Review Insights · App Store
Language Learning - Ling
SIMYA LABS COMPANY LIMITED · 13,378 ratings · ★ 4.6
4.6
★★★★★
13,378 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 32 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
"lessons"
13 negative reviews mention this · 41% of all complaints
★★★★★ "new update lessons load slower. i’m using iPad and when I click review lesson, it takes an extra five seconds to open the lesson. Before it was immediate if you clicked the button the lesson immediately opened, now you have to click the button and wait a little bit and th…" - yenkrit
2
"doesn"
8 negative reviews mention this · 25% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Speaking exercises rarely work. This is much more glitchy than Duolingo. The volume sometimes doesn’t work and the speaking exercises rarely pick up your voice" - Tiff J Music
3
"trial"
7 negative reviews mention this · 22% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Trial sucks. I did the 7 day trial but they charged me for a full year subscription before the trial ended. Do not do the trial they will scam you out 89.99 for a full year membership. I asked for refund and because they charged before end of trial and …" - Viralmentorsclub.com
4
"words"
7 negative reviews mention this · 22% of all complaints
★★★★★ "The app sucks!!!. So buggy. Crashes and worst of all the speaking lessons are impossible. The recording doesn’t get what I say or just doesn’t record. The screen flashes and nothing happens or I get 0% speaking score. The app randomly shuts down or doesn’t …" - shlo16
5
"learn"
6 negative reviews mention this · 19% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Scammed. I recently purchased the 1 month pro package to learn about Telugu. It keeps saying that I haven’t played for it while my credit card is saying otherwise. Needless to say don’t fall for the scam" - ArnavEda
6
"subscription"
6 negative reviews mention this · 19% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Trial sucks. I did the 7 day trial but they charged me for a full year subscription before the trial ended. Do not do the trial they will scam you out 89.99 for a full year membership. I asked for refund and because they charged before end of trial and …" - Viralmentorsclub.com
7
"speaking"
5 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Speaking exercises rarely work. This is much more glitchy than Duolingo. The volume sometimes doesn’t work and the speaking exercises rarely pick up your voice" - Tiff J Music
8
"lesson"
5 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "new update lessons load slower. i’m using iPad and when I click review lesson, it takes an extra five seconds to open the lesson. Before it was immediate if you clicked the button the lesson immediately opened, now you have to click the button and wait a little bit and th…" - yenkrit
9
"language"
5 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "App is broken. Don’t use this app it doesn’t work. There are way better apps that can teach you language" - Xfhjifd
10
"however"
5 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "One of the best but still poor ux. This is one of the best apps for Tagalog. However the latest speaking feature is so poor I have to give this a one star cause it makes me want to throw my phone. No idea if the mic is on. It says press here to speak and it turns blue but …" - kacalica
11
"learning"
5 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Unfathomable. For some inexplicable reason, this app presents beginners with multiple translations for new words they are seeing for the very first time. Are you serious? Like, your first lesson might be that hello in your language corresponds “hello (he…" - Blue Checkmark
12
"saying"
4 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Scammed. I recently purchased the 1 month pro package to learn about Telugu. It keeps saying that I haven’t played for it while my credit card is saying otherwise. Needless to say don’t fall for the scam" - ArnavEda
📋 All 32 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").
Scammed
I recently purchased the 1 month pro package to learn about Telugu. It keeps saying that I haven’t played for it while my credit card is saying otherwise. Needless to say don’t fall for the scam
App is broken
Don’t use this app it doesn’t work. There are way better apps that can teach you language
Don’t buy this app
Unnecessarily expensive, refused refund. The worst part is when speaking with my people whose native tongue is relative to what this app teaches, the phrases it teaches are they overly formal to the point that I’m not being understood. What a massive waste of time and money.
One of the best but still poor ux
This is one of the best apps for Tagalog. However the latest speaking feature is so poor I have to give this a one star cause it makes me want to throw my phone.
