Duolingo - Language Lessons Negative Reviews

Duolingo - Language Lessons App Complaints & User Negative Comments 2023

Duolingo - Language Lessons app received 123 complaints, negative comments and reviews by users. Have you ever had a bad experience using Duolingo - Language Lessons? Can you share your negative thoughts about duolingo - language lessons?

Duolingo - Language Lessons for Negative User Reviews

✓ Few improvements would make all the difference!!!I love Duolingo, in a nutshell it’s really good! However… there are 3 things that are the most annoying: 1) Cartoons. For younger ages, it is great and more interactive, however, for older kids and adults, they are just annoying and embarrassing. I think that if the app wants to broaden its consumer range, there should be a cartoon on/off switch so that it can be a choice 2) Accents. They are very important, so I think that there should be no leniency for them in the answers and that if you don’t put the accent on, you get it wrong. 3) Volume. If you are listening to music, and a question with a voice reader comes up, your music is overridden and turned down. Instead of this happening, I think that if you have music on, it should be prioritised and you can get the question read out to you if need, but most people won’t, so it won’t bother them and interrupt their music listening. I really do like Duolingo, and if these things were to be changed, I would give it a 5/5 star rating 👍.SsypkesVersion: 6.145.0

✓ Lacks explanationThe only downfall of the app is that it doesn’t explain why an answer is wrong. For instance, if you use the masculine version of a word but the correct version is feminine, it would notify that your answer is incorrect but wouldn’t provide the correct answer, or an explanation. I find when learning a new language that it’s easiest to remember how to structure sentences and spell words correctly if I understand why..BrookefinVersion: 5.2.37

✓ Learning path update has ruined a good thingI’m a long time user of Duolingo- 8 years. I’ve seen a number of changes in the app, most of them positive. However, the new learning path is a disaster. For those of us who have been using the app for a long time, the new UI completely negates all of our previous work. I will only continue to use this app if an option to revert back to the previous learning path is offered to users..SilvergullVersion: 6.179.0

✓ Good but could be betterI just started learning Korean a few weeks ago and I really like the layout of the app. It’s very user friendly and fun to use and learn from. However, a lot of the basic words and phrases are not really relevant to me. I’m not sure if my opinion really matters but I my suggestion would be to have a questionnaire about the learner to gage who they are, their life, and then use that info to tailor their learning experience to words and phrases that are relevant to their life. For example, asking age range, occupation, if they go to school, why they want to learn the language, etc. I’m still in the beginning levels of my learning but it’s very repetitive for words I don’t necessarily need to know and they have been loan words at that. Such as: Philadelphia, Boston, Paris, Crow, Fox. I understand that the repetition of the words helps with practice in reading of the Korean consonants and vowels, but still. I feel like it would be more beneficial to repeat words and phrases that will be useful. Never ever will I use the phrase “I like bad boys” or “the fox’s milk”. Overall, I like the app, but tailoring the curriculum to each learner could take the app to another level. Also, I understand there are free and premium versions of the app, so maybe have the free version stay how it currently is and have the premium version tailor the learning? Just my thoughts, not sure if these reviews are looked at or not, but thanks for whoever reads..BautistalovescookiesVersion: 6.221.0

✓ Find it presumptuousI liked the app at first as I was using it to keep my Spanish fresh. I am not a beginner but feel that anyone starting from scratch would be losing lives at an extraordinary rate as new words just pop up and it could be a guessing game if you are new to a language. It is also way too picky and grades as incorrect some perfectly acceptable answers. Been using for just over a week and am already fed up with it. I find the Plus version to be rather pricey and have read reviews which suggest that the hearts are not really unlimited so will pass. The more i use this the more i start to hate it. It seems to work with little knowledge of how English (and sometimes Spanish) sentences can be constructed. Translations are not always literal and it is annoying to be underscored when absolutely sure an entry is correct. In the UK i can go into a shop and ask to “Try a shirt” We don;t always say try on, indeed seldom do. However Duolingo rejects this translation. Sometimes it gives alternatives, and in cases like this this is what they should do. As a student I would be terribly discouraged. A couple of weeks after starting this review, i have downgraded it for the reasons stated and also because the constant ads for the plus version are really annoying. Got a free trial of plus for gaining something and every second step i take it reminds me I am no longer a member of Duo Plus…….Yes thanks i know..NininckwVersion: 6.133.0

✓ The Audio exercises for Spanish are very much lacking.The audio exercises in Spanish are extremely hit and miss in that you have to speak very loudly or shout into the microphone for it to understand you and a lot of the time no mater how well you repeat the term in Spanish it says you are wrong. The only way to get it right every time is to use memo on another device and play it back into the mic and so that works every time. So it seems you have to have absolute perfect tone speed and pitch with your voice for it to work. So a great deal needs to be done with the audio exercises for it to understand correctly human voices which don’t all sound the same and the human voice has many factors which determine how he or she sounds like age, ethnicity, gender etc. So I feel this is an annoying issue which needs to be addressed in future updates. The idea of audio exercises for languages is brilliant as learning a language does really require you to be able to speak the language in a way that people of a given country and language are able to understand you. So the audio exercises would be a very welcome update for languages like Greek but a lot of development work will need to be done for the app to understand different male and female voices for it to work as it should..Bulkyboy 1971Version: 6.123.1

✓ Good and not so goodDuolingo has good things about it however it will not teach you grammar, only vaguely through trial and error. there are better apps out there. So I am using three apps to learn German- vocabulary (Drops), LingoDeer (grammar but only just started using so not sure yet) and Duolingo. Also the league table is ridiculous. It would be better if you did not have a demotion zone particularly at Diamond level. A better alternative would be a minimum XP to stay at that level. Despite regular daily practice I often end up near the demotion zone if randomly grouped with a bunch of people earning extraordinarily high XP for the week. I wonder if they are learning the language or just competing to be at the top each week? That’s their business but it is not fair to others, like myself, who are regularly practicing and focusing on learning the language. Yes I am fully aware of how to quickly accumulate very high levels of XP but that comes at a cost- not truly immersing yourself in learning the language..Pennrick- PennVersion: 6.206.0

✓ Great concept but don’t bother - complete lack of many common languages and new coursesI started using Duolingo approximately 4 years ago to brush up on my Japanese that I haven’t used since high school, but primarily to learn a couple of Balkan languages. Problem here - there aren't any available. Excellent concept and variety of exercises. I’m sure some people like the game-type quality to it with badges, etc. however I find this to be incredibly childish (thought I was using a language app targeted at adults?) and doesn’t make a difference to my ability to learn. The biggest disappointment of all is the complete lack of any new language courses. 4 years after enquiring and there still aren’t any Balkan language courses available... they’re forever in the “incubator”, yet High Valyrian, which isn’t even a real language, is available? Make sense of that. In summary, total lack of advancement, all the updates seem to do is introduce more childish gimmicks and “squash the pesky bugs”. Don’t waste your time with duolingo, Mango languages has far more options available and you can sign up for free access via your local library..TeeboucherVersion: 6.84.0

✓ Good but should add privacy settings for youngerI think that this app is very good but I would like it better if younger kids could choose to add others and have a public account as well. Like they should have an option to be a private account for safety reasons, but they should also have the option to have a public account if they get permission from parents for example an email system etc. my sister wants to get the public account and be able to add friends and her classmates but she can’t because shes 8 so maybe make an option where under 13s can also choose to have a public account but go through a system for example parent emails etc. and please make it possible to age in Duolingo, or to be able to change your age. Overall pretty good.Green_Mochi22Version: 6.143.0

✓ They punish people for errorsI used to like duolingo when I first got it. Every time you update it they add something new like ads or punishments for making errors. You either pay with your points or you have to wait till later to be able to continue to use it. I'm not a child that doesn't work for me, either change this or I delete the app. I think it's a way to get more money but it treat adults like children..LexuslillyVersion: 5.1.10

✓ Doesn’t make sense for languages with different alphabetsI was hoping to use duolingo to improve speaking Japanese and Greek, but the focus is on learning the alphabets rather than learning useful speaking phrases. With Japanese especially this isn’t particularly helpful. I was learning for weeks and the focus was just on hiragana (one of the three Japanese alphabets). In the short / medium term this is useless, in real world applications (eg if you’re in a train station), most Japanese will be be in kanji. Duolingo for Japanese is therefore almost completely useless for speaking and reading / writing as you get incredibly bogged down in alphabets before learning to say anything...and the main alphabet you learn isn’t particularly useful. There should be an option to learn languages for speaking, with the text written in romanised form. Most people using this app will want to use it for speaking. Similarly with greek, the duolingo system isn’t suited to learning alphabets. Again, after weeks, the phrases are totally random (‘The good popcorn’) because they are purely devised to teach you the alphabet. I have been to Greece and have never needed to say or write. ‘The good popcorn’. Phonetic phrases would be much better!.LouisMatijoVersion: 6.61.0

✓ DisappointedI have a 466 day streak and my partner has a 702 day streak and we have always loved duolingo, but this new update is so disappointing. There are multiple glitches and we feel like we are being pushed to pay for the super account despite not really being able to spare the cash due to us being 20 and only working casual jobs whilst studying. We are worried about loosing our streaks as everything costs so many gems now and practice gives us barley any XP. Alongside this, there is no help if we get stuck and need a suggestion as the first suggestion is always wrong. My partner is nearly fluent in spanish now (duolingo + spanish speaking friends) and still has difficulty earning enough XP to stay in the diamond league. I am not as fluent but have learnt a lot since starting my French, but again it is so much more difficult to earn XP and stay in the diamond league. I just wish they eased up a little with the pressure to pay for the super account and at least bring up the practice XP and go back to only some stuff costing gems and not everything….Tyl2410Version: 6.190.0

✓ One heart, one personWhen I loose a heart, Duo comes to my house and kidnaps a member of my family. Send police. No better, send FBI..Indoraptor gen 4Version: 6.69.0

✓ Sync your programs!!I doubt the devs care, but as fun as Duolingo is, it’s really annoying that I can’t fluidly switch between phone and computer. The quests on the programs are completely different, and if I want to make progress towards a friend quest, I *have* to use phone because they don’t show u on computer. But I would rather have access to a mouse and full keyboard. If you really want it to be a phone app that much, shut down the website. Or keep the website and sync it properly. Also, I HATE the 90% and perfect quests. They don’t inspire me to try harder. They just inspire me to stop after I’ve gotten more than one wrong. Either stop and start over or just stop for the day until the quests reload. When it’s one, it’s fine, but when it’s like… 3 perfect lessons for 3 gems? Not worth it, and since I know there’s no reward already, there’s no point in getting on. I would recommend lower stakes (80%) but offer additional rewards (even only sometimes) for the 90% and perfect. Otherwise, you’re basically sending the message that you’re a failure if you’re not perfect. Well nobody is, including you, or you would sync your phone app to the computer program. It would also be nice to know which lessons actually have speaking items in them. It’s really annoying to have a quest to complete 12 speaking items and have to complete 5 lessons just to get 1. This is another thing that sometimes inspires me to not bother, though it’s not as bad as the literal quest for perfection..BarriesaxxyVersion: 6.217.0

✓ Microphone doesn’t workWhy does the microphone not work? It is such an integral part of the course. Apparently the microphone has not worked on this App for years as other reviews also complain about that. With so many intelligent App developers out there why has this not been fixed? Otherwise the programme is a good one and enjoyable. This bug MUST get fixed..CalsmonVersion: 5.1.24

✓ I didn't like the redesignEdit: Apparently I can choose to type in the target language, but still would love to write in English as well because I enjoy typing in any language. Maybe at least an option for it as well? Well first of all, I really love the app and have been using it for two years nearly on a daily basis. I just came here to change my stars to 3 because things really started to bother me. I knew there were no grammar tips and jump levels in the app, and I accepted the app as it was. Then that new design update came. After redesign, which really increased the writing exercises without an option to change it back, I realised that I felt quite discouraged. What does that even mean if I can guess the meaning? it surely doesn't mean that I will remember it for long I guess. It also looks extremely childish and breaks my desire to use the app. Just because of that, I started to use Safari to exercise in Duolingo. And if it changes in the future, I don't know if I keep using Duolingo as I do now. Please do listen our voice, there is a thread about grammar tips on mobile opened about 3 years ago, and just brought to the app for a few languages. But after all, again, its a free app and I am glad for their work, like every app, it could be better but I don't think we have the right to talk angrily about something we use for free for a long time. Thank you..TwwstsVersion: 6.6.1

