Good content, poor UI, ill-thought out learning tools
The app is worth it for having access to graded level appropriate texts with clear audio, but it suffers from poor design, and learning tools that don’t really help with learning. It is very hard to re-listen to the sentence you just heard. The flashcard system is very poorly designed. The quizzes don’t really test language skills, but memory for trivial detail details. And numerous other small issues. Still, so far I find it worth it for the core content, though I feel frustrated every time I use the app.
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4 Stars for a Good App that Could Be Great
The main purpose of this app receives 5 stars. It provides cultural stories and news stories for people to read. You can also have a story created for you based on your competency level, your desired length of story, and your preference for fiction or non fiction. You have the option to read it to yourself or have the app read it to you at your chosen speed in your target language. You can look up words you don’t know to get the definition and to save it to your glossary. You can also record yourself saying the word.
Now to the 3 star downsides of the app. The app doesn’t work completely. There are supposed to be a vocab matching game where you can practice matching words between languages for that story. It opens to a blank screen. It has never worked. There is also no mechanism for spaced repetition of vocabulary that they add or you add yourself. This app would be amazing if they implemented a vocabulary review section like on the Busuu language app where it lists all the vocabulary and has sections for strong and weak vocabulary that you can choose to review so that you don’t forget with time. There’s also a bug where sometimes when you had a word to
the glossary that it adds multiple cards of the same word. The app is also a little clunky for language learners who are studying more than one language, especially for the glossary. It doesn’t always keep the languages straight. Also, when you record yourself there is no feedback as to the accuracy of what you’re saying. Some of these are bugs and some are ways they could improve to make a good app great. The stories are already great. Just build up the app infrastructure around them to be just as great.
Now to the 3 star downsides of the app. The app doesn’t work completely. There are supposed to be a vocab matching game where you can practice matching words between languages for that story. It opens to a blank screen. It has never worked. There is also no mechanism for spaced repetition of vocabulary that they add or you add yourself. This app would be amazing if they implemented a vocabulary review section like on the Busuu language app where it lists all the vocabulary and has sections for strong and weak vocabulary that you can choose to review so that you don’t forget with time. There’s also a bug where sometimes when you had a word to
the glossary that it adds multiple cards of the same word. The app is also a little clunky for language learners who are studying more than one language, especially for the glossary. It doesn’t always keep the languages straight. Also, when you record yourself there is no feedback as to the accuracy of what you’re saying. Some of these are bugs and some are ways they could improve to make a good app great. The stories are already great. Just build up the app infrastructure around them to be just as great.
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Fantastic app
Great app for learning with lots of great content. Using the full premium version which was a bit of a pain to sort out, but all good now.
Inutile: manque le genre des mots.
Inutile car en allemand dans le lexique le genre des mots n'est pas indiqué. Comment peut-on concevoir une application d'apprentissage linguistique sans une fonction si basique et cruciale. Et les textes sont vraiment bébêtes.
Response from developer
Thank you for your feedback. We're sorry the app didn't meet your expectations. We understand the importance of indicating the gender of words in German and will consider this in future updates. We also appreciate your thoughts on the texts and will look into improving them. Your input is really valuable as we work to enhance Beelinguapp.
Free version is horrible
I have Duolingo and was looking for something to allow me to read. Didn’t want the full version because I’m already paying a lot of money to get then grammar. Just wanted to read Spanish books. Was told this app had a decent free version. Was planning to try it out and see if paying would be worth it but couldn’t open one book without being asked to pay premiums
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Response from developer
Hello! We have a catalog of free stories that rotates continuously, so there’s always something new to explore. You can find all our free content in the Library section, and free texts are marked as “FREE.”
Falls short for Greek.
Sample content was extremely limited. I took a leap of faith and bought the year but so far am not all that impressed. I was intrigued by the reading angle and the promise of music. I could not find any music in Greek, which is why I got this app. I like the idea of learning via news snippets and the folk tales but these are very dry/ need to be supported with pictures and more audio samples during the vocabulary matchups, and when you select a final answer if you are correct it should show your answer with the equivalent in your native language so you can actually learn the sentences better. I will stick around to see if improves because it is hard to find decent language learning content in Greek and I like the concept. Not overly impressed at all though. It could be a decent supplement to another app but I doubt you could start as an absolute beginner with this app, you need more of a foundation to make this work.
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Covers are AI slop
I personally hate the vibe that this app gives off. In it, all the story covers are AI and they are EVERYWHERE. Really begins to make you wonder if the stories are written by AI too. It’s just too uncomfortable for me to use.
Aplicativo horrível
Achei o aplicativo péssimo, paguei o premium e os textos travam e eu não consigo continuar a leitura!