No idea if the mic is on. It says press here to speak and it turns blue but then I have to press again to get a loading spinner and it seems like this is when it actually records. Add in more feedback when it’s actually recording and when it’s done recording and when it’s evaluating then I’ll change this to an easy 5 star. But I’m basically stuck now as it keeps cutting off my speech. Great idea for a feature that’s really needed but very poor execution.
No idea if the mic is on. It says press here to speak and it turns blue but then I have to press again to get a loading spinner and it seems like this is when it actually records. Add in more feedback when it’s actually recording and when it’s done recording and when it’s evaluating then I’ll change this to an easy 5 star. But I’m basically stuck now as it keeps cutting off my speech. Great idea for a feature that’s really needed but very poor execution.
It’s a bit frustrating.
I loved this app so far however, recently the app doesn’t register the fact I did a lesson even though I did three. I even closed and re-opened the app to try and see if it would register, but so far it hasn’t.
Trial sucks
I did the 7 day trial but they charged me for a full year subscription before the trial ended. Do not do the trial they will scam you out 89.99 for a full year membership. I asked for refund and because they charged before end of trial and they made excuses why they can’t refund.! Also the language I chose to learn is not included in the app like they describe. I’ve had a terrible experience.
Have to pay
Seems like I have to pay after the first few lessons
Bad formatting
In the Arabic course, in some lessons they have a fill in the blank section, and the words in the sentences are listed left to right instead of right to left like they're supposed to be.
Unfathomable
For some inexplicable reason, this app presents beginners with multiple translations for new words they are seeing for the very first time. Are you serious? Like, your first lesson might be that hello in your language corresponds “hello (hey)” in English, and every single time you review the word for hello, you have to remember two distinct translations for this new word, plus a completely arbitrary choice of which one to put first and which one to put in parentheses. What?!
This app is full of inane pedagogical choices like this. Lessons jump between extremely easy one-word translations to complex, ten-word sentences that have to be rendered in a specific order that is language-dependent-which you of course can’t know because you are learning this language for the first time…
Update: They just added a new lesson path feature. I had previously skipped all of the spoken audio lessons because they simply do not work, but now every day I have to acknowledge again that I want to skip those past lessons, just to get started.
This app is full of inane pedagogical choices like this. Lessons jump between extremely easy one-word translations to complex, ten-word sentences that have to be rendered in a specific order that is language-dependent-which you of course can’t know because you are learning this language for the first time…
Update: They just added a new lesson path feature. I had previously skipped all of the spoken audio lessons because they simply do not work, but now every day I have to acknowledge again that I want to skip those past lessons, just to get started.
Armenian Language is in Turkish?!?!
Is this a joke?! Surely there must be some historical dig going on here.. Why in the world is Turkish coming out through the audio as im learning Armenian language??? This app is a joke
Subscription charged before end of 7 day trial
Review of the “trial period” not the app itself.
When installing the app and running it for the first time, it said there was a 7 day trial. However I was charged for a 1 month subscription right then. Used the app for half an hour and decided it was not something I would use. I went to cancel right away, but I was already charged. Made a claim to Apple but refund was denied.
When installing the app and running it for the first time, it said there was a 7 day trial. However I was charged for a 1 month subscription right then. Used the app for half an hour and decided it was not something I would use. I went to cancel right away, but I was already charged. Made a claim to Apple but refund was denied.
Subscribed but Pro Content Still Locked
I subscribed to the Ling app through the 7-day free trial for the 12-month plan ($89.99/year), and Apple shows the subscription as active under my Apple ID. However, inside the app the lessons are still locked and marked as “Pro,” and when I try to restore purchases it says “No purchases found.”
Because of this, I cannot access the Pro content that I already subscribed to. The app appears unable to recognize the Apple subscription even though it is clearly active in my Apple Subscriptions settings.
I tried restoring purchases, logging in again, and checking my subscription through Apple, but the problem persists.
This seems to be a syncing issue between the Ling app and Apple subscriptions. Please fix this or provide a way for the app to properly detect active subscriptions.