✓ Good App Getting WorseI have been using Duolingo now for almost 5 years and I have finally given up. When I started it was a very simple and free app, there were only two voices and the lessons were incredibly simple. Now there’s a cast of incredibly patronizing characters that speak to me like I’m a child in incredibly annoying voices. I should say, I’m speaking of the Spanish course in particular. There is no option to turn all these silly voices off and one of them for some reason is a perpetually unenthusiastic emo girl, one day I got something wrong because she said she was excited in an I assumed she wasn’t based on her tone. The cartoon owl is annoying enough but at least in the early days you could turn him off. It’s also getting worse with the free version off the app, when I started there was ads but no love hearts, you could practice all day, now I can only use it for 30 mins at most before I run out of hearts and have to wait. It seems as though their plan is to make the free version so frustrating that you HAVE to upgrade. In fact most of the ads are urging you to upgrade. I guess that need to pay all of the animators for all their unnecessary work. I’m done, I’ve found an app that treats me like an adult. Good luck to you reading and I hope you get more out of the app than I did..Ando676Version: 6.192.0

✓ Duolingo going downhillEver since Duolingo added hearts, which are pointless, only a hindrance to supposed unlimited free learning, this app has started to go downhill. They are effectively forcing you to pay for super just so you get unlimited hearts and a few other features. Unlimited hearts used to be free for everyone and you could learn as much as you want, but the hearts really are pointless. Now, they have made possibly the worst update in app development history, a totally unnecessary update which if not changed back, if definitely going to ruin the app for 90% of users in the future. Many people can agree with me on this, this update makes no sense. It is confusing, limiting, and completely destroys their “mission”. This update is catered to infantile users, and concerning frequent and old users like myself, they have completely abandoned our needs and what made the app enjoyable. It used to be incredibly simple and organised, with the availability to learn multiple topics at once, but now, it takes an endless amount of time to scroll between topics, with a childish candy crush like theme, which is very unpopular with the community. Duolingo needs to bring back the structured, neat design for users who want it. They didn’t even give any warning or option for this update, they just enforced it. Whoever agrees with me should leave a one star review and help the cause to change it back. #BringBackOldDuolingo.Reef123456Version: 6.179.0

✓ Money hungry!We sit through ads, that we are told is for supporting free learning, and now you make it so much more difficult to learn on this app when you just want us to pay. you charge way too much. some of us have lost our jobs and cannot pay. you’ve taken away perks from the app that were helping me learn. i now have to pay gems to use certain features that were always free for me to use?? why??? i have spent countless hours on this app and watched literally a thousand ads to help support my free learning and apparently that was all for nothing. you are just slapping me in the face and i can no longer even use the timed experience ramp up challenge without buying it?? i am SO unimpressed and so disheartened by this change in the app. it has really killed my desire to practice and learn. and again, i’m months into a streak, practicing for at least 3-4 hours a DAY. you guys are ruthless. it’s so sad. truly sad..Jones-cVersion: 6.71.0

✓ Updates are ruining this appI love language learning, I am starting a degree in German next year and probably wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't for Duolingo. But with all the new updates I can barely stand the app. The new health system is ridiculous! I have completed the German tree and would now like to level up topics but after 5 mistakes I have to either buy a health refill, wait a day for them to refill or practise to refill them. While I would like to practise my German, the current practise forces you to practise topics from the very beginning of the tree. I don't need to be reminded how to say bread and water!! Duolingo needs to create some sort of algorithm to choose a suitable level to begin practising from because I can't learn anything from the end of the tree without having to practise the most basic things to refill my health. It's just ridiculous, duolingo is putting making money before a good learning experience. I can accept adverts and some in app purchases but the health system needs to be fixed. The desktop version is still quite good, but they need to sort the app out because they are losing some of their oldest users with their pointless updates. I enjoy using memrise much more nowadays as I can practise at the level I'm at without my session being interrupted by me being forced to practise the most basic greetings and verb conjugation. Sort yourself out duolingo!.JasminNDGVersion: 5.2.30

✓ Great app, plagued by ads and money-grubbing schemeTl;dr – Great app to learn but only if you pay subscription. As a free user, you can get away with learning the basics before it gets too tiresome with all the ads and waiting for hearts (lives) to restore. Long version: This is my first time using Duo, the lessons are designed beautifully, and the gamification helps add fun to the learning. But, like so many other reviews have mentioned, the heart system and countless ads ruined the free user experience. You can get upto 5 hearts and even a simple mistake such as choosing a different verb form results in loss of a heart. As others have said, this puts the pressure on learner and it becomes more about getting the right answer through the system instead of learning. I don't think you can learn much in the free version, specially when difficulty of lessons increase as you progress in the course. You'll end up giving up instead of waiting for hearts and ads to finish. This is ironic considering that the founders of Duolingo built this app with the idea of free education. It doesn't seem like that's the point anymore..Pwnx0ulVersion: 6.57.0

✓ Why the restart???I was doing fine and really enjoying learning German when a few things happened. 1. It said that I had not done a day of duolingo which broke my streak that I was really proud of. 2. It told me that I HAD to use a streak freeze to save it and that used up almost all of my gems! 3. Once I had done that I got onto the game to play and it had sent me back a whole unit and there wasn’t really anyway for me to progress except just do all of those lessons all over again!!! Over all, I was enjoying it but the one star review is because of the random restart and that there seems to be no way that I know of to fix it! Duolingo id you see this comment can you please help me fix this? Because other than this problem I’ve had the app has been great..MableMurpleVersion: 6.233.0

✓ Recent Update is a cash-grabWith the amount of incentive ads, you’d think they’d chill with the cash grab updates but like every other capitalist platform, they come up with newer ways to do so. Before the update, you could earn gems through watching a video multiple times that start from 10 gems decreasing to 3 gems with the frequency but now you have to wait 59 mins and only get 5-7 gems each time. This doesn’t get people to come back every hour, in fact it promotes the opposite. I had lost interest after this update since it’s obvious they catered more towards the superduolingo or whatever users. Furthermore, the 40xp league challenges no longer give you 10xp if you’re able to nearly complete but ran out of time. The new change is obviously promoting the switch to the subscribed version and timer boosts. All these new updates are such an obvious cash grab. Thought this platform was different and encouraged the learning of new languages despite your economic background. Looks like they’re the same as every other capitalist company..👗👢👠💄👓👛Version: 6.167.0

✓ It’s all completely wrong in FrenchThis app is awful. Someone who doesn’t speak French made this lol I went on here to check it out for my boyfriend, it’s hilarious how BAD it is. Almost nothing is correct, don’t waste your time 😂.MfowpmdVersion: 6.214.0

✓ Mauvaise appliDepuis sa mise à jour que je n’avais pas je ne peux plus pratiquer autant qu’avant avec Duolingo car il y a maintenant des vies c’est vraiment stupide quand qu’on veut vraiment apprendre l’anglais....Naomie🌹Version: 6.57.0

✓ Good but buggyI’ve been using Duolingo for a while now. I am very happy with the content and the speed to which I am learning. I have found that unless you pay for the service for either one month at a time or for six months as a bundle you lose lives very quickly. It then takes over four hours to replenish said lives once you have lost them all. However, my husband has noted that you can do lessons on the desktop and not loose any at all! This is a disparity between different platforms and as such should be addressed. I am using both my iPhone SE and iPad mini 4, for my lessons and find that it can take a while for content to load for both lessons and skip a level activities. Sometimes the male speaker sounds unclear when he speaks at normal speed and sounds almost patronising at slow speed in the Spanish course. This is where lives can be and are often lost! The other point that must be made is that AMERICAN ENGLISH is being used rather than ENGLISH ENGLISH so you can also be penalised for this too! Ironically though I have lost lives for my incorrect English spellings!!!!!! This needs sorting out Duolingo. The Ads are a bloody pain. I used to be a pro member but I did notice that at each upgrade they increased the cost of subscriptions. No more cash out of me thanks very much Duolingo. Also, why are there only stories for European languages and not all languages? Stories have very much helped me to learn faster and put words into context..KateRVNVersion: 6.151.1

✓ Put me back in the right unitThey sent me back a A level. because I haven’t played for awhile and they constantly send me notifications telling me to keep going even if it’s their fault in the first place that I’ve been sent back a unit. I tried to test but failed because there are words I don’t know in Spanish because I haven’t learnt them yet 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬I know you’re gonna send me back another if you don’t read this, then it’s because you’re hiding it Please get rid of this feature i’m gonna have to delete Duolingo😭🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬.Cat_785Version: 6.237.0

✓ OkLet me paint you a picture; me and my bestie got this app to learn a new language, since our made up secret language wasn’t really working because we didn’t remember every single word, we where scrolling through languages (there was a great variety of them from Spanish - one of the major languages to Scottish Gaelic - something neither one of us had heard of) and we both agreed on Hawaiian - a language we had no experience in; a foreign language. My first issue: you have to go through a little mini course before you start, which wasn’t only boring, it was time-consuming when they could just have found out the rough answers when I actually did the work. Problem number two, it kept telling me to ‘make an account,’ but I did / do not want to give my email away to random people. For example, on Roblox, you do not have to put your email in (but you can.) Do they want to send you emails or what, saying: ‘your little Timmy did 10 minutes of Duolingo, you should be so proud! My final difficulty, if you don’t sign up you can’t do anything after say 10-20 minutes, please fix this, Duolingo Team!! To end on a high note, all the things I learnt will be used if I ever go to Hawaii, but please fix this since I switched to google translate (and everyone knows how terrible that is!!).HjhjnbbbnVersion: 6.160.0

✓ American English is a big problemDon’t get me wrong I love America snd Americans. I speak a British English as I come from a country colonised by the English. I’m Making many more mistakes as a speaker of British English because of the way the American English IS Duolingo. I can’t ask Duolingo anything about it as they, like every huge online company are virtually impenetrable. Is there a Duolingo for British English speakers? I am keen to learn and I like to achieve. This is holding back my progress, my marks and eroding both my confidence and my patience. I don’t need to learn how to speak American English as when in America I enjoy the language differences! But it’s a huge stumbling block when learning French. I have skills already in French. But Duolingo isn’t addressing a huge issue for those of us who are not natural American English speakers. I’ll head to Reddit to try to understand and be supported in some way. It’s incredibly demoralising and supremely frustrating for those of us who are trying to be successful!.ProtoNeoGothicFeministVersion: 6.191.0

✓ I came here to learn a languageI downloaded this expecting to learn a language and not have to worry about making mistakes. It’s treated like a game with hearts and when those are gone it’s the worst thing possible I’m sorry but the app is bad with the whole game setup.Coyote crewsVersion: 6.61.0

✓ Money grubbing new ownersUpdate: Just when you think it couldn’t get worse...it finds a way! So they have taken the health system to be even more punishing. One of the few learning activities they wouldn’t take hearts away for before was a matching exercise. This made sense as it didn’t rely on clicking a “check” button. Today, I accidentally clicked on a card I didn’t mean to, and poof! One heart of 5 down. They claim that this is to prevent rushing through the material, but let’s be honest, it’s a “pain point “ to try and get users to pay for their “plus” membership. I am considering paying for my lessons, but it sure as hell won’t be Duolingo with their sneaky, underhanded tactics. From before: Studying Japanese, used to have no health bar, that changed without warning. Get rid of that health bar. Less likely to take risks to test myself now. Got rid of my ingots, for blue gems, did not feel like an equivalent exchange. I repeat, get rid of health bar. Also I would consider paying for subscription if it were more reasonably priced. Used to love Duolingo, now sorely disappointed..~Beautiful-Inside-N-Out~Version: 6.57.0

✓ Heart are a NuisanceSince the 5 heart came into play, I feel threatened when I make a mistake and lose a heart. I want the former version back..FrodoggboobooVersion: 6.65.0

✓ DestroyedThe update to the path interface has really destroyed the product. I was thinking about upgrading to a subscription before, but now I’m thinking about uninstalling..Kc crainVersion: 6.184.0

