Teach Yourself Library vs Transparent Language Online
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.
Transparent Language Online
Learn over 100 languages on the go with this app. It offers alphabet lessons, vocabulary building, and core skill activities for listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Smart review features help you retain what you learn.
- 100+ languages available
- Alphabet lessons
- Supplemental vocabulary building
- Core skill activities (listening, speaking, reading, writing)
- Smart insight and review system
- Native speaker pronunciation
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THIS APP REQUIRES A TRANSPARENT LANGUAGE ONLINE ACCOUNT TO USE. If you have a Transparent Language Online account, simply enter the username and password of your personal account on the log in screen. This app is designed to allow you to take your language learning on-the-go, with all the latest features that Transparent Language Online has to offer. Transparent Language (Online Version) Features: • 100+ Languages (and Growing!): From Afrikaans to Zulu, the number of languages available to learners is constantly growing. • Alphabet Lessons: You can't learn to read or write if you don't know the alphabet. Get started on the right foot with our Alphabet course. • Supplemental Vocabulary: Build proficiency by learning thousands of useful words and phrases categorized by topic and presented in an engaging, memory-building format complete with native speaker pronunciation. • Core Skill-Building Activities: Work your way through activities that build all four core skills; listening, speaking, reading, and writing. • Smart Insight and Review: Learned Vocab Items tell you how much you’ve learned and when it's time to review. Privacy Details: We take your privacy seriously. Please refer to our App Privacy label below. Some detail: • “Name” and “Phone Number” - Providing your name or phone number is optional, to enable certain notifications. We do not sell this or any other personal data. • “Email” - Your email address is used for password recovery or to send you messages such as Daily Refreshers and other notifications that you ask to receive. If you are working with an instructor, you may also receive messages from your instructor via email as well as in the program. We do not view or access any of your other emails or messages. • “Audio Data” – In learning activities that use our Sound Analysis feature, we briefly store your pronunciation recordings to help improve the accuracy of our algorithm. These recordings are anonymous and automatically deleted after a short time. • “User Content” – Some versions of this program offer the ability to create your own learning lessons and share them with the community. This is entirely optional. Transparent Language Online Terms of Use: https://tplsites.s3.amazonaws.com/terms_and_policies/live/bwedu/terms_of_use/v003/en_US/learners.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Transparent Language Online at 4.8 against Teach Yourself Library's 3.9. Transparent Language Online also leads on review sentiment (60% vs 31%) and update cadence (monthly vs every 4 months). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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 10 one-off in-app purchases and Transparent Language Online sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $24.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Transparent Language Online holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Transparent Language Online has 1.3K ratings behind it against 143, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 31% of Teach Yourself Library's written reviews are positive against 60% of Transparent Language Online's.
Teach Yourself Library ships an update every 4 months, Transparent Language Online monthly. Both last shipped on November 2, 2026.
| Parameter | Teach Yourself Library | Transparent Language Online |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.9 (143 ratings) | 4.8 (1.3K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 30.5% of reviews | 60.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 143 | 1.3K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 96 MB | 24 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Hachette UK (Holdings)Limited | Transparent Language, Inc. |
Customer experience
Teach Yourself Library
Transparent Language Online
User reviews
Teach Yourself Library
From 143 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
Transparent Language Online
From 1.3K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💻 Comprehensive language learning platform
- 🎓 Effective teaching methods
- 🆓 Free with library card
- 🌐 Wide range of languages available
- 🔄 Helpful review and refresh features
Room to improve
- 🐞 Bugs and technical issues
- 🖥️ Outdated and sluggish app interface
- 📝 Rigid typing and input requirements
- 🗣️ Unreliable speech recognition
- 🤔 Questionable course structure and progression
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
Transparent Language Online
Reported bugs
5 issues- App crashes during pronunciation activities
- Microphone access issues on iPhone
- Unresponsive and slow performance
- Incomplete or distorted content display
- Inconsistent syncing and progress tracking
Requested features
5 requests- Save vocabulary from lessons for review
- More engaging and interactive UI
- Improved speech recognition and feedback
- Flexible answer acceptance for phrases
- Better alignment between lesson content and language fundamentals
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 18 Tokens$17.99
- Pack of 20 Tokens$19.99
- Pack of 25 Tokens$24.99
- Pack of 30 Tokens$29.99
- Pack of 35 Tokens$34.99
Transparent Language Online
- 1 Language - Monthly$24.991 Month
- All Languages - Monthly$49.991 Month
- 1 Language - Yearly$149.991 Year
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- All Languages - Yearly$249.991 Year
Questions
Is Teach Yourself Library free?
Is Transparent Language Online free?
Which has better reviews, Teach Yourself Library or Transparent Language Online?
Do Teach Yourself Library or Transparent Language Online have ads?
Which is updated more often, Teach Yourself Library or Transparent Language Online?
Other comparisons
