Theres also basically zero server side-checking on anything. Hacked APKs let you get premium features for free :3
Comment on Duolingo CEO tries to walk back AI-first comments, fails
AlecSadler@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
In another thread someone told me you can buy gems or something to keep your streak going.
That would’ve made me uninstall long before his comments.
LodeMike@lemmy.today 4 weeks ago
Mildren@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
That’s awful! Could you please let me know where these APKs are hosted so that I may avoid them?
LodeMike@lemmy.today 4 weeks ago
Mobilism.
Olgratin_Magmatoe@slrpnk.net 4 weeks ago
Got any recommendations for where to find said APKs?
LodeMike@lemmy.today 4 weeks ago
Mobilism.
anon_8675309@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Just a guess , but maybe the extra net by the bay of torrent.
KRAW@linux.community 4 weeks ago
I remember easily getting gems for free. Also the streak basically doesn’t matter at all. What made me uninstall is the slow pace m. It felt like I was stuck on the same words and topics forever. It felt like I was not actually learning anything, which if you’ve ever started learning a language if a formal setting, is very apparent.
Lemminary@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
I’ve found it’s best for drilling and not for learning. You’ll probably learn faster by reading a textbook or listening to something like the Michel Thomas method that gets you speaking super fast. Then you can hop on Duolingo and make it stick. The secret is knowing the vocabulary beforehand to finish the lessons faster by focusing on your accuracy instead.
zaphod@sopuli.xyz 4 weeks ago
The old tree system was much better, it allowed you to mix exercises from different topics. The new path system locks you into one topic until you know all the sentences by rote.
QualifiedKitten@discuss.online 4 weeks ago
They changed that a couple years ago, right? I think that was when I quit.
wccrawford@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
It’s worse than that.
Yes, you can pay for a streak freeze. If you don’t, you’ll probably find that you were given one for free anyhow. You’d have wasted your gems.
Yes, you can pay to undo a streak loss. It’s more than paying for a freeze.
It’ll give you multiple chances to pay for all that, too. If you’re out for days and then come back, you can pay to fix your streak.
What is the point of a streak if you can just buy your way back to it?
Also, I had paid for the last couple years, which (IIRC) includes free streak freezes. It still asked if I want to pay for them. I’d say no, and find I had one anyhow, or a friend had miraculously given me one.
But during the last year (365 days) my streak was actually only at 190 or so because I’d used so many streak freezes that I got for free. I wasn’t even trying to keep my streak.
When I finally let my streak die, the icon started trying to guilt trip me into coming back with horrible icons of Duo being sad, heartbroken, or even dead.
The constant mental manipulation that was well beyond what gamification should ever be was what finally drove me to just quit playing altogether. I had already canceled my sub long ago, but I’m not even going to use the remainder of this year I’ve already paid for.
JackbyDev@programming.dev 4 weeks ago
I’m a long time user of Duolingo and you earn plenty to give yourself the occasional streak freeze if you can’t go two days without doing a lesson. It’s not really as predatory as it sounds. It’s nothing like pay to win type games.
Fuck Duolingo for the AI shit though, don’t mistake me for a Duolingo simp thinking their blameless. It’s just that the monetization is not as predatory as it sounds.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
I have so many could probably keep a streak foing indefinitely without ever doing a lesson, but I’d need to log in every couple days to repurchase the streak freeze.
SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org 4 weeks ago
Nobody has ever learned a language by using Duolingo anyways. It’s an app that lets you pretend your are doing something useful with your life instead of just slaving away at your job enriching others.
Smokeless7048@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
I have definitely learned a lot of Spanish from Duolingo, and while I’m not fluent, i went from being able to count to able to hold some basic conversations with Spanish people i know.
JackbyDev@programming.dev 4 weeks ago
You’re just pretending you are doing something useful with your life instead of just slaving away at your job enriching others.
/s, obviously. What a wild take they have.
JackbyDev@programming.dev 4 weeks ago
Jesus fucking Christ, lighten up lol.
Sonor@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
the realest comment on lemmy, ever
AlecSadler@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
Ah, okay, thanks for the info! I’ve never used Duolingo so I genuinely don’t know.
finitebanjo@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
I think it should be added that people who pay premium get infinite lives, everyone else gets 1 wrong answer every 6-ish hours with a maximum of 5, meaning they can answer wrong at most 5 times and fail a lesson, forcing them to do a recap practice lesson to earn a heart and then retry the lesson with only 1 heart or they’re just done for the day.
J52@lemmy.nz 4 weeks ago
I have so many bonus points, I just get 5 new hearts. I find the lack of grammer in the free version holding me back (possibly by design, so I’ll finally pay for something). I think it’s time to leave for me too (I didn’t enjoy the gaming side and won’t tolerate AI integration, even if it’s free).
JackbyDev@programming.dev 4 weeks ago
To win what? The lessons are not competitive.
finitebanjo@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
There actually is a weekly leaderboard bracket where you compete with about 30 to 50 other people.
Completing a lesson is winning, losing all your lives is losing.
Empricorn@feddit.nl 4 weeks ago
“Freezing” your streak is just silly, even if they offer it for free. Is this just for online clout, so you can brag (falsely) to others how long you haven’t broken a streak?
If an alcoholic goes 10 years without drinking, then has a beer, the streak is broken. Doesn’t mean you can’t recover and improve, but it is what it is. It’s dishonest to pretend it didn’t happen, especially if you’re comparing yourself to others…
JackbyDev@programming.dev 4 weeks ago
Really comparing missing a day of a language learning app to alcoholisn recovery?
Your streak doesn’t go up on days you use a freeze.
Empricorn@feddit.nl 4 weeks ago
No? It was a comparison of the streak, not the subject of the streak. That was just an example. My point remains. Unless you can literally stop time, the streak died. It’s okay that it did, but why pretend it didn’t?