Unlock Mandarin Storybooks with a Snap

Snap a photo, get instant pinyin, translations, and read-aloud — build Mandarin fluency one story at a time.

Free to start. No credit card required. 7-day full-access trial.

好饿的小蛇 🔊
好饿的小蛇 - The Very Hungry Little Snake book cover
hăo è饿 de xiăo shé
The Very Hungry Little Snake
Read To Me
pīnyīn Translate Read Aloud

Trusted by parents and educators learning Chinese worldwide

How It Works

Hands holding a phone, photographing a Chinese storybook page

1. Snap a Photo

Take a picture of any page from a physical Mandarin storybook.

AI processing a book page into annotated text with pinyin and translations

2. Get Instant Annotations

Add Pinyin and translations to the text, instantly.

Parent and child reading together with annotated storybook

3. Read & Listen

Practice reading with the annotations and tap to hear native audio read-aloud.

Key Features

Smart OCR

Highly accurate text recognition for both simplified and traditional Chinese characters. Designed specifically for children's storybooks.

Pinyin Annotations

See the pinyin displayed above every character. Tap individual words to hear them read aloud.

English Translations

Understand the story at a glance with full-page translations alongside the original Chinese text.

Read-Aloud

Listen to stories read in natural Chinese with multiple voice options. Perfect for pronunciation practice or bedtime listening.

Story Library & Collections

Organize your growing library into collections by theme, level, or however you like. Search across titles in Chinese, pinyin, or English.

Easy Editing

Refine any story annotations. Edit text, pinyin, or translations. Reorder and manage pages with drag-and-drop.

Share & Collaborate

Share individual stories or entire collections with friends and family. Control permissions — view-only or full editing access.

Works on Any Device

A responsive experience designed for phones, tablets, and desktops. Capture on your phone, study on your laptop.

Storybook page through camera viewfinder

From bookshelf to reading in under a minute.

Our guided camera walks you through capturing the storybook. See live thumbnails as you go, and when you're done, jump right into reading with pinyin annotations ready to go.

StoryLens meets you where you are.

Characters you know? Skim the pinyin. New vocabulary? Tap to explore. Want to hear it? Hit play. Every page is a multi-layered learning experience — Chinese characters, pinyin, and English all in one view.

(chuáng) (qián) (míng) (yuè) (guāng)
Bright moonlight before my bed...

Learning is better together.

Borrow storybook companions from your friends and family. Storylens makes it easy to share and collaborate on storybooks. Everyone gets real-time access, and changes sync instantly.

Simple, Transparent Pricing

Start free. Upgrade when you're ready. Every new account includes a 7-day free trial of StoryLens.

Free

$0/month
  • Up to 2 stories in your library
  • Up to 2 shared stories
  • Read, listen, and learn
  • Basic library organization
Get Started Free

About Us

We are a small but mighty team of product lovers on a mission to create simple, intuitive tools for daily life; so people can spend more time on what matters most.

Our Team

We are product-obsessed people, who believe technology should be in service of our humanity.

Simplicity

We strip away complexity so you can focus on what matters — learning and reading together.

Speed

From capture to classroom-ready in seconds, not hours.

Reliability

Your stories are always there when you need them. We work to earn your trust, every day.

Our Mission

We build tools that bring people together. Storylens makes it easy to learn and read together.

Frequently Asked Questions

StoryLens works best with printed Chinese storybooks — children's picture books, graded readers, and similar materials. This works surprisingly well for creative fonts and more free-form picture books with Chinese characters.

StoryLens provides high-quality character extraction, pinyin, and translations. You can also manually edit any pages to fine-tune accuracy.

StoryLens uses a local-first architecture, so stories you've already captured and opened on your device are available offline. You'll need an internet connection to capture new pages and to share with collaborators.

Yes. Your stories are synced securely. Each story is its own private document — you choose exactly who to share it with and at what permission level.

Absolutely! Share individual stories or entire collections with friends and family. You can grant view-only or full editing access, and revoke access at any time.

After 7 days, you'll move to the Free plan. You'll keep access to up to 2 stories you've captured and 2 shared stories. Upgrade to StoryLens Standard anytime to unlock unlimited stories and full features.

Yes — StoryLens handles both Simplified and Traditional Chinese characters.

Ready to Bring Your Storybooks to Life?

Join families and educators who are transforming the way they learn Chinese — one story at a time.

Start Reading

Free for up to 2 stories. Standard trial included — no credit card required.