✓ Right now Duolingo wouldn’t dare offer a live invitation to rate their appAn open invitation to rate them would absolutely tank their current good rating. Right now I’d be happy to give them 0 STARS After having earned a winning streak of almost a year, I lost it by minutes on the daylight saving time change over. It would cost me $10 to restore it- with no option of using gems! I found that so offputting that I stopped using the app for over two months. That’s getting close to the cost of a punitive parking ticket. Duolingo has totally abandon good pedagogy in adopting a punishment mode to force you to upgrade. Punishment is totally effective as a motivator for learning. In fact, is is counterproductive Now that I’ve come back to it I’m even more put off. You now need to maintain hearts in order to progress through a lesson. This will cost you 450 gems. Your errors never used to impede your ability to move to your daily goal. You just got an extra question and a reduced bonus. NO PUNISHMENT! Now you have to keep buying the hearts or you have to start the lesson completely over even if you were just one question away from finishing it! What a put-off. My first review lesson was very complex in its use of grammar, specific irregular verbs, and specific situations for pronouns, adjectives and articles. I kept making a different little mistake in many my do-overs and burned through a lot of hearts. That’s when I learned that you lost everything if you didn’t buy. Also frustrating is that Doulingo is totally unforgiving if you so much as mis-type one letter a name. It used to be a lot easier to forgive them their imperfections when you weren’t being fined for them. There also is no refund when you are fined for a correct answer- one that you share with them to help them improve. To Duolingo: I’ve been watching your ads to help keep this free. Some users cannot afford your fees, others will struggle with them- but make them a priority, others can afford them, and some could afford to pay more. That has always been the spectrum of your clients. You have forgotten your roots and your early mission. Your continued message of ”working to keep the working to keep Duolingo free” is becoming exceedingly hypocritical. I can’t help but wonder if you have a director and staff driving your new changed mission with a sub-plot of creating and keeping very well-paid jobs. I volunteer for hundreds of hours a year, and it saddens me to see these changes. Maybe you should get rid of the dishonest manipulation and do something like Wikipedia. They have a link that takes you to an explanation of their financing and have a donation button. They also are struggling, but they’re being honest in their struggle, not manipulative. Manipulating just diminishes the humanitarian aspect of helping individuals to learn a new language, many of which will be newcomers to the countries they live in or want to work in. It also diminishes the value of the work that your volunteers do, and have done, for altruistic reasons. Do please consider do please consider on doing this last cash grab undoing this last ill-thought cash grab..Jcdf1Version: 6.49.0

✓ The App no longer works well.I loved Duolingo and got a lot of fun out of learning Japanese, but lately they keep changing things without notice. First they changed the tree structure, then I lost quite a few of the legendary awards that it had taken me ages to achieve, when Duolingo did an update, with no explanation. They were never replaced. Consequently, it has taken me several months to earn them all back by myself. Next Duolingo kept moving me along in the tree structure because “We are adding new lessons for new learners a Earlier on in the tree”, but it jumped me on past things I hadn’t had the chance to learn yet; and as a consequence I had to go back myself and learn those things, but I lost the chance to open the gems chests because Duolingo mistakenly thought I’d already opened those chests, yet it hadn’t awarded me the gems! Now there seems to be a bug (which I reported but nothing has been done about) which means whenever I try to earn practice hearts it fails to up load the lessons and just keeps saying “something went wrong try again later”. This has slowed down my learning, as it only replaces practice hearts ever four hours if you cannot practice them in between. I think Duolingo is doing this deliberately to force me into joining the paid ad free subscription and have ‘Super Duolingo’, but I only want to use the free version and watch the ads..LifeLikeMineVersion: 6.221.0

✓ Is this really the most useful?Hi guys, when I first downloaded this app I was really happy when it came to my confidence slowly growing and I was thinking to myself I could actually learn Japanese. Then I came across a little problem, the way the app teaches you is you don’t learn how to construct sentences which is vital when learning any language, but instead you learn the common phrases. And I bet there are thousands of common phrases that this app could force you to memorise along with the minimum standard of 2,000 kanji characters. I find that this is the least effective way of learning a language such as Japanese especially when your first language is English. If it were me I would teach the basic alphabets (hiragana and katakana) teach them a few basic words and then teach them how to construct basic sentences instead of having them memorise literally thousands of phrases, then they begin learning kanji and then more complicated sentence structures and then the rest is is just expanding their vocabulary. I find that this method is easier more effective and quicker when learning literally any language. And if people are facing similar issues with other languages I would like you to consider doing a huge overhaul over all of your language courses. Until then I will be trying to find someone or something which could make learning a language easier, thank you..Any student number pleaseVersion: 5.2.62

✓ Why Duolingo plus?Microtransit actions annoyancesThis app is the best free language learning app at most, it’s heart system where you lose a heart each time you fail a question and then a whole lesson.And the only solution to this problem for us is to buy Duolingo plus to have infinite hearts.This honestly sucks cause you have to pay for it monthly or whatever just to learn a proper language or wait a few hours every day to get one or two hearts.Thanks Duolingo.Hugo .LVersion: 6.58.0

✓ Please take off hearts.I loved this app so much! it was a great way to learn a language without any pressure, and it made learning fun too! but then you added the hearts. the WORST thing you could do. please take them off! you’re literally holding people back from learning! punishing them if we get it wrong, OF COURSE WE ARE GOING TO GET THINGS WRONG, we are literally learning a new language ON AN APP. anyways, please take them off! :(.Shane yaw😹Version: 6.123.0

✓ Counter Intuitive SystemIf I am trying to learn a language and I get a question wrong, I lose a life and am then restricted from learning the language. How am I supposed to improve if I am restricted from learning the language because I don’t know the language? This system does not help me learn the language and restricts my education..Crazy. AceVersion: 6.49.0

✓ Bring back the classic formatA lot of regular users seem annoyed by the new format. I’m over 200 days in a row learning Spanish and loving duolingo but the format change this week was tough to take. Don’t like it at all..Tobydog32Version: 6.178.0

✓ Path and learning ruined for free and paid subscribersThe path style before was 10 units and you knew what you were studying with each topic. The current path style is basically as though each topic has become its own unit, which also is wrong… on unit 15 “Say where people are from” I am learning about how people are feeling and I’ve notice this inaccuracy on other units. I thought maybe the second half prepares you for the first part of the next unit which ultimately makes no sense. So not only do the topics not match the units but there seems to be less reveals of the learned language so I can see what it means in my language at the end for further practice and I can’t go back over previous lessons because nothing matches with what or where it’s meant to be! So the only real point to Duolingo is the competitive side and the streaks which further take away from learning and make it feel more like a chore! Why, I ask, is the path not like it was before? Which is how it STILL IS on the web version? Which I would much prefer to use the app than go onto the web which I don’t always have access to… Thanks a lot Duolingo for making the process to learn a frustrating chore; from 5 down to 2… I recommend memrise - one off payment for life subscription and you know what you’re learning with real people and return to previous lessons selectively and more easily.JinchuurikkiVersion: 6.174.0

✓ Hate the new updateThis was an amazing app and then they went and changed it for some reason. It was great and fun and I was actually learning but with the new version I am having a much harder time. If it doesn’t switch back, I may have to find another app..Horrible update 2Version: 6.179.0

✓ Health systemI dont know why they hate ios users but the health system is utterly useless and its only benefit would be increased sales of duolingo premium. It completely demonstrated me from learning russian, I was all most on a 60 day streak of 50xp a day and my google pixel broke and got given an iphone i quickly found that the ios version is much worse as it has this health system and i quickly gave up as i was putting in over 5 mins for some lessons just to run out of hearts because i had made a miss click. It went from fun and was something i looked forward to doing before going to bed to being a pain and not enjoyable i wouldn't recommend this in less you buy premium or the health system is removed..Sebastian WebbVersion: 6.43.0

✓ Monetization creepObviously Duolingo is focusing on monetization. This latest update is garbage designed to encourage free users to upgrade to premium. Get rid of the hearts and go to hell for ruining what was once one of the greatest apps to ever exist..KurrPlurnkVersion: 6.43.0

✓ Challenge mode timerNew timer built in to the challenge mode just makes you rush and lose hearts Really don’t want this app to turn in to a fremium Update: it’s a fremium now, was on 182 day hot streak tell the heart system (health bar) made me lose because of typos and misclicks. I really was enjoying this app but if I need a video game I will just use my xbox or PlayStation.MorbidkyoVersion: 6.57.0

✓ This app is quite horribleThe devs haven’t added some very user languages (eg: Māori, Punjabi and probably more) but have fictional languages that no one uses, and some of the languages have more care put into them, like how some languages have different voices while others have some guy doing it all, or how some languages give you audio when you tap on them, yet others don’t. I like most other people hated the November update and shot an email to the devs or wrote a review explaining why we hate it, but have you seen the devs do anything?? No you haven’t, this shows that they don’t care at all. Also the ads, there are wayyy too many, you get them at every corner at all times and it’s super annoying. As you can most likely tell, I don’t like this app, I would’ve given it a lower rating if possible. 0/10 don’t bother downloading.🫧bubble🫧Version: 6.193.0

✓ Remove heartsThe app is great for learning new languages but when you limit the amount of learning that someone can do because of the mistakes they make it is unfair and a very unsuccessful way to learn. Mistakes are how we learn, right? If you remove the hearts people will learn faster and more effectively..Ash_Lynn_McVersion: 6.32.0

✓ Good, however...Really good app. Honestly would be 5 stars as the learning format is really good, however you lose 2 from me for 2 strong reasons: 1. Languages aren't fully updated. I am learning Swedish. I have Swedish friends who I've shown my progress to. They all say that some of the words are considered 'old Swedish' Example: App teaches to say father in Swedish as 'far', which is old Swedish. Swedes most commonly use 'papa' for father. 2. Simple reason but very annoying. After each small lesson, I can only feel disappointed by the app that they are trying to force me to get premium/subscription. Every single "ad" is them trying to force-feed me this, which I do not want. Then pop ups appear making it look like I can practice my weaknesses, but nope... paid feature of course. Please stop trying to force-feed me your subscription service. I am currently using Pimsleur to learn Swedish more at the moment due to these two reasons. I hope these two critiques are taken on board within your app. You have a lot of things that beat other apps, such as making it more fun, making learning feel like a game etc. Very good design in that regard. These two things let it down for me. I would love to see changes. Side note: I'd me more inclined to buy premium if you was not trying to force feed me. Just keep that into consideration :).JrktojtbdidiejrbtbfjfkodVersion: 6.226.0

✓ Mediocre and exploitative.I paid good money for Duolingo and have been using it for three years. The app presently will not allow me access unless I consent to “allow notifications”. I have every right to buy this service and then chose to use it on my terms and timeline, not that of it’s developers. An unacceptable abuse of its client’s prerogative. The data harvesting and “personal information” consents are way over the top, too. I will not be renewing my sub..Train2noplaceVersion: 6.203.0

✓ Original & Fun but Many IssuesThe earn heart function by watching an ad, once again is not working. Very frustrating! It’s a great and free way of learning - no books or having to write stuff down, but I have been frustrated by many problems with it. I am using the free option which allows you to learn but you have to earn hearts to permit any mistakes - so if you have 3 hearts you can make 3 mistakes before your session is forced to end (unless you subscribe to the chargeable version). Hearts are awarded after a number of hours and then you can earn more hearts by watching an ad. More hearts = more mistakes permitted for you to carry on learning. No hearts = you cannot continue until your credit of hearts is topped up. My issue with Duolingo is that I used to be able to earn hearts by watching an ad but after 3 days when the tab appeared for me to earn more hearts by watching an ad, whenever I press it nothing happens. Which is rubbish. Also I was awarded 2 days free use of Duo Lingo Plus (a paid option) when I soared through the training. But when I clicked the tab to access the 2 free days of Plus I got message saying ‘A problem has occurred please try later.’ Im sure these are all tools being applied to force me to subscribe to the paid option - which I will not purely because I do not like to be manipulated by an organisation!.NyxPhoenix5Version: 6.144.0

