[Uehreka]

This is an app that constantly nags you to use it, to the point that its mascot is so widely known as annoying that they play it for laughs in their ads.

All that to say: you and Duolingo’s owners may disagree about what “the point of Duolingo is”. I don’t think they care if users are achieving fluency, they want users to keep coming back to the app so they can be served ads.

And yeah, that doesn’t mean users can’t take initiative and build a better habit-based approach that incorporates Duolingo, but that’s not what the app is pushing you to do.

[midtake]

Most apps are nagware, that is not a Duolingo issue.

The ads are for converting users to paid subscribers, not just "ads."

I don't see your point at all.

[dotancohen]

I'll vouch for the nagware. When I was studying with duolingo, it was the nag features that got me to practice every day.

[ileonichwiesz]

A lot of apps are nagware, but I’ve never seen any as blatant and forceful as Duolingo.

They diligently A/B test their notifications, constantly looking for the variations that’ll show a higher click rate. They’ll hit you with “[Your friend’s name] will hate you forever if you don’t do Duolingo right now!” if you start slipping.

I’ve dropped it after a year or so when I realized that I wasn’t really learning any Turkish, but I was caught in some sort of corporate-designed psychological trap.