4.72★ from 5,480,861 ratings · version 7.142.0 · 62 of the last 200 written reviews are one or two stars
Insufficient for actual language learning
3of the 62 read·5%
App teaches only vocabulary and prioritizes entertainment over genuine language acquisition and fluency.
›read 3 of these reviews
“false advertising — this app claims to help you learn languages, but the best it can do is provide some vocab. this is because the entire app is very obviously modeled after addictive phone games and its real purpose is to generate money. you have to tap through a million add screens and you have limits on how much you can "learn" (play their garbage games) for a certain amount of time before you have to pay real…” — ★☆☆☆☆ · English“Quality change — Apps has kept things fresh and it’s more entertainment than learning.” — ★☆☆☆☆ · English“Poor language model — You will not learn enough to pass a course with this app” — ★☆☆☆☆ · English
Aggressive monetization and forced ads
3of the 62 read·5%
App constantly pushes paid upgrades, forces Max trial popups, and prioritizes profit over learning experience.
›read 3 of these reviews
“false advertising — this app claims to help you learn languages, but the best it can do is provide some vocab. this is because the entire app is very obviously modeled after addictive phone games and its real purpose is to generate money. you have to tap through a million add screens and you have limits on how much you can "learn" (play their garbage games) for a certain amount of time before you have to pay real…” — ★☆☆☆☆ · English“Terrible — You took away the hearts . Now you took away the free gems . It’s very obvious that you just want us to buy the PAID version of your app You ruined it !!!!!” — ★☆☆☆☆ · English“Malicious — I pay for Super. I shouldn’t get constantly bombarded by Max ads. When I finish a lesson Duolingo forces a 7 day free trial of max that I have to completely close the app to get out of. Are you that greedy? I don’t want your AI slop. Everytime this happens I think of quitting this app and never coming back. Do better Duolingo. Especially for the people that pay for your service. Max sucks. The AI calls…” — ★☆☆☆☆ · English
Energy system limits lessons without payment
3of the 62 read·5%
App restricts free lessons with energy tokens, forcing users to pay for more despite having paid subscriptions.
›read 3 of these reviews
“Pay walled — You used to be able to do as many lessons as you wanted for free but now they have pretty much pay walled you and you can only do more lessons after running out of energy by buying more energy or becoming the duo super” — ★☆☆☆☆ · English“Unable to access more than one 5min lesson per day even though I have a paid subscription. — This app is now completely unusable in terms of keeping up with a new language. You now cannot do more then one 5min lesson on this app before you run out of whatever tokens they want you to pay more money for. I even have a paid subscription and now they want more money.” — ★☆☆☆☆ · English“Good but — I love the way the app helps me learn, but I hate the new energy system compared to the previous heart system. I also hate the new app logo it looks terrible and I hate that I can’t change it or the widget” — ★★☆☆☆ · English
Apple publishes the most recent written reviews, up to five hundred, and that is what was read — not a search for bad ones. Why so many of them are angry. The complaints above come from the 62 most recent negative ones. Newest review 23 days ago (08.09.2026), last collected 22 days ago.
Britain
4.70★ from 982,812 ratings · version 7.142.0 · 34 of the last 139 written reviews are one or two stars
Not enough negative reviews here to group anything honestly. There are 34, and the threshold is twelve.
Apple publishes the most recent written reviews, up to five hundred, and that is what was read — not a search for bad ones. Why so many of them are angry. The complaints above come from the 34 most recent negative ones. Newest review 22 days ago (09.09.2026), last collected 21 days ago.
Germany
4.59★ from 854,706 ratings · version 7.142.0 · 26 of the last 113 written reviews are one or two stars
Not enough negative reviews here to group anything honestly. There are 26, and the threshold is twelve.
Apple publishes the most recent written reviews, up to five hundred, and that is what was read — not a search for bad ones. Why so many of them are angry. The complaints above come from the 26 most recent negative ones. Newest review 23 days ago (08.09.2026), last collected 22 days ago.
France
4.65★ from 814,749 ratings · version 7.142.0 · 15 of the last 101 written reviews are one or two stars
Not enough negative reviews here to group anything honestly. There are 15, and the threshold is twelve.
Apple publishes the most recent written reviews, up to five hundred, and that is what was read — not a search for bad ones. Why so many of them are angry. The complaints above come from the 15 most recent negative ones. Newest review 26 days ago (05.09.2026), last collected 22 days ago.