The Internet is like Duolingo because it's an excellent, non-threatening, courteous, and non-aggressive owl. People's feeds are still overrun with memes and TikToks featuring the spirited bird and the app it stands for. Though it's a common joke to hear people say they worry for their lives if they neglect to complete their daily Spanish lesson, there are some genuine digital security issues with that. Even if it's entertaining and enjoyable, a mobile app nevertheless gathers and jeeps some information about you. What kind of information? Is it safe to collect this data? Do you need to worry? Let's investigate further. 

What Is Duolingo Used for?

Duolingo, a language-learning program, is not just entertaining but also user-friendly. It was established in 2011 and quickly gained popularity, thanks to its gamified approach to teaching. This approach transforms language learning into an enjoyable and successful journey. With its optional premium features, Duolingo's free platform opens the doors of foreign language learning to a wider audience, making it accessible to all. 

More than thirty languages, including less often taught ones like Welsh and Swahili, are available for study on Duolingo. The app includes interactive tales, flashcards, and listening exercises to accommodate various learning methods. Because each lesson is intended to be digestible, users may study at their own speed from any location or time.

Duolingo is mostly used in the United States, with 144,152,500 users leaving in the U.S. amounting to 25.07% of the total Duolingo Users around the world. (usesignhouse)

While Duolingo's popularity is undeniable, it's important to address the security concerns. The app, which was previously restricted in China, has now gained official access, a testament to its reliability and practicality. However, it's worth noting that some companies and educational institutions categorize it as a social networking app and prohibit its use. In such cases, using a VPN to securely access Duolingo could be a viable solution. 

How is Duolingo Operated?

To ascertain your ability level, you must first choose a language and complete an exam when you first use Duolingo. The first lesson then starts with tasks like translating, matching words to pictures, writing down sentences you hear, and speaking exercises. You need to register for an account in order to use the app after completing your first session. 

Duolingo employs a system of prizes and streaks to incentivize you to complete your lesson; to maintain your streak, you must complete your courses every day. This motivates you to practice often, forming a habit out of learning a language. To help you concentrate on your areas of weakness, the app will track your errors and progress to tailor subsequent sessions. The social component further heightens the appeal; making friends who are also Duolingo users, competing on leaderboards, and participating in local events give learning a competitive edge. 

“Based on monthly downloads, Duolingo was the most downloaded language learning app globally in January 2024, with over 16.2 million people downloading the program on their smartphones in that month.”  (Statista)

Benefits and Drawbacks of Duolingo

Cons

Its Speech Recognition Software Still Needs Improvement.

This is a drawback since you shouldn't rely on an app to help you communicate with people on a human level. Be aware, however, that the voice recognition exercise might take time and effort. The gadget will label you accurate even if you say nothing at all or don't even finish your statement. However, the game will often inform you that you're not pronouncing a phrase correctly even when you're speaking it very near. Turn off the speaking exercise if this occurs, usually since the voice recognition software provides no helpful feedback. For the audio assignments, you should repeat each line aloud to yourself and rely on native speakers to correct your pronunciation.

Success While Skills Are Constantly Degenerating Can Feel Depressing.

Every ability in the game loses value over time due to an algorithm. The longer it takes for the talent to deteriorate again, the stronger it becomes. Thus, if your talent loses effectiveness after a day, it may do so again after two days if you renew it. This is particularly helpful at first to consolidate the vocabulary and grammar you have learned since it might be easy to forget what you have learned when you first learn a lesson. 

However, as the lessons mount, you may get quite disheartened to watch a number of your talents diminish over the course of a day. After you learn a lesson, we advise you to diligently review the material until you are familiar with the terms and can easily remember them on your own. It's essential to avoid becoming a perfectionist once you get to that point; however, watching your abilities deteriorate over time will demoralize you. Instead, use the "Strengthen Skills" option, highlighting the grammatical errors and weakest terms in your writing. To keep your memory sharp, do it many times a day, at the very least!

A Few Transplants Are Incorrect.

