Teach Yourself Library vs DK Visual Dictionary (2017)
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Teach Yourself Library
Access free audio and learning resources to supplement your studies. Download materials to your personal library for anytime, anywhere learning. Sync your content across devices for a seamless experience.
- Free audio resources
- Learning materials
- Offline access
- Cross-device syncing
- Downloadable content
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Discover a world of free audio and learning resources to accompany your Teach Yourself course. Teach Yourself has been trusted by learners for over 75 years to deliver expert learning materials across a wide range of topic areas – languages, business, careers, self-help, creative writing and hobbies. Now for the first time you can access any accompanying audio or learning resources in this free app. Download the resources to your Library and access anywhere anytime. You can even sign in from a different device and all your content will be queued for easy downloading. Teach Yourself: books that make life better.
DK Visual Dictionary (2017)
This app provides audio for DK's Bilingual Visual Dictionaries, featuring over 7,000 spoken words and phrases per language by native speakers. It's organized thematically and allows users to tap words for pronunciation, save favorites, and use offline after downloading.
- 7,000+ spoken words/phrases per language
- Native speaker audio
- Thematic vocabulary organization
- Tap to hear pronunciation
- Offline access after download
- Favorites list for saved words
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DK Visual Dictionary App contains all the audio to accompany DK's Bilingual Visual Dictionaries. This DK Visual Dictionary app is the perfect companion to your visual dictionary. For each language, over 7,000 words and phrases are spoken in both English and the language of the title. All words are from the books and are spoken by native speakers. Simply download the free app, then use your copy of the book to fully access all the audio. This clear, comprehensive and easy-to-use app contains all the content from each Bilingual Visual Dictionary. Just like the book, the vocabulary is arranged thematically, with subjects including shopping, food and drink, study, work, travel and transport, health and appearance, sport and leisure, technology, and the home. Search for the page you want, tap on any word to listen to it being spoken, scroll up and down the word lists for each topic, and swipe left or right to go to the next or previous page. Perfect for study, work, and travel. Features: • Over 7,000 spoken words and phrases per title • UK and US English available • Save your most-used words to a Favorites list. Favorites can easily be added or deleted at any time • Audio can be removed from your device, and re-downloaded when required • After the audio has been downloaded, the app can be used offline • Buy more books and unlock more audio through a link in the app Developer note: For Ukrainian users learning English, please first set your device language to Ukrainian. For Hungarian users, please set your device to Magyar and search for and download the Képes Szótár app; this application is not compatible with the Hungarian dictionaries of Maxim Könyvkiadó.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Teach Yourself Library at 3.9 against DK Visual Dictionary (2017)'s 1.8. Teach Yourself Library also leads on review sentiment (31% vs 20%) and ratings volume (144 vs 33). DK Visual Dictionary (2017)'s advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 16) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.6). On price, update cadence, ads and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Teach Yourself Library sells 16 one-off in-app purchases. DK Visual Dictionary (2017) asks for nothing beyond the download.
Teach Yourself Library holds the better App Store score, 3.9 against 1.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 144 and 33 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 31% of Teach Yourself Library's written reviews are positive against 20% of DK Visual Dictionary (2017)'s.
Teach Yourself Library ships an update every 4 months, DK Visual Dictionary (2017) every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 10, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Teach Yourself Library | DK Visual Dictionary (2017) |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.9 (144 ratings) — better | 1.8 (33 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 30.5% of reviews — better | 19.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 144 — better | 33 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 3 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 96 MB | 208 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Hachette UK (Holdings)Limited | Dorling Kindersley |
Customer experience
Teach Yourself Library
DK Visual Dictionary (2017)
User reviews
Teach Yourself Library
From 144 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Good content of books
- 👍 Helpful for language learning
- 👍 Clear audio pronunciation
- 👍 Easy to navigate interface
- 👍 Free titles available
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 🐛 App doesn't open or crashes on launch
- 🐛 Audio playback issues
- 🐛 Downloads fail
- 🐛 Poor user experience
DK Visual Dictionary (2017)
From 33 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Simple audio companion