✓ Slowly getting worseDuolingo is an enjoyable app to use and has always been pleasant despite the abundance of ads. Recently they added in “hearts” which will shatter when you get an answer wrong, then you have to “refill” said hearts by purchasing them with in app currency known as “gems”. These gems can be earned by completing lessons, but of course you can also buy them. Your hearts will regenerate over time but your max is five at a time (i.e. five mistakes). Basically, this means now you will be spending less time on the app unless you are an ace at the language you are learning, or if you refill your hearts. Personally, I don’t even spend my gems on hearts because I don’t really want to support a system like this. Though if I did, I wonder how long it would take me to deplete all my gems, leaving me with the only option of buying them. It’s safe to say that this addition of hearts is disappointing and the decision to do so was clearly driven by money. I understand that it’s a free app, but I’m sure they’re making a decent amount from the number of ads in their app. I give Duolingo a 3/5. Unfortunately this score doesn’t regenerate..JewiewVersion: 6.79.0

✓ Nice app but slow progressThe app is nicely designed and has good variety of testing formats, but each level takes FOREVER to pass. Some have 20 rounds before you can move on - and each round is the SAME thing. Even some of the levels seem the same. This feels like a waste of time for the learner and has made me start practicing even less (therefore using the app less) because I already know the material by round #5. I don’t need to review it 15 more times. Please make the progress faster, perhaps integrating some review of previous levels into later ones to ensure retention. Also, please allow us to skip levels more easily - right now it takes 400 gems to pass a level, and that takes many days of repetitive practice (of topics I already know) to accumulate. Not worth it. I even made a separate account to start over and take a placement test to hopefully bypass some of these basic levels. I did much better on this test that my first one, yet the levels they put me on seemed the exact same as on my other account - does the test actually place you anywhere other than the beginning? I get that you’re trying to make money by encouraging us to pay for more gems, but what you’re actually doing is discouraging me from using the app. (Plus, with all the ads, I already feel sufficiently encouraged to pay for premium.) Perhaps just make the number of gems we’re awarded for meeting our daily goal much larger or make the number required to pass a level much smaller..Jess_p330Version: 5.2.58

✓ Preposterous New UpdateThe new update is lazy, unintuitive, and frankly just overall worse. You have completely disregarded thousands of loyal users who have been using the platform with no issues by changing it completely to a redundant, quite useless update. We used to be able to focus on multiple lessons at a time, while also being able to go back, review, and practice in areas where we were not confident. The old layout was user friendly, adaptable, and it was quite easy and fun to use. If you got tired of one area of language, you could move on to another and go back to what was frustrating you at a later time without hindering your progress. Now, if you get stuck on something, or don’t want to do a specific exercise at that time. You are forced with either losing your streak or forcing yourself through an activity you have no motivation for. There are also absolutely NO indication of what the next course will be about. Verbs? Transportation? Daily life? Where did the categories go? My grandmother is 77 years old. She has been using Duolingo for around 2-3 years to help teach her different languages. And she has absolutely loved it. Every day for the past 2+ years I have heard her spend countless hours on Duolingo. Lately she’s lucky to spend more than 20 minutes on it before it becomes too boring and tedious for her. How do you expect users to want to continue learning if you have made it nearly impossible? How is it that in this new update you’ve seemed to completely ignore the very people who’ve made your app so widely used? You admit you’re hearing the app for “new users” but what about the old users who are the very reason your app does so well? Maybe you should actually listen to what your users are wanting out of this app instead of being capitalist pigs focused on brining in as many new users and paying subscribers as possible..JackybxbyVersion: 6.183.1

✓ Duo lingo sucksIt takes 5 HOURS just to refill ONE heart?? Duo lingo says it wants us to learn but all it wants CLEARLY is the money. Duo lingo, u need to fix this. I’m not gonna pay each month just for HEARTS. I will learn form a different app. Practice what u preach which is “we want everyone to learn free!!”🤨 MHMMM that sounds like a bunch of cap right there..HayyylolVersion: 6.114.0

✓ Fix your lessons.It is so obvious you only care about money, when users have been complaining about new words and phrases in their review lessons for weeks now. The German course is completely ruined because of this. I don’t even feel confident enough to try and master a level anymore because every time I review a lesson you throw new words, phrases and sentences at me and it’s happened during challenges as well it’s completely unfair. To be quite clear I’m not sure how talking about when a store is open or if someone would like to play soccer at three correlates to using accusative case & describing language skills it makes zero sense. It makes less sense when it’s a part of my “personal training” level. How can it be training when it hasn’t even been taught yet? I’m two whole levels ahead going back to try and golden my lessons and that is what I’m met with? New words, phrases and sentences that weren’t even taught in the next two levels is bad design. Also side note: 100 gems per challenge is insane considering how many gems you can earn a day is so little. (You also never gave users their gems back when you had the glitch that required you to complete the challenge twice before it would register.) It’s not free and easy learning for everyone when all of these mistakes exist..MinkeypokearerbunVersion: 6.214.0

✓ Please readThis app is great and all, but I’ve found that the desktop site is even more interesting and helpful. The app is very limiting. While the desktop version includes a better discussion board and quite a bit more info. HOWEVER, I have noticed some annoying changes in the desktop site. They are expanding the app, and diminishing the desktop site. Which, obviously, I really don’t agree with or like. If I needed more in depth information about a lesson, as they are usually very cut and dry on the app, I would sometimes go to the site and there might be extra pointers on certain things I wasn’t understanding. I keep trying to do things on the site and it keeps taking me back to the mobile version or a complete replica of the app on my browser. I get that they seem to be aiming at continuity and flow, but please do not take away all the information and good of the desktop site in order to grow the app. I also really miss being able to see my progress on each language. I liked being able to see how much further I had to go before leveling up. But apparently they removed that feature, while still keeping the levels???? Which is beyond me. Just seems like an added annoyance. One of my biggest pet peeves is needing the desktop site and even requesting it on my iPhone and still getting the mobile site or having to continually click Desktop Version/Full Version because every link takes me to a shortened version/aka the mobile site. Soooooo annoying..012695Version: 5.2.17

✓ The heart system takes the learning experience awayI’m learning Spanish on this app. You can only make 5 mistakes or else you need to wait to have the heart restored to continue. Many times I just have a very small translation error in English which the translation is definitely still right but the app won’t accept my answer - then I lost a heart. I just don’t understand if it’s necessary to have the heart system if I really want to learn. You can have me watch those ads after each lesson, and I’ll still continue study on this app and spend more time on this app. But it just feels like I cannot make mistakes with the heart system. Like don’t we learn from our mistakes? Sometimes I’m learning a new grammar of course I’m going to make some mistakes. I don’t know which program manager of your team came up with this idea but this person should be fired. The original goal of this app to HELP people LEARN languages, but now with the heart system it forces people to spend less time on the app, cannot make more than 5 mistakes, and just give customers a ugly-looking feeling of just want us to look ads so you can make more money. Also, you need to make sure what you are teaching is at least correct. The present tense and normal tense is always messed up in this app. Many times the translation is in present tense but they want you to write Spanish in normal tense and vice versa. I’m not sure if this is helping people to learn or making them more confused..FiaowudbxVersion: 6.173.1

✓ It’s not what it used to beDuolingo used to be a great app for learning new languages, however Over the last year or so it has gone from wanting to help people learn, to more about making money. It is extremely hard to want to use this app due to it forcing you to pay to be able to learn a language. I understand it’s free to download and stuff but try learning a language when you can’t do any lessons because you’re out of hearts and they recharge one every 5 hours. I understand that there are ways to earn hearts in game by watching adverts and practices but the adverts can’t be watched all the time, the game has to offer them to you and practices are so long and sometimes very very hard. In conclusion if you want to spend hundreds of dollars for this app when you could just pay for real life classes which would be cheaper.. go for it. If you don’t like the idea of spending money then this app is not for you. Maybe if it was cheaper and had the option to only subscribe for weeks or months st a time it would feel better. But I will not pay hundreds of dollars for an app I will only use for like 3 weeks a year..JezzzzaaaanfjfjfjjfmfififndjdVersion: 6.88.0

✓ ⚠️DO NOT DOWNLOAD⚠️My name is Sierra, age 27 and I’m from Mexico along with the rest of my family, all of us speak Spanish, except for my four year old daughter Dina and my husband Felix. One night Dina told me she wanted to learn Spanish and if I could teach her, I told her I would love to but I had to get to work and since her papa had recently been fired I had to work more in order to pay for everything we have. And unfortunately Felix isn’t from Mexico and doesn’t know how to speak Spanish. Dina started getting really upset after I had told her this but I was running late for work so I told her I would figure something out on my lunch break. So it was my lunch break and I was sitting on the couch with Dina trying to figure out a solution, finally after heaps of research I discovered this app, I started to look into it more and found that it was perfect. I told Felix to get it set up for her. I was back from work and I was making dinner. I was watching Dino on her tablet playing Duolingo when suddenly I saw her completely freeze, I rushed over and asked what was wrong, she told me that the app had told her she was going to die so I comforted her and quickly deleted the app. It was a horrifying experience and we never spoke of the app again. Was this a bug or something because I don’t know..Stella182Version: 6.194.1

✓ Bye bye learning...I use to LOVE duolingo app for learning Spanish... that is until they turned to a “health system” and you require lives to learn. When learning a new language you are going to make mistakes and if you have to wait a full day to earn lives you will never learn at that rate. I’m on an 80 day strike and up until today I didn’t need lives to learn and I would really learn by completing 20+ lessons in an hour. Now I cannot get through 4 because I’m out of lives!! Please take this option away! Even the version you pay for requires lives!! That’s so ridiculous. I use to recommend this app to anyone who wanted to learn a language and I no longer will be! This app is designed to learn not play. If I wanted to earn lives to play I would play candy crush.....adíosVersion: 6.48.0

✓ $270 per year and still attempting to manipulate us into spending moreThis is a well crafted and helpful app, and I am very happy to spend $270 per year for it (which I do), because it is, aside from the issue below, very well done and effective. However, I find it deeply troubling that this business constantly attempts to manipulate users into spending even more by “buying gems”. We all know what a lucrative revenue source this is for apps - we also know this is a shady practice, particularly when young people are a major customer base. Taking users all the way through “events” then at the last minute ramping up the difficulty and repeatedly suggesting they buy gems for time extensions at exorbitant prices is very sleazy. I work in tech so I am aware of these practices but other people aren’t and end up spending money they don’t have with manipulative gamification. I know the person who will be responding to this review won’t be responsible for this revenue strategy so I’m sorry for the negative energy… but please pass this higher up the chain if you can. It comes across SO badly. I would happily spend $300/year on this app - but I find this very off-putting. It’s a shame considering what a great app it is in every other respect..Claire734Version: 6.217.0

✓ August 2022 update has ruined a great productI have used Duolingo for many years and always found it extremely good. I especially liked the tips which explained grammar points - after all, if you are going to learn a language properly you need to know WHY you are saying particular phrases and how you can adapt them to other situations. I also liked that the language learning was divided into groups based on either a topic (eg food, family) or a grammar point (future, past etc) and you could choose one if you felt you needed to refresh something. But the big update….what a disaster! You no longer get the choice of what you study. Instead you are led along a path that has been compared to the Candy Crush Saga game; you have no idea what a lesson is going to be about, and all along you are encouraged to earn more points to climb league tables or enter tournaments. The whole experience feels rushed with more emphasis on moving quickly along the path like it’s a race. The grammar hints have gone so you no longer have a way to discover why the words you are learning go together as they do. Many people on Twitter have asked the hierarchy at Duolingo to reverse the update or at least reinstate the features we love but these requests have been ignored. In fact the CEO has actually called unhappy users “change averse”! Overall I am very disappointed with the new Duolingo and couldn’t really recommend it now, sorry..Efk100Version: 6.178.0

✓ Great before the updateFirstly and most importantly, Duolingo is still a fantastic resource. I started learning Greek when I met my girlfriend and it’s been an invaluable tool to help me not only learn her language but to also appreciate her culture more. The lessons are fab and the tips are brilliant, and ultimately it’s been so motivational. However, since the update, the app is far less useful. Instead of taking you through sections where you can see the topics of lessons, you’re just lead through a ‘stepping stone’ path with no real way of knowing what vocabulary you’re going to do, which has hindered my motivation and actually lead me to using the app way less than I did before. There would be times before the update where I would want to develop a specific topic or focus on verbs only, which was so useful to learn through repetition. The lessons are much shorter which is fine if you just want to get your streak over and done with for the day but when I want to make substantial progress on specific vocabulary it’s less useful and more about trying to get through the course as fast as possible. I can see how it’s training you to discover pieces of vocab at random (as you don’t know what’s coming up - like real life conversations), but from a learning tool perspective it’s really disappointing and hope there is at least an option in the future to navigate lessons by topic..StoffageVersion: 6.183.1

