed issues with text selection in the search field on some newer devices.
- Built for Android 10
- Added option to make the Screen Reader button translucent
- Added audio button to Card Info screen
- Bug fixes, including a fix for rare Cantonese syllables not playing correctly with our TTS and a fix for text in the clipboard not automatically being searched on startup on Android 10
- Removed Clipboard Monitor on Android 10 due to Google policy changes
- Improved error messaging for TTS bugs
- A few more bug fixes, including an annoying endless flashcard backup prompt + word wrapping issues in a few paid reader add-ons.
Also, if you haven't checked out our "Add-ons" screen recently, we just added a whopping *50* new graded readers, including graded-reading versions of the "Four Great Books" plus a wide range of other titles for a variety of skill levels.
- Added a whopping *50* new graded readers, including graded-reading versions of the "Four Great Books" plus a wide range of other titles for a variety of skill levels.
- Bug fixes, including fixes for some lingering Android-P-specific issues.
More bug fixes.
This will probably be the last release of Pleco to support Android 4.0; Google have dropped support for it in the latest versions of the Android NDK and of Play Services and so it's increasingly difficult for us to keep supporting it in our app. However, you should still be able to download the last compatible version of Pleco on Android 4.0 indefinitely.
Lots of bug fixes + database update + update to the latest Android SDK.
Various minor bug fixes; also, the e-book reader now shows a 'back' button after you use the scrollbar to switch chapters.
Bug fixes, plus single-syllable audio is built into our app again (no need for a separate download) and we added an option for plaintext AnkiDroid definition exports and an option to exclude example sentences in flashcard exports. Also added support for some new/updated content we'll be launching shortly.
One piece of updated content available right now: the new expanded 5th Edition of "Chinese History: A New Manual," which also restores the print version indexes + adds a searchable glossary.
Check out our new paid e-books in "Add-ons."3.2.57: Minor bug fixes3.2.56: EPUB support in File Reader + faster e-book reading + experimental "New OCR" (Settings / OCR), with better motion tracking (no more jitter), more accurate character positions, and freezing of last live frame when paused. (you may need to kill/reopen Pleco for this to take effect)
Another big update with a small version number:* Basic data files now built into APK; no more unpacking / permission prompts / startup download alerts.* Experimental "New OCR" (Settings / OCR), with better motion tracking (no more jitter), more accurate character positions, and freezing of last live frame when paused. (you may need to kill/reopen Pleco for this to take effect)* EPUB(2) support in File Reader + slightly more reliable PDF decoding + much faster loading of large Pleco e-books.
3.2.54/5: Fix for a couple of bugs in the document reader.Just launched: our first paid e-book offerings. "Chinese History: A New Manual" 5/e by Endymion Wilkinson (an essential reference for anything to do with Chinese history), plus two collections of graded readings, the "Graded Chinese Reader" series by Sinolingua plus "Selections from The Chairman's Bao" (graded-reading news articles).
Very minor bug-fix update, mostly needed to update a bit of text in one of our app's manifest files in order to comply with a new Google Play requirement.
3.2.52: More bug fixes3.2.51: Bug fixes, plus stability improvements and performance optimizations on Android 7/8 devices.Also added support for paid e-books, though we aren't ready to publicly announce any of them quite yet.
Bug fixes, plus stability improvements and performance optimizations on Android 7/8 devices.Also added support for paid e-books, though we aren't ready to publicly announce any of them quite yet.
See our new Military Mandarin + ABC Cantonese dictionaries in "Add-ons."3.2.50:• Added support for our new "enhanced" TTS voices (a free upgrade from the existing Hong/Qiang/Kayan/Kaho voices) - you can download them in "Add-ons" / "Purchased but not downloaded."3.2.48/9:• Bug fixes + preliminary Android O support.
