Education
Is Duolingo Safe? A Duolingo App Review for Parents
Overview
Bonjour! Today we’re getting global as we review Duolingo, the world’s favorite language-learning app! Here on Bark’s app review page, we talk about a lot of dangerous apps that kids should stay away from. But we can’t forget about some of the more educational and wholesome apps like Duolingo.
Duolingo, which started in 2009, offers easy and accessible lessons in 43 different languages — Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Danish, Swahili, and Hebrew, just to name a few. It quickly grew in popularity, as people gained confidence in learning foreign languages with the cute green owl mascot (whose name is Duo, by the way). So if your child has expressed an interest in learning a new language or could use extra practice for Spanish class, you’re in the right place to learn about this popular language app. ¡Vamos!
Harmful Content 😲
The content in the actual app is far from harmful — the lesson plans are super straightforward, guiding kids in conjugating verbs and sounding out vowels. However, one of the tabs on the app features blog posts by Duolingo about all things language. In these posts, there might be links that serve as a back door to the whole internet. Some kids may use these hidden links to get on YouTube, Instagram, or find adult content.
Predation 🚨
Child accounts on Duolingo are automatically private, which means no adding friends to chat with and no access to leaderboards. However, accounts for ages 13 and up can add friends of other Duolingo users. Additionally, Duolingo added an option to leave comments on your friend’s achievement posts. Be sure to keep a close eye on who your child adds on Duolingo — a predator could potentially start leaving comments on your child’s post and even suggest chatting on another platform like Discord or Snapchat.
Positive Value 💙
Learning a new language has huge benefits for everyone, but it’s an especially great idea for kids. Young brains often pick up second languages more easily compared to adult brains and research shows that bilingual children tend to have better critical-thinking skills, improved memory and concentration, and enhanced mental flexibility. Magnifico!
Privacy 🔒
To make an account, you need an email address and a username. But once Duolingo knows it’s a child account that’s being made, they make sure to remind the user not to use their real name.
Parental Controls ✅
The parental controls mentioned previously (restricted access to chat and leaderboards) are applied to users under the age of 13. After that, you can manually go in and make your child’s account private. Unfortunately, there’s no way to lock this setting, so beware that your child could change this later without you knowing.
But of course, Bark would never leave you hanging! With Bark parental controls, you can:
- Block Duolingo entirely if needed.
- Manage when your child can use Duolingo throughout the day.
So, should my kid download it?
¡Sí! Oui! Yes! Duolingo is a great way for kids to engage in something new and challenging! Just be sure to keep an eye on the comment section and hidden links if your child has a 13+ account.
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