Duolingo Web App Trick Restores Hearts and Removes Ads, Report Says

Android Authority reported that Duolingo’s standard app has become more gamified in recent years, with free users facing ads for Super Duolingo and third-party games that cannot be skipped for several seconds. The report said the heart system, which limited practice by mistakes, was replaced by an energy bar that drains even when users answer correctly.

The workaround comes from Reddit user OverallPlatypus9880, a Super Duolingo subscriber who said the approach provided benefits on that tier, according to Android Authority. The report’s author tested the web app on a paid account and a free account and compared it with the standard app, finding the biggest benefits for free users.

A web app is a website installed so that it behaves more like a regular app, the report explained. It gives users a dedicated home-screen icon and can launch in its own window, but it still runs Duolingo’s web version.

On Android, the report said, users can open Chrome, go to Duolingo.com and sign in, tap the three-dot menu, select Install and create shortcut, and then choose Install. Chrome then adds a Duolingo icon to the home screen. Other mobile browsers have similar steps, though options may be named differently. Users launch Duolingo from that icon instead of the standard app. The report said the experience looks and feels close enough to the regular version, but it uses the web experience.

According to the report, the web version resembles a Duolingo iteration from perhaps two or three years ago. The author said almost every user they know agrees the app has become worse over time, making the rollback feel like an improvement. For free users, the energy bar is gone and the heart system returns, so the number of mistakes rather than the number of lessons limits a session. The author, a long-time Super Duo user, tested a new account and encountered the energy bar for the first time, running out near the end of the third lesson despite making only a few mistakes. The report described animations in which Duo flies in and gives a meager top-up to the energy bar as a faux show of generosity.

Ads are also gone in the web app, the report said. The author wrote that they got sick of ads during a short test of the normal app as a free user and argued that either the restored hearts or the absence of ads would be worth the trade-offs.

Other potential benefits for all users are subtler, according to Android Authority. The original Reddit post claimed the Duolingo web app has 'No chests, gamified and forced elements,' but the report said that was not quite accurate in testing. Chests still exist, though users come across fewer of them, and they are not the new ones that require three taps to open. Leagues and daily quests also remain, while gamification is more curtailed.

Editor's Summary This Android Authority report describes a workaround that installs Duolingo’s web version as an app, restoring the hearts system and removing ads while reducing clicks and some gamification. Free users appear to benefit most, although chests, leagues and daily quests remain. The findings come from the report’s author and a Reddit user, not from Duolingo.