English learning apps in 2025.

Duolingo: Gamified, bite-sized lessons — good for vocabulary, basic grammar, regular practice. Great for beginners or learners who want to study a little bit each day.

Memrise: Vocabulary building, everyday phrases, listening and pronunciation practice via native-speaker videos. Good for reinforcing lexical knowledge. 

Busuu: Structured lessons (grammar, vocabulary, reading, writing, listening) and — importantly — the possibility to get feedback from native speakers. Suitable for learners from beginner up to intermediate.

BBC Learning English: Authentic videos, audios, news-based lessons and real-life dialogues. Particularly good for listening comprehension, vocabulary, and “real life” English (useful for professional contexts). 

Hello English: Friendly for true beginners: grammar, vocabulary, conversation exercises, quizzes. Good for building a foundation. 

LingQ: For learners who prefer an “immersion / real-content” approach: reading & listening to articles, podcasts, real English content, learning vocabulary in context. Good for intermediate + learners. 

Beelinguapp: Great to improve reading + listening: shows bilingual texts (native + English) and lets the user listen to audio while reading — helpful for vocabulary and comprehension.

Cake: Good for conversational English (listening & speaking). Uses short video clips from real life (movies, series, YouTube…) to teach everyday phrases and pronunciation. Useful for oral fluency and modern expressions. 

Which App For Which Purpose 

• Absolute beginners / A1 → Duolingo, Hello English, Memrise (for basic vocabulary), Cake.
• Building vocabulary & pronunciation → Memrise, Beelinguapp, Cake.
• Improving listening & comprehension, hearing real English → BBC Learning English, LingQ, Cake, Beelinguapp.
• Structured grammar + well-rounded skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking) → Busuu, LingQ, Hello English.
• Intermediate / B1+ — aiming for natural English & real-life contexts → LingQ, BBC Learning English, Beelinguapp, Cake, Busuu (with community feedback).

For a specific context (Industrial / Technical / Business English)

• For vocabulary building (technical / everyday): Memrise or Beelinguapp — good for flashcards and repetition.
• To practice listening and comprehension with authentic English: BBC Learning English, LingQ, Cake — especially useful for students who will work with manuals, technical documentation or need to understand spoken English.
• To encourage regular self-study and habit building: Duolingo and Hello English — they are portable and low-commitment, ideal for busy learners.
• For structured grammar + balanced skills (reading, writing, etc.): Busuu — helpful for learners aiming for B1, especially with writing or reading technical documents.

At the time of publishing, these apps are free or provide free trials.