Penpal, Sylvi

I’m not the type to write scathing reviews and I was really excited about this app but I couldn’t be more frustrated at my experience. Not only are you essentially forced to subscribe once you open the app but after I signed up for a one week trial — and then deleted my account not because of the app but realizing I wouldn’t have time to use it fully, I was then charged for an annual subscription no longer having any access to the account I was now paying for. I would have been ok paying this amount if I could actually use the app, but this is not the case. I reached out to customer service with no reply. And the peppy “we’ll help you with anything” message of the app could not be more upsetting. As a broke college student who was only trying to improve my Spanish I could not be more angry. At the very least I would like access to the account I paid for, if not a full refund.

got the app literally two minutes ago it will not let me send one message without paying????? it looked cool but not helpful for a student looking to learn a language for free

The features and the way it functions is so well thought out. It doesn’t feel like a learning app and more like I’m talking to a friend. I’ve been trying to learn Spanish for a few years now but while I’ve learned a lot of words, I would still struggle with grammar and verbs to feel confident to actually practice IRL. I love how with this app the ask Sylvi feature is so intuitive and thorough in explaining not only the translation but how the context better for some phrases and what tense it’s in! I constantly get caught mid conversation on how to say something so I love that feature so much. The penpal feature feels natural to apply what I know and learn to think in the language without feeling like a quiz and without judgement. And I absolutely love the spellcheck before you send the messages so I can learn the right way and not develop improper language habits. Obviously, they are other features in the app also that I haven’t tried yet as I am still new to using it. I just want to express how grateful I am that this was created because using it has felt like what I’ve been missing in my learning journey so THANK YOU for creating an awesome and helpful app!!

I don’t have the talent to know whether the app is 100% correct in its teaching, but the AI here is well designed. The “teaching” happens as chat bots continuously ask you questions. It almost feels like a therapy session at times, which isn’t a bad thing but sometimes feels less casual and conversational as a result. There are two learning modes. There is a straight-up tutorial bot that coaches based on your questions or generates prompts to practice with. The other bots engage in discussion topics randomly generated based on loose profiles like “casual” or “flirty.” I haven’t tried flirty, as you need gems to unlock that over time, but the casual bot feels like a polite person you could be acquaintances with IRL. Overall, I think it’s a good supplement to users of Duolingo and other independent learning methods. Sylvi isn’t really a gamified app (yet) despite the presence of leaderboards, and I’m hoping it doesn’t adopt too much of that mentality. Duolingo has been key to my learning a lot of words and conjugations, but it lacks the contextualized learning people acquire from conversations; that’s where Sylvi excels. As an Intermediate learner, it’s nice to converse at my own pace in order to generate complicated sentences. As far as improvements, a Dark Mode would be nice.

App was the only free source of learning spanish now its charging a subscription , It is not worth it. It literally free for the past 4 or more months and I assume it was since it was created. if you are paying the subscription the app and all its features were completely free before. It was so helpful and I was learning and now I have to pay for the subscription. Completely disappointed. Never change the reason you started something. Deleting app. hopefully you reverse this subscription. Such a great app ruined by a subscription feature. App Should return & remain free.

I have never written a review for an app before but after discovering Sylvi I feel like I need to write a review! This app is a game changer for those who are actually trying to learn a language and become fluent! This app implements most of the things you need to learn a language like verbs, pronunciation, spelling, grammar, and even basic lessons that are a great foundation! Sylvi implements all these aspect and puts them into real conversation through texting! My Spanish improved so so much just after a couple of weeks! it’s insane how fast you can pick up a language when the methods of learning are immersive and realistic instead of just the memorisation of random words! This app is such an amazing first step to speaking a language fluently with locals and understanding the fundamentals of the language! Highly recommend, best thing I ever did for my Spanish!

When looking for a recommended language learning app by TikTok polyglot influencers that I follow, Sylvi was 1 of the top 5 that was recommended. I love how this learning path is uniquely different from other language learning apps that I’ve used in the past. For those not ready