The game contains a large number of meaningless or strange phrases whose primary purpose is to demonstrate how to apply a grammar point or vocabulary item. Instead of seeing Duplingo as a model of how language should be spoken naturally, consider it a tool that will help you learn how to comprehend how vocabulary is used, particularly in grammar. Stay focused on strange statements such as the one above.

Advantages

You Will Continue to Work As the Reward System Is Amazing.

Duolingo is a terrific game if you like basic games! You'll stick with the game because of its easy gameplay and eye-catching graphics. Your fingers will start to move more swiftly as you get more at ease with the language, and you'll be able to remember words from memory quickly. You will thus be able to complete levels more quickly. Maintaining your streak is a fantastic incentive to practice every day because Duolingo also records the number of consecutive days you have played it!

When You Have a Spare Moment, You Can Play It Anywhere and Any Time. 

Duolingo is ideal if you live somewhere where you walk or take public transit frequently. During your commute, you'll feel productive, and it can replace mind-numbing games like Candy Crush! Playing a few levels can be a manageable time commitment, as each lesson lasts 5-10 minutes. 

A Growing Repertoire of Languages Is Available

Duolingo provides language learning in the following languages as of this writing: Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Irish, Ukrainian, Turkish, and Esperanto. Several more languages are being developed through user-voluntary contributions. Thus, Duolingo is a polyglot's paradise, and user feedback helps it get even better. You can report an incorrect answer to a question you are sure was answered correctly, and it will be looked into immediately. Duolingo is always getting better thanks to its frequent updates, which will keep you engaged and inspired. 

Is Duolingo Secure to Use?

Yes, Duolingo is safe in general—but only to a certain extent. Cybercriminals find it easy to target well-known apps with a large user base because an app with more users has more data available for possible theft. A data breach could result in the theft of a large amount of personal data, such as phone numbers, email addresses, passwords, and other sensitive information, which could then be used in phishing, identity theft, or credential stuffing attacks. 

What Security Precautions Does Duolingo take?

Duolingo has made it clear that it is committed to safeguarding the data and privacy of its users. You can manage your data on the Duolingo Data Vault with it. –access and download it, ask for account deletion, and request data erasure. Not many apps offer such simple data management, even though it's something that businesses should be doing to comply with data protection regulations like GDPR. 

According to Duolingo, in addition to a firm password policy, it employs a number of security measures (such as SSL encryption) to safeguard data while it is in transit. Duolingo hasn't disclosed any information regarding the encryption or other security measures it employs to protect user data kept on its servers, though. Furthermore, it has not made any announcements regarding going through internal or external security audits. Many businesses frequently decide to keep the in-depth details of their security infrastructure private, so this is common.

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Does Duolingo collect Your Data?

Duolingo gathers a variety of data, most of which is connected to instruction and learning. Your personal in-app dictionary, the languages you're learning, the skills and lessons you've completed, time logs showing when and how long you use Duolingo, and the in-app purchases you've made are instruction programs. 

In addition, Duplingo will gather certain information about your device, operating system, and app version. This data helps developers identify and address bugs in their apps. 

Additionally, there is the personal information you provide when setting up your account, which includes your phone number, age, email address, and password. Duolingo will obtain information about you from your Google, Facebook, or Apple accounts if you use them to create a profile. This information may include your email address and contracts. 

Was There a Data Breach at Duolingo?

In August 2023, Duolingo suffered a data breach when 2.6 million users' scraped data was posted on a hacker forum.

Private email addresses and phone numbers were included in the data set, as were experience levels, languages learned, learning progress, accomplishments, social media information, country, role, courses, subscriptions, and account creation dates. 

The breach was caused by a publicly accessible application programming interface (API) that enabled anyone to submit an email address and verify whether it had been used to create a Duolingo account. The API would return the username’s personal information. 

According to a Duolingo representative, there is no proof that Duolingo's systems were breached, and the records were obtained by scraping information readily available to the public. Duolingo claims that the API was purposefully made public, and the email addresses were taken from other websites. Since the app's purpose is to help you make friends who use it, too, making your profile private would prevent people from finding you. 

Is Using Duolingo a Risk to Your Privacy?

Is Duolingo harmful, then? Only sometimes. The information the attackers obtained is not very sensitive, even though it is still being determined how they obtained the email addresses of 2.6 million users. Nevertheless, it can be employed for doxxing or targeted attacks. 

