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Review summary

Created with AI, based on recent reviews

Considering 737 reviews, most reviewers were let down by their experience overall. Many people found the app's user experience frustrating due to repetitive lessons, annoying animations, and a focus on gamification over actual language acquisition. Customers also reported significant technical issues, including constant crashes, freezing, and problems with microphone exercises not picking up sound. There was widespread dissatisfaction with the lack of grammar explanations and the product's inability to effectively teach practical language skills. A significant number of users were unhappy with the subscription model, citing billing discrepancies, difficulty canceling, and unclear free trial terms. Some people also felt that the content was too repetitive, geared towards US English speakers, and contained inappropriate topics for younger audiences. However, some customers did find the app useful for vocabulary practice and appreciated the bite-sized lessons and motivational league system.

What people talk about most

User experience

Customers had negative experiences with user experience, citing issues such as annoying animations and a lack... See more

Application

Consumers find the app to be largely negative, with many expressing frustration over numerous glitches,... See more

Subscription

Clients share negative opinions on subscription, with many expressing frustration over unexpected charges and... See more

Product

Customers consistently note negative experiences with the product, with many feeling it functions more as a... See more

Payment

Reviewers express significant dissatisfaction with the payment process, citing issues like hidden features... See more

Reviews shaping this summary

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

I've been using Duolingo for about two weeks and already sick of the stupid owl animations wiggling it's arse or looking demented in app and on the widget. The animations are annoying as hell in gener... See more

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

No grammar instruction. All learning deleted. They have suddenly taken away all grammar instruction and expect people to pick it up by the sentences. You can recognize this on the app and on your m... See more

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

I have been using Duolingo for 7 years now and can really say, I can't bear it anymore. Instead of improving vocabulary alternatives, it is focusing on gamification. The Duolingo app face is now utte... See more

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

I've been using Duolingo for learning French and Chess. The French course keeps using English sentences with incorrect grammar and non-colloquial structure as translation examples. Very annoying. In... See more


1.6

Bad

TrustScore 1.5 out of 5

8K reviews

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1-star

No history of asking for reviews

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1.6

All reviews

(7,877)

1,822 reviews in the last 12 months

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Companies on Trustpilot aren't allowed to offer incentives or pay to hide reviews. Reviews are the opinions of individual users and not of Trustpilot. Read more

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

It's OK

Duolingo is an OK language-learning platform with good features like integrating your score to your LinkedIn profile.

However their AI integration has been a bit of a failure and they are a bit pricey.

16 June 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Do not get this stupid app.

I tried this app for 5 days, today, I quit it, I got stuck on a lesson, and this app’s talking one, did not let me say ‘I cannot talk at the moment’ and I have to type it, now because I had just started this app, I did not know how to type in Japanese at all, which resulted in me spending ages trying to complete it. I deleted the app 2 minutes later. Do not get this stupid app.

26 June 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Duolingo is only AI

Spent considerable time time on Duolingo Irish as a paying customer. Ran into a technical issue with the interface. I sent several messages through their “help” function over a period of several weeks. Got one response asking for a screen shot which I immediately sent. Nothing after a month. Their “customer service”must only be AI. Sad. I will go elsewhere. Seachain!

24 June 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Extremely poor customer service from Duolingo

We have a paid subscription to Super Duolingo and my wife has used it for some time. A month ago the program started reloading at the same stage of a lesson every time she would get to that stage. No way to reload or change it, and after reloading the module jumps back to the start again, only to crash and reload again reaching the middle stage of the module.
It is impossible to have a meaningful exchange with anyone from Duolingo - we have submitted reports and get a message back that screenshots or videos are needed - which we have then also sent, but still no meaningful conversation.
Extremely poor customer service from Duolingo and we will move on to cancel the subscription unless we get a reaction and a fix to the problem very, very soon.
Wake up Duolingo - we have paid for a subscription which we currently cannot use because of issues at your end, and you are unreachable!!!

24 June 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 3 out of 5 stars

537d streak but still not able to speak

I have a 537-day streak but still cannot communicate in Japanese. But I manage to recognize certain words on the walls or watching anime. However, still a good app that helps me keep learning. Good design to make you addicted to the streak number.

2 January 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

1 star

1 star

I feel like my money has been taken without fair consideration. I was charged £68.99 for a subscription renewal I did not intend to continue and my refund request was rejected despite contacting support promptly. The lack of flexibility and customer support is very disappointing. Be sure to check your subscription settings carefully, as getting a refund may be much more difficult than expected.

22 June 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

SCAM / UNJUST ENRICHMENT – DO NOT BUY FROM CHINA!

Duolingo English Test is pocketing money without delivering any service. I paid €60 and spent 6 hours attempting the test 4 separate times from China. Every single time, their system failed and crashed during the final data upload due to their platform's inability to route data through the local network without a VPN (which they strictly prohibit).
I have professional IT certifications proving my fiber line is a flawless 130 Mbps, yet their customer support refuses to read the technical data. They hide behind insulting, copy-pasted automated templates blaming my connection, completely ignoring that they are selling a service they structurally cannot deliver under their own rules.
They took my money, delivered zero language certifications, and refused a refund. This is a clear breach of consumer protection laws and unjust enrichment. I am forced to file a formal chargeback with my bank for service non-delivery. Avoid this corporate wall of silence at all costs!

