Duolingo Reviews 

When I first started using this I thought it was pretty good. But overtime it became horrible. It does not actually teach you to speak any language. You may or may not learn to read whatever language you were studying. But the main issue to me is that the app itself has become extremely glitchy and crashes constantly. It's not even usable most of the time. The developers have turned us into a game basically. In fact, you have to pay money to take a little longer on the tests. So they're constantly sucking you dry!Take my word for it, don't spend your money on this really awful app.

I have a paid subscription to Duolingo but recently I’m finding that although I’m sure I’ve done a lesson it’s entreating me to do (another) lesson to protect my streak! I find this very irritating together with the competition-based nature of Duolingo. It’s all very American in style which is an irritation as America ( specifically the Republican government) isn’t at all in my good books at the moment. Can’t see me having a paid subscription in future, Duolingo is too irritating

This may or may not be duolingo's fault. However, I received an email reporting a substantial savings on a annual subscription plan for $26. It had duolingo's logo etc. Seemed legitimate. I was supposed to receive an email confirming my payment and method of activating my new account. They don't seem to have any record of it. I can still use the app for free, but be careful about the subscriptions. I should have acquired the subscription through the app.

Bought a years subscription, finished my course in a few weeks, feel ripped off.

Truly bad customer support
I am paying for this app and yet it never works properly and despite repeated complaints to this customer support team they fix nothing, they have never contacted me and pays of the app still don’t work since my first complaint over two months ago.
My advice is don’t use this app.

Absolutely heartbreaking experience as a paying customer.

As someone who was always told growing up that I was “terrible at languages”, learning through Duolingo genuinely helped me start rebuilding my confidence. After more than 200 days of consistent effort, I finally felt like I was making real progress and proving to myself that I could learn a language.

Then the recent course update completely changed the learning path and suddenly marked huge amounts of content as “completed” that I have never actually been taught. I’m now being presented with hundreds of unfamiliar words and grammar concepts as though I should already know them.

This hasn’t just been frustrating — it has completely knocked my confidence. Overnight, I went from feeling motivated and proud of my progress to feeling overwhelmed and behind.

I understand courses need updating and improving, but this change feels incredibly poorly handled for existing learners. There should be a way to properly bridge learners into new content instead of assuming knowledge they simply do not have.

I’ve invested money, time, and a huge amount of personal effort into learning through this app, so to suddenly feel like I’m back at square one is really upsetting. At this point, I’m now facing the prospect of having to go back and re-review months of lessons just to regain the confidence level I had before the update.

Charged a yearly subscription without any approval given. Also make it difficult to reach out to get a refund

Duolingo is the best! They give you rewards and encouragement after each question and they are considerate by giving options to skip certain exercises.
The courses are really good and the updates are the best! Rate Duolingo , Duolingo ABC , and Duolingo English Test 5 stars 100%the best!

been using since 2013 - mostly learning french - but have used for german, spanish and itialian,

still not fluent in french, so make of that what you will.

also im british, the english is american, that might be an issue for you, but its unnatural to call a film and movie and when learning Spanish all the prices are in Pesos and not euros and there lots of talk about Cuba etc.....

lots of the lessons are pointless, there is no point learning french for the office as there is no way on this planet you would have a job in an office in france unless you spoke french - likewise, school lessons - you would be in school

the gamification element of this app adds nothing to language learning, what's the point of a leader table? what's the point of a 'demotion zone' ? how does that help me learn a language ?

i mostly use the free version, ive paid for it in the past, but paying did not improve my skills any, apart from removing the ads, there was little to show for it

todays lessons it was correcting my english - pardon? i am british

take this natural sentence in english that it supplied to me
'It's at ten o'clock that our plane will take off'
and
'We're all fans of the silver screen in my family'

who the heck uses 'silver screen' in day to day conversations ?

