There are a TON OF FREE APPS on the App Store that we can use to learn Spanish. And you know what? Many of these apps that claim to teach us a language absolutely suck!
So which ones are the best? Which ones will help you acquire a language, and which ones will just make you lose hope in your ability to progress?
I spent many hours playing with all of these apps so that I could tell you as an experienced language learner - which ones to use and which ones to lose!
Without further ado let's explore the 5 best apps for Android and iPhone to learn a language!
Best Apps To Learn Vocabulary & Phrases
To break up the two most prominent types of apps that are truly useful, first, we’ll talk about apps that teach us necessary vocabulary and phrases. The second group of apps we’ll discuss is the best language exchange apps to learn Spanish. Let’s hop into the #1 app
Busuu (Best Full Course)
Busuu gives us the so much important information about our target language. In comparison, most (if not all) language apps fall short and are rendered useless.
These are the things you can expect to learn with Busuu
Vocabulary (For many languages Level A1-B2/C1)
Immersion by providing videos of people speaking the target language (at our level)
Short grammar, vocabulary, and even slang lessons that aim to show the most important words first
The ability to get certified in our target language
From my experience, Busuu is about 4 times as difficult and fast paced as Duolingo. With that said, while it may be perfect for you and me - it's not going to be perfect for EVERYONE.
Maybe the reason why Busuu is so intense is because it's actually setting us up in each module to pass a CEFR exam at the end. You see, Busuu works with the McGraw-Hill Foundation to be able to provide CEFR certificates to students.
Pros:
Teaches important phrases
Teaches grammar well
Gives us slang and colloquial phrases
We have the opportunity to get CEFR Certificates
Cons:
Doesn’t include stories
Focuses a bit too much on grammar (Depending on the person & their preferences)
Premium Features:
No more ads
Access to new courses (for the same language)
CEFR certificates
Price For Premium: $13.95 Per Month / $50.70 6 Months / $83.40 Per Year
Falou (Best For Rushing To Learn Before A Trip)
Falou kicks it off well with a lesson titled “The Essentials” and teaches you the most important phrases from the get-go. Every lesson is broken up further and contains a module that teaches you
“Word by word” - “Conversation” - and “Writing”.
I would suggest the Falou App for learning Spanish if your goal is to travel to a Spanish-speaking country soon.
Being that they help us learn the essentials first, this is going to be 3X better than Duolingo for beginners.
Pros:
Teaches the most necessary phrases for basic conversations first
Makes us have conversations with bots to practice what we learn
AI Chatbot requires decent pronunciation to move on (and it helps you get there)
Cons:
Not as pretty looking as many other apps such as Memrise, Drops, and Duolingo
Not a whole lot of diversity in the material, such as stories
Daily Limit
Premium Features:
No daily limit
Unlock more conversational lessons
Unlock 200+ native voices to get you accustomed to how words really sound
Price For Premium: $89.99 Per Year
Drops (Best For Learning Vocabulary)
Drops has done an incredible job creating one of the most beautiful language-learning apps.
It's exciting, vibrant colors with the sharp yet minimalistic imagery are addictive and fun to look at.
What makes Drops really stand out is that they use images to help you remember vocabulary - and they start you out with the necessary phrases for a basic conversation.
Pros:
Teaches most important phrases first
Beautiful design that encourages you to come back
Utilizes images to help speed up the process of memorization
Cons:
No stories or other diversified content
Ads
No videos of native speakers saying the words
Premium Features:
Access to all of their learning content
No ads
Offline learning
New challenges and ways to test your language skills
Unlimited amount of time learning (no time restrictions)
Price For Premium: $12.99 Per Month / $69.99 Per Year / $95.99 Lifetime
Language Transfer (Best Tutor-Alternative)
Language Transfer is like a hidden secret in the language learning community and I am so excited to share it with you!
This is 100% FREE and contains 90 lessons for Spanish learners that will shoot you forward in your Spanish learning journey.
These lessons are audio files - the creator of the app is a multilingual language teacher who recorded lessons with his students.
All of these lessons are accessible to us through his app “Language Transfer”. His approach is that of acquisition, it doesn't require you to write anything down, just listen, think about what he tells you, and you will learn a ton of practical Spanish knowledge.
Pros:
Completely Free
A way to learn a language without looking at a screen
A brilliant teaching style
A wonderful deal (Probably $1,000 worth of lessons or more - for FREE)
Cons:
No videos or images to go with the audio
No “Language Learning App Features” other than these audio files
Best Language Exchange Apps To Learn Spanish
HelloTalk and Tandem are the 2 best by far! Let's discuss both and look at their features together and you can decide which one is the best for you. (Cough-COUGH **HelloTalk**)
HelloTalk for me has always been the go-to! This app is like if Instagram met Twitter, and they both only were used by language learners and lovers.
There are tons of lovely people to meet from any Spanish-speaking country you could desire and more.
