As funny as Duolingo's social media and marketing teams are, please don't be fooled. The app has gone to absolute AI slop and is a sorely milked cash cow.
The majority of Duolingo is now poor AI and revised "curriculums" which basically consist of learning how to say "I like stew" in the most stiffly formal manner possible. Curriculums were changed with no warning, actual information such as sentence structure and grammar were replaced by simple phrases that don't have accurate translations, so you're thrown into lessons with no idea what you're trying to say or what words you're supposed to be associating.
They have also replaced the heart system, which while not perfect was a generically acceptable system for a free-use app, and changed it to 'energy.'
This energy is established in a way that you have no choice but to pay for re-fills/premium, or be forced to continuously quit lessons due to lack of energy, thus making it almost impossible for you to complete quests, checkpoints, lessons themselves, or leaderboards.
(Which of course means you don't obtain gems, so you can't re-fill energy for free.... See where this is leading?)
The energy will run out no matter what you do, or how fast you are. You'll be lucky to complete one lesson in a day. It re-fills painfully slowly without paid boosts.
They've also introduced Premium Max, and while paying for Premium alone is supposed to stop adverts, what it doesn't stop is constant pushes to update to Premium Max, which due to a glitch is even interrupting some users mid-lesson.
It is one of the shittiest most greedy and downright insane changes I've seen a company make this year. And while I understand everyone is feeling the pinch of the current economy and companies still need to make money, its even turning off the paying customers, because they are not suffering for energy, they are suffering from the absolute shitshow that lessons have turned into.
They are also, like pretty much every company right now, paying for 5* bot reviews to try and cover up the actual customer reviews.
Boycott Duolingo. Don't fall for their quirky marketing. Look at the actual recent customer reviews.
