“The one lesson I could do was good and felt like I was learning but, locking almost the entire app behind a paywall is pretty extreme. At the very least let people do a certain amounts of lessons a day instead of not letting anyone, who…”
Independent automated assessment · 6 signal sources · 477 reviews scanned · analyzed 2026-10-06.
Babbel - Learn Languages
BabbelMillions of people learn languages with Babbel — the app built by language le…
4.6 ★1,129,476 ratings
50M+Downloads
4+Age rating
—App size
Free · In-app purchasesIn-app purchases
About this app
Millions of people learn languages with Babbel — the app built by language learning experts. Our short, interactive lessons rethink old-school language education to get you speaking a new language with confidence.
LEARN SPANISH OR 13 OTHER LANGUAGES IN 15 MIN/DAY
We're not just a Spanish learning app! Want to learn French, learn Italian or speak German like a local? You can learn:
Spanish 🇪🇸🇲🇽 | French 🇫🇷 | Italian 🇮🇹 | German 🇩🇪 | Portuguese 🇧🇷 | Russian 🇷🇺 | Polish 🇵🇱 | Turkish 🇹🇷 | Norwegian 🇳🇴 | Danish 🇩🇰 | Swedish 🇸🇪 | Dutch 🇳🇱 | Indonesian 🇮🇩 | English 🇬🇧🇺🇸
Babbel is great for beginners but even experienced language learners have proven to advance their conversation skills!*
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BABBEL WORKS! ★ Effectiveness backed by researchers at Yale University: 100% of study participants improved their oral proficiency in 3 months*…
Preview
Real screenshots from the store listing.
Independent evidence report
Evidence and review signals
This is where the page changes from an app-store listing into an evidence report: findings, important reviews, pricing and a dated history.
Which version this describes
When we ran this analysis, and what the store lists now.
This analysis describes version 22.17.1 of the app (the version number recorded inside the package we inspected), analyzed 2026-10-06 . The app may have changed since.
The store currently lists version 22.17.1, updated 2026-10-06.
What we measured
Each line is a measurement published as a measurement, never a verdict.
Each line is a measurement, published as a measurement. Where we have not looked, the line says so rather than reading as a zero.
Developer replies to reviews
Replies to at least 1 review in 20
Price in the store description
States no price and billing period
Cancelling, in the store description
Does not say how to cancel
Themes reported by reviewers
1 theme reported
Counted from the reviews we have read for this app. "No theme reported" means no theme reached our reporting threshold — it is not a finding that nothing is wrong with this app, and we do not say it is.
Five-star share of ratings
65–79% five-star
Arithmetic on the stores' own published rating counts. It says nothing about why the ratings fall where they do.
In the package we scanned
From the package we downloaded and read — version 22.17.1, scanned 2026-10-06.
Permissions Android classifies as dangerous
3–5 requested
Counted against the eighteen permissions listed in collect-package.ts. A dangerous permission is one Android asks the user to grant; requesting one is not itself a finding.
Analytics or tracking SDKs in the scanned package
1–2 found
Advertising SDKs in the scanned package
None found
Counted as distinct SDKs in the package we scanned. One mediation bundle can contribute several, so this is not a count of advertisers.
Graded bands · predicate set 1.4 · how these are measured
What the analysis found
App-specific findings, grouped by what each one rests on. How they are graded lives on its own page.
Positive evidence 3
Things this app does right, published at the same strengths as the catch list.
States a price, or offers a one-time purchase
The app's own text offers a one-time or lifetime purchase, or reviewers report that the price is stated clearly.
What we saw: Offers a one-time or lifetime purchase: "With Babbel's Lifetime plan you pay once, and have access to all of Babbel's self-study content in all languages - forever."
Developer says data deletion can be requested
The developer's data-safety disclosure on the store states that users can request deletion of their data, or the app's own text offers a way to delete the account. This restates what the developer declares; it is not a test of whether deletion works. Apple publishes no equivalent disclosure, so on an Apple-only listing only the app's own text can support it.
What we saw: The developer's store data-safety disclosure states that data deletion can be requested; we have not seen a deletion control in the app's own text
No advertising SDKs
No advertising or mediation SDK of any kind was found in the package.
What we saw: No advertising or mediation SDK among the 6 SDKs detected in the package
One source only — shown, not confirmed 3
A single kind of evidence. We publish these because withholding them would be the bigger distortion, and we do not treat any of them as a finding we stand behind.
In the app's own text: A plan is pre-picked as 'recommended'
The purchase screen arrives with one plan already framed as the recommended or most popular choice, so the default is the app's preference rather than the user's. We do not compare the plans' prices, and only the app's own text evidences this, so it is shown, but never counted as a charge.
What we saw: Purchase screen steers the choice: "Best Deal"
In the app's own text: Countdown-timer purchase pressure
The app's own purchase copy attaches a deadline to buying — a countdown, 'offer ends in', 'limited time' — or ships a countdown view on a purchase-screen layout.
What we saw: Deadline pressure in the app's own copy: "Limited offer"
Reported by users: Paywall blocks the basics
The core of the app — not extras — sits behind payment, or previously-free function moved behind a paywall.
What we saw: Paywall blocks the basics: raised by 7 distinct reviewers (1.5% of 477 reviews scanned)
Highlighted reviews
Representative public review excerpts shown as user reports, not Appworthy audit evidence.
“You get locked behind a subscription paywall after the first lesson of a language.”
“The best language learning app I've gotten to use. (I use the free version... I really wish it wasn't locked behind a paywall.”
Assessment & version history
App changes and Appworthy events in one timeline.
Store listing updated to version 22.17.1.
What this app sells
Useful store-disclosed pricing, kept below the app listing.
Items shown0
Lowest—
Highest—
Google Play does not publish per-purchase prices.