its like being taught by an app designed by people in 1956 - i think :)

although it has actually improved since 2013, the downside is that you cant actually skip any lessons - well you can, but you still have to respond to the sections to allow you to move on, so a pointless section on being at the office or school i have to go through because there is no flexibility

if they had the option of 'skip this' that would be a huge benefit - but i dont think they listen to customers

ive contacted them a few times to point out bugs, but they never responded

when i lose my streak ill be leaving this app

i give 2 stars because it can be useful, but the useful phrases get lost amongst all the pointless phrases and sentences that ill never need

i thought it was just me, but today reading some of the reviews on this website i see that there is a common theme going on with this app

anyway, bonne chance à tous :)

An abomination of an app.. Enshittification in full force here. People say it used to be good.. well if thats true my god has it declined. SERIOUSLY... dont waste your time.

You want to learn a language.. Udemy is quite good, I hear Babbel is alright or classes.

I have used Duolingo for years and feel I have learnt to understand a lot of Spanish but do not feel I can speak. (As I re-read this sentence I see I have used the present perfect tense twice, Duolingo would probably use the past simple twice in that sentence - is Spanish similar?).
I have finished the course and have been doing the daily refresh for sometime now. Verbs are a problem and of course the subjunctive. We jump around too much - it would be great to stick to practising one tense at a time.
For British English speakers the incorrect use of the present perfect versus the past simple (see above) is confusing and annoying. Duolingo is totally geared towards US customers, for example, movie theatre = ciné (cinema rarely mentioned) - I feel forced into learning the English they use in the US even though I chose European Spanish.
Yesterday I was asked to update the app. This morning I have spent most of my time watching ads for 3 energy points (reduced from 5). I feel I am being squeezed and squeezed. The family plan is great value but I don't have anyone to share with and, of course, I have finished the course. The daily refresh is far too repetitive (not in a good way i.e. drilling using repetitive tenses) to be worth paying for.
It is addictive as a kind of game but as of today I think my addiction may finally be cured. I am now looking to find an alternative and (at last!!) give up my Duolingo streak.

I hate all the ads, including subscribing to Max, for starters. Additionally, earning energy instead of points is frustrating. I feel I can never progress. But, the tipping point is the political innuendos. I am very rapidly losing my enjoyment with Duolingo.

Duolingo has been a big part of my language-learning journey, and as a loyal paying customer for many years, I genuinely value the platform and what it offers. That’s why it’s especially disappointing to be repeatedly let down by their customer support. I’ve reached out four separate times about the same ongoing glitch, yet I’ve received no meaningful response or resolution. For a company that inspires long-term commitment from its users, this level of customer service feels deeply frustrating and out of step with the quality I’ve come to expect. I truly hope Duolingo addresses this—not just for me, but for the many dedicated subscribers who deserve better support.

Duolingo has potential, but several issues hold it back. There’s no customer service, even for paid users. You can’t go back a couple of lessons to review sentence structure, which is essential for real learning. Simple instruction like: to return to previous lessons, 'go here'. Their FAQ is mostly about payments. The app repeats the same “you struggled with…” message regardless of what actually changed. One of the audio voices is far too quiet. And the character design leans on a negative stereotype of a bored female teenager, with no equivalent male version. Like many software companies, users end up paying to improve the product, while basic features remain missing.
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I mean Duolingo is a chill app and all that. But I would not recommend it if you want to lean Arabic as an example. Instead use Kalam mabye it cost a little money but I have learned much more on 2 days on Kalam than I have on Duolingo in 116 days so if you want to learn Arabic like me use Kalam

I had a very frustrating and disappointing experience with Duolingo’s subscription and billing process.

I was charged almost $100 even though I did not knowingly authorize an active subscription, and I did not receive a clear warning or confirmation before the charge. When I tried to cancel or dispute the charge, I could not find any clear way to contact a real customer support representative. The Help Center was not helpful at all, and it felt like I was being sent in circles with no real solution.

In my experience, the app makes it very easy to get charged, but extremely difficult to resolve billing issues, request a refund, or speak with someone who can actually help. This has been very stressful and unfair.

