Comparison

Innovative Language Learning vs Drops

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Innovative Language Learning

Learn to speak new languages quickly with short, engaging audio and video lessons created by experienced teachers. Access a vast library of content for over 30 languages and practice conversations from your first session.

Highlights
  • Short audio/video lessons (3-15 minutes)
  • Lessons taught by real teachers
  • Instant practice with assessments
  • Offline lesson downloads
  • Progress syncing across devices
  • Multiple playback options
Features
Read full description

Want to speak a new language from your 1st lesson? Learn practical conversations fast with fun audio/video lessons made by real teachers. With Innovative Language Learning, you can learn up to 34 languages. Download the App for FREE and start speaking today! === 4 REASONS WHY YOU CAN & WILL LEARN A LANGUAGE === START SPEAKING IN MINUTES: Audio/video lessons are just 3-15 minutes. Just press “Play” and learn practical conversations in every lesson. LEARN FROM REAL TEACHERS Feel confident as you learn from actual teachers and hear real-life conversations. INSTANTLY PRACTICE WHAT YOU’VE LEARNED Tired of learning and forgetting immediately after? That’s why after every few lessons, you’ll get tested on what you’ve learned with our Assessments. 16+ YEARS OF TEACHING LANGUAGES With 2+ billion lesson downloads and 16 years of teaching languages, you’re learning with a time-tested, proven system. === WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING === "This is always my first port of call when starting a new language.” - The Guardian "A painless and FREE way to bone up on the language.” - PC Magazine “Of particular note is SurvivalPhrases, which offers 3- to 5-minute episodes that cover basics.” - The New York Times === 34 LANGUAGES AVAILABLE === Afrikaans Arabic Bulgarian Cantonese Chinese Czech Danish Dutch English Filipino Finnish French German Greek Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Indonesian Italian Japanese Korean Norwegian Persian Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Spanish Swahili Swedish Thai Turkish Urdu Vietnamese === WHAT’S INSIDE THE APP === Start now and access hundreds of audio and video lessons by real teachers, lesson notes, study tools and more. You get: - A 7-Day Free Premium Trial of Any of Our Language Courses (Free) - New Audio & Video Lessons EVERY Week for LIFE (Free) - Offline Mode - Download Lessons to My Library (Free) - Daily Vocabulary Lessons Delivered to Your Email (Free) - Progress Syncing Across Devices - Start On One Device & Finish on Another (Free) - Multiple Playback Options - Stream from the App or the Lock-Screen, Skip Ahead & Control the Speed of Your Lessons (Free) - The Largest Library of Audio & Video Lessons (Basic Users & Above) - In-Depth Lesson Notes with Grammar Explanations (Basic Users & Above) - Progress Tools to Track Your Learning Progress (Basic Users & Above) - Line-by-Line Breakdowns of Lesson Dialogues (Premium Users & Above) - Word Bank - Your Own Custom Vocabulary List (Premium Users & Above) - 1-on-1 Learning with Your Own Teacher (Premium PLUS only) - Get a Personalized Learning Program & Guidance (Premium PLUS Only) === DOWNLOAD THE APP & LEARN FREE TODAY. === Download the App and sign up for your Free Lifetime Account. You get a 7-day Trial of our entire Learning System – both the mobile app and the desktop version! Want to add Basic, Premium, or Premium PLUS and learn on your device and computer? There's an option for that, too. *Please note that subscriptions made using the in-app purchases will auto-renew at the end of the subscription period and be charged to your iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase unless you turn off auto-renew at least 24 hours before the end of your current subscription period. Subscriptions made through in-app purchases cannot be cancelled during active subscription period. Please see this article for managing your in-app subscriptions and auto-renewal: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4098 Monthly Premium PLUS Access: $46.99/month per language Monthly Premium Access: $24.99/month per language Monthly Basic Access: $7.99/month per language *all amounts are in US dollars. At Innovative Language Learning, we take your privacy very seriously. You can view our privacy policy here: http://www.innovativelanguage.com/privacy You can view our Terms of Service here: https://www.innovativelanguage.com/terms-of-service

About

Drops

Learn new languages through engaging games and visual aids. Practice vocabulary and common phrases in over 55 languages, from beginner to expert levels. Track progress, unlock achievements, and enjoy professionally curated lessons with native speaker pronunciations.

Highlights
  • Gamified vocabulary learning
  • Visual learning aids
  • 55+ language options
  • Progress tracking and rewards
  • Native speaker pronunciations
  • Customizable learning goals
Read full description

Join over 50 million people who use Drops for free language lessons. It’s fast, fun, and easy! Practice vocabulary in Spanish, Japanese, French, Korean, Chinese, German, English. Discover 55+ different new languages with Drops! Learn new languages while playing games. You can become fluent, learn vocabulary and common phrases in Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, and Hindi. Set goals, unlock achievements, and get rewards! • Become fluent in a foreign language with this language learning app • Learn to read characters and scripts from different alphabets like Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, and Hindi • Custom illustrations for each vocabulary word makes it easy to remember • From beginner to expert levels, grow your foreign language vocabulary • A professionally curated vocabulary list with more than 3,000 words and phrases • Game-like language lessons that make language learning fun and effective • Level up! Track your progress and get rewards • Professional voice artists and sound design with correct dialect pronunciations • Learn to speak languages like Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), English (British), English (American), French, German, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (European), Russian, Spanish (Mexican), Spanish (European), Tagalog, Ainu, Arabic (Egyptian), American Sign Language (ASL), Basque, Bosnian, Cantonese, Catalan, Chti, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, Estonian, Finnish, Galician, Greek, Greenlandic, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Igbo, Indonesian, Irish, Maori, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian), Romanian, Samoan, Sanskrit, Serbian, Swahili, Swedish, Swiss German, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Welsh, and even Yoruba! "By focusing on visually appealing games and vocab, Drops aims to lower the barrier preventing users from exploring a new language and, ultimately, accessing the social and economic benefits knowing that language may provide." - TechCrunch We are featured by CNET, Forbes, VentureBeat and many other places too! Try Drops Premium with a 7 day free trial. Download the app to learn about different membership options, and register to learn all about exclusive discounts. Payment will be charged to your iTunes Account at confirmation of Drops premium. Afterwards your account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period. Auto-renewal may be turned off at any time by going to your settings in the iTunes Store after purchase. You can cancel your subscription anytime, and you won't be charged in the next billing cycle. Privacy Policy and Terms of Use: http://languagedrops.com/privacypolicy.html