Because of this, I cannot access the Pro content that I already subscribed to. The app appears unable to recognize the Apple subscription even though it is clearly active in my Apple Subscriptions settings.
I tried restoring purchases, logging in again, and checking my subscription through Apple, but the problem persists.
This seems to be a syncing issue between the Ling app and Apple subscriptions. Please fix this or provide a way for the app to properly detect active subscriptions.
A scam
Unfortunately this is a scam. You will be hit with constant begging for subscription- but unless you buy the one THEY want- the expensive yearly almost $90 plan- you will not unlock more lessons. I bought monthly plan and the begging for yearly subscription never stopped AND it did not unlock lessons, even though my payment shows it cleared fine. I paid, and they walked away with my money and I got no subscription. The monthly is too expensive also, $17, but I paid it and it was a scam.
lessons not loading
I just downloaded the app and the lessons keep saying they’re loading but nothing happens
No refunding after trail
After going back and forth from developer and apple support both for a week trying to get my 96 dollars some change back. I’m left with a no from developer claiming only apple can process my refund, and apple saying they won’t do it either because of terms of service from developer. I was referred to try the trial version out, only to get 0 notifications saying they would charge me for a full year immediately with no refunding. Might as well put there hands straight into my pockets and steal from me at this point and get away with it. Disgusting support from both ends but mainly ling because they have the capability just as well to contact apple to issue out refunds to all who don’t plan past trial version. I also cancelled immediately after I noticed charge was made so they could see I only tried trial version as agreed to only to realize I should have just left it since they are not issuing out any refunds. Thanks for a week of ping ponging me back and forth between your support and apple support only to be left COMPLETELY empty handed. Don’t try the trial version even everyone or you will also get the same treatment!
Tagalog
The app jumps right in with sentences and doesn't explain the grammar. Also, subsequent lessons don't refresh earlier vocabulary so you forget everything in a day.
Can’t even try
I can’t get past typing my name because the keyboard won’t go away. Too bad, wanted to try. You sent me an email telling me to rotate my phone. That doesn’t do a thing. I have an iphone 15 - not old.
Random and bizarre
This is my first day, so my opinion my improve, but from the first two lessons I can only say that it tried to teach me the numbers 25, 12, 14, and 40… in that order. It gave me entire conversations that it did not translate, but expected me to then fill in the missing words. I don’t understand this method at all. Not like languages are taught in high school or college. Also very different from Duolingo.
0 stars
Don’t get this app! They have a hidden subscription button that is automatically enabled. I deleted the without knowing about it and was charged for something I didn’t want. The app is generic at best and should be removed from the App Store for the misleading charges it makes by disguising it as a free trial if you cancel subscription. It doesn’t include the button on your subscriptions in Apple and you have to deselect the button before you get charged. Scammers!
BEWARE the scam
BEWARE the scam - they backdate the 7-day "free trial" and start charging $$ immediately
The app is alright, the support is AI.
The app isn’t bad for supplemental learning. I’m studying Japanese as a third language. I didn’t use apps for my second language, so I decided to try them with Japanese. It’s good exposure and some of the practices are helpful, but there is a lack of explanations. Some definitions are never given, and some verb tenses are introduced only in dialogue and not in the lessons themselves, at least not when they’re first presented. I didn’t see the translate button for the dialogue at the end of the lesson so I sent an email to support asking about it. I immediately received a lengthy email saying something about how they knew the feature was missing and they understand my frustration so they’re working on it. 1) It was way too long of an email for a human to send that quickly. 2) that feature -does- exist and I just missed it, so the information wasn’t even correct. I downloaded this app because they specifically said they don’t use AI in the voices, but the AI-only support immediately made me cancel my trial period. I’m ok with AI writing emails, but it should be reviewed for correctness and sent by a human.
