As an Italian learner, you’re lucky to have some great apps to learn Italian and help you on your journey towards fluency.
In addition to Italian online courses and other great Italian resources, there are some really engaging (and fun) web and mobile apps worth mentioning.
Each app is different and unique, with a different skill emphasis.
With this range of Italian apps vying for your attention, how can you make sure you choose the right one?
Today, I’ve narrowed down your options somewhat.
If you’re unsure which Italian language apps are most suitable, take a look at the list below.
Table Of Contents
DISCLAIMER: The comments below are personal opinions.
Mondly is modern and a real pioneer with augmented reality, virtual reality and chatbots to help people learn languages. This could be your platform if you enjoy playing around with different features or clicking around to discover more information. If you’ve enjoyed using Duolingo and Babbel in the past, Mondly could be your next bet, as it feels like a combination of these two with some extra visuals.
Platforms: Web, Android and iOS.
What’s good:
What’s not good:
Cost:
If you like the app, you can buy a subscription. You’ll have more time for each lesson and you will get to choose when to call it a day and stop studying. There are your subscription options:
See our Mondly review.
Rocket Italian is arguably the best structured course online for Italian and both the web and mobile apps are equally comprehensive.
The platform offers comprehensive courses that help you learn all language skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing). The app focuses on teaching you practical phrases and dialogues instead of isolated words and heavy grammar.
Platforms: Web, Android and iOS.
What’s good:
What’s not good:
Cost:
Join The Guild by clicking here, select Italian and I’ll send you a unique offer for Rocket Italian exclusive to my readers only.
See this Rocket Italian review.
Babbel has completely taken over the language learning market with its attractive design, dialogue-based learning and bite-sized lessons (15 minutes) that you can easily complete every day.
The fact that you’re immediately exposed to dialogues is exciting and helps you understand how the language works from the get-go. There are also occasional grammar and cultural notes that glue it all together and plenty of interesting courses that act as a complement.
Platforms: Web, Android and iOS.
What’s good:
What’s not good:
Cost:
Babbel also offers a 20-day money-back guarantee. If you’re not satisfied with what Babbel has to offer you, you can contact their Customer Service within 20 days from the moment you start your subscription and get a full refund!
See our Babbel review.
Pimsleur is based on an audio-based system which promises to eliminate noise and distractions to teach you Italian. Using the principle of anticipation, graduated interval recall, context and limited amounts of information at a time, Pimsleur teaches you Italian with the guidance of a tutor in English, so you’ll get something similar to a traditional classroom experience with native speakers to provide examples.
Platforms: Web, Android and iOS.
What’s good:
What’s not good:
Cost:
$575.00 for a full course (levels 1-5). You can also choose to purchase 30 lessons at a time (one level) for $150.00 each. If, instead, you prefer a subscription type of payment, this is also available. The Pimsleur Premium App subscription costs $19.99 a month.
See this Pimsleur review.
Memrise helps you memorize expressions and words in Italian little by little using spaced repetition and short lessons. Its concept revolves around information recall and input that is just challenging enough to develop your Italian without getting overwhelming. Memrise uses video and audio clips from native speakers on the streets to introduce vocabulary, which I find quite charming and original!
Platforms: Web, iOS, Android.
What’s good:
What’s not good:
Cost:
If you’re really keen on learning different languages, a lifetime subscription would be the best choice!
italki features an incredibly large pool of potential teachers, and Italian tutors on this platform usually charge less than tutors who work for competitors.
The italki app is easy to use, and it has both desktop and mobile versions.
Pros/cons:
In addition to offering tutoring services, italki also provides writing checking services that you can use to boost your Italian writing skills. One of the only drawbacks of this platform is its payment model. To pay tutors on italki, you first need to load funds into your italki account, which adds an annoying step to the process of connecting with your tutor.
Platforms: Web, Android and iOS.
Cost:
italki does not offer a subscription. Instead, you will pay for each lesson that you get. You can usually pay around $15.00 for one hour of lesson, but some teachers are willing to teach you for just $7.00/hour. On the other hand, if you want to learn something really specific, you will have to pay more — you can pay even $35.00 for just one hour of Business Italian!
See our italki review.
Glossika revolves around the concept of spaced repetition, which has become practically a requirement in new language learning apps. The app customizes content to your level and uses audio-based lessons to create an immersive environment and help you speak Italian from the get-go. The platform also uses dictation, multiple choice and fill-in-the-gaps for you to practice.
Platforms: Web.
What’s good:
What’s not good:
Cost: 7-day free trial before you purchase the product. After that, you can pay $30 a month or $299.88 yearly for access to all languages offered by Glossika.
See this Glossika review.
Duolingo is one of the most popular Italian apps on the market if you want to learn this language for free.
