Sign this petition and join me in abolishing the new useless, greedy Duolingo energy system.

Dear Duolingo,

Recently, your team has released an update changing the reliable hearts system to the new energy system. You claim that this system “helps users learn”, but in reality all it truly does is hinder the learning experience by limiting the number of lessons a user can complete in a day to as little as two. Daily quests cannot be completed, and moving up in leagues is nearly impossible without a Super subscription. Additionally, in one of your blogs you mention the optimal amount of time users should spend learning on Duolingo each day:

“ …learners spending at least 15 minutes/day on Duolingo..”

If a learner is going at an optimal pace, then 15 minutes equates to around 3-5 lessons. Due to the new energy system, and the limitation of the number of lessons able to be completed in a day, this goal is often unattainable.

Duolingo has been a wonderful tool for learners around the world to learn new languages. It is fun, engaging, and challenges the brain in a rewarding way. While the heart system may have felt unfair to new learners at times, it encouraged learning and growing from mistakes much more than the new energy system. Additionally, one could practice to earn hearts. Now, a user must buy hearts with gems, pay for Super, or watch an ad just to obtain 5 energy (which is not enough to complete a lesson). This makes the experience incredibly frustrating and many users I know have quit because of this. You claim that the energy system rewards correct answers, but in truth it does nothing more than give a chance to obtain one to five energy points every five correct answers. I downloaded this app to learn languages, not to gamble in an owl-themed casino.

 The sheer amount of frustration and anxiety from running out or almost running out of energy in the middle of a lesson and having to quit learning is indescribable. I have had to switch to other free (yes, FREE) language learning apps.

Your team claims that the energy system is beneficial, but the many complaints I have heard and read say otherwise. All of you know as well as I do that this change has nothing to do with the learning experience of your loyal users and everything to do with money and profit. Your company takes advantage of learners’ frustration of being unable to complete a lesson, and pushes the demand to spend money on a Super subscription in their faces. If you truly cared about the experience of your learners and not about profit, you would abolish the energy and hearts system altogether.

Your app started out as a way to provide free, high quality language learning to people without putting a price tag on it. There were no hearts, no energy, no pushed subscriptions. In recent years your app has become increasingly pay-to-win and, frankly, greedy. Your paying users are not the only users who matter.

I, on behalf of many frustrated users who want nothing more than to learn a language (is that so much to ask??), urge your company to think about its decisions and begin on a new path that keeps all users in mind, and provides the wonderful and engaging experience of learning a language without the pressure to spend money.