# DK 15 Minute Language Course — user reviews > 130 indexed App Store user reviews of DK 15 Minute Language Course by Dorling Kindersley, rated 3.50/5 from 11 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/dk-15-minute-language-course/id1257712719/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/dk-15-minute-language-course/id1257712719.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 3 · 4★ 3 · 3★ 3 · 2★ 0 · 1★ 2 ## What do users think of DK 15 Minute Language Course? Overall sentiment: negative **Pros** - 👍 User-friendly - 💡 Helpful guide - 🚀 Works fine **Cons** - 🐛 Doesn't work - 🐛 Bugs galore - 🐛 Crashes regularly - 🐛 Doesn't download content - 🐛 Doesn't scan QR code - 🐛 Doesn't accept ISBN - 🐛 Audio issues - 🐛 Outdated content **Commonly reported bugs** - App crashes on iOS 14 - App won't open or download audio - Incompatibility with newer devices - Scanning and ISBN entry not working **Most requested features** - Update app to match book versions - Add option to select book version - Improve recording and playback functionality ## Newest reviews (18 of 130) ### 2/5 — Poor translations *2026-03-23, version 2.0.3* I like this book and the way it is laid out. The idea of learning 2500 words in 12 weeks is very appealing. However the translations are so annoying. The English sentence is not the same as the Italian. I understand sometimes we have to take the general meaning of a sentence and this makes sense for subtitles in movies. But how am I supposed to learn what ‘C’è’ means if it’s translated as ‘do you have’ in this book? ### 4/5 — Japanese *2025-07-09, version 2.0.3* Works fine for me…….. ### 3/5 — Would be 5 stars except… *2025-01-19* I bought 15-Minute Mandarin Chinese today and was excited to get going with my first lesson. It soon became clear that my 2024 “new edition” is not aligned with the app. There are 6 exercises in the day 1 lesson, but only 5 on the app. And the words in exercise 2 are different. Please update the app to reflect the newest version of the book! Maybe have an option to select which version a person owns so people with the older version can still access the audio. ### 3/5 — Japanese out of date *2024-12-31* Japanese got a new book edition in 2024, but the app has not been updated since 2023. Would happily change my rating to 5 stars if the lessons matched with the updated book (which still advertises the accompanying audio app). ### 3/5 — Japanese needs updating *2024-08-01* The book is great but I am trying to use the app for Japanese and it’s missing a lot of phrases. I would totally update my rating to 5 stars if Japanese can be updated to the current version ### 2/5 — Hit and Miss *2024-05-20, version 2.0.3* The app on starting for the first time, "Choose your country" "English" "eesti keel" "magyar" "Latviešu Valoda" I'm no Geography major, but I'm sure these options are language display choices and not countries in the English language. Also, the French recordings I had are fine so far, yet one recording from Week 1, section 3 had written, "'Jai deux belles-filles." The audio to this sentence sounds like "Vais deux belles-filles." Which is obviously incorrect. The sentence before it, "J'ai quatre enfants." Actually has the "shzuuuree" of the 1st person personal pronoun. This is definitely a recording error. ### 3/5 — I can not be able to recorded as mentioned in the book *2024-02-07, version 2.0.3* In the book, it mentioned that i can be able to record my voice while pronouncing the words. But this section is not available. ### 1/5 — How to scan the QR code?! *2024-01-10, version 2.0.3* How to scan the QR code?! ### 2/5 — No English translation *2023-08-15, version 2.0.1* No English translation on this app for the Arabic book. I can learn the word, but I don’t know what it means. ### 1/5 — Scan doesn’t work *2023-07-27, version 1.1.7* iOS 16.6. App won’t scan book. ### 1/5 — Just doesn’t work *2023-07-25, version 1.1.7* The app says to scan the QR code on the back of the book, there isn’t one, only a barcode! Alternatively it says enter the ISBN number and it doesn’t do anything… there’s no enter button so the number just sits there. DK customer support ignore your email. Tried on an iPhone SE 2020 and a 13 Pro Max, same result. Book will be going back to the shop for a refund, very disappointing. ### 1/5 — No QR Code on book and app won’t take ISBN *2023-07-22, version 1.1.7* This app has failed for me before it’s even begun! ### 1/5 — Simply doesn’t work *2023-07-20, version 1.1.7* Bought the book with the app logo on the cover but no QR code and ISBN not recognised. Waste of money. Not impressed. Will need to seek an alternative. ### 1/5 — Not Compatible with book *2023-07-20, version 1.1.7* Waiting on Penguin sorting out the APP company as I purchased the book and downloaded this APP as instructed only to find “there is a problem with the APP”. You need the APP to use the book!!!! ### 1/5 — Doesn’t work *2023-07-14, version 1.1.7* I have bought the 15 minute french book yet the app won’t scan the barcode or accept the ISBN number. V frustrating ### 1/5 — French *2023-07-13, version 1.1.7* The app will not scan the isbn so I can’t use the recording ### 4/5 — Needs Updating *2023-07-07* I was able to get the 15 minute Italian book scanned into my app but not the 15 minute Spanish New Edition, it seems like I would need the old edition right now. I’ll figure out how to make it work in the meantime, but it’s past time for this app to be updated. With new books related to this app still being released I’m surprised it’s so out of date. **Developer response:** We are very sorry for the problems you have experienced. We have recently released a new version of the app, which we hope will work better for you. If you are still having problems with the app, please email penguinorders@tbs-ltd.co.uk with full details of the issues you are experiencing and we will try and find a solution for you. ### 1/5 — Didn’t work *2023-05-23, version 1.1.7* I bought a Spanish book and tried to use the companion app however there was no QR code to scan and the ISBN number didn’t work. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — useless. would prefer to give negative stars. *2025-08-24, version 2.0.3* cannot access sound in book. have wasted enough time here. off to babbel. ### 1/5 — Doesn’t work *2025-07-17* I just got the Spanish version and the audio won’t work hope this helps ### 1/5 — Spanish *2025-06-27, version 2.0.3* Doesn’t work. No way to scan the QR code of the book I bought so no audio for me. 🙁 ### 1/5 — Bought Book | Cannot Connect Audio *2025-05-02, version 2.0.3* Bought the book on Amazon, but there is nowhere on the app to key in the ISBN number to connect the audio. Waste of money… ### 1/5 — Half Finished Application *2025-03-26, version 2.0.3* Annoyingly, the audio is often in a different order than, and sometimes totally different from, the book. There should be more dialogs, and better written dialogs. Too often the sections are just random vocabulary or statements without little connection or flow. Very few verbs are explained, and almost nothing on the conjugations. The audio sounds like it is computer generated, rather than authentic. It is not possible to play all the audio, while studying. Instead one must constantly play a new section and advance manually to a new section. The app often freezes after using it for a while. The authors/publishers need to fix these faults. ### 1/5 — No customer service response *2024-11-14, version 2.0.3* I have been trying to obtain instructions as to how to activate the app audio, but no response from their team. Very poor ### 1/5 — Doesn’t work *2024-08-22* On the book, it Says to scan the QR code from the back of the book to get audio but there is nowhere to scan the code in the app. How am I supposed to get the audio ### 1/5 — Doesn’t work with the books *2024-06-15, version 2.0.3* Unfortunately, there is no way to unlock the audio tracks once you’ve bought the book and there is no technical support (emailed the support email box a week ago without a response). ### 1/5 — Audio failure *2024-05-30, version 2.0.3* Bought this book a few years ago wanted to start using it again but QR code stopped working: Ill look another course. Binned the book. ### 1/5 — Worthless *2024-02-23, version 2.0.3* Bought complete language pack and all i get is connect to internet to download audio files even though i am connected to the internet. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — GREAT APP *2026-03-01* Thank you for providing this APP to go with the Textbook. It is very useful. I have not had any problems with it. It really helps when learning Japanese to hear the accents and the language speakers on the APP are Japanese people, so you are getting the real accents. It is a very good set. Very glad I bought the Textbook and that the Developers are making this APP widely available free. I feel very fortunate to be able to get this. Thank you Developers. ### 5/5 — Really user-friendly *2023-08-25, version 2.0.2* The app is divided into weeks, matching the book, so is intuitive to use. Authentic German speakers on the audio, together with the pronunciation guides in the book, make it easy to repeat and learn phrases. Would recommend for people who want to learn the basics quickly. ### 5/5 — Works fine *2022-11-13* For a free app that I got as a bonus for buying the book, I’ve got no complaints. Everything works as promised! I know there are some negative reviews here, but I didn’t have any problems myself. ### 5/5 — Perfect *2022-11-12* This app works really well and I love it, it makes it easier to learn new languages and probably many of you have the app Duolingo right? This app is way better in my opinion and it can help you learn faster than Duolingo ever will. For those of you out there who are trying to learn, nows your chance. Please, give this app a try, I promise you will like it. ♥️ ### 5/5 — Helpful guide *2022-06-17, version 1.1.7* There are a lot of reviews on here saying they had issues with the app - I haven’t had any yet. Registration with the book was straightforward, playback and recording has worked perfectly. No reason to complain at all. I’m using an iPhone 12 if that helps anyone. ### 5/5 — DK 15 app *2020-10-18* Downloaded app, but every time I open it, it goes to my Home Screen. Worthless. What about the bug fixes? ### 5/5 — Good app *2020-06-12, version 1.1.3* Awesome Love the idea Expand on it ### 5/5 — DK 15 minute *2020-05-19, version 1.1.3* Brilliant! ### 5/5 — Great app!!! *2020-02-06, version 1.1.3* No problem with my iPhone 7. Easy to use with book. ### 5/5 — So far so brilliant. *2020-02-03, version 1.1.3* I bought the DK 15 Minute French before reading any of the reviews, most of which are pretty damning and probably would have deterred me from buying. However, to date, I’m finding the app fantastic - everything working, recording perfectly and really helping me improve my pronunciations. Although this method is not, in my view, enough to enable one to learn a new language I can definitely recommend the book/app system as a quick and handy refresher course. --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-08.*