An iOS app aims to preserve the Hmong dialect for future generations

Reviving a language on iOS, and in style

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While you may be enjoying apps that can help solve the tasks for the day ahead, or scratches your daily itch in the latest game onApple Arcade, for example, there are a few different apps that serve an important purpose.

The Hmong people are one of the most marginalized Asian American groups in the US, and its language is in danger of being relegated to the history books.

This is whereHmong Phrasescomes in. Its developer, Annie Vang, wants to preserve the Hmong language that has been in her family for generations. Alongside this, Vang also hosts aYouTube channelto showcase foods in the Hmong culture, as well as her other favorite foods.

It’s available foriPhoneandiPaddevices running iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 or later for $0.99 / £0.69 / AU$ 1.09,  and it can also work on aMac with Apple Silicon. You can scroll through the different conversations and hear back from Vang herself on how to pronounce various words.

It feels personal and yet educational - you know that Vang has put everything into this app, and it looks as though she isn’t done, having recently spoken to her.

What could be next for the app?

The app has an elegant layout with a colorful scheme throughout its menus. The list of phrases may seem overwhelming to some at first, but you get used to it. You can use the search bar to find what you want.

While it’s great to use it on iOS mainly, we asked Vang if there were any plans to add newerwidgets, alongside anApple Watchversion, in the future.

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Practicing phrases and words in Hmong on your wrist could appeal to many, especially as laterApple Watchmodels can use the speaker with some apps.

Vang was enthusiastic about these two ideas, and there’s potentially a chance we could see them later in the year.

But whatever occurs in a future update, it’s a great effort already to revive a language, and a culture, that should be preserved for future generations.

Daryl had been freelancing for 3 years before joining TechRadar, now reporting on everything software-related. In his spare time, he’s written a book, ‘The Making of Tomb Raider’. His second book, ‘50 Years of Boss Fights’, came out in 2024, with a third book coming in 2025. He also has a newsletter called ‘Springboard’. He’s usually found playing games old and new on his Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, and MacBook Pro. If you have a story about an updated app, one that’s about to launch, or just anything Software-related, drop him a line.

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