✓ Duolingo was better before the update.Duolingo is a great app for learning basic sentences and words in other languages that can help you in the future and help you get a grasp of the language early on. I remember I always went on Duolingo everyday, excited to go on it and learn. From the new update, I’ve felt really demotivated to actually do any lessons. I had almost a year streak on Duolingo and I had lost it due to the fact that the new layout makes it so hard to keep track of everything. The layout previously, was very organised and well kept. The new layout on the other hand, is really disorganised and I don’t like the way they’ve set it out. I feel really unsatisfied with this new update and I think it would be better to change it back to the old layout where it is more efficient and made me feel a lot more motivated and happy to be learning. I also don’t like the fact that you get forced to read the stories. I liked it when you could choose if you wanted to read them. It’d be a little fun every now and then but now it’s just boring and it doesn’t make me feel like doing any of the lessons. Please change it back to the old layout. This app is still great, but I’m not learning as much as I could be..Peaxhy_sodaVersion: 6.189.0

✓ Don’t compete!I started Duolingo two weeks ago, initially it was going great and I was really enjoying it… But I am competitive and with messages coming through from Duolingo about my position on the board I started competing to stay at the top. Having raced through lessons to keep poll position I now feel I need to go back to almost the start, I also stopped enjoying it and now feel like it’s a chore… Being given the percentage you got right at the end is great but there shouldn’t be points. It should solely be about learning the language well not about leaderboards or who’s moving up and who’s dropping back. Its not about individual achievement when the programme is pitting you against others.Cirions opinonVersion: 6.173.1

✓ Health barI do four languages daily on Duolingo. However I dislike the way the health bar can block you out of all languages if you make 5 mistakes. I only allow myself a certain amount of time each day to study and if I get blocked out I can’t get back enough health in that day to continue. Previously I just used to swap languages so I could continue to get my quota and also regain a bit of health. I was happy to pay for the plus subscription to get rid of the ever increasing adverts but I am not going to pay for new health. Please do something about this as I am getting very disheartened by this app. However I do like the Owl popping up and giving me words of encouragement. In case I didn’t press send the other day with the above I’m sending it again. I am totally fed up with the current format of Duolingo. I keep getting blocked from continuing and am seriously considering giving Duolingo the flick. I have been doing four languages faithfully nearly every day and I really enjoyed it. I am also mad that I took the decision to buy a subscription. If I cannot do my quota of Duolingo every day maybe I will make the same effort to complain everyday. Does anyone actually read these comments and does anyone ever think to reply.............Lizzie221Version: 5.2.16

✓ I HATE THE PATH!!The path is limiting and the “guide books” are useless. They only give examples no explanations. The previous version was divided into units that had better explanations. It was easy to go back and review a topic or to peek ahead and see what the tips were for the next lesson. I have tried to get use to the path but I find it a very frustrating experience..BlesséeVersion: 6.184.0

✓ Voice and SoundThe app is great but it lowered it self because I remember when this was the TOP of education for learning a new language but now I think it's not as great as before. The heart system is okay but I wouldn't of added that, the ads are constant before they used to be none and now the Voices are TERRIBLE. When I was learning Korean I apparently kept getting it wrong which meant I lost a lot of hearts. Some of the alphabets don't even match the sound like 여 is for e but it doesn't sound like an e. Also when you learn actually words like Dragons the sounds are so sketchy, it doesn't even sound like it's being said by someone. I still use it in case my memrise is acting funny but it's not the best choice for learning a language. Guys, download memrise because not only they have great sounds, they don't get two letters and put them together and make you learn them. They actually do each letter separately them put the together. They also let you hear from a woman's voice and a man's voice, not only that but let you practice your pronunciation, strength words and let you hear local natives say the word and they make you try and Guess or write what they are saying in their language. But make sure you get membership for memrise as it way better. But still Duolingo is a backup don't use it as your main..Marykate108Version: 5.2.7

✓ Not enough livesI have learned so much from Duolingo but as the levels have got harder I have learned very little. This is all due to the limited hearts a learner is given. The harder the levels are the easier it is to lose hearts. Mistakes are very common to make in the harder levels yet one isn’t able to learn from their mistake if they have lost all their hearts in the one lesson. When this happens I need to wait a full day for my hearts to refresh and by that time I still haven’t been able to complete a single lesson in a day. I don’t think unlimited hearts should be available to only users of Duolingo Plus as the privilege to learn a language should be available to everyone. If not, the hearts should refresh faster or make it a rule that a user should at least be able to complete their lesson even if they have ran out of hearts. I find myself spending 8 minutes on a lesson and losing a life on the very last question. This wasn’t such a problem when the lessons didn’t take as long but I find it now very frustrating. I want to continue learning from this app as it is probably the best language app available for keen language learners. If my hearts wouldn’t run out for so long I could spend the whole day on the app and I’m sure Duolingo would benefit more from that rather than users spending their day off the app waiting for their hearts to refresh. Edit: has duolingo removed the audio lessons??.User728284Version: 6.187.0

✓ Heart system is stupidIt won’t work out if waiting for whole 24 hrs to have full health, learning language is about making mistakes, the heart system is just another level stupidness, used to love it but now no more..JgfccghkkVersion: 6.48.0

✓ Unusable in its new versionI had been using Duolingo to learn French for more than 900 days, not only was it the best language app I had found for helping me learn effectively but it was also enjoyable and I genuinely felt motivated to use it each day. Then the new update appeared without warning and I lost all my all progress, at a point when I was approaching the end of my course. It was hugely demoralising, but after 914 days continuous learning I didn’t want to give up so I tried to make the best of it - unfortunately everything that had previously worked so well in the old version has been removed. It’s now like Candy Crush, with the occasional bit of vocab thrown in. It’s childish, hard to navigate, and the transition for users who had previously already started a course under the old system is so poorly managed. Now instead of looking forward to completing the final units of the French course I am now faced with lessons full of basic stuff I learned years ago (basic sentences with literally just 3-4 words) mixed with content I have never seen - because the transition from my other course has been so screwed up that it clearly thinks I have been exposed to this new vocab/grammar already when I haven’t. Reluctantly I’m deleting my once favourite app. Would never trust Duolingo again, which is genuinely sad because I had learned so much with it. It’s just unusable now..RKirb83Version: 6.188.0

✓ Losing lives and spamCan there please be a feature where if you need to write a word and one letter is wrong or in the wrong order you get to try again without losing lives. I’m terrible remembering how to spell words especially in another language. I like the way the app “education perfect” I use in school does it, if I have a letter wrong it will tell me I’m close and if I get it wrong again I lose the question. I think that way it will prevent me losing my streak because all my lives are lost bc of spelling. Also I get sent so many emails, I hardly look at my emails but when I do I want to see important ones, not those from duo telling me I’m gonna lose my streak from a few days ago!.Ollie_.MVersion: 6.216.0

✓ I was a fan before the update.I was using this app multiple times a day every day for over a month and couldn’t believe such a perfect app for learning new languages existed! I loved how clearly labeled the lessons were and how you could go back and revisit ones you had to work on a bit more and keep going over the same sections until you had grasped the lessons confidently. This update progressed me past lessons I had not finished and wasn’t confident in and the lessons aren’t labeled in any way that you can revise and work on areas you aren’t quite grasping. The update they have put out feels more like a downgrade. This new update has completely discouraged my learning and I’ve gone from well over a month of every day use and excitement to use the app to getting notifications about losing my streak and being out of the streak freezes and doing one lesson and refilling streak freezes. My progress isn’t very clear and when I get into a lesson I’m not ever entirely sure what the lesson is going to be about and struggle to prepare for it. I guess the app as it is now would have been fine if I had never used the the old dilungo although I’m not sure I would have stuck with it the way I’ve stuck with and loved the pre updated app. I very rarely purchase subscription to anything and I was looking at doing the yearly family subscription before the update. Unfortunately I’m looking into new language apps. It’s such a shame..EvetteioVersion: 6.181.0

✓ Heart feature trashThe heart feature added to app version of this platform is awful. 💔💔💔💔.Broken_💔Version: 6.49.0

✓ Good for beginnersI downloaded this app since other apps I used, such as babble, wanted me to pay/subscribe in order to fully access language lessons which I think is unfair, or just didn’t teach me all that much. This app however was very good for me at first, since I am admittedly learning a lot and can speak full on sentences with the language that I am learning. It is convenient, and pretty fair in terms of money because I can still learn what I need to learn and deal with ads without necessarily having to pay money (even though there are perks if I bought super duolingo). My issue though and why I gave it 3 stars instead of 5 is because there are no explanations of terms just words, as well as when I go further into lessons, it adds extra words that it never even taught me before. If I don’t select or type the right it wants, I get it wrong and loose hearts (this app btw only gives you 5 hearts or 5 chances to get something wrong unless you pay for super duolingo unlimited hearts which is annoying. If you loose all 5 hearts you have to either wait for hours just to receive 1, or redo lessons for 1). I think that this app should properly teach or show all the words it wants me to learn before it just gets thrown at me out of nowhere and I don’t know how to answer. This isn’t with all of the prompts, but when it does happen, even the comment sections wonder why a word that was never taught in the lesson is there..KuKu KookahVersion: 6.170.0

✓ 😡Ok i thought that this was going to help me learn Spanish but it taught me how messed up this app is. you need hearts to learn. And keeps reminding me about the plus thing. Im sorry (not) but this app was a huge disappointment😡.CadeodemonicodesantoVersion: 6.50.0

✓ You’re better off using the website version than the app.The health bar isn’t a thing on the website, and as such I find the website much more conducive to actually learning. You’re allowed to make mistakes and learn from them as opposed to being punished and shut out. It’s also more forgiving of typos since you don’t lose health — ironic, since it’s easier to make mistakes on a phone’s miniature keyboard than a full-size keyboard. On the website, you don’t have to worry about losing health just because your dumb fat finger accidentally pressed enter before you were finished typing, because you’ll get the chance to try again without losing health. Would have liked to be able to learn on the go, but the app is garbage, so I’ll stick to desktop learning..OrangeGrooveVersion: 6.57.0

✓ BRING BACK CONVERSATIONS, please.Hi, I have been a user of Duolingo for many years and when you got rid conversations I was devastated and noticed my ability to learn languages decreased drastically and I found my motivation levels to drop rapidly and I just didn't want to use the app anymore. I found the 'conversation' using AI 'people' conducting these conversations with you was a great way for me to grasp how to construct sentences and apply the words I had learnt during recent lessons. I really like the addition of 'stories' in the new updates of Duolingo, but I wish that Duolingo had BOTH stories and conversations, I love both and they teach in different ways than just lessons. I am a disappointed customer asking the developers to bring conversations back, I dearly liked conversations and I dearly like stories I don't like how the developers keep trading off first, conversations for, I believe it was, practicing, then practicing for stories. I really liked all of these but found conversations to be the best learning tool for me and then stories and then practicing to be the least helpful in my quest to be bilingual and to be able to use the new language in real life in a real context. So please, developers I ask you to bring back conversations. Just please don't take stories too..Signed, Frustrated.Version: 6.79.0

✓ Has potential but too much frustration and thus far too expensiveEncountered quite a few problems while trying this out … For a common language like Spanish, and an app that has been around for years, there are too many errors present in the lessons themselves eg. Marking an answer as wrong when you gave the exact same answer that duolingo presented as a question earlier, and worse, offering as the correct solution a word/phrase that was never introduced in the lessons (eg. marking “tu eres una mujer” incorrect and offering “usted es una mujer” as the correct answer). I “reported” heaps of errors. I got offered a time challenge several times and accepted every time and it never once happened, the app just switched to the leaderboard. Weird stuff happens in all the “gamification”, such as having to click on “claim reward” multiple times and the received gems goes up each time you click. I was forever wondering if the app was working correctly. I’m all for supporting a free version through ads but you really take it to the extreme. Plus sometime I didn’t receive the promised “reward” for watching an ad (eg. a heart) The sound effects in the “stories” playing back at an ear-splitting volume. No ability to delete my profile. Ultimately it was just a painful experience. I could go on but I think you get the picture and I’m not getting paid to fix your app for you..RedFinitoVersion: 6.142.1

