I've been an active user since 2016 when I was 11 years old and my dad's friend showed me the app. Just in a few days Duolingo gave me a solid knowledge of basic English that served me for years.
I jumped back and forth from the app until 2022 when I would my current streak which is now 1416. But the app has been downhill since then. When they changed the app from the tree to the learning path things it was still good for a while but since then it has become increasingly worse.
Hearts became energy, the app is filled with ads, many languages have translation errors, workers replaced by AI and the quality of teaching is non-existent now.
I tried to learn basic Dutch a few months ago and made it to section three where I kept learning the same repeated words and nothing more.
I recently realized I'm using it just to keep my streak and the monthly badges and I haven't actually learned anything in a long time. Today they increased my points from 50 to 55 which is still reasonable, but I already felt like 50 was too much.
I'm seriously considering quitting or losing this month's badge on purpose. I feel like I'm using a ghost app with no humans left.
I don't want to complain just for the sake of it but it is extremely sad to me to see an app that was a huge part of my life and extremely important to my development as a teenager to become this. Literally, I'm where I am right now in my life because of Duolingo that got me into languages in the first place.