- 👍 Works offline
- 👍 Useful for learning pronunciation
Room to improve
- 🐛 Barcode/ISBN not recognized
- 🐛 Audio files fail to download
- 🐛 Buggy interface
- 🐛 Lacks language support
Bugs and requests
Teach Yourself Library
Reported bugs
89 issues- App doesn't open
- Crashes on launch
- Downloads not working
- App keeps logging off
- App not opening on iPhone
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- App closing spontaneously
- Requires internet connection when available
- Crashes when features are selected
- Arrow keys don't turn pages on Mac
- UI is confusing
- Clicking on buttons navigates pages
- No way to pop from book to collection
- Visual affordances lacking
- Clicking page makes text appear/disappear
- Book content broken across pages
- Default font tiny, font settings don't work
- App is unstable, crashes frequently
- Doesn't save progress
- Cannot play some downloaded audios
- No way to re-download audios
- App won't sign in
- Buttons too small to click
- Audio doesn't play
- Yellow text on yellow background
- No proper categories for genres
- Little accessibility options
- Menu is terrible, no easy way to select chapters
- App port of a browser page
- App says user has to pay for purchased content
- Audio player doesn't stay on Lock Screen
- Makes everything zoomed in and keyboard larger
- Audio dialogues don't work well
- App is rubbish
- Forced to use phone, not laptop
- Audio doesn't display track numbers
- Video in ebook says highlighting words, but can't
- Dictionary takes to external sites
- App not updated for larger screens
- Basic features like translation lookup missing
- No support received
- App says 'Coming Soon' for books
- Unable to access purchased books or sign in
- App quits or says 'coming soon' for audio
- App closes automatically when reproducing a book
- App closes automatically
- App crashes when opening files
- App crashes and won't open
- Audio doesn't work with iOS 13
- App keeps closed
- App crashes when playing a chapter
- Not compatible with iOS 13
- App crashes constantly when tapping on a book
- Audio app not working
- App doesn't open and listenings can't be heard
- Crashes on iOS 13
- Not working since iOS 13 update
- App crashes
- App automatically shuts down when clicking a clip
- Layout not compatible with iPads
- Cannot play audio content
- App closes when opening audio for Norwegian
- Upgrade stopped French from working
- Program keeps closing when trying to listen to lessons
- Can't open ANYTHING
- App crashing when choosing chapters/audio recordings
- Audio no longer works
- App crashes and shuts down when opening a new language
- App isn't working, program closes when playing French
- Not all languages available in audio library
- Missing language audio (Serbian, Latvian)
- App doesn't work from the beginning on iPhone X
- Terrible to sign into
- Doesn't allow profile creation or sign in via social media
- Error message and sent back to first page when skipping sign in
- No sound in ebook, icon present but no mention of audio
- App crashes after each track play when switching pages
- Downloading audio takes multiple retries
- Confusing app, hard to find/access audio
- No way to buy audiobooks or audio/book
- Audio download is good, but better chapter labeling needed
- App keeps closing even after uninstall/reinstall
- App closes when clicking on a clip to play
- Poor app design
- Cannot download audio to iTunes or media player
- Listening and re-listening is not intuitive
- App is a mess
- No control over content paid for
- No clear pictures, up-to-date phrases, or easy audio access
- Worst educational tool encountered
Requested features
15 requests- Track repeat functionality
- More exercises, words, and grammar
- Chapters listed as default
- Shorter jump forward/back options
- Audio player on lock screen
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- Longer pause between tracks
- Better chapter labeling for audio
- Make all complete language audio available
- Highlighting words in ebooks
- Proper in-app dictionary
- Update for larger screens
- Allow use of other e-reader software
- Download audio files to iTunes/media player
- More pause time for practice
- Add missing units
DK Visual Dictionary (2017)
Reported bugs
4 issues- Barcode/ISBN not recognized
- Audio files fail to download
- Buggy interface with visual glitches
- Lack of language support
Requested features
4 requests- Add support for more languages
- Allow searching by word, not just page number
- Implement landscape mode for tablets
- Add option to slow down audio playback speed
In-app purchases
Teach Yourself Library
- Pack of 2 Tokens$1.99
- Pack of 3 Tokens$2.99
- Pack of 10 Tokens$9.99
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- Pack of 11 Tokens$10.99
- Pack of 13 Tokens$12.99
- Pack of 15 Tokens$14.99
- Pack of 17 Tokens$16.99
- Pack of 18 Tokens$17.99
- Pack of 20 Tokens$19.99
- Pack of 25 Tokens$24.99
- Pack of 26 Tokens$25.99
- Pack of 27 Tokens$26.99
- Pack of 30 Tokens$29.99
- Pack of 35 Tokens$34.99
- Pack of 50 Credits$49.99
- Pack of 51 Credits$50.99
DK Visual Dictionary (2017)
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Teach Yourself Library free?
Is DK Visual Dictionary (2017) free?
Which has better reviews, Teach Yourself Library or DK Visual Dictionary (2017)?
Do Teach Yourself Library or DK Visual Dictionary (2017) have ads?
Which is updated more often, Teach Yourself Library or DK Visual Dictionary (2017)?
Other comparisons