If you don't have this app your slackin'! You can practice vocabulary, and chat with natives from any Spanish-speaking country you can think of.
You can form friendships, get insider knowledge about specific cultures, and most importantly - learn to speak and type like a native Spanish speaker!
Pros:
Easy to use
Lovely people
A feature that allows you to learn Spanish vocabulary in the app
Ability to meet language partners that live in your area
Cons:
Some women are sexualized by disgusting and desperate men
Some features require you to pay a subscription fee
Some people on the platform aren’t serious about learning and will cancel plans to practice with you a lot
Premium Features:
Able to see who has visited your profile
Learn/Add multiple languages to the same account
Unlimited Translations per day (of messages)
Speech to text (for if you don't understand a native speaker)
Price For Premium: $12.99 Per Month / $80 Per Year / $180 For A Lifetime
Tandem is a super hot app with tons of potential language partners.
What makes Tandem stand out from other language exchange apps such as HelloTalk is that there are Tutors inside the app that you can contract!
There is also a “Party” section which is basically huge group chats of people discussing a particular topic in whatever language is chosen for that particular “party”.
Tandem also has a speech-to-text feature so if you don’t understand an audio message that a native has sent you (it happens) you can have it transcribe the whole message.
The only thing to note is that you get only 5 speech to text transcriptions a day. So this leads us to the premium features.
With premium, you can find people nearby, search for people from specific locations if you have your heart set on a specific accent, and you can see who visited your profile.
Other than that the premium does not have many features that are “to die for” so to speak.
Pros:
Super beautiful and clean interface
Tons of languages
Group chats with tons of people who are excited to exchange their languages
Unlimited people to speak with and meet
Tutors
Cons:
Features such as being able to see people in your area require a subscription
Doesn’t have the “Instagram-like feed” of HelloTalk - which is a HUGE CON
Feels more like Tinder than a language learning community (which HelloTalk does better)
Premium Features:
Unlimited translations
Able to see who viewed your profile
Ability to use the “Nearby” feature to find language partners in your area
Remove all ads
Price For Premium: $6.99 Per Month / $11.99 For 3 Months / $34.99 For 1 Year
What are the best Free Apps To Learn Spanish For Travel?
The best apps to learn Spanish for travel would be Memrise, Drops, and Falao - and NOT Duolingo. These apps will provide you with a strict curriculum based on the essentials for a basic conversation.
What Are The Best Free Apps For Adults To Learn Spanish?
The best free apps for adults to learn Spanish are Busuu, Memrise, and Language Transfer. These apps all try and get you started with the most essential words and phrases.
What Are The Best Free Apps For Kids To Learn Spanish?
The best free apps for kids are Duolingo, Memrise, or Drops. Depending on what they enjoy the most. If they like games a lot they might enjoy “Lingo Legend” which is a bit like Pokemon but for language learning.
What Are The Best Free Apps to Learn Spanish Fast?
If you want the Best FREE apps to learn Spanish FAST - Busuu, Language Transfer, and Memrise. These apps will hit you with tons of useful phrases, pronunciation hacks, and necessary vocabulary.
What Are The Best Free Apps To Enjoy Your Time Learning Spanish?
The best free apps to enjoy your time learning Spanish are Busuu, Drops, Memrise, and Sounter. These apps all teach you Spanish through gamification techniques to make the process more enjoyable.
What Is The BEST Free App To Learn Spanish?
The BEST free app to learn Spanish is Busuu. This is because you get to hear natives pronouncing words, they teach necessary words and phrases first, and you can practice writing (or speaking) and natives will correct your Spanish.
What Is The Best App For Learning Intermediate Spanish?
The best app for learning intermediate Spanish is Hellotalk because it allows you to speak with natives, which at intermediate stages is the most vital practice for you.
Is Duolingo Better than Babbel?
Duolingo is better than Babbel due to the fact that Babbel doesn’t allow you to learn as much as you want in a day. However, if you want to learn a language as fast as possible, you should stay away from them both. Perhaps Busuu would be the App for you.
Is Duolingo Enough To Learn Spanish?
Duolingo is certainly not enough on its own to learn Spanish. If you want to achieve fluency in Spanish you will need to diversify your resources and learning methods. Check out my article “11 Free Methods to Master Spanish at Home: A Comprehensive Guide for Self-Learners” for more information.
Conclusion: The Best Apps To Learn Spanish For Free
At the end of the day, it comes down to your preferences, but out of the top 10 used language apps on the app store, I can pretty much guarantee you that these are the ones that will provide the best results.
If you are looking to travel soon to a Spanish-speaking country, go with Busuu, Memrise, or Falou.
If you are at an intermediate stage and want to take your skills to the next level - go with a Spanish language exchange app like HelloTalk.
I hope that this article helped you find the best free app to learn Spanish (for you).
If it helped you out, leave me a comment below and check out my other articles on the website that talk about the most enjoyable ways to acquire a language.
Have a great day friend, we’ll talk more soon, later!
- Ben
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