Duolingo: Language & Chess is seeing an unusual wave of negative reviews in June 2026. Users are complaining about aggressive and creepy notifications, a restrictive new energy system that limits daily usage, and excessive ads that disrupt the learning experience. Many also report frustration with incorrect translations and a lack of clear lessons, making it harder to learn effectively.
What is happening
In the last 48 hours we counted 71 new 1-3 star reviews for Duolingo: Language & Chess on the App Store, roughly 3.2x its normal pace of about 11.06 negative reviews per day. A jump this sharp usually points to a recent app update, an outage, or a change that frustrated a lot of users at once.
What users are reporting
- Creepy notifications (High frequency)
- Restrictive energy system (High frequency)
- Excessive ads (Medium frequency)
In their words
A few representative reviews from the current wave:
"While it has taught me a lot, there are waaaay to many adds. I’ve watched more adds than I’ve learned on this app."
"This app is advertised as being free. However, it cannot be used free. I don’t like being lied to."
"I did a lesson and it used one of my freezes by the way it was 9:24"
Is Duolingo: Language & Chess down or just buggy?
A surge in 1-star reviews is not the same as a confirmed outage, but it is an early signal that something changed. If you are hitting the same problem, you are not alone. Checking the most recent reviews is the fastest way to tell whether it is a widespread issue or specific to your device, and whether the developer has acknowledged it yet.
See the latest reviews
Read the most recent 1-3 star reviews for Duolingo: Language & Chess, filtered by date, on its app page. The freshest reviews show whether the problem is still active and what users are saying right now.
This page tracks a specific spike in June 2026. Review volume rises and falls, so the issues above reflect what users reported during this wave.