Response from developer
We’re really sorry you’re experiencing this issue. Could you please send us a video or screenshot showing what happens? Please email the details to feedback@beelinguapp.com, so our team can look into it and help you as soon as possible.
Include Bengali Language
There are almost 280-290 million of people speaks Bengali. But it’s a matter of regret that still now you can’t include Bengali Language. Please add Bengali ASAP. Thanks.
Can’t feed online
I used to access this app from my iPad. I recently renewed my subscription and got a MacBook. The app is not compatible for MacBook and you can’t access the content through the browser. This is frustrating and I want a refund.
Quirky
I like this app but it is quirky. It won’t let me read the next story due to a technical issue. The app has been updated on my tablet too. I tried contacting help about the issue but I haven’t heard back. My renewal date is next week and I may have to cancel it if my problem is not resolved.
Mehr Auswahl fürs kostenlose lernen
Ich finde diese App toll, aber das man nicht mal den Lernpass machen kann ist schade die Bibliothek klappt oft nicht und ich wünschte die App würde kostenlos auch ein lern program habe und nicht nur mit Bezahlung die App ha ich jetzt deinstalliert weil es wirklich nicht viel gab für mich zum lernen, danke trotzdem das ihr es probiert mit dem kostenlosen lernen, vielleicht wie Duolingo es macht für die Kostenlose Version
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Misleading
I have to install this app on two different devices in order to learn true languages at once.
Please add a pause between pages when reading with a voice. It’s very hard to catch the first sentence when the page has not flipped yet.
—— original review
I subscribed because I’m learning two languages. However, the apps only allows one language at a time, even though it claims to unlock all languages.
Also, it will be helpful to have a better dictionary listing the infinitive form instead of whatever in the article.
I enjoy the app, but I think it has room for improvement.
Please add a pause between pages when reading with a voice. It’s very hard to catch the first sentence when the page has not flipped yet.
—— original review
I subscribed because I’m learning two languages. However, the apps only allows one language at a time, even though it claims to unlock all languages.
Also, it will be helpful to have a better dictionary listing the infinitive form instead of whatever in the article.
I enjoy the app, but I think it has room for improvement.
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Even the basic features are behind paywall
One of the worst app. It is better to use LingQ. They are much less greedy than these beeling guys
Response from developer
Hello! There is the possibility to purchase a premium subscription, which gives you access to all the content and features, but there is also the option to use the app for free. We have a catalog of free stories that rotates continuously. Have a nice day!
Full AI Content - worth $24 a year
- The stories are AI generated. The way they use the language doesn’t feel natural.
- Every story I finish I get congratulated for finishing 0/1 daily stories.
- Profile trackers and badges are boring and certainly don’t motivate me.
- The “games” are basically one question quizzes.
- I like quickly grabbing my phone and having leveled content to read.
- if I had to pay full price, I wouldn’t.
- Every story I finish I get congratulated for finishing 0/1 daily stories.
- Profile trackers and badges are boring and certainly don’t motivate me.
- The “games” are basically one question quizzes.
- I like quickly grabbing my phone and having leveled content to read.
- if I had to pay full price, I wouldn’t.
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Création de plan et de compte non fonctionnel
Bonjour, je voulais utiliser cette application avec impatience mais c’est impossible car celle ci ne me permet pas de créer de plan ni même de compte, donc je ne peux pas m’en servir et c’est vraiment dommage
Different voices
I would love to see different voices added to the German narrator. Currently the only one is pretty hard on the ears. Otherwise fantastic app
Response from developer
Thank you for your feedback! We will definitely take it into account. We're glad to hear you're enjoying the app overall, and we appreciate your suggestion about adding more German narrator voices.
Misleading
I subscribed because I’m learning two languages. However, the apps only allows one language at a time, even though it claims to unlock all languages.
Also, it will be helpful to have a better dictionary listing the infinitive form instead of whatever in the article.
I enjoy the app, but I think it has room for improvement.
Also, it will be helpful to have a better dictionary listing the infinitive form instead of whatever in the article.
I enjoy the app, but I think it has room for improvement.
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Dont like it
Its literally just you reading something and theres english and Tagalog and you just read like its not helping me at all at this point i rather just wait for duolingo to come out with Tagalog because these apps are not very good
Nice concept; App doesn’t work
I’ve tried to start using Beelinguapp, but it just gets frozen in a “Creating Your Custom Language Adventure” Screen. You know… a spinnt thing spinning and that’s it. No matter how long I leave it spinning with the app open, or closing or reopening it… Beelinguapp doesn’t seem to work.