✓ RuinedI used Duolingo to learn German years ago with great success! Logged in again to learn a new language...to my surprise you completely ruined the app. The hearts scam is ridiculous and puts a learning cap on people’s progress! With the amount of ads you’ve thrown into the app, forcing us to pay for grammatical mistakes is ridiculous! You’re taking advantage of people, particularly immigrants who are already struggling in new countries with underpaid jobs because we don’t speak the language. To add to the joke, your ads are all about helping immigrants and providing education free to those in need! As if I’m not one of those people and you’re attempting to gouge me for money I don’t have. You offer an ad free paid version already, why add hearts to the mess? It’s disgusting. The learning platform is great. The problem is greed based education. Sort it out!.KtabroadVersion: 6.86.0

✓ Great app, not all languages are treated equallyHey, i love the app, but i use it primarily to learn Irish. It’s a beautiful language and I really enjoy myself but Irish doesn’t have a number of features that most of the other languages do. Number one being that if you click on any word it doesn’t have audio connected to it so you’re left guessing at the pronounciation all the time until you come across the word again in one of the audio lessons, happenstance. This is a huge stumbling block to learning. Huge. Also, it seems that different phones have quite different versions of the app? My Duolingo app has “gems” and I cannot comment in the comment section at all. My friend’s app has “lingots” and she can not only comment and ask questions but she can give her lingots to people. I used to be able to do that when i first downloaded the app, they it did a terrible update and now i have five hearts, which are lives, and as soon as you make any mistake you lose one and you can’t keep doing new lessons for several hours when you run out. It is prohibitive, learning takes mistakes. And when you think you’re going to fail out of a lesson you end up checking up a lot on what you’re doing and not relying on your own growing knowledge. My friend’s app does not have the infuriating hearts feature. Thanks for your time, would really like some of these looked at..Ashe JasperVersion: 6.74.0

✓ Get rid of the stupid animations.Duolingo has gone from bad to worse with each update. The latest revamp, replacing discrete modules with “units” of mishmashed sentences, is profoundly unusable, as both a new student and someone who is trying to revise or improve a language they already partially know. I wouldn’t dream of teaching my students this way, and am genuinely baffled as to which “experts” thought this was a useful way to teach a language. Horrible UI, horrible UX, and if that wasn’t bad enough, the “tips” that used to appear have been replaced with half a dozen rubbish examples and no explanation of functional grammar. Would rate this 0 stars if I could. (Former review, from the time the animation was introduced: The cartoons are distracting and grossly over-animated - please stop to consider that your userbase may include those with visual impairments, vestibular migraine, or seizures triggered by moving elements. Very poor design work with little regard for accessibility. Every update is worse than the last, stuffed full of bloated loading screens, ads, and those horrible little animations. The app is unusable if you want to avoid them; the desktop almost as bad unless you know how to use ad and element blockers..PoshlilVersion: 6.192.0

✓ Crown Update Ruined the App!!I love Duolingo, I’ve been using it on and off foe years, and more recently I’ve gained a 181 day streak in Spanish. I love the app and how much I’ve learnt, but when I opened the app this morning the crown update had happened. It has potential to help people learn a lot faster, and I think it’s pretty cool other than I need health to practice old lessons???? This is incredibly frustrating as I often make stupid mistakes, which I make up for by practicing older lessons over and over so I can keep learning new ones. Please change this, Duo Team. I love your app but I don’t know how I’m going to continue using it if I need health for everything I do. (Also yes I know I can practice to gain more health in the health tab, but the fact that I have to practice to get health to practice is very annoying and is what I’m talking about)..MazkaayyyVersion: 5.2.16

✓ Used to Love it! Hearts??? Really???I have been using this app for a while now. The new hearts system sucks. It is just a terrible idea to prevent someone from doing lessons because you ran out of hearts. Take this new feature out please..Georges66661Version: 6.48.0

✓ What a disappointmentI’ve been trying out the Spanish lessons for a good few weeks and some of the problems I’ve encountered in the last week are really annoying. All of a sudden agua (water) which is a masculine word I.e. el agua has now seemingly changed it’s gender to become a feminine word! Also at least two of the answers I’ve given have been exactly the same as the Duolingo correct version but it still is telling me my answer is incorrect! As a few other people have said on the forum these problems, although notified, don’t seem to get corrected. Also if you don’t go for the Plus version, where you pay, the adverts really do drive you crazy. I’ve also found that some of the words and sayings differ from other Spanish language courses I’ve used which are based on the European Spanish language, there are quite a few differences, maybe this course is based on the Latin American language? The leader board you are placed on which changes weekly can be VERY competitive and if you are that way inclined it can be a little frustrating trying to compete with other people who probably have paid for the Plus version and don’t have to wait up to 30 seconds every time you complete a task or lesson. The graphics are fun though and some of the stories made me laugh so hence the three stars….MeandlsmVersion: 6.155.0

✓ Not a fan of the updatePracticing my daily Duolingo was something I looked forward to. Competing, buying the occasional gems for extra lessons, etc… The new update is NOT motivating. In theory it seems more seamless (I was excited for the stories to be incorporated) but I cannot get my daily exercises in since it changed. I like the pathway, but there are so many random tiles added, and to go back and practice is more difficult. I found going and practicing my old daily lessons was motivating because I was able to earn at least 20xp and get a refresher in on each lesson. Now, the lessons are just as long, I’m only getting 5xp, and if you want to complete the random task on the side (which I have no idea what the purpose of them are) you have to spend a TON of gems. I just don’t feel motivated to go back and practice, and the lessons have changed in a way that has caused me to run out of hearts every day since the update— I’m usually on top of not doing that! I just really miss the old version because I was telling EVERYONE to join and now I’m just a little frustrated :( it would be a 10/10 otherwise. Great app to learn languages from home, but the update seems less user friendly. If anything, I feel like they should’ve had a tutorial for all of the major changes. :( i agree with other reviews— the option between the pathway vs old screen would be nice. In all honesty— the old screen was super easy to follow!.StylinsonbabyyVersion: 6.188.0

✓ ReviewWhen I first started learning with Duolingo I found it fun and very good to revise vocabulary. This was five years ago and I used the lessons for both Italian and French. Then I took a break for a while and started again more recently and have been totally irritated with hearts and gems and all sorts of ridiculous things. I don’t get what they are about,other than to make you look at ads. I can see that ads are an important revenue, and I do stop and look sometimes when it is something I am interested in, otherwise I don’t. E.G. Who wants to look at a dog food advert when you don’t own a dog??? The necessity to have hearts thing drives me crazy. Is there an explanation for these hearts and gems etc somewhere?.Gran carrotVersion: 6.70.1

✓ Please remove the 5 daily hearts.I’m learning Arabic currently and this is great for learning the sounds and letters. It’s a great starting point and I loved how they used to just put quick adds after every lesson if you didn’t have the premium, which I saw as more than fair. However now they’ve started adding 5 daily hearts (you loose a heart after every mistake) and once you’ve used them up you have to wait 5 hours for them to refill. What I loved about Duolingo is that it really did encourage free education, in place for a very quick add after each lesson that you could click off of after 2 seconds. However it seems now they’ve taken to the tactic of trying to pressure you to pay to get “unlimited hearts”. I know that they’re a company and they need to profit but surely they have plenty of people who pay premium and get more than enough money from add revenue. I even just saw one of their own adds “support free education, join premium” ...I mean.... doesn’t that contradict the add in itself? I’m just really disappointed that Duolingo has gone down this path by trying to force people to buy the premium version. It’s very disappointing because it is a great app..JejrheksVersion: 6.47.2

✓ Very lovely app, except one concern…I’ve been an avid user of Duolingo, for the past few years now, ranging from the languages of Arabic, to Turkish, to Korean and everything in between. And I can say, I learnt quite a bit from it. Although, I have one concern. Recently, I’ve been feeling very connected to my homeland, of Kashmir, Pakistan. I decided that along with the other 6 languages I was currently learning on Duolingo, I wanted to also attempt Urdu, to not only boost the skills in my mother tongue, but also view the differences in dialects and alphabet. However, when I scrolled through the courses that this, I once thought, great app, I realised that Urdu, and Punjabi were not there? I thought that I had skimmed past the courses, and slowly scrutinised what languages were available. However, to my disappointment, they were not. On the other hand, Hindi was! Hindi and Urdu, as far as India and Pakistan go back, have a very connected relationship. They are almost similar, bar a few honorifics. Not to offend any Hindi speakers, but if Hindi is on duolingo, then it shouldn’t be too difficult to add Urdu and/or other similar dialects to the course structure? If possible, adding Urdu (and/or the like) will increase Duolingo’s usage and viewage rate. Hopefully, we will get a course in this, but in the meanwhile, I will continue using this ever so fruitful app. ~An avid Duolingo user.ZwycombeVersion: 6.179.0

✓ Slowly declining in quality…I know Duolingo isn’t a serious language learning platform but it is a little disappointing to see the app remove features that helped with learning. I enjoy the gamification of language learning, the social aspect of cheering friends on but I’m disappointed with the direction that the app is heading. The app has chosen to remove forums which helped learners ask questions and allowed users to understand the content better. I am sure Duolingo could afford moderation on forums if that was the problem… That was so helpful and I can’t understand why they removed it except cynically to keep users longer on the app because they’re learning less. And also the significant decrease in ability to type out answers. It’s mostly just word blocks so you don’t really end up challenging yourself to remember much. And this is for Spanish, I hear the other languages support even less help..Olli3739Version: 6.237.0

✓ It just got worse.I really liked the concept of Duolingo, so I have had for almost two months, and while the lessons are fun at first they now are really hard. I don’t mind a challenge but these lessons get so hard they get really annoying. With the hearts feature it would be cool if again the lessons wouldn’t be so hard, because when you get an answer wrong you lose a heart and you get a heart every two hours which means your one mistake costs you two hours. Then when you run out of hearts you’re kicked out of the game and you can either spend 450 gems which is very challenging to get and you only gain 5 hearts again from it, and the membership I would most likely call it becomes very “pay to win” in a way because the leaderboards and badges feature is very cool and I really liked it but you get around 1:30 seconds to complete 10 or so questions and when these questions are all translation questions you get sick of it and now you have spent 30 gems when you only get a very little amount of XP. Which is where they push their membership on you because you can do all this for free if you have the membership. In conclusion I would have really liked Duolingo but their membership and near to impossible lessons are very unattractive qualities for this app especially since I liked the concept so much..Loukas-7Version: 6.228.0

✓ Love the app! ( Please Read )I Love the health bar love when it tells me I’m failing and not to fail again cause I don’t have many lives absolutely 10/10 never thought I’d learn a language but this app makes it super fun this game is not a cashgrab at all I recommend this game to everyone!!! I put one star so they would read my review My idea - To fix the streak problem everyone has in the reviews Make it so every 7 days or so when they complete a unit they get 5 gems every time or something So on the 7th day they get 5 gems completing a unit Day 8 they get 5 gems for completing a unit Day 9 and so on and so forth Cause gems are hard to come by but you don’t want it to hard to get them as well like it is now ( Gotta complete those legendary challenges ) Leagues - I still don’t understand why they’re a thing it’s not really like clash of clans Only reason I think for leagues. is if you battle someone like can you beat this person in a Spanish battle, otherwise it’s pretty useless it’s like look I practice more then you haha but I don’t have to prove I’m good at it Also needs a pet this game so people know why the health bars there I recon Feed it with words level it up things like that make it fun make it battle in ( French Oder German ) leagues Ahh you taught me that. ^ -ja, Duolingo ist sehr Gut -.KoltyboyVersion: 6.213.0

✓ Take away the health bar!I love this app and how easy and fun it is to learn a new language. My only problem with Duolingo is the fact that there is health, it takes so long for your health to refill fully and why is it that you are limiting the amount we learn. It is so unnecessary. I would love the app so much more if that was removed..Ashlynn_CVersion: 5.2.37

