Review Insights · App Store
Babbel - Language Learning
Babbel GmbH · 742,820 ratings · ★ 4.7
4.7
★★★★★
742,820 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 48 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"learn"
11 negative reviews mention this · 23% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Very limited conversation practice. After using Duolingo for years and switching to Babbel in the hope of having a more sophisticated experience, I am very disappointed. Duolingo has an AI conversation capability that blows away Babbel. Also, Babbel has almost no spoken pra…" - Breitsdb
2
"learning"
9 negative reviews mention this · 19% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Very limited conversation practice. After using Duolingo for years and switching to Babbel in the hope of having a more sophisticated experience, I am very disappointed. Duolingo has an AI conversation capability that blows away Babbel. Also, Babbel has almost no spoken pra…" - Breitsdb
3
"lesson"
9 negative reviews mention this · 19% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Very limited conversation practice. After using Duolingo for years and switching to Babbel in the hope of having a more sophisticated experience, I am very disappointed. Duolingo has an AI conversation capability that blows away Babbel. Also, Babbel has almost no spoken pra…" - Breitsdb
4
"know"
9 negative reviews mention this · 19% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Streaks don’t work. I have paid for premium and it seems to be a good app, but the streaks don’t work at all. It will mark it when I do it and then the next day when I go on, it will claim it never happened or move it to the next day, breaking the streak, maki…" - Cottonzzcandy
5
"language"
8 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Very limited conversation practice. After using Duolingo for years and switching to Babbel in the hope of having a more sophisticated experience, I am very disappointed. Duolingo has an AI conversation capability that blows away Babbel. Also, Babbel has almost no spoken pra…" - Breitsdb
6
"lessons"
7 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Very limited conversation practice. After using Duolingo for years and switching to Babbel in the hope of having a more sophisticated experience, I am very disappointed. Duolingo has an AI conversation capability that blows away Babbel. Also, Babbel has almost no spoken pra…" - Breitsdb
7
"better"
7 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Trash app. Bro why can i only learn one lesson then pay are you kidding me bro do better on your app gng" - 👁️🦴👁️👶❤️😔
8
"babbel"
6 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Very limited conversation practice. After using Duolingo for years and switching to Babbel in the hope of having a more sophisticated experience, I am very disappointed. Duolingo has an AI conversation capability that blows away Babbel. Also, Babbel has almost no spoken pra…" - Breitsdb
9
"practice"
5 negative reviews mention this · 10% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Very limited conversation practice. After using Duolingo for years and switching to Babbel in the hope of having a more sophisticated experience, I am very disappointed. Duolingo has an AI conversation capability that blows away Babbel. Also, Babbel has almost no spoken pra…" - Breitsdb
10
"duolingo"
5 negative reviews mention this · 10% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Very limited conversation practice. After using Duolingo for years and switching to Babbel in the hope of having a more sophisticated experience, I am very disappointed. Duolingo has an AI conversation capability that blows away Babbel. Also, Babbel has almost no spoken pra…" - Breitsdb
11
"money"
5 negative reviews mention this · 10% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Very limited conversation practice. After using Duolingo for years and switching to Babbel in the hope of having a more sophisticated experience, I am very disappointed. Duolingo has an AI conversation capability that blows away Babbel. Also, Babbel has almost no spoken pra…" - Breitsdb
12
"rather"
5 negative reviews mention this · 10% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Streaks don’t work. I have paid for premium and it seems to be a good app, but the streaks don’t work at all. It will mark it when I do it and then the next day when I go on, it will claim it never happened or move it to the next day, breaking the streak, maki…" - Cottonzzcandy
📋 All 48 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
Trash app
Bro why can i only learn one lesson then pay are you kidding me bro do better on your app gng
Lesson are TOO LONG
They keep sending notifications that say “spend 5 minutes” to practice. But I keep spending 10 minutes to get to “you have completed half the lesson”. I’m pretty quick going through things. App seems ok but be prepared for having to spend 20 minutes per lesson
Awful
Terrible application.
Misleading
I’m so tired of these apps taking my info before they tell me it costs money. I probably would have signed up if they didn’t do that but it makes it feel like a scam.
Very advanced
Looking to learn intro Italian for a visit later this year. This program advances quickly and doesn’t really have a slow learning and introduction of vocabulary before jumping into conversations. Not the way I learn best.
Streaks don’t work
I have paid for premium and it seems to be a good app, but the streaks don’t work at all. It will mark it when I do it and then the next day when I go on, it will claim it never happened or move it to the next day, breaking the streak, making keeping a streak impossible. I don’t know why, but it’s really distracting for some reason and it makes it hard to go on at all, so if the streak isn’t going to work I would rather be able to turn it off altogether.
