PlayLingo vs Mina
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
PlayLingo
Learn languages by watching YouTube videos, podcasts, and movies. This app provides seamless AI-powered translations and an AI tutor to explain slang and idioms. Practice pronunciation with real-time transcriptions and sentence-by-sentence subtitles.
- Learn from real YouTube videos, podcasts, and movies
- AI-powered translations in 80+ languages
- AI Assistant for instant explanations
- Shadowing practice for pronunciation
- Sentence-by-sentence synchronized subtitles
- Part-of-speech highlighting for grammar
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You know the words. Real speech still gets away from you. Sound familiar? Fast. Blurred together. Half the sounds gone. With PlayLingo you learn from what you actually enjoy: movie scenes, YouTube, podcasts, books. Lingo, your AI assistant, explains any word or phrase, and you start to understand real speech. WATCH: movies, shows and any YouTube video • Learn from movie scenes, cartoons, interviews and your favorite YouTubers • Open any YouTube video, or start with collections picked for your level, from A1 to C2 • Bilingual subtitles, line by line, with a translation that fits the scene LISTEN: podcasts you'll actually understand • Podcasts in the language you're learning, from short lessons to real conversations • Every episode gets subtitles: tap a word, see the translation, break down the phrase READ: books, on the page or out loud • Classics and short stories in the language you're learning • Read line by line with translation, or let a natural voice read the book to you on a walk BRING YOUR OWN • Any book, document or photo of a page becomes a lesson, and your own audio and video get subtitles LINGO, YOUR AI ASSISTANT, EXPLAINS EVERY WORD • Tap a word or an idiom and see what it means in this exact sentence. "Make sure" is one phrase, not two words • Hear how a word really sounds and see how the sentence is built, with parts of speech in color • Ask Lingo about anything you didn't get, or type a phrase in your language and hear how it's said PRACTICE INSIDE EVERY VIDEO • Choose how to watch: just enjoy, test your understanding, train your ear, build lines or speak • Hide the translation and work out the meaning, or hide the text and catch every line by ear • Shadow each line out loud, and watch the words light up as you say them WORDS THAT STICK • Save words from subtitles, books or your chat with Lingo in one tap • Spaced repetition brings each word back right before you'd forget it • Every card keeps the sentence, and the movie moment, where you met the word • Your saved words on your Home Screen, a new one every hour • A few minutes a day keeps your streak going, and freezes cover the busy days PLAYLINGO PRO Unlimited watching and practice, chat with Lingo, and AI subtitles for any podcast and your own recordings. Cancel anytime in the App Store. WHAT PEOPLE SAY (App Store reviews) "For the first time, I actually enjoy learning English." "The only app I use to watch English videos. It's simple, and works great." "Love the dual subtitle function." 67 LANGUAGES English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Arabic, Turkish, Russian and more, each with explanations in your language. Watch, listen and read what you love. The language follows. Contact: info@playlingo.app Terms of Use: https://playlingo.app/terms
Mina
Learn English through interactive comic stories where your choices shape the narrative and your vocabulary. This app uses manga-style art and real-life scenarios to make language acquisition engaging and fun, moving beyond traditional textbook methods.
- Choose-your-path interactive stories
- Contextual vocabulary learning
- Real-life English scenarios
- Manga-style illustrated episodes
- Casual conversation and travel vocabulary
- Spaced-repetition vocabulary tracking
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Ever tried learning English from a textbook and wanted to throw it out the window? Same. Meet Mina — a curious, slightly chaotic character who's just landed in a foreign city with zero language skills and way too much confidence. Sound familiar? Here's the thing: Mina needs YOUR help. She's trying to order coffee, find her hotel, survive a job interview, navigate the train station, and maybe… not embarrass herself at a dinner party. Every choice you make shapes her story — and teaches you real English along the way. THIS ISN'T YOUR TYPICAL LANGUAGE APP Forget flashcard fatigue. Forget grammar drills that make you zone out. Mina turns English learning into something you actually want to open every day. Each episode is a fully illustrated comic story. Think manga meets flashcard — with real drama, real humour, and real language you'll actually use in real life. HOW IT WORKS • Choose-your-path stories: Every decision matters. Order the wrong dish? Ask for directions and end up lost? That's part of the fun — and the learning. • Vocabulary that sticks: Words and phrases come alive in context. You'll remember "excuse me, where's the nearest station?" because Mina was genuinely lost when she said it. • Real-life scenarios: Coffee shops, airports, hotels, markets, job interviews — practise English for situations you'll actually face. DESIGNED FOR PEOPLE WHO LOVE STORIES If you've ever binge-read a webtoon or stayed up too late watching anime, you already know: stories are addictive. We built Mina around that exact feeling. Beautiful manga-style art. Cliffhangers that make you want the next episode. Characters you'll genuinely care about. And somewhere in between all that drama — you're learning English without even realising it. ENGLISH FOR THE REAL WORLD Mina doesn't teach you textbook English. She teaches you the English people actually speak: • Casual conversations with friends • Polite phrases for formal situations • Slang and idioms that make you sound natural • Travel vocabulary that saves you in sticky situations Whether you're a beginner starting from scratch or intermediate looking to level up, Mina adapts to where you are. WHY PEOPLE LOVE MINA "I opened it to try one episode and ended up doing five." — That's the goal. Language learning should feel like entertainment, not homework. Mina is for everyone who gave up on boring apps and thought maybe they just weren't good at languages. Spoiler: you are. You just needed a better story. Start Episode 1. Mina's waiting. PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS Mina offers auto-renewing subscriptions that grant you full operational access to interactive narrative stories, spaced-repetition vocabulary tracking, and all premium educational features. • Payment will be charged to your Apple account at confirmation of purchase. • Your subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current billing period. • Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. • You can manage your subscription and turn off auto-renewal by navigating to your device's Account Settings after purchase. • Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when a subscription is purchased. For more information, please read our legal terms: Privacy Policy: https://guidemina.com/privacy-policy Terms of Use: https://guidemina.com/terms-of-use
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: PlayLingo at 4.5 against Mina's 3.8. PlayLingo also leads on ratings volume (885 vs 5) and update cadence (every 8 days vs monthly). Mina's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). 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. PlayLingo sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $11.90 per month and Mina sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
PlayLingo holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PlayLingo has 885 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two.
PlayLingo ships an update every 8 days, Mina monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 12, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | PlayLingo | Mina |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (885 ratings) — better | 3.8 (5 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 82.5% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 885 — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Every 8 days — better | Monthly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 119 MB | 59 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Alexey Nenastyev | Okan Demir |
Customer experience
PlayLingo
Mina
In-app purchases
PlayLingo
- PlayLingo Pro$11.901 Month
- PlayLingo PRO$34.996 Months
- PlayLingo Pro1 Year trial2 variants$74.991 Year
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- PlayLingo Pro3 Days trial$74.991 Year
- PlayLingo Pro Family$119.991 Year
Mina
- Mina Unlimited - Monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Mina Unlimited - Yearly7 Days trial$14.991 Year









