Duolingo: Language Lessons Review Analysis
Analyzed May 31, 2026
Duolingo is facing a significant user backlash due to its aggressive monetization strategy, which users perceive as deceptive and a betrayal of its 'free learning' mission. A pattern of complaints across multiple countries describes free trials for 'Super Duolingo' that auto-convert to expensive annual subscriptions (£68, €101, 400zł) without the promised notification, leading to accusations of a 'scam'. This, combined with the deeply unpopular 'Energy' system that severely limits free usage, is causing widespread frustration and user churn, overshadowing the app's praised gamified learning core.
Rating distribution
The rating distribution is highly polarized. While over 62% of reviews are 5-star, praising the app's effectiveness and fun, a substantial 13% are 1-star. This strong negative sentiment is primarily driven by complaints about monetization, billing practices, and restrictive features, indicating two very different user experiences.
Rating trend by year
Review-level analysis below covers the latest 9,825 reviews.
Key themes
Users overwhelmingly praise Duolingo's core learning model. They find the gamified approach with streaks, character animations, and bite-sized lessons to be fun, engaging, and motivating. Many users report tangible progress in their target language, being able to form sentences and even hold basic conversations after a short period.
The 'Energy' (or battery) system is a primary source of user anger, seen as a punitive replacement for the old 'Hearts' system. Users complain that energy depletes even with correct answers, severely limiting free users to just one or two lessons per day. This is widely viewed as a tactic to force users into a paid subscription, which many feel contradicts the app's mission of free education.
Users report numerous technical issues. A frequent complaint is the new Chess feature freezing, particularly when the AI bot Oscar gives a hint, forcing a resignation. Other reported bugs include poor voice recognition in speaking exercises, app crashes (especially after completing lessons, causing loss of XP), leaderboard/XP not updating, and sync issues between devices.
Even outside the restrictive energy system, users are frustrated by the constant and aggressive upselling to 'Super' and 'Max' plans. Free users report ads after every lesson, often for Duolingo's own subscriptions. Even paying customers complain about being pushed to upgrade further, for example from a family plan to 'Max', as noted by @Damien Behan (2026-05-30).
A recurring and serious red flag is the claim of deceptive billing practices related to the 'Super Duolingo' free trial. Users from multiple countries (GB, PL, ES, DE, IT, CA, TR) report being promised a notification before the trial ends, not receiving one, and then being automatically charged for a full year's subscription (amounts cited include £68, €101, 90€, 400zł). Many call it a 'scam' and express frustration over the non-refundable nature of the charge.
The addition of courses beyond language, such as Chess, Music (Piano), and Math, is frequently mentioned as a positive expansion. Users enjoy learning these new skills within the familiar Duolingo format, with Chess being particularly popular. However, these new features are also a source of specific bugs, as noted in the 'Bugs & Performance' theme.
Some long-term users and those learning less common languages report a decline in course quality. Complaints include mistakes in translations, misgendering objects (in Portuguese), and unnatural AI-generated sentences. There's also criticism that some courses are too American-centric (e.g., using the US flag for English) and teach regional dialects (Mexican Spanish) instead of a standard form.
A small but vocal minority of users across different countries express displeasure with the inclusion of LGBTQ+ themes and characters in stories and lessons, calling it an unnecessary 'agenda'. Conversely, a user from Indonesia (@Idalove) praised the inclusion, indicating this is a polarizing topic for the user base.
Tap a theme to expand. Counts represent reviews mentioning the theme.
Notable reviews
The app does not register cancellations in time and automatically charges for a full-year subscription... After two days, the sum for the full-year subscription was taken from my account... despite my earlier cancellation. I reported the situation to Duolingo but was ignored and sent to Apple Pay, receiving information that it was not their problem. I WARN EVERYONE AGAINST DUOLINGO'S THIEVING PRACTICES!!!
Offers a trial and no warning before taking £68 for a full year. Won’t refund.
Every so often you’ll be offered a free trial with the reassurance that “You’ll get a message before the trial ends in case you want to cancel”. This “message” is actually just a single push notification apparently... So when you get a non-refundable £68.99 payment there isn’t anything that can be done apparently. Shady business practices...
You told me you would send me a notification when there were 2 days left of the free trial, you didn't send it to me and not only did you charge me for one month, you decided to give yourself the luxury of charging me for a year, you are miserable.
BUT, having paid €147.99 for a FULL annual family subscription, being charged for ‘extra gems’ when completing more complex timed challenges, and LOOSING all progress when you refuse to spend money on extra gems, is NOTHING SHORT OF A MONEY MAKING SCAM.
it’s literally impossible to do more than two lessons without watching 3 ads to get your energy back up. ... duo was so good 4-5 years ago but this system is infuriating and i am so sick of dealing with it.
Your update has made it impossible to win a chess game. The game tells you you’ve made the wrong move for checkmate and then won’t let you reverse the move, meaning I have to resign the game and take a loss. You’re rigged or broken the system.
I’ve been using Duolingo for Spanish for over 6 years... However, since the shift to AI, I have begun encountering a lot of mistakes. I report the errors but nothing is ever done.
Duolingo should be in everyone’s to do list every day! It’s modern learning experience helps you to learn while having fun, laughing while doing so at the funny characters and learning in a way that keeps your interest too!
It’s an amazing program that keeps you engaged and positive in your learning goals. I highly recommend to anyone with a short attention span who’s been trying to learn a language to give it a shot.
I had some weak French conversational skills prior to using the app, and yet after only six days I’m already noticing a significant improvement... Upon receiving some good reviews from Francophone customers for being able to properly talk to them, my manager has informed me that he’s raising my pay if I act as a sort of French translator.
I quit Roblox for this, no regrets, I’m learning as quick as a flash and all my other friends who have used it are already fluent in one year! Download it RIGHT NOW! 100% no regrets
Feature requests from users
A significant number of users explicitly ask for the 'Energy' system to be removed or changed back to the old 'Hearts' system. They feel the new system unfairly limits learning, even when they make no mistakes, and want a less restrictive free experience.
Users frequently request the addition of new languages. Punjabi, American Sign Language (ASL), and Portuguese (from Portugal, as opposed to the current Brazilian version) are specifically mentioned. Users also ask for other major world languages like Georgian, Bengali, Persian, Thai, Cantonese, Tagalog, and more.
Users from non-US regions request courses that reflect their local dialect. Portuguese speakers want a European Portuguese option, and UK English speakers find the American-centric vocabulary and flag usage annoying.
Tap a request to see what users said. Counts are the number of reviews explicitly asking for it.
Recommendations
Generated by AppAutopsy · Make your own →