Screenshots

Innovative Language Learning4 screens
Drops4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Innovative Language Learning at none against Drops's shown. Innovative Language Learning also leads on device support (4 vs 2) and iOS requirement (14.0 vs 17.6). Drops's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 2 months) and chart position (#146 vs unranked). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Innovative Language Learning sells 13 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month and Drops sells 13 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Innovative Language Learning against 4.7 for Drops. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 34K and 72K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 67% of Innovative Language Learning's written reviews are positive against 75% of Drops's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Innovative Language Learning ships an update every 2 months, Drops weekly. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Innovative Language Learning versus Drops: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterInnovative Language LearningDrops
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (34K ratings)4.7 (72K ratings)
Positive reviews66.8% of reviews74.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings34K72K — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsWeekly — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#146 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS14.0 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size52 MB191 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperInnovative Language Learning USA LLCPLANB LABS OU

Customer experience

Innovative Language Learning

All ratings34,138 ratings
Positive93.1%
Neutral3.3%
Negative3.5%
Written reviews656 reviews
Positive66.8%
Neutral8.7%
Negative24.5%

Drops

All ratings71,502 ratings
Positive94.2%
Neutral2.9%
Negative2.9%
Written reviews2,192 reviews
Positive74.6%
Neutral9.6%
Negative15.8%

User reviews

Innovative Language Learning

From 34K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Well-constructed course
  • 🚀 Comprehensive learning system
  • 👍 Option to use a night screen
  • 👍 Engaging and interesting lessons
  • 👍 Helpful for learning and improving language skills

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Freezing and crashing issues
  • 🐛 Lessons getting locked after 7 days
  • 🐛 Inconsistent performance across devices
  • 🐛 Bugs with audio and video playback
  • 🐛 Errors and typos in lesson content

Drops

From 72K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Vocabulary learning
  • 👍 Unique and engaging learning activities
  • 👍 Wide range of languages
  • 👍 Customizable learning experience
  • 👍 Effective for building vocabulary

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Inaccurate translations or pronunciations
  • 🔒 Subscription model issues
  • 👎 Limited to vocabulary, lacks grammar/sentence structure
  • 👎 Repetitive and not enough variety in exercises

Bugs and requests

Innovative Language Learning

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Lessons not downloading successfully
  • Screen freezing when using certain features
  • Inconsistent lesson navigation between app and website
  • Automatic subscription renewal issues

Requested features

5 requests
  • Flashcard functionality in the app
  • Ability to create custom playlists
  • Improved integration between app and website
  • More advanced features like speech recognition
  • Ability to switch between multiple languages

Drops

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Login issues and lost progress
  • Crashes and performance problems

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more grammar and sentence-level learning
  • Improve accuracy of translations and pronunciations
  • Provide more flexibility in time limits and review sessions
  • Integrate more conversational practice
  • Improve user interface and navigation

In-app purchases

13 purchases

Innovative Language Learning

Subscriptions13
  • French Basic Subscription$7.991 Month
  • Korean Basic Subscription$7.991 Month
  • Italian Basic Subscription$7.991 Month
Show 10 more
  • Japanese Basic Subscription$7.991 Month
  • Spanish Basic Subscription$7.991 Month
  • French Mobile Subscription$9.991 Month
  • Korean Mobile Subscription$9.991 Month
  • Russian Mobile Subscription$9.991 Month
  • Spanish Mobile Subscription$9.991 Month
  • Japanese Mobile Subscription$9.991 Month
  • Japanese Premium Subscription$24.991 Month
  • Spanish Premium Subscription$24.991 Month
  • Japanese Basic Subscription1 Year trial$59.991 Year
13 purchases

Drops

Subscriptions12
  • Genius for a month$7.991 Month
  • Premium$9.991 Month
  • Premium$11.991 Month
Show 9 more
  • Premium$14.991 Month
  • Curious for a month$22.991 Month
  • Holiday premium!$39.991 Year
  • Premium7 Days trial$62.991 Year
  • Premium7 Days trial$69.991 Year
  • All Language Learning Plans7 Days trial$69.991 Year
  • Premium7 Days trial$79.991 Year
  • Premium7 Days trial$89.991 Year
  • Premium7 Days trial$99.991 Year
One-time1
  • Unlimited time for all Languages!$59.99

Questions

Is Innovative Language Learning free?
Innovative Language Learning is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Drops free?
Drops is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Innovative Language Learning or Drops?
Innovative Language Learning and Drops are both rated 4.7 out of 5 on the App Store, from 34K and 72K ratings respectively.
Do Innovative Language Learning or Drops have ads?
Drops shows ads; Innovative Language Learning does not.
Which is updated more often, Innovative Language Learning or Drops?
Innovative Language Learning ships an update every 2 months, and Drops weekly. Most recently, Innovative Language Learning was updated on September 24, 2026 and Drops on September 24, 2026.

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