I would strongly warn others to be extremely careful before subscribing to anything with Duolingo. Make sure you check your subscriptions, payment methods, and renewal dates carefully, because once there is a billing problem, it is very difficult to get help.

I do not recommend subscribing to Duolingo based on my experience.

Unresponsive customer service. For the past several months, the system credits me with extending my streak and then the next day it uses one of my streak freezes instead. I have been trying to alert the company for months but no one has responded. They are ignoring my messages.

After almost 2,000 days, I've long finished the program and noticed that my comprehension has increased. I can't afford the non-free version of it or any other app, but here are my thoughts on Duolingo effectiveness:
- am grateful that I started the program when it really emphasized the alternative lifestyles of 3 of its members. It just created a depth and occasional humour that was so enjoyable. Homophobes complained, though, so it's all super subtle now, which is sad.
- does help with learning a language but is limited in fluency
- absolutely inundated with ads & rewards progress with ads
- occasionally, you get a break with no ads for a week to try & get you to buy the plus version. That kept me going on the program.
- Once you finish the program, it switches to daily reviews that are quite repetitive & don't reflect the previously learned lessons well.
- I've alerted Duolingo to its grammatical translation errors REPEATEDLY with no effect. Example: "This is a historic train" should be "This is an historic train" -Duolingo just ignores the grammatical errors. For years.
- I finished the music program but am fairly good at it anyway; the daily review starts off too easy & boring that I just can't do it anymore. Like the language portion, the daily review is extremely repetitive & doesn't really reflect the daily lessons. For example, the Lady Of aga & her sister attending a concert question is so repetitive that I don't even read it anymore & know the answer to choose.
- My favourite part of review is the cue cards in which you have to pronounce the words, but the sensitivity is so extremely high that it almost always counts my responses as incorrect - even for 3-letter words. I hope that Duolingo can fix this. As usual, they have ignored my flagged complaints about this part of the program that could be so much better.

It was great at first. But then they had to push their stupid agenda. Typical they suck you in pay for a better membership and then you find out later they have an agenda.

Duolingo is a great language-building tool for introducing vocabulary, word order, basic sentence patterns and pronunciation in various situations. The videos and role-play are particular good in encouraging users to practise their language skills. Sadly, there is a major weakness that seriously limits progress. Namely, it does not adequately teach or reinforce the gender of nouns nor of their plural forms in German. Thus, I am forever being scolded (it’s called “Revision”) for my lack of grammar knowledge during various exercises – although I know the offending grammar quite well. The problem is the gender of nouns. And, of course, their plural forms.

In German, these are essential parts of vocabulary. Knowing a noun without its gender (der/die/das) and plural form makes it very difficult to apply grammar rules correctly, especially for cases and adjective endings. While the App occasionally exposes learners to correct forms, it rarely makes them explicit or reinforces them systematically.

For example, vocabulary lists, matching exercises, and word introductions often omit genders and plurals entirely. This is a missed opportunity. Every time a noun is presented it should reinforce its article and plural. Most German tutors surely recommend that nouns should be learned complete with gender and plural. Why this is missing from Duolingo is a mystery!

It would be beneficial to those of us struggling with such concepts if Duolingo could:

• stop criticising grammar constructions when the cause is ignorance of the gender or plural form rather than the grammar per se;
• at every opportunity, display nouns with their definite article (e.g., “der Tisch” instead of just “Tisch”)
• also include the plural forms in addition to the singular and its gender (e.g. der Tisch; die Tische);
• at a later stage, nouns that vary in the dative or genitive cases could also be added;
• provide this information at all opportunities including the word list and word-matching exercises;
• add targeted exercises specifically for gender and plural practice.

If some attention were given to this aspect, Duolingo would avoid the risks of learners suffering from the incomplete knowledge that leads to repeated grammatical mistakes. And, of course, translation errors too! For example, der does a lot of heavy lifting dependent upon case, gender and plurality - and more! I hope the team might take this suggestion on board to make the German course far more enjoyable and effective.