See our new ABC Cantonese Dictionary + new TTS voices in "Add-ons," along with a big update to the Outlier character dictionary.3.2.47:• Added support for tone coloring in Cantonese example sentences• Several changes for upcoming dictionary releases• Bug fixes3.2.45:• Updated built-in PLC dictionary with parts of speech, tons of new content (40k entries/12k examples), and bug fixes.• Performance improvements, especially on Android 7.
See our new ABC Cantonese Dictionary + new TTS voices in "Add-ons."• Updated our built-in PLC dictionary with parts of speech, tons of new content (40k entries / 12k examples), and bug fixes.• Updated our built-in Chinese fonts to look a bit more standard (same style though).• Added a new option in Search Interface to inset search results on devices with edgeless displays.• Performance improvements, especially on Android 7.• Lots of bug fixes, including some nasty OCR + AnkiDroid crashes.
Pleco is the ultimate Chinese learning companion - an integrated Chinese English dictionary / document reader / flashcard system with fullscreen handwriting input and live camera-based character lookups, from a company with 17 years' experience making mobile Chinese learning software.
Major features: ( = paid add-on)
• Great dictionaries: the free app comes with two dictionaries - CC-CEDICT and our in-house PLC dictionary - which together cover 130,000 Chinese words and include 20,000 example sentences with Pinyin. We offer 8 more free dictionaries as optional downloads, including a 22,000-entry Cantonese-English dictionary, and 19 other great dictionaries are available as paid upgrades. ()
• Handwriting input: lookup unknown characters by drawing them, with a best-in-class recognition engine. (basic version free, enhanced version )
• Live Optical Character Recognizer (OCR): look up Chinese words in the dictionary simply by pointing your device's camera at them, or by scrolling around a still image. ()
• Screen Reader/OCR: instantly tap-lookup Chinese words in other apps through a floating interface; works on Android 4.1 and later. (reader free, OCR )
• Flashcard System: create a card from any dictionary entry with a single button tap, import premade word lists, use advanced techniques like SRS (spaced repetition), and study in a variety of modes including fill-in-the-blanks and tone drills. (simple version free, full-featured )
• Audio Pronunciation: instantly hear male + female native-speaker audio for Chinese dictionary headwords; recordings available for over 34,000 words. (stitched-syllable free, multi-syllable ) Or listen to example sentences with text-to-speech (system TTS free, enhanced ).
• Powerful search: look up words by Chinese characters, Pinyin (spaces/tones optional), or a combination, with support for wildcards and full-text search.
• Cross-referencing: tap on any Chinese character / word in any dictionary entry to bring up its definition.
• Stroke Order Diagrams: animations showing you how to draw each Chinese character; 500 in free app, 28,000 in paid add-on.
• Voice Recognition: look up words by speaking them into your device's microphone.
• Document Reader: open a Chinese-language text or PDF file and look up unknown words in the dictionary simply by tapping on them. () You can also look up characters on web pages through "Share" and in other documents through the clipboard. (free)
• PRC- and Taiwan-friendly: supports traditional and simplified characters (in dictionary definitions, stroke order, search, OCR, and handwriting), and supports Zhuyin (with ruby support) as well as Pinyin for pronunciation display.
• Cantonese: display headwords + perform searches in Jyutping/Yale romanization. We also offer Cantonese dictionary and Cantonese audio add-ons. (some )
• No ads: we won't even nag you about buying add-ons.
We also offer excellent customer support - send us an email and see for yourself - and an active user community at plecoforums.com.
We've been making Chinese dictionary apps since 2000, and our sales and customer base have been steadily growing for 17 years across four different platforms. We take good care of our longtime users: people who bought a dictionary on a Palm Pilot in 2001 can still use that dictionary on a new Android phone in 2020 without even paying an upgrade fee.
Paid add-ons can be moved to a new device like any other paid app; just open our free app on your new device and they should reactivate.
If you already own Pleco on another OS, see pleco.com/android for migration options.
This app uses Accessibility services. (for our Screen Reader feature, which helps users to get by in Chinese-speaking regions without knowing Chinese)
Twitter/Facebook: plecosoft