✓ Loved it before the updateI have been using Duolingo for a long time and am really getting towards a really good streak. I absolutely loved the app, it was so simple and easy to navigate. That was before the new update. The new update has put all of my lessons into a path, meaning I can’t choose was lesson I wanted to do. Before that, I could choose what lesson I wanted to do, as long as it was unlocked. All of my completed lessons are now in gold, making it harder to see which ones I have completed, and stories are not in a separate tab anymore, which I do not like. The units are not as clear anymore and are shorter, and the lesson names are the same. What was once called ‘Restaurant’, is now called ‘Order food and drink’… this makes it much less clear, and a few lessons names are unclear to the point that I can’t think as to what the name originally could have been. The longer names make it more long winded, making it harder when you are trying to find the lesson you are on. This app was absolutely amazing, so simple and in many ways far better than any other language learning app I have ever come across. Now, it is just too confusing and hard to navigate, and in general is just not the same. I am just glad the actual lessons have not changed. Please change it back to what it was before the update that changed the screen where we see all of the lessons..Posotive reviewsVersion: 6.175.0

✓ From an excellent free learning tool into a money grubbing scamThe app used to be excellent for picking up new languages and offering a way for anyone regardless of background. It would’ve encouraged you to keep learning while also helping you work through your weaker areas. But as soon as some CEO realised they can squeeze money out of people for education, they jumped on that as soon as they could to the point that the app is unusable unless you fork over £60 a year so you can actually have it function properly. The app has became hollow and soulless, and instead PUNISHES you for making mistakes, even the absolute smallest mistakes like mixing up the order of words, misspelling one letter, or if you couldn’t understand a word the speaker was saying because the pronunciation was off or the use of a different dialect than what you know (very common when learning Irish on the app). If you make five mistakes you can’t keep learning anymore unless of course - you spend your hard earned money on “gems” to buy more lives. This has made Duolingo feel more like a chore than anything, as it punishes its users during an international cost of living crisis for not spending a ridiculous amount on a subscription when all of this used to be free!!! The company’s goal of making language education more accessible has been eroded all for the sake of making profits. Huge disgrace, you should feel embarrassed..Liaaaa666Version: 6.231.0

✓ Used to be great …Unfortunately, changes to this app have made it far less enjoyable to use. This is what can happen when app developers decide they need to generate a revenue stream, I guess. Far too complicated a system of rewards that one has to navigate one’s way through, if one wants to stay on a ‘free’ plan. My advice to developers: Don’t clutter up your app with all those messages and convoluted reward systems. Make it clear up front that your app is either free (with frequent ads to support) or an ad-free subscription service. Get rid of all the other nonsense. I’ll probably just delete the app. Not interested in yet another subscription, and no patience for earning tokens at a snail’s pace..A Canuck2Version: 6.173.1

✓ DuoI’m sorta happy with the app, I mean, it DOES help, but it bombards me with emails and notifications about my stats and how I should come back. I turn notifications off, but Duolingo still finds a way to send more! Secondly, ADD BULGARIAN!!! I’ve been wanting to learn this for YEARS, as a lot of my family are in fact, Bulgarian. I struggle to understand them sometimes, and I find that the way you start off courses could be better. The learner repeats the same sentence when they make a mistake, and are expected to know the correct answer on their own. Another point, Duolingo gives you certain phrases, and as yes, I admit, they may be funny, but they’re not useful… it does make me laugh, but STILL! For example, who would say ‘Are you a carrot?’ Like… WHAT? Finally, about my streak. Where do I start? Oh, MAYBE HOW I STARTED MY LESSON BEFORE MIDNIGHT AND ENDED IT PAST, BUT I STILL LOST MY 76 DAY STREAK, WHICH I WORKED SO HARD FOR! You should track when the lessons began, cuz not everyone can be expected to learn at the speed of light. Many streaks would be saved because of this, and for me, getting a streak repair is expensive!!! They’re honestly just trying to get you to waste your money on gems, but I don’t HAVE money cuz I’m still in primary!!! I came here to learn, not spend money on something totally pointless!! The subscription and podcasts are ok though. I guess Duolingo’s just not for everyone….Tokoni Isobel PenushlievVersion: 6.224.1

✓ Used to be amazing...Before their terrible monetization scheme this was the best free language app out there. Now, it’s completely ruined. Instead of encouraging mistakes as you learn, it punishes you for each one, making each lesson seem like a pressure test. I used to recommend this app to anyone, but I will no longer do so. The health system on a timer is something I want no part of. If money isn’t an issue for you, it’s still probably a fine app with the monthly subscription fee, but the value for free users has completely been scraped from the program..Hiiiiiiya!Version: 5.2.61

✓ Used to be betterI enjoyed using Duolingo when I first joined a few years ago. The beginning basics were simple and I liked the picture format and the community explanations that native speakers provided to cover what the app did not. In the Polish course Marek was especially helpful. However, with the introduction of leaderboards, and now increasingly difficult badges, it is less a personal, no-pressure learning app and more a competition where you are penalised (and dropped from levels) if you don’t keep up with others. Also, often the badges goals are not reachable during learning session (such as ‘complete a level’ when it’s 5+ lessons away.) These things can be ignored but it is irritating as they are now the basis of the app. The new path format also makes it difficult to go back if you’ve forgotten things and need to refresh. No more explanations! The final nail on the coffin was when they removed the community chat/comments. This at times provided a bit of comedy relief but made you feel part of a wider learning community. You could see others with similar questions and could help each other out. I learned more about conversation and grammar here than from the lessons. This is now gone and it’s just a big competitive language game. It’s time to move on for me. So long Chouette (it’s hibou in French by the way, no one calls them chouettes or has them as pets.).Aoifeo'Version: 6.231.0

✓ Pay to win!?This LANGUAGE LEARNER is pay to win. Why you may ask? Because of the health bar. Once you get 6 or less questions wrong, you’ll have to wait an hour for the health, so you can LEARN. You’d expect Candy Crush to have this, but no, DUOLINGO does. I hate to be the kind of guy that says “back in the old days”, but I’ll have too. In my elementary days, my teacher used Duolingo as a free time tool. It didn’t have the health bar, more customization, and a better interface. Now the app itself is rather nice, but I can’t get past the fact that it’s p2w. I understand you guys work hard, but just accept donations like Wikipedia, or use your ads. You can keep the Duolingo Plus, but take out the health bar. 1/5.LordJack173Version: 6.13.0

✓ AverageI just started with the free version to see if it was worth while paying for the upgrade. Sadly glitches in the game seem to pop up every now and then and there is absolutely no support - tried reporting the ‘bug’ and months later no response, tried messaging tried submitting feedback all go unanswered. I tried a trial of the super version and issues are the same, add to that you can’t just chose the words you want to learn (no option for travel/phrasebook) Otherwise i like the game play and choice of languages but lack of support and options for learning is super disappointing so for that reason I don’t personally think it’s worth paying any money for......,.,.,.,.,.,Version: 6.176.0

✓ Disappointed with the gemsI really like Duolingo. I used it years ago before the 5-life limit and decided to use it again (free version). I’m ok with the lives, as you are able to get them back through practice or by using your gems. However, the practice has a bug (or so it seems to me), if you use it too much at some point the practice lesson won’t work. Hence, no more lives. No problems with this neither as I still had the gems to buy 5 lives (350 gems). HOWEVER, with the recent updates, you badly get any gems once you earn a crown (it used to be 50) now if I get 7 I’m lucky. Plus, after completing the setup daily challenge you won’t get any gems. This makes me feel demotivated as I’m not getting valuable prizes for my progress that I can later use to keep using the app for a longer time (if you run out of lives that’s it until the life span gets full again, which takes about an entire day). The gems are also useful if you don’t want to lose your streak (200 gems per day missed). This also feels gone. So instead of enjoying using Duolingo and put challenges to my self (e.g let’s get X crowns today or reaching X streak) I find myself more worried about how many gems I’m spending so I can have enough lives for mistakes and to keep my streak. I’m still using Duolingo. But to be entirely honest, I see myself changing to another app anytime soon if it continues like this as it has been limiting me more than it should..MarisafergoVersion: 6.48.2

✓ Take away the hearts!I love Duolingo- or at least I used to. The health bar is awful and totally ruins the entire app. I don’t know why they did this and sincerely hope they take it away!.GuineacowVersion: 6.68.2

✓ App is buggy and geared toward forcing you to payDuolingo wants to project a public image of an app dedicated to people languages for free. And you certainly can use it without paying, as long as you constantly watch as, often for really dubious apps or products. But mostly they seem to be following the airline model of, "sure, you can have the cheap version, but we are going to make it as annoying and miserable as we need to go get you to pay more." Take the heart system of lives, introduced supposedly to make learning more effective. But the fact that you can pay money to get infinite hearts either means they want you to pay to get an inferior version or they're lying that the hearts are beneficial. The fact that the app often has errors that cost you hearts just adds to the crappiness. (You can flag errors, but it takes months to get then corrected and you'll never get the hearts back, even if you paid for them.) There are a ton of functional bugs, too. For example, when you start a lesson, it will often try to get you to watch an ad for another heart, but only because it hasn't registered that your hearts have fully recharged already. (Funny how bugs always seem to work in favor of the app pushing you to pay for the premium version.) Honestly, it's not even that effective a way to learn a language. I'm quitting from a 1500 day streak in language I studied 30 years ago (and used little since) and most of what I know now is from class three decades back..CheshireCatCOVersion: 6.219.0

✓ Great for practice. Atrocious interface will send you crazy angry.So I’ve been learning Ukrainian for the past few months, and even though courses to learn it are few and far between, I actually think Duolingo’s is very solid. It teaches you fundamentals of conversation and common vocab (along with some weird and unnecessary vocab too). My main gripe is the interface, which is truly awful. Not only does the app version not show grammar instructions like the desktop website - potentially costing you a lot of understanding - but the interface for answering exercises is AWFUL. It’s SO bad that despite all the great things the course offers, if there were any other ways to learn Ukrainian independently, I’d still take them. Every tiny typo or the microphone mishearing you (which happens a lot) costs you a ‘heart’, even if the sentiment of the sentence is completely grammatically correct, just not what they asked, and after 5 lost hearts you have to either buy more, or practise (and waste time when you could be doing the course). Also, lots of the hints are wrong or misleading, and there’s no way to comment on the mobile App. So much potential, all wasted. I wouldn’t use Duolingo if there were other apps offering Ukrainian because the App is so frustrating..Sheep1Version: 6.175.0

✓ Was a great AppAnother update; they have upgraded the app again and once agsin skipped me forward. Words i havent learnt being quizzed on, each level is all over the place and not on a specific category. I find my self just doing a faily lesson to keep my streak after receiving reminders. Lost the desire to learn with this now, but am sticking at it only because i want to learn I am Very disappointed developers Update: The new update has messed things up completely. It skipped me forward a long way, levels that i had got legendary status on were no longer and where it has skipped me forward to has words that I havent been taught. An absolute mess now Duolingo makes it easy and fun to learn I can suggest 3 improvements that i would greatly appreciate Create the ability to go back and review complete individual lessons rather than overall for a group of 5 lessons. Explain in more detail why the language works w for what you are learning, rather than an overall for a complete unit which only touches on a few things Also, create an area with all the words listed that you have learnt. Would be good to rehash that way.GavpasVersion: 6.221.0

✓ New path update isn’t goodThe new path update is confusing and annoying. I hate how I can no longer choose what I want to learn, how I can no longer skip ahead and how things are not properly split up based on the content. Why is stories not on a separate tab like they were before, I want to be able to do stories whenever I want. There should be an option for all users to be able to switch between the 2 different paths at any time they choose. The fact that this was not properly play tested and even though a large majority dislike this change is disgraceful for a company of this size. I had no problems with Duolingo before this update, but until you give an option to revert the path update then I will only be completing the easiest lesson to keep my streak. One again this change was pathetic and whoever approved this change should rethink their position at this company..Cosmic2350Version: 6.175.0

