\u2018Catastrophic decline\u2019 of languages puts them below PE A-level<\/a><\/p>\nDuolingo aims for lessons to feel like a game. The metrics \u2014 streaks and scores \u2014 introduce an element of competition for learners, while friends streaks and family account allow for a sense of camaraderie. <\/p>\n
Duolingo would not share the average amount of time people stay active on the app, but said more than ten million learners have streaks longer than 365 days.<\/p>\n
The user with the highest streak in the world was, at the time of the Times interview, on 4,640 days, an anonymous American who has been learning Italian for more than 12 years. <\/p>\n
Heather McKee, a behavioural expert, said: \u201cFrom a behavioural point of view, the notifications tap into loss aversion, a negative bias, so the threat of losing something like a streak is more assailant than gaining a point for people. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey create a sense of urgency with the call to action \u2014 you know, do the lesson now \u2014 which beats vague encouragement. Their humour softens the edge and it\u2019s kind of like this playful, social pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Duolingo operates differently for users under 13 to comply with privacy laws and removes the \u201cYou made Duo sad\u201d notification, although the owl icon will still change its emotion. <\/p>\n
Some users, including parents, have resorted to turning off notifications to avoid the barrage of reminders, which have been described as akin to a \u201ctoxic relationship\u201d. <\/p>\n
Jessica Elefante, an author and tech critic, stopped her 12-year-old son from using the app.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur kids already have enough to feel bad about,\u201d she said. \u201cYou don\u2019t want to start them normalising a manipulative co-dependent relationship with a bot dressed up as a fuzzy green friend who makes you feel bad about yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
On social media, however, the notoriety of the aggressive reminders has allowed Duolingo to build a global brand around Duo the owl.<\/p>\n
Videos, which started with joking threats from Duo if you did not do your vocab, escalated into a collaboration with Netflix\u2019s Squid Game, an attendance at the Barbie film premiere, a crush on the singer Dua Lipa and, most successfully in January, a plotline \u2014 inspired by the head of art\u2019s 12-year-old daughter \u2014 in which the owl was killed by a cybertruck before being resurrected.<\/p>\n
The funeral for Duo had 67 million views on TikTok.<\/p>\n
![\"Social](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/\/2d9f7700-a012-49e1-85d3-936499aaf75e.jpg\")
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Duolingo\u2019s playful announcement of the owl\u2019s death<\/p>\n
Monthly users have tripled since the start of 2020 and revenue has increased sevenfold over the same period.<\/p>\n
The vast majority of accounts use the free app with adverts but 10.9 million have converted to the paid subscription, which accounts for most of the app\u2019s revenue. <\/p>\n
Von Ahn wants Duolingo to expand further and has his sights on a physics course. He also wants Duolingo to become the universal proficiency test for languages, which can be referenced in job interviews or university applications.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Duolingo\u2019s founder on billionaire life: \u2018I guess it\u2019s nice not to worry\u2019<\/a><\/p>\nThe app has collaborated with LinkedIn so jobseekers can display their Duolingo scores. Its English aptitude test is used by a third of UK universities and at more than 70,000 locations around the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to get to the point where there are a billion people actively learning \u2014 really learning for real, useful things \u2014 on Duolingo,\u201d Von Ahn said. \u201cBecause that\u2019s a significant fraction of the world\u2019s population using the phone for learning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Will the app continue to use guilt-tripping to get there? \u201cThere may be some people who find them too pushy,\u201d Von Ahn said, sounding like the owl, \u201cbut I think most people are thankful that we have helped them build a habit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Issy, seven, of Tunbridge Wells, was voluntarily \u2014 to the joy of her parents \u2014 learning French on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183449,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[165,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-183448","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-mobile","9":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/p>\n