While Duolingo offers many of the same features as paid rivals like Busuu and Rosetta Stone, this app’s free version is almost as robust as its optional paid subscription.
Duolingo’s Italian course is relatively robust, but it isn’t as strong as this app’s European language courses.
Platforms: Web, Android and iOS.
Pros/cons: You can easily get by with the free version of Duolingo. If you want to get rid of ads and store your lessons offline, however, there is a paid version of the Duolingo app. Duolingo offers less Italian course material than some of its competitors.
Cost:
If you want to have unlimited Hearts and an ad-free experience, you can pay for a subscription. There are currently different options:
Another perk of having a Duolingo Plus subscription is that you can download all the lessons and play them offline!
Lingodeer is a grammar-based platform. From this list of apps for learning Italian, it might be the one that most closely resembles a traditional course, because it relies on grammar explanations alongside vocabulary study to help you understand the complexities of Italian from the get-go. Apart from that, Lingodeer offers some side tools to help you learn Italian, such as quizzes and tests, cultural stories and flashcards.
Platforms: Web, Android and iOS.
What’s good:
What’s not good:
Cost: $11.99 per month, $29.99 per quarter, $79.99 per year or $99.99 for lifetime access to Lingodeer.
See this Lingodeer review.
This app is built more like a collection of flashcards than a course. If English is your mother tongue, all the best! All the flashcards included have a translation in English so that you can always pinpoint what an expression in Italian truly means. If you’re worried about not learning all that much, worry no more! Learn Italian Words has 10,000 different flashcards, ranging from food-related expressions to common phrases.
The best part of it? It’s totally free! There are no subscriptions or premium accounts — you get everything. You can start your journey into Italian and reach a pretty high proficiency without spending a dime. On the other hand, it is not the best app to use if you want to learn grammar. Just like Memrise, Learn Italian Words is focused on speaking and learning fixed expressions.
Platforms: Android and iOS.
Cost: Free, with some in-app purchases.
Here’s another gamified learning experience. The colorful interface is sure to keep you glued to your smartphone while you learn all those useful expressions that’ll make you sound like the long-lost cousin of Francesco Totti. Each time a new word is introduced, the app will also show its translation in English and will even show a picture depicting the world! Crazy, right?
Platforms: Web, Android and iOS.
Cost:
You can learn without paying for a subscription, but you will be limited to just one lesson a day. If you get the premium, you will get a limitless ad-free experience. Drops currently offers three different kind of subscriptions:
If you get the one-year subscription, you will also get a 7-day free time period! Grazie!
See this review of Drops.
Do you miss going to classes? Then Fluenz is just for you! It simulates the environment of a real language learning class. You’ll feel like there’s an actual tutor teaching you all the secrets of the most beautiful language in the world.
Fluenz is best used as a preparation for an actual course. Maybe you’re fixed on going to university and get a Language Degree. The best thing you can do is prepare yourself with Fluenz — you can easily impress your tutors by showing off your skills!
Platforms: Web, Android and iOS.
Cost:
The Italian course on Fluenz is divided into 5 different levels. You can choose how many of them you want to attend! Right now, it’s possible to buy these different packages:
Read this Fluenz review.
Polygloss is a work in progress. And yet, it’s already one of the most interesting language learning apps out there (dare I say…more creative and innovative than other giants out there who claim to be “fun” and “engaging”?). Polygloss aims to help you improve your Italian production and fluency through games. The difference is that it pairs you up with other players from around the world who are interested in the same language. Using prompts, images and challenges about different topics, the app inspires you to start interacting immediately.
Platforms: Web and Android (iOS coming).
What’s good:
What’s not good:
Cost: Currently free with ads, but since the app is a work-in-progress, the model might change.
Tandem is a tutoring platform that pairs you with a native Italian speaker who is an ideal match for your language-learning goals.
Since it’s similar to a social media service, Tandem is also useful if you want to make personal connections with Italian speakers.
Pros/cons: Even the free version of Tandem has a lot to offer, and this platform is very active, so it’s easy to find language partners. Tandem also includes a lot of features aside from tutoring, however, which you might not find to be particularly useful.
Platforms: Android and iOS.
Cost:
Even though the free version of Tandem is good enough, you can pay a subscription to remove all the ads, search for members in a specific place and even search for users near you! The available subscriptions are:
See this Tandem review.
This app is completely free and can also be used offline. If you’re low on cash — but you still want to learn — Learn Italian — 50 languages is your best pick. When you start a course, you can also pick your native language so that everything that’s thrown at you will also be translated into your language of choice. Pretty neat!
Learn Italian — 50 languages offer 100 easy lessons that’ll teach you all the fundamentals of Italian up to the A2 level, but if you want to attain a deeper knowledge of Italian you’re out of luck, sadly.
Platforms: Android and iOS.