✓ Very Unhappy, cancelling duo+ subscriptionI love Duolingo and have found it extremely helpful in learning several different languages, however I’ve just opted the app pm my iPad and the layout has finally change. I’ve been seeing the new layout on my mum’s phone and other users screenshots etc. for a few months and have been extremely happy I didn’t have the update yet as it looked horrible. But now the update is finally here and I’m not happy at all. I cannot see myself using the app looking like this. It’s awful and the first design choice of any app that I have whole heartedly HATED. I have no idea where I’m up to and even though my Rogers’s has been “saved” it’s also been simplified to baby level which actually makes it more difficult to figure out. Now my lessons don’t even have titles so I’ll have no idea what I’m about to learn and whether I want to focus on a different topic until I’m ready to move on etc. I am also a Duolingo plus subscriber however I will be CANCELLING MY SUBSCRIPTION TO DUOLINGO PLUS as I don’t want to pay for this horrible new design that I’m sure will result in me not using the app very often if at all. I will continue to use the app on my phone as it hasn’t received an update yet but as soon as it does I’m not sure if I’ll ever keep Duolingo downloaded on any device..User26589088943223Version: 6.190.0

✓ New path update sucks. Give us the option to change backReally bad new update. I thought it wasn’t so bad until I went to my first units I already did and boom there’s words I haven’t even learned yet. Also lost my august challenge progress with the update too. I don’t know if I have to go back so I don’t get screwed over for not understanding words that mysteriously popped up or if I’m just gonna have to give up the app and look for something else. Between how gamified this app is and this massive obstacle, I’m discontinuing my massive streak and looking for another learning app. I feel like everything I worked for was pretty much thrown away and I don’t wanna be working on a n app that decides to put words and lessons I didn’t complete, in my completed path. Zero sense.MissbaawsyVersion: 6.178.0

✓ Pretty good but a few let downsI have used Duolingo for Spanish for the last four months. I now know far more Spanish than I did when I started and that’s good. But here are the let downs….Firstly it seems that this is aimed at Mexican Spanish, all the stories etc seem to be based around Mexico. Maybe the difference isn’t that great but I think Spanish should be based around Spain. Next, if you intend to use this app to pick up “holiday” Spanish it’s pretty terrible. If you want to know how to say “Bruno works in two libraries” or “my dog drinks wine and is elegant” (both phrases that I’ve learned today!) it’s great but if you just want a few phrases to go away on holiday this isn’t the app for you. Lastly and my biggest gripe, is that the free version is based around hearts. You get 5 hearts per day in the free version and each time you make a mistake you lose a heart. When you have no hearts left you can no longer practice that day. It seems to me that some of the exercises are designed to trip you up so you lose a heart. If you make the tiniest spelling mistake you lose a heart. Sometimes I’ve even got the answer right and you still lose a heart! This is incredibly frustrating. I get that I’m on the free version but it’s not really free because there are loads of ads to sit through. The app should be a bit more forgiving, this is about learning a language, not everything has to be a game..Steve98766Version: 6.164.1

✓ Fine but not fineSo I haven’t had any issues with this app before, but I have had some trouble with the hindi course, and I dont mean I’m struggling, but the app hasnt been that helpful. Just today i was on full hearts and lost 9 hearts in one lesson (I had to refill, losing half my gems). Duolingo failed to point out about the rules of hindi grammar which lost me so many hearts. Usually, like with Spanish, they teach you some sort of grammatical rule but no, i had to painstakingly do my lesson and resist the temptation to throw my device across the room. Im not saying the app is bad and that it is a waste of time because its not, but when you havent been taught how to properly order words in a sentence, especially with a different script, and you get penalised for every error that THEY haven’t taught you about, its hard not to want to snap your tablet in half or chuck it out the window. Please fix this, or at least do what you do with the Spanish accents and give us a second chance, that way it isnt so frustrating and it really helps. You can maybe penalise later after a few units, but I have just started using the Devangari script regularly and already have to think too much about what what means what. I dont want to have to think even more. Just a gentle nudge in the right direction is fine. No I will not be paying for plus, in case you ask.Lutle tutleVersion: 6.228.0

✓ My answer to la leche is wrong even though I spell it right.This app has been very useful. My whole family speaks Spanish and they never taught me so I downloaded this app. Everything has been going good, but I have an issue with a lesson. So I decided to try and get all the crowns for the intro levels. I’m on level/crown 3 out of 6 and lesson 2 out of 4. Remember for this question, you have to complete 2 things to submit your answer. This question is talking about how to spell leche and choosing if la or el goes with it. So you choose la or el and of course I chose la because that is correct, then you have to type la leche. So when I’m trying to type la, the text box goes blank and you have to rewrite la, but this problem continues to occur when spelling la. So I put the word leche(milk) first and then take the blue like that’s there when you are typing and I put it in the beginning of the word leche and then type la in front of it with a space in between the 2 words. I then submit my answer thinking I’m clever and it would still work. Then it says my answer is wrong and it says you spell it like la leche, which is how I spelled it. I then report the answer, I retried this a few times and it still didn’t work. So I then skipped the level and went to the next level and was doing it until the same question popped up, just with different words. I then tried to answer it and it did the same exact thing. I’m just trying to complete my levels, someone please help..Kyrag14Version: 6.124.0

✓ Mew update has changed the way the app can be usedWhile I like the new update in principle - it makes the learning journey seem more fun and makes progress more clear - it does allow me to continue using duolingo the way I had been, and in my opinion lessons now tend to be far too easy. In the past I would skip ahead to level 4, and then work my way to level 6 one lesson at a time, and this worked quite well for me as I would have to actually think to answer the questions. I would also focus on the parts of the course that I found more difficult, while skipping further ahead on things I found easier or that did not really interest me. With the new design you can’t do this, though. You are locked in to a single path, and must complete the lessons at all levels, with few options to skip the easier levels (of the same lessons). While I don’t mind the multi choice comprehension questions (although they are a bit easy) I really hate the questions where you just arrange words. I feel like I get nothing out of them, and if anything they harm my learning because I am not thinking between different translation options. I would really appreciate it if there were a way to turn off the “order the words” questions! I also liked the speech versions of the stories which are now gone. Otherwise, I see how this new version can be great for people new to duolingo, even if it is frustrating to those who have already started to use it in a particular way!.JamgbaconVersion: 6.179.0

✓ Horrible updateThe new update changed how the app and program works. It’s horrible for someone who has been using all along. The program changed. Cutting my lesson short and putting me in another lesson without the proper training. Also, the levels have changed forcing us to take part in stories. The new update is horrible. Probably will have to find another program..HersheySkorVersion: 6.178.0

✓ Great lessons, tiny fontDuolingo is an excellent language-learning platform, but I find myself running into a frustrating aspect of the app design: their text font is absolutely minuscule. Despite having a 12.9” iPad screen to work with, all of the words are tiny and take up a small fraction of the available space. This is especially bothersome when studying Japanese, as most kanji are nigh unreadable without peering right up to the screen. Changing the default text size on iOS doesn’t seem to affect Duolingo, so this likely needs to be made into an option within the app itself. A fix in this regard would be much appreciated. :).Gentleman ProfessorVersion: 6.100.0

✓ GET RID OF THE HEARTSIf your reading this Duolingo is an amazing app and I’ve been playing it for a while now and see that there is a health system preventing me from learning more please fix this problem and I will recommend this once awesome app....DMN_K1NG1234142Version: 6.57.0

✓ Dreadful now!The latest updates don’t squash bugs, they’ve introduced them ever since the introduction of spoken lessons. The app freezes constantly. Amendments also make the free version much less user friendly - I guess they want to encourage you to subscribe but do they really have to push that at you at every turn and “charge” for every option such as doubling points won. It’s well nigh impossible to keep in the higher ranks now Since I wrote this review the app performance has got worse. I update every time in the hopes they have eliminated the bugs but the updates just introduce more. It’s exceptionally slow to load, is a heavy data consumer, the screen constantly freezes often eliminating rewards earned in the process, the ads on the free version last longer and longer depriving users of the benefit of timed rewards to mention but a few issues. I’m just about ready to abandon the app altogether. Well I never thought it could get even worse - all of the above are still a real problem but now they also prevent you from earning hearts by practicing, seemingly if you’ve used that facility a lot. I managed to sidestep the problem once by switching language but now I can’t get practice to load there either so in locked out unless I buy hearts and why would i as it’s so easy to lose them and why bother buy the paid for version when so many problems crop up there too. Really bad!.Bd605Version: 6.174.0

✓ Hate the health bar and repetitive lessonsIt takes forever to just get 1 heart after I have made a mistake. The lessons are also very redundant and repetitive, it's like the same lesson 48 times.Dis-organized organizerVersion: 6.22.0

✓ SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE!!!It’s a good app, I love being able to do practices as many times as I want. It’s easy to use, no struggles. I personally don’t mind the occasional pop up add, but you might. HOWEVER! Despite doing exterior revising out of the app I still struggle to remember certain variations of words and their spellings. Why? I feel as if the app does provide enough opportunities to help with memorisation. It’s very good for content. But the majority of the tasks are simple selections which can be done quickly without thought. Leading to me struggling to remember what word means what when they look similar to others. But when selecting it’s obvious which one it is cause they’re so easy! Maybe provide extracts or something like that which we can translate? I love this apps basic guidance. But I think you need to offer more support to your learners for memorisation. Or able to have easy accessibility to a dictionary for the language? I’m currently learning German, and I’m struggling to memorise the words from as I explained. Therefore to really benefit your users and get 5 stars, you should provide more presentations of the content to help with learning. For example, as mentioned, extracts, Flashcards, dictionary or even short videos we can translate. Please take into consideration my suggestions! It would really help us users!!.JustbeingjessieVersion: 6.25.0

✓ Awful update.I had this app a year or two ago and I loved it. I learnt Spanish in time for my holiday and I could order my food in a nice fluent Spanish. I am going on holiday again soon and as I have a bad memory I downloaded the game again. I used it for a night and got going. I had a choice between start at the beginning or do a mini test so as I learnt it before I chose that. I was wrong and the rest was way beyond my abilities and had random questions that aren’t the most important things to learn. I went back and started over. Anyway the reason I am writing this is because of the lives. They are stupid I downloaded this because I wanted to learn whenever, no matter how many answers I got wrong but as I was doing my lesson there was a question where I had to listen and state what the voice said. My phone was on full volume but no matter how many times I pressed repeat it would not make a sound. The more I got wrong the more it asked me and it was constantly the same thing it was asking me to do, but no sound! After refilling my live with a ton of diamonds I lost my lives again and as I had not enough diamonds left to get more so i could not learn any more. What if i had a deadline and I had to learn something before my lives had a chance to refill? I think lives are stupid and if I wanted a frustrating game I would download one. Please sort this out it is very annoying and unnecessary..Db flowerVersion: 5.2.24

✓ Not enough gemsI have a 1261 day streak and have noticed something about the gems. For the first four hundred days, there were bonus crates at the start of every day that gave you a range of gems from ten to sixty. This was a really fun concept and it was always fun seeing what you got. Eventually, the developers did away with this and just gave you from ten to twenty gems at the end of each lesson. While not as good as before, this was still okay and a cool idea, it just did away with the whole element of choice. This also came with slightly reduced amounts of gems that you got for completing the quests AKA: get a 365 day streak. You still however got at least one hundred gems for beating these. NOW, however, (and the past 150 days) you are only given gems if you complete the daily goals, (you know what I’m talking about) and even when you do, you get a max of about eighteen gems, and that takes roughly half an hour to do. If you don’t do any quests, because your day was really busy, then bad luck, you get nothing. This update also came with A: a HUGE downgrade for beating the quests to only twenty to fifty gems and B: I was on level 51 one or whatnot, and yet now it removes all of the previous ones and condenses it down, so now I’m on level 12. All in all, I think it would be good to bring back more gems and give people more levels, since it used to be much more of a motive to actually do the Duolingo..Peti lapinVersion: 6.209.0

✓ Please change the voicesI have been using this app since February on a daily basis and have really enjoyed learning Spanish. Recently the voices have changed and one of the characters is a child’s voice. It is awful, hard to understand. Please, please, please change it back to clearer voices and remove the Spanish speaking child.MicsmithVersion: 6.97.2

✓ Free has become annoying and frustratingI used to love Duolingo. I am up to a 310 day streak but ever since these last few updates it’s gotten really sticky and I spend all day practicing easy levels to gain back lives over teeny typos. I felt like before you could miss an accent and it would remind you, now that they are trying so hard to get me to buy plus I spend most of my time watching ads just to get to a new lesson of French. I’ll most likely continue because I’m a sucker for finishing stuff but it’s just cumbersome and not going to keep my attention much longer..Karalyn*Version: 6.114.0

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