In order to practice good cyber hygiene, bear the following in mind when using Duolingo—or any other app, really):

To help safeguard your personal information, restrict unsolicited contact, and lessen your online exposure, go to "Settings" on your Duolingo app and make sure your profile is private. Consider doing this for all of your online accounts and apps.

Restrict the app's permissions; only allow those required to function. If the app seems suspicious, look for alternatives with more privacy-friendly settings. Excessive permissions can be a red flag. 

Keep your apps updated to take advantage of the newest privacy and security features and lower the chance of security breaches.

Apps that you no longer use should be deleted because they may still be collecting information about you or may have a security flaw that has yet to be fixed. 

Make sure each account has a robust and unique password. Logging in with a social media account is simple, but it's much safer to create an account with just your email address and password. Are you having trouble keeping track of all the passwords? Invest in a password manager for assistance. 

5 Duolingo Alternatives

It's likely that you can't get enough of Duolingo if you adore it. There's a reason why it's among the more well-liked language apps. 

But occasionally, it's good to take a chance. Even translation apps get in on the action by providing instantaneous language assistance, and innovative language learning apps keep things interesting. 

Thankfully, there's a method for trying out new apps without sacrificing the features you adore most about Duolingo. 

Anki

Available on: Android | iOS

Can you learn more quickly with an advanced algorithm?

Because the creators of Anki believe this, they have used that sophisticated algorithm to assess your ability to identify each flashcard and rank them in order of importance. 

You may choose from pre-made sets of flashcards or create your own using Anki. There are more than 80 million pre-made flashcards available, so you should have many to choose from. 

Anki's brief study sessions –one minute or less –make it simple to fit the app into even the busiest schedule. Furthermore, each session ends with a display of your progress, letting you monitor and evaluate it. 

Anki is compatible with any language you want to learn since you can make cards. There's also a reasonable probability that someone has previously created cards for your target language since there are so many pre-existing cards out there. 

FluentU

Available on: Android | iOS

All of FluentU's language classes begin with brief, culturally appropriate movies. News stories, music videos, vlogs, TV program snippets, and other content are all created by and for native speakers. 

The lessons are categorized by subject topic, video format, and learner level. Like Duolingo's "Stories" feature, interactive subtitles allow you to revisit specific sentences in every video. 

After each video, you may complete a review quiz with multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions. Speaking questions are also included in the app's tests to help you improve your voice recognition pronunciation. 

Brainscape

Available on: Android | iOS

Brainscape incorporates studies from cognitive science into its flashcards. That defies argumentation. 

Brainscape uses spaced repetition to expose you to each flashcard at predetermined times for effective learning. 

For a more engaging learning experience, add multimedia to your own flashcards, such as pictures and audio. 

Furthermore, Brainscape allows device syncing, making studying convenient no matter where you are. Users can also alter their flashcard sets to achieve even more socializing.

Brainscape is multilingual because it allows you to make your own flashcards. However, a large number of sets for widely used languages and even some sets for less often used languages are already available. 

Drops App

Available on: Android | iOS

Drops offer engaging language classes that simulate games, making vocabulary learning easy and enjoyable. 

The app uses an expertly selected vocabulary list and unique pictures for each word to aid with memorization. It helps users expand their vocabulary at various levels. Users may monitor their progress and earn prizes as they study. 

It is a well-liked alternative for many language learners because of the large selection of languages available. 

Busuu

Available on: Android | iOS

With exercises that improve your speaking, listening, reading, and writing abilities, Busuu gets you ready for discussions in the real world. With the program, you may practice for ordinary encounters with actual people in video flashcards.

Additionally, Busuu offers an interactive community where you can get comments and corrections from people who speak the language natively worldwide. 

Including language learning into your everyday routine with the app's brief sessions is simple. 

Conclusion 

We are aware that there are several approaches to language learning. There are several platforms available to help you become fluent in the language. You must choose the best option for you. Just make sure it's not Duolingo. Even though it could be free, your time will be wasted. That's one investment you are unable to recover.