Edit: I’ve changed my rating to one from three. As I’ve moved further along in the Japanese lessons, new words are constantly introduced without explaining the meaning of those words. Some, like pronouns, can be inferred, which is fine for language learning. Others are grammatical changes and completely new concepts that are just thrown in. This may be different in other languages, but I would not recommend this for Japanese until they start expanding on the new concepts.
Edit: I’ve changed my rating to one from three. As I’ve moved further along in the Japanese lessons, new words are constantly introduced without explaining the meaning of those words. Some, like pronouns, can be inferred, which is fine for language learning. Others are grammatical changes and completely new concepts that are just thrown in. This may be different in other languages, but I would not recommend this for Japanese until they start expanding on the new concepts.
Speaking exercises rarely work
This is much more glitchy than Duolingo. The volume sometimes doesn’t work and the speaking exercises rarely pick up your voice
new update lessons load slower
i’m using iPad and when I click review lesson, it takes an extra five seconds to open the lesson. Before it was immediate if you clicked the button the lesson immediately opened, now you have to click the button and wait a little bit and then it will finally open
Can’t continue
I like the app, I am currently using it to learn bisaya because there aren’t many resources for it; my only complaint is I’m still in the beginner portion but I can’t continue; I’m on food and trade and the app will not let proceed to the next lesson. Please fix this if possible
Help I’m confused
I made an account for the app and it said that the app “timed out” and it won’t let me click on the lessons to do them.
Had to pay to use it ALL
I was able to do the first section, but after that, I couldn't use it at all because I had to pay to learn. It honestly was very disappointing.
AI generated slop
Every phrase is AI generated. And you can always tell because they often choose entirely different synonyms in the “sentence example” that comes with a new word. Not teaching useful methods.
Additionally the “speech tests” are fully broken. 95% of the time you get a “speech recognition error” and you have to repeat yourself over and over until you just quit. Even when it does work 1 time in 20, it’ll tell you that you have a word wrong… but not tell you WHY. So it doesn’t actually help you learn.
Additionally the “speech tests” are fully broken. 95% of the time you get a “speech recognition error” and you have to repeat yourself over and over until you just quit. Even when it does work 1 time in 20, it’ll tell you that you have a word wrong… but not tell you WHY. So it doesn’t actually help you learn.
The app sucks!!!
So buggy. Crashes and worst of all the speaking lessons are impossible. The recording doesn’t get what I say or just doesn’t record. The screen flashes and nothing happens or I get 0% speaking score.
The app randomly shuts down or doesn’t save my progress.
The recent redesign does nothing to fix any of this.
It over all has good lessons however it puts in a lot of words we didn’t study and expects us to know them.
The app randomly shuts down or doesn’t save my progress.
The recent redesign does nothing to fix any of this.
It over all has good lessons however it puts in a lot of words we didn’t study and expects us to know them.
Jyuyping improved and translations got worse
The romanization used was incorrect in previous versions. I updated to the most recent version and not only was my progress reset, but they made the learning less intuitive and separated out the context needed to understand different words to use and when.
Not Configurable for Male vs. Female Speaker
In Thai, how you say something changes if you are a male speaker or a female speaker. A user should be able to specify if they want the examples spoken by a female or male speaker.
Also, how your tone sounds when you end a word makes a difference in the definition of Thai words (end on high, end on low, end flat. Ling does not explain this difference or highlight it. Wish they did.
Also, how your tone sounds when you end a word makes a difference in the definition of Thai words (end on high, end on low, end flat. Ling does not explain this difference or highlight it. Wish they did.
Crashing
I want to like this app, but if it crashes continuously on recording to practice speech, it really defeats the purpose. At the very least monitor the crashes and have it send for analysis?
As much as I enjoy the learning, this apps suck
Just when I’m about to purchase a lifetime subscription, this app keeps kicking me out when I’m doing the speaking lessons. I don’t have this problem with Duolingo or Rosetta Stone ever. Also, there’s a limit on how much you can learn on the free lessons on top of the sale ads.
Sentiment summary
92%
Positive (4-5★)
3%
Neutral (3★)
5%
Negative (1-2★)