Busuu’s strong focus on speaking is its main feature. Not only does it teach you the language through real-life dialogues, but it also lets you practice your speaking skills! In fact, thanks to their speech recognition tool, you can try speaking Italian and see if you’ve nailed down that accent.
On Busuu you can also choose a specific topic. Say that you just want to learn Italian for when you’ll travel there — you can choose to study a specific course tailored for it! Of course, if you want to really learn the language, the free version of Busuu will not be enough. Grammar lessons are locked behind a subscription. Busuu offers two different kinds of subscriptions — premium and premium plus. They are quite similar in price, but the Premium Plus subscription allows you to get official certificates and personalize your study plan.
Platforms: Web, Android and iOS.
Pros/cons: The Italian courses that Busuu offers are well-structured and easy to follow. While this app isn’t incredibly rigorous, it uses contemporary teaching tools to provide you with a detailed grasp of the Italian language. The free version of Busuu, however, is relatively limited in its scope.
Cost:
See our Busuu review.
Here’s another app that focuses on flashcards. The strong point of Mosalingua is its use of native speakers — each flashcard comes with an audio recording of what is written on it, recorded by an Italian native speaker! On the other hand, Mosalingua doesn’t teach you grammar rules, so if you want to have an in-depth knowledge of Italian, you should pair it with other courses.
Platforms: Android and iOS.
Cost:
You can either get a monthly subscription or an annual one:
This one is probably the most known language exchange app.
Just like Tandem and italki, you will get paired with native speakers of the language you want to learn. Even though it might sound quite similar to Tandem, there are some features that are unique to HelloTalk. You can correct your partner and receive corrections in real-time. You can even video call your partner.
The free version might be enough for you. If you want to pay the subscription fee, you will get better translations for all your messages, so that even if you don’t know how to say a thing in the language you’re learning, you can still communicate with your partner! You’ll also have the chance to add more than 2 languages to your profile if you practice more than 2 languages at a time.
Platforms: Web, Android and iOS.
Cost:
These are the packages that are currently offered by HelloTalk:
This is an app developed by the Italian government together with IED, the European Design Institute of Rome. It is a free app aimed at teaching the basics of Italian. The course is divided into 10 short lessons that’ll teach you all there is to know about Italian cities and their own culture. Thanks to ItaliAmo you will learn both the language and what makes Italy one of the most interesting countries in the world.
It’s a great app to start your learning Italian, but if you already have a basic knowledge of the language you can ignore this app.
Platforms: Android and iOS.
Lingvist is a flashcard app founded by Mait Müntel in 2013. The app is organized by courses, or flashcard decks, to help you learn Italian by growing your vocabulary. A main course on Lingvist includes the 4,000-5,000 most frequent words in your target language, with the possibility of adding extra vocabulary for particular goals (business, travel, a holiday in Spain, object pronouns, etc). The design of the app is simple and pleasant on the eye, which is always a plus in a market that praises overcrowded apps.
Platforms: Web, Android and iOS.
What’s good:
What’s not good:
Pricing
LingQ is one of the most popular platforms for Italian learners who love reading and building up vocabulary as they discover it in context. It is basically a library of content from all over the web which helps you learn new words through exposure to texts in Italian. You get to interact with the text and mark the words you don’t know, so you can build your own flashcards and study the vocabulary later.
Platforms: Web, Android and iOS.
What’s good:
What’s not good:
Cost: Premium option costs 12.99EUR per month, 71.94EUR every 6 months, 107.88EUR yearly or 191.76EUR every 24 months. Premium Plus gives you access to all Premium features and extra points for live tutoring, writing corrections and premium lessons at 39.99EUR per month, 233.94EUR every 6 months, 419.88EUR yearly and 815.76EUR every 24 months.
Speechling has to be one of my favorite language learning tools to date. It’s 100% focused on pronunciation and its free-of-cost version already offers great value, but the unlimited version includes serious benefits, too! You can get one-on-one coaching with a native speaker, keep an audio journal of your practice and switch between languages as you wish.
Platforms: Web, Android and iOS.
What’s good:
What’s not good:
Cost: Plans from $19.99 per month.
Determining the best app to learn Italian really depends on your goals and learning style.
If you just want to learn enough Italian to order a coffee, then a basic vocabulary guide might be all you need.
If you plan on immersing yourself in Italian culture, however, you’ll need to select apps for Italian that fully prepare you for speaking, reading, and writing the language on a daily basis.
To get started, I suggest that you pick a free app that provides a basic overview of the Italian language.
From there, you can consider investing in a full paid Italian course that’ll help you develop a firm grasp of Italian.
There’s no single app that’ll make you a Italian expert overnight, but each of the apps I’ve shared in this guide can bring you closer to your goal of learning Italian.
Ciao!
Used an app for learning Italian that I didn’t mention?
Share it below in the comment section.
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