23 June 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Puerile, Patronising Nonsense

Puerile, patronising nonsense.
I tried to cancel it after 3 days but it's still hassling me several days after deleting my account. 3 messages in the last hour saying how disappointed it is that I gave not completed today's challenge.
As a grown up though I don't need a cartoon owl cheering me on, I don't need to be competing for prizes and I am definitely not paying a subscription.
If they don't leave me alone soon it will be a complaint about GDPR to the ICO!

22 June 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Total Lack of Customer Support During Account Security and Billing Issues

I am writing this review to warn potential consumers about Duolingo's absolute failure to provide human customer support when critical billing or account security issues arise.
Recently, my account faced a serious security issue. When attempting to contact Duolingo to secure my billing details and address the situation, I discovered that the company has completely eliminated all direct forms of human contact. There is no customer service telephone number, no live chat, and no direct support email address monitored by human staff.
Instead, users are forced into an endless loop of automated help menus and generic bot responses that cannot resolve urgent financial or security crises. Because the company completely isolates itself from its user base, I was forced to handle the security loop independently and coordinate directly with my credit card company to secure my billing.
While Duolingo is quick to take your money via direct web purchases, they completely abandon consumers the moment an issue occurs. If you choose to use this service, do not buy directly from their website. The corporate choice to prioritize automation over user safety makes Duolingo an incredibly risky and unsupportive company to deal with.

21 June 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

This company took my money for a…

This company took my money for a Duolingo Max subscription, then locked me out of it and refuses to refund my money or restore my access to my paid account. Now they refuse to even accept my requests. They make billions of dollars and this is how they treat their customers.

7 June 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 3 out of 5 stars

Freeze, baby. I’m gone

I’m doing the maths. It keeps saying I haven’t done a lesson, when in fact the app is freezing and not recording what I’ve done. I can’t move to next lesson until the next day! I’m up to day 1573, including French and Maths, I’ve sent several messages but no replies. So I’m gone, after a bad experience.
Dianne

20 June 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 3 out of 5 stars

1 star for their absence of customer…

1 star for their absence of customer service. I've tried email, X, and Instagram to reach customer care. I've used duolingo for years for several languages. Recently, I subscribed to Max. I was loving the AI conversations. Then suddenly, the app says I have Super. I paid for Max! I was using Max. Also, this is one of those apps that you can't cancel; once you purchase, you're stuck for a year. You have the choice of not renewing. They've also made it tedious to go to a next lesson with forcing multiple clicks on time-sucks like treasure chests and statue reveals.

17 June 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Duolingo has issues and should focus on improving learning over forcing premium features.

I've repeatedly requested (50+ times) that Duolingo stop pushing the Max trial offer to me as the account holder. Unfortunately, it continues to appear and leaves me with no way to exit except force-closing the app. The rest of my family on the account doesn't experience this issue.

This creates additional problems because if someone sends me a Streak Freeze, XP Boost, or other gift, I have no way of knowing it's there or who sent it since I have to close the app before I can access anything else.

We've been using Duolingo for several years, yet our progress in actually speaking Spanish has been disappointing. Instead of aggressively promoting premium features, I would rather see the company focus on improving the user experience and language-learning results. If Duolingo wants to retain long-term users, addressing issues like these should be a priority.

19 June 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 2 out of 5 stars

A good idea that really has gone downhill

A good idea that really has gone downhill and is entering the toilet. More concerned with trying to push pointless AI garbage than quality checking the courses. Some language courses are as bad as Rosetta Stone where it's rote learning and there's no explanation of why things are the way they are while others are fairly decent. Some have ridiculous, unhelpful vocabulary, wasting the user's time and learning. They don't seem very eager to support their products either, I've never had a reply despite sending multiple messages. I've been paying for a family account for several years but I think I won't be renewing anymore.

19 June 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

hating it more and more

Used Duolingo for 10 years and have a family subscription but I am hating it more and more. The lessons make less and less sense. The icon on my phone gets uglier by the day. And those endless freaking animations when you have to tap the screen literally dozens of times after completing an exercise just to continue, regardless of the settings.

Now, third of the lessons are skipped because my family subscription is not enough for those greedy corporate monsters.

Not mentioning the despicable woke propaganda both explicitly with the phrasing and implicitly when male voices speaks for women and vice versa.

I won't renew my family subscription next year.

19 June 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 3 out of 5 stars

Not great overall

Great for learning vocabulary.
Not great for learning grammar ( I am learning German)
Some of the tools are very frustrating and time wasting.
Explanations are not brilliant.
I am using it still because despite being given a "monthly" quotation when enquiring about the free trial they charged me for a year. I have no doubt that was written somewhere but it was very misleading. I would not still be using it if I had not paid for a year.

18 June 2026
Unprompted review

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