Watch out for hidden auto renewal
I vividly remember not selecting auto renewal. But regardless they kept charging quietly, without any email, push notification, or in-app alert letting me know a subscription payment was being processed. No receipt, no reminder, nothing. Transparent billing is a basic expectation for any subscription service.
Spelling
Why are we spelling words? I need to learn how to say them and what they mean.
Meh
Honestly only writing this review because I’ve done one before but every time I use the app it asks me again. Maybe if I write enough bad ones it will stop asking me every single time. The app itself is okay. I find it rather boring and don’t feel it’s helping me much. I wish there were more speaking exercises.
Reclamation
Faites un contenu gratuit pour les africains ont est pas riche à cause du pillage de vos ancêtres et merci
Difficult to Understand Lessons
There are no instructions or questions to understand how the lessons work. I have to guess to navigate through the lessons.
Bad app
Don’t use it. It doesn’t work
Sucks
You only get one lesson and it’s not even a good one either. Have to pay for more
HORRIBLE APP
THIS IS A SCAM,YOU CANT EVEN LEARN ANY LANGUAGE YOU WANT,YOU HAVE A FEW OPTIONS AND THATS IT.
Disappointed
My level is either too easy or to hard. If présentes with something you don’t know, you get it wrong but have no background ot titre lège
Not having what I needed to learn
The app did not have what I needed to learn and I’m up set I Hate this app
Vacation travelers
Look elsewhere. Not sure who picks what is important to learn. Got better results from chat gpt and google translate.
No
Their translations are not correct. They suggest meanings rather than accuracy, therefore, learning the words is almost impossible.Also, they promote leftist nonsense. Find another course.
Dishonest
Avoid this app. Babbel auto-renewed my annual subscription without any advance warning - no email, no in-app notice, nothing. The charge just appeared on my card. When I contacted support, I was pointed to fine print buried in the original sign-up confirmation.
This is a deliberate billing trap. Cancel before your renewal date and don't expect Babbel to remind you.
This is a deliberate billing trap. Cancel before your renewal date and don't expect Babbel to remind you.
Spanish learning
Sucks, no search bar, can not find what I feel i need to know or review. All yea, did I say no search bar sucks big time
Horrible customer service
I have an annual unlimited membership that doesn’t expire until October and they’re saying I need a new membership because they won’t help me resolve the login issue.
No Japanese
Duolingo is better
Horrible
It has barely any languages to choose from. I want to learn Greek and it’s not one of the options 🤬
Terrible
This is the most terrible app ever. You get one lesson then you have to pay an outrageous fee just to learn. After your one and only lesson you have to”chat” with ai with words you haven’t learned yet (if you are a beginner). If there was zero stars I would press it
I don’t understand
I don’t understand the French at all and you people are confusing me
Cannot get passed Privacy settings!
The app is more concerned about controlling you than teaching you.
It is not true
When I try to download a Babbel it said this is the best thing in the world but it’s not. It’s terrible you have to pay for the second lesson. I put five stars so people notices do not download this app. It is terrible.
Hard to terminate
Once you start, good luck getting it to stop charging you. I can’t figure it out. Why do I have to spend so much time quitting??!! 😡
It’s really just meh
I thought I’d like this because I wanted to do a French refresher after not speaking for 30 years. It’s really boring it does teach you grammar, but I don’t feel like I’m learning anything. I know Duolingo gets a bad rap it’s not not so boring. And the subject matter is stupid and silly.
Stinks
Really bad
Slow App for Slow Learners
If you know absolutely no Spanish, this app is for you. But if you have an intermediate or better grasp of the language, prepare to be bored right out of your mind with this very inflexible app.
Very limited conversation practice
After using Duolingo for years and switching to Babbel in the hope of having a more sophisticated experience, I am very disappointed. Duolingo has an AI conversation capability that blows away Babbel. Also, Babbel has almost no spoken practice in its lessons and this is a poor approach to learning a language. I wish I could get my money back.
False pricing
The app listing lists several options for
Languages including a 1 month for Spanish.
This is FALSE. They only offer 3, 6, and 12 month ALL LANGUAGE access.
<EDIT> as you can see the developer responded to my review but absolutely did not dispute the fact that you cannot buy languages a month at time. I have reduced my stars because of their false advertising.
Another response. They don't offer a monthly but they list a price. That's hogwash. Do better.
Languages including a 1 month for Spanish.
This is FALSE. They only offer 3, 6, and 12 month ALL LANGUAGE access.
<EDIT> as you can see the developer responded to my review but absolutely did not dispute the fact that you cannot buy languages a month at time. I have reduced my stars because of their false advertising.
Another response. They don't offer a monthly but they list a price. That's hogwash. Do better.
