81 Chapters: The Book

Eighty-one chapters. Three translations.

The Dao De Jing, read three ways.

About81 Chapters: The Book is an iOS app from No Mulligans Limited Liability Company.I used AI to make the translation of the Dao De Jing I wanted. I pulled all the available original ancient Chinese sources and translated each chapter three ways: Literal, Consensus, and Wild.None of these are intended as a final translation, or a definitive one. They all work from the same characters and the same lines, and each is a defensible presentation of the text.

The App81 Chapters: The Book
The whole Dao De Jing is one page. Eighty-one chapters in a single scroll. Touch one and it opens where it sits. Toggle between Literal, Consensus, and Wild on any chapter. Mark the ones you want to come back to.Each chapter, in each translation, is read aloud by an AI voice. No internet is needed to hear the recordings. They are already inside the app.Requires iOS 17 or later. One price, once: no subscription, no advertising, and no in-app purchases.

Privacy PolicyLast updated 13 August 2026I don't collect anything.No account. No sign-in. No analytics, no tracking, no advertising identifier, no third-party code watching you read. The app doesn't ask for your microphone, camera, contacts, photos, or location, so it can't have them.The app never touches the network.The whole book and every recording are already inside the app when you open it. It makes no network requests while you use it. Nothing you do here goes anywhere, because there is nowhere for it to go.What stays on your phone.One thing: which chapters you have marked with a heart. It's stored on the device in Apple's ordinary local preferences, it is never transmitted, and deleting the app deletes it. Nothing else about your reading is written down anywhere. Not which chapters you opened, not which translation you chose, not what you listened to or for how long.About the AI.I made the translation with AI and the recordings use an AI voice. All of that happened before the app was built. No AI runs while you read, and nothing you do in the app is sent to any AI system or anywhere else.Children. The app is suitable for any age and collects nothing from anyone, children included. There is nothing held about you, so there is nothing to ask me to delete.Other companies. There are no third-party SDKs in this app, no ad networks, and no analytics providers. If you bought it, Apple handled that entirely. I never see your payment details, and Apple sends me nothing that identifies you.Changes. If this policy ever changes I'll post the new one here with a new date. A change that made the app collect something would need a new version of the app, and it would contradict the point of the thing.

SupportWrite to me: [email protected]. I made this app, and I read the mail myself.What are the three translations?
One translation of the Dao De Jing, read three ways. Literal stays as close to the original Chinese line as possible. Consensus is what the commentators, ancient and modern, broadly agree it means. Wild goes for alternative meanings and more vivid imagery. The chapter never changes. Only the reading does, and every chapter opens in Literal.Does it need the internet?
No. The book and all 243 recordings are inside the app. It works in airplane mode, and it will still work years from now, because there is no server to switch off.Does the audio keep playing when the screen locks?
Yes, to the end of the chapter, and you can play and pause from the lock screen.Can I keep my place?
The hearts are the only thing I keep. Mark a chapter and it stays marked. Nothing else about your reading is stored, and deleting the app clears the hearts.I think a line is wrong.
Please tell me. Where the manuscripts disagree I made a decision and wrote down why rather than smoothing it over, and some of those decisions will be wrong. A corrected line is worth more to me than a consistent one. Send me the chapter number and what you think it should say.Is that a real person reading?
No, the voice is AI. I directed each of the three registers separately so they'd be three different performances rather than three copies of one. If a chapter reads in a plain system voice instead of the recorded one, something is wrong. Tell me and I'll fix it.I bought it and it's asking me to buy it again.
On a new phone, open the App Store, tap your profile picture, then Purchased, and download it there. There's nothing to restore inside the app, because there's no account and no in-app purchase.Something is hard to read or hard to reach.
The app supports VoiceOver and Dynamic Type. If it still doesn't work for you, that's a bug rather than a preference. Write and tell me what happened.

Terms of UseEffective 13 August 20261. License. This app is licensed, not sold, to you for personal use on Apple devices. You may not copy, modify, reverse-engineer, or redistribute it.
2. The translation. The English translation and the recorded audio are original works owned by No Mulligans Limited Liability Company. The classical Chinese source text is in the public domain; this rendering of it is not.
3. Purchases. The app is a one-time purchase processed by Apple. Refund requests go through Apple, not us.
4. Not advice. The Dao De Jing is a philosophical text. Nothing in this app is advice — medical, legal, financial, or otherwise — and none of it should be relied upon as such.
5. No warranty. The app is provided as is, without warranty of any kind.
6. Limitation of liability. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any damages arising from your use of the app.
7. Updates. We may update or modify the app at any time. Use of an updated version is governed by these terms.
8. Governing law. These terms are governed by the laws of North Carolina, United States.ContactWrite to me: [email protected]© 2026 No Mulligans Limited Liability Company. The Dao De Jing itself belongs to everyone.