Duolingo’s Year in Review may have just outshone Spotify Wrapped this year.
Since Spotify Wrapped dropped almost a decade ago, there’s been a growing demand for data-driven year-in-review features. These summaries have evolved into cultural touchstones, offering more than just statistics — they provide moments of self-reflection and shareable pride. While Spotify celebrates music, other platforms have embraced the concept for their niches, and Duolingo’s Year in Review is no exception. By turning language learning into a gamified, sharable experience, Duolingo has created its own version of Wrapped that’s fun, whilst highlighting the joy of progress and the power of celebrating educational milestones.
From streaks to shareable moments
Duolingo’s Year in Review feature, started as an email in 2019, has evolved since 2020 into a fun and engaging celebration of users’ learning journeys¹. The summary celebrates users’ progress with a focus on tangible learning milestones. Unlike the usual badges earned through daily use of the app, the Year in Review offers a more reflective overview of the year’s achievements, showcasing progress in a personalised and shareable way. Key highlights typically include:
Streaks and XP: Users can see how long they’ve maintained streaks and the total XP accumulated over the year, allowing them to celebrate consistency.Most practised words: This feature highlights the top words users have practised throughout the year, providing an interesting look at what areas they’ve focused on or mastered.Mistakes made: This adds a fun twist by highlighting common errors throughout the year, or simply the number of mistakes made, encouraging users to learn from them and even celebrate them with a playful and reflective approach.Language milestones: Duolingo might spotlight users who have explored new languages or reached new milestones within their chosen courses.
This year specifically, we got insights on:
Number of lessons completedAmount of XP earntRanking amongst all Duolingo usersMinutes spent learningLongest streakLeague spent the most time inYour bestie of the year and friend streakNumber of mistakes made“Are you safe from Duo?”
Gen Z humour: playful insights boosting virality
One of the standout features of Duolingo’s Year in Review is the inclusion of playful, Gen Z-inspired comments that accompany the various insights users receive. These comments are designed to not only make users smile but humanise the data, making the learning journey feel less like a cold, analytical experience and more like a playful conversation with a friend. It’s a stark contrast to the dry statistics of most other year-in-reviews, tapping into the playful, meme-inspired language popular among younger generations — which aligns with Duolingo’s brand image overall.
Some of my favourite insights from my review that really made me laugh, and consequently want to share.
These comments do more than just entertain, they enhance the social and shareable aspect of the feature. The Gen Z-style humour makes it easy for users to relate to and want to share such moments with friends. I know I did. The playful tone ensures that even the most mundane insights are elevated, making them both engaging and memorable. In a world where learning can sometimes feel like a solitary or tedious task, Duolingo’s fun, lighthearted comments help foster a sense of community and joy among users.
Are you safe from Duo?
One of the quirkiest and most viral aspects of this year is the “Are You Safe from Duo?” element. This quirky element plays on the running joke that Duolingo’s owl mascot, Duo, will relentlessly remind users to complete their lessons if they fall behind. In the Year in Review, users are asked if they are “safe” from Duo before the big reveal, encouraging reflection on their consistency and progress throughout the year.
Luckily, I was safe from Duo. Phew.
This fun, suspenseful addition enhances the overall experience by making it more engaging and shareable. By capitalising on the meme culture, it encourages users to share their results on social media for comparison, boosting virality and making the Year in Review even more memorable. The feature also ties into Duolingo’s strategy of gamifying learning, with users curious about whether they’ve managed to escape Duo’s watchful eye, thus deepening their engagement with the app’s quirky brand personality.
Entertaining content on Duolingo’s official Instagram page which reinforces the meme image of Duo as an ever-watchful owl we should all be terrified of upsetting.
Duolingo’s personality insights
Similar to how Spotify Wrapped has defined listening personalities in the past, Duolingo’s learner styles feature brought a personalised touch to the app’s 2021 Year in Review, setting it apart from the usual data breakdowns². The learner styles categorised users based on their learning habits and achievements and reflected how individuals interacted with the app — whether they were streak-focused, XP-driven, or more likely to dabble in multiple languages. It was continued through to 2023, but we didn’t see it on our screens this year. Bummer.
The learner styles were designed to offer a fun and engaging way to reflect on progress while providing deeper insights into how users were engaging with the app. This also encouraged a sense of community, as learners compared their styles with others, spurring friendly competition or companionship. These insights reinforced Duolingo’s goal of making language learning both personalised and social, turning an otherwise routine review of progress into an interactive experience that celebrated individual learning paths.
