Hey!
The West is sleeping on Chinese founders. Not long ago, one of them won the most prestigious design award in tech.
Let’s get into it.
Ace Lee got the idea for CapWords when his daughter pointed at a road sign on the way home from kindergarten and asked what it was called. He opened a translation app. It replied “Signpost” in a robotic voice. She quietly said “Oh.”
That missing thing was delight.
So he built CapWords. Point your camera at anything, and it turns into an animated sticker with the word in 10 languages.
The entire journey from idea to shipped app took four months. The team used Apple's VisionKit to cut objects out of photos, ChatGPT-4 to identify them across multiple languages, AVAudioEngine for natural-sounding audio, and CloudKit to sync data across devices.
There's no backend server — photos are processed once and immediately deleted.
It won the Apple Design Award 2025 and App of the Year. 360,000+ users. No VC. No hype.
Why it works: The insight isn't the AI — it's the emotional loop. Snap → watch your photo become a sticker → feel delight → remember the word. Users literally compare it to catching Pokémon. Duolingo optimizes for streaks and guilt. CapWords optimizes for wonder.
The numbers: Team: 3 · Location: Beijing · Launched: Feb 2025 · Awards: Apple Design Award + App of the Year 2025 · Users: 360K+ · Rating: 4.7/5