Duolingo Used iPhone's Dynamic Island to Display Ads, Violating Apple Design Guidelines

[MacRumors]

Language learning app Duolingo has apparently been using the iPhone's Live Activity feature to display ads on the Lock Screen and the Dynamic Island, which violates Apple's design guidelines.

According to multiple reports on Reddit, the Duolingo app has been displaying an ad for a "Super offer," which is Duolingo's paid subscription option.

Apple's guidelines for Live Activity state that the feature cannot be used to display ads or promotions. From Apple's developer website:

Don't use a Live Activity to display ads or promotions. Live Activities help people stay informed about ongoing events and tasks, so it's important to display only information that's related to those events and tasks.

Apps that violate Apple's interface guidelines can be pulled from the App Store.

We were not able to replicate the Live Activity ad, so it's possible that Duolingo stopped displaying it after user complaints.

Article Link: Duolingo Used iPhone's Dynamic Island to Display Ads, Violating Apple Design Guidelines

 

[bigpoppa]

I hope Duolingo fixed this.

 

[macduke]

Duolingo is literally the worst. Uninstalled a long time ago.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Makes me all the more convinced I did the right thing when I quit Duolingo back in June...

 

[powerwash]

Let me guess what happens next, a company is going to sue Apple for not letting them display ads via the Dynamic Island in 2026 and the courts will rule in their favor. Seems to be the way things are going lately...

 

[toto75]

Gimmicky app for lazy people who want to pretend they are studying a language instead of studying a language

 

[tomtad]

Pretty simple. You remove the app from availability.

Period

Would hopefully highlight how terrible this app is as well

 

[tomtad]

I hope Duolingo fixed this.

No. Duolingo created this

They are worse than the devil as a company.

 

[richard4339]

My dream is that Apple will change the notification API to require a category for every notification, and our notification options become more granular per app per category. I can only dream though, I can’t imagine them wanting to protect us in that manner anymore.

 

[klasma]

I mean, “duolingo” means “doublespeak”, so what do you expect.

 

[alchemistmuffin]

We were not able to replicate the Live Activity ad, so it's possible that Duolingo stopped displaying it after user complaints.

It doesn’t stop Apple from potentially punishing the company by removing it from the App Store. And since this would be malicious use of the feature, it would not be surprising to see Apple use the KILL SWITCH to remotely remove the app from all installed devices.

 

[LightProtector]

There are also other apps that send you notifications with no way to opt out. I hate those, but there’s no way to report those violations.

 

[bviktor]

It's getting time to delete this app.

 

[cjsuk]

Gimmicky app for lazy people who want to pretend they are studying a language instead of studying a language

A language tutor friend of mine LOVES Duolingo because half-arsed corps sometimes bundle it to employees on perk schemes. So they get sent on assignment to Japan, get there and find out they are in deep **** one day one after three months learning nothing useful. That's where she jumps in and screws them real money for intensive full time tuition while they push meetings and deadlines back a quarter...

 

[WilliApple]

Okay them making “streak ends in 1 hour” is funny, especially seeing the posts online about it, like Duolingo is coming to their house, but ads isn’t funny. That’s going too far.

I stopped using it when they make the app icon gross.

 

[aaronhead14]

The Duolingo owners / developers are super annoying, so I’m glad they’ve gotten in trouble.

 

[NVDA]

Duolingo isn't for people who are serious about learning languages. The gamification of language learning is a joke.

 

[gknewell]

Greedy bois.

 

[HiVolt]

What are the penalties for this, it's no accident, it's a deliberate action.

They should be taken off the App Store for a month.

 

[Black_Mage]

I have been slowly turning off notifications on some apps because I thought the business would use notifications for status updates only. If apps start using the Dynamics Island to push ads, I'll be very irritated. They shouldn't be using notifications for ads either.

 

[ungoogled]

In protest, I am gonna stick to speaking one language real good.

 

[coolfactor]

There are also other apps that send you notifications with no way to opt out. I hate those, but there’s no way to report those violations.

Name some of the apps. You, as a user, have full control over notifications on a per-app basis. This is managed at the operating system / device level. So are you saying that you want to receive some types of notifications, but not others, from these violating apps?

As for reporting, you can give them a low rating in the App Store and leave a review comment mentioning that.

Duolingo probably implemented this over on Android, and did the same on iOS "for a consistent, predictable user experience".🤣

 

[marinersaptcomplex]

Duolingo is a marketing company first, that just happens to sell language learning software 🙄

 

[sam011989]

now how about apple tackles the nuisance push notifications for ads?

Ads should be kept inside the app and they need to stop being used for marketing.

 

[coolfactor]

I have been slowly turning off notifications on some apps because I thought the business would use notifications for status updates only. If apps start using the Dynamics Island to push ads, I'll be very irritated. They shouldn't be using notifications for ads either.

Apple was recently busted for using notifications to promote the F1 movie. They quickly pulled that, but Apple needs to be very careful how they proceed with enforcing these rules when they have abused them themselves, even if rare.