The lack of the feature this year has left users questioning its absence. This shift mirrors a broader trend seen with other platforms, like Spotify, which has also scaled back some of its personalised insights in recent years. Spotify’s Wrapped, for example, used to offer more nuanced breakdowns of listening habits, such as detailed listening personalities or genres, but these have been pared down in recent iterations. Similarly, Duolingo seems to have opted for a more streamlined Year in Review in 2024, with an emphasis on fun, shareable comments and new gamified features, rather than the deeper, personalised insights that had become a signature of past recaps.
Streamlining sharing through CTAs
One of the standout features of Duolingo’s 2024 Year in Review is the emphasis on shareability — designed to encourage users to not only reflect on their learning journey but also to share it with others. Each insight page comes equipped with a share button, making it easy for users to post their achievements on social media directly from the app. This simple yet effective feature capitalises on the power of social proof, encouraging users to display their progress, engage their networks, and inspire others to start their own language-learning journey. This also eliminates the need for screenshots and manual posting, instead encouraging users to share via a seamless call-to-action, streamlining the process and making sharing a built-in part of the experience.
A summary of my Year in Review, ready for sharing!
Adding an extra layer of gamification, Duolingo incorporates a “share for a reward” incentive at the end of the review. The idea behind this is to create a positive feedback loop where the act of sharing not only encourages social interaction but also rewards users for spreading the word about their learning journey. It’s a simple yet effective method of incentivising users to share while enhancing their own experience.
Duolingo also offers users not one, but two distinct designs for sharing their achievements on social media. The first design provides an all-encompassing overview, and the second design narrows its focus to highlight the streak count and the playful “Are You Safe from Duo?” insight.
Duolingo offering two designs for users to share, catering with different preferences and audiences.
These options give users flexibility in how they share their achievements, catering to different preferences and audiences. Some may want to showcase their entire learning journey, while others might prefer to share a lighter, more humorous snippet. This dual approach not only enhances user experience but also broadens the content’s appeal on social media platforms, making it more likely to resonate and go viral. By incorporating these tailored designs, Duolingo acknowledges the diverse ways users engage with content online, setting an example for other platforms in the art of blending personalisation with shareability.
Transparency about data collection
One thing I felt was worth mentioning, is the fine print below the final summary and share page. “Your Duolingo stats as of Nov. 30, 2024”. This clarity stands out, especially when compared to platforms like Spotify, where the exact cut-off date for Wrapped data has never been made entirely clear. Over the years, users have had to rely on internal information or external articles to piece together when the data counts towards their Wrapped summary, with no official statement from Spotify.
This lack of transparency has caused some confusion, especially when users expect their year-in-review stats to reflect their activity over the full calendar year. By explicitly stating the cut-off date, Duolingo’s approach is a refreshing move towards clarity and honesty. It sets a good example for others to follow, as transparency about data collection periods helps avoid misunderstandings and enhances user trust. This small yet significant change aligns with broader trends in the tech industry, where clearer communication about data usage is being increasingly valued by users.
Expanding beyond language
Duolingo’s 2024 Year in Review took a cue from Spotify Wrapped by expanding the scope of insights beyond just language learning, moving into territory that’s traditionally not been associated with the app. In past years, Duolingo’s Year in Review focused primarily on a user’s language achievements, such as the number of words learned or streaks maintained. However, this year, the platform has broadened its focus, introducing insights related to learning habits in areas like music and math, aligning with its growing suite of educational tools.
I guess I should study math and music more. Sorry, Duo.
This expansion mirrors Spotify’s shift in recent years, where it began branching into podcasts, audiobook recommendations, and even exclusive content, all while maintaining its roots in music streaming. Similarly, Duolingo, known for its language courses, has gradually incorporated additional subjects such as math and music. By including insights about these new domains in the Year in Review — and including them as the first insight of the bunch — Duolingo could inspire users to explore other subjects and, ultimately, to stay more engaged with the app, which is the ultimate goal of any year in review feature.
The takeaways
Duolingo has reimagined how we celebrate progress, learning, and creativity in the digital age. Through its 2024 Year in Review, Duolingo continues to push the boundaries of what it means to learn by making the experience fun, shareable, and socially engaging. Gone are the days when year-in-review features were purely about statistics. Duolingo embraces playful commentary, quirky memes, and gamified moments that turn personal growth into an interactive experience. With features like “Are You Safe from Duo?” and personalised insights across language, math, and even music, Duolingo shows how far it’s come in building an inclusive, multidimensional educational platform. Plus, through its emphasis on shareability through seamless call-to-action buttons and incentivisation with rewards, it encourages users to display their achievements and make language learning a truly social activity.
So, were you safe from Duo this year?
Sources:
¹ How we built a personalized Year-in-Review for millions of learners
² Get excited: it’s time for Year in Review!
Duolingo wrapped: your year in languages, streaks, and progress was originally published in UX Collective on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
