Major Duolingo app update changes everything: what happened?

Duolingo has had a massive update, changing everything in the app. Many users are furious, but is that justified?

Duolingo app update: all on the same path

Duolingo is the most popular language learning app. The app has been around for more than ten years and in that time it has mainly improved in terms of design and functions. The basics have remained the same all along. The latest update to the app represents the biggest change for Duolingo ever, and not all users are happy about it.

In recent months, the new update has already been tested with some users, but now everyone has access to a new ‘learning path’.

From tree to path

Previously you could choose from different themes for a language. For example, “food,” “family,” or “travel.” You could complete the basics of such a theme and move on to the next theme. If you went back, you could make an old theme your own with the help of repetition. There was always a reward in the form of crowns.

Those crowns are gone and the choice of themes has also disappeared. Duolingo was told that users found it difficult to find the right way to use the app. Should they continue with new themes, or should they perfect old themes? That is why there is now the learning path in which everyone does the same.

Looks more like a game

The learning path is very similar to how levels of an average smartphone game are built. You complete one level and move on to the next level. In Duolingo you do a lesson and when you successfully complete it you go to the next lesson.

Duolingo promises that this path is based on the science behind language learning. This is how repetition is ingrained in the path. Themes and phrases always come back later, but Duolingo now ensures that there is time between these repetitions. That would work better than committing to one theme until you perfect it.

1 star reviews

Users who have been using the Duolingo app for a long time and are used to how the lessons are structured are not happy with the changes the update makes. Many 1 star reviews have recently been left in the App Store. Jasperw26 writes there, for example, that he finds the new learning path confusing: “It is difficult to find lessons that I had difficulty with and lessons that I would like to learn again so that this stays in my head.”

Taalfan68 writes that he has been a fan of Duolingo for years, but that he finds the new learning path a step backwards: “You are now forced to follow the path and you are therefore less flexible to adapt your daily lessons to your needs.”

Many users beg Duolingo to bring back the old design, but the company remains silent. On TikTok, where Duolingo regularly publishes comic videos with a large version of the famous green Duolingo owl, no new videos have been uploaded for weeks. Possibly because the comments are full of people who want the old Duolingo back.

Roll back update

Whether Duolingo will roll back the app update is questionable. It has been a lot of work and a lot of money has been spent on it. Yet it is not inconceivable. In the past, major apps have also rolled back updates after much criticism. Think of Instagram with the update that made the app more like TikTok. An update for Twitter that forced you into an algorithmic timeline was also rolled back.

The new update makes Duolingo simpler and more accessible. That is good news for new and young users, but for the rest it is a bit of a swallow. Duolingo mostly seems to ignore that people learn in different ways and the old version of the app allowed for that.

With many major updates, it is often a matter of getting used to. After a few months you don’t know any better. In the case of Duolingo, it is unlikely that all those fans will soon forget this. A petition on Change.org to roll back the update already has more than 11,000 signatures.

What do you think of the new Duolingo update and learning path? Let us know in the comments!