Ai not good
Fix the speaking practices to acceptance numbers and weight values are asked to be repeated Italian keeps glitching very annoying please fix the speaking practice unless you talk like a robot it doesn’t understand very disappointing
Pushes LGBTQ
I don’t know why, but there are always references to his husband, her girlfriend, pictures of 2 guys holding each other. Pretty odd.
This is NOT free
I have seen multiple ads and heard many advertisements for Babbel claiming that it is free. I thought it would be similar to Duolingo in the way that you could only have a certain amount of learning each day and you had a pay if you wanted more. But for Babbel this is NOT the case. It seems to me like you get ONE free lesson from each unit, meaning you get a one time chance to get the absolute basics and basically just hope you remember it, and then you have to go to the next unit and get that first lesson. How is anyone supposed to learn anything that way? I understand needing money but this just seems like a money hogging app to me with misleading advertising. Seriously, the amount of times I heard the word “free” in the ad was ridiculous. Would NOT recommend this app, Duolingo is infinitely better!
Stops too early
Stops at B2. Disappointing
Good and bad
Generally I like the format of teaching followed by tasks. However, the topics are at times not practical… several lessons on the Olympics, etc, where more day to day activities should be the key. Also, a lot of the translations are slightly off… a “deportista profesional “, is not “an elite athlete”, but rather a professional athlete… ALMOST the same, but not great when learning a new language.
Disappointed in Service
The app itself was fine but billing and customer service was poor.
I swear I cancelled my subscription, year + later I see I’m still being charged. I saw the charge and reached out a few days later when I saw my bank statement. Refused to refund me or even a partial refund. No response back when I emailed them again. After reading other reviews on trust pilot it seems like this is a common thing. Someone thinks they cancelled and continues to be charged . I wasn’t asking for all the charges to be made refunded just the one that barely happened. Gave them over $300 and they can see I didn’t use that app except during the promotion period for a few months. Disappointed they aren’t better on service.
I swear I cancelled my subscription, year + later I see I’m still being charged. I saw the charge and reached out a few days later when I saw my bank statement. Refused to refund me or even a partial refund. No response back when I emailed them again. After reading other reviews on trust pilot it seems like this is a common thing. Someone thinks they cancelled and continues to be charged . I wasn’t asking for all the charges to be made refunded just the one that barely happened. Gave them over $300 and they can see I didn’t use that app except during the promotion period for a few months. Disappointed they aren’t better on service.
Not enough basic vocabulary
I really want basic vocabulary, recognition,and pronunciation for travel. Having to spell the words in the lessons is frustrating. I was really hoping to learn like small children where you learn to recognize objects and what they are, in addition to basic everyday phrases: please, thank you, you’re welcome, a table for two, please, etc.
It’s fine
I don’t know about it. It uses too much English and kinda tells you the answer. Not worth the money.
Meh.
I‘m trying to learn German and for some reason all the people in the pictures don’t look at all German, and they are covering facts about Muslims completely unrelated to learning German. Not worth the price. You can get the same trash for free from Duolingo.
Babbel
Moves too fast for an older inexperienced second language learner!
Should have more than one lesson in each new skill. Very confusing.
Should have more than one lesson in each new skill. Very confusing.
pay wall
Won’t let you do any lessons or anything at all unless if you pay but the courses seem like it covers everything you need to know about the language so if you have money then yeah.
Confusing grammar lessons!!!
Lessons fly by too fast, not enough practice, random unknown words thrown at you, very disappointing! NOT HAPPY WITH BABBEL!
The grammar and pronunciation lessons are confusing! It starts with choosing an answer out two choices but the choices are tricky and confusing!
Some lessons are too long like there’s no end to them!
The grammar and pronunciation lessons are confusing! It starts with choosing an answer out two choices but the choices are tricky and confusing!
Some lessons are too long like there’s no end to them!
Too hard, too quickly
I have some experience in the language I am learning. However, the layout of the text they are choosing to teach, is at the top of the page and everything looks scrunched. The letters at the top look too tight, and it’s hard to read smoothly.
They introduce lessons before confirm, confirming you have a grasp on the previous, and you can’t go back in practice without them forcing another lesson on you before you’re ready.
They introduce lessons before confirm, confirming you have a grasp on the previous, and you can’t go back in practice without them forcing another lesson on you before you’re ready.
Streak
The streak shows you how many days you have continuously worked on it. When you miss a long lesson it is discouraging to see that counter start back at 0. If they are really tracking progress it should just count the total and not the streak so that a user can see how many times they have done a lesson overall. That’s really annoying. I would rather turn it off.
Not practical
I learned a lot of French, but hardly any of it was useful in my two months in the country
Sentiment summary
94%
Positive (4-5★)
4%
Neutral (3★)
2%
Negative (1-2★)