Not much exciting to report I’m afraid. We have been busy but with very little to show for it from a user experience perspective. We took the time since the end of the year to focus on upgrading our infrastructure and generally cleaning up technical debt. These types of things tend to build up and required us spending some time. This should set us up to develop more efficiently going forward. We have some exciting things coming over the second half of the year. Stay tuned!
Backend
Major upgrade to backend technology. Certain components of our infrastructure were outdated and were replaced requiring many dependencies to be upgraded as well. This is ongoing but the largest hurdles have been overcome. This should allow us to better develop new and existing features going forward.
Added Irish Gaelic
Continued optimization and bug fixes for existing features
iOS
New app icon
Reader performance improvements for long lessons
General optimizations and bug fixes
Android
Major technology and system upgrades to enable easier development and maintenance going forward.
Hi @mark
Thanks for the update. I appreciate you being transparent about the backend work and technical debt cleanup. I know that stuff is critical for long-term stability, even if it’s about as exciting as watching the Leafs try to make it past the first round.
That said, I have to be direct. The one consistent critique I hear about LingQ, even from your most passionate users, is the UX/UI. People love the concept, they love the approach, and they genuinely want LingQ to succeed, but the interface can feel clunky and outdated at times, especially compared to some of the newer apps coming up, like Migaku. They’re building something similar with a much sleeker and more intuitive design, and that’s going to catch more attention if LingQ doesn’t step it up soon.
I know you’ve got a lot on your plate, and it’s clear you’re laying a strong foundation, but I have to ask. Are there any plans to significantly overhaul the UI and user experience this year? I’m not trying to be harsh, but I think it’s fair to say that a modern, polished interface could be the difference between LingQ staying a niche platform and becoming a mainstream, must-have language learning tool.
You’ve got the community, you’ve got the concept, and you’ve got the passion, but if you want LingQ to really stand out, it’s time to give it the polish it deserves. I mean, you wouldn’t skate onto the ice without sharpening your skates, right?
Looking forward to seeing what you’ve got planned for the second half of the year. I know a lot of people are rooting for you, including me.
Since Migaku was mentioned, I decided to give it a try. There’s a 10-day free trial, so I figured, why not? And honestly, I was pretty amazed. I’ve only mentioned one feature, the fact that it saves sentences with the original native audio for review, but there are so many impressive things packed into it.
I’ve been with LingQ since 2021, and I never really considered switching platforms. Back then, there just weren’t better options, LingQ was the best out there. But things have changed fast, especially with the rise of AI. New tools are popping up that are incredibly powerful, while LingQ, to be honest, feels like it’s been left behind. The audio side in particular is really falling behind. Migaku, for example, not only offers native audio, but can also generate high-quality AI voices, something LingQ hasn’t caught up with at all.
With my annual renewal coming up, for the first time, I’m genuinely starting to have doubts.
I’m currently studying Chinese, and maybe the audio is better in other languages, I haven’t checked, but honestly, the Chinese audio is quite poor.
It feels to me like Lingq needs a complete overhaul. I personally don’t study that much with videos because I focus mainly on reading books, but the reader badly needs improving. Recently, a new reading app called Linga has been made available on ios and Android, and it is absolutely fab. They have incorporated chat GPT really well, so you not only get access to instant definitions, but also grammar explanations that can be saved in one click. The UI/UX experience is great too. They don’t offer Korean just yet, but the day they do, I will seriously consider moving platforms too. Lingq is starting to appear outdated, and that’s without the constant bugs riddling the website.
Maybe it’s worth giving a contrary voice re: UI/UX. I understand the wish for an overhaul, certain things really are clunky or unintuitive. That said, I as a user am very wary of overhauling things too much. I don’t want to have to relearn how to use LingQ or find certain options I was relying on don’t work the same way anymore. Improve UI/UX by all means (for the users’ sake and for the business’s sake, lest users wander off), but I vote for caution in implementation. Long-term use and familiarity is a critical use case for LingQ!
I feel like we’re reaching a tipping point. The lack of proper AI integration in LingQ is becoming a serious limitation, especially as more and more platforms are emerging with powerful AI features that enhance the language learning experience. It’s starting to feel like this is no longer optional, it’s becoming an essential move if LingQ wants to stay competitive.
We’re already seeing more users across the forum expressing similar concerns. I believe either Mark or Zoran mentioned that some changes are expected in the second half of the year, which is good to hear. But it’s worth pointing out that similar requests, like improvements in TTS, were already being made around this same time last year, and we’ve seen little to no progress since then.
This situation has been dragging on for quite some time, and if it’s not addressed as promised in the second half of the year, I think the growing frustration could eventually push more users to seriously consider other options.
High quality AI voices, integrated grammar explanations when clicking on a word come to mind, but I am sure others will have other suggestions.
Lingq is so buggy and clunky at times that I understand why some users are nervous about changes, but the reality is they need to up their game and fast if they want to keep up with the competition.
Thanks for all the feedback everyone. We appreciate the advice and desire for improvements in our app. We have a variety of AI related and UX related things we are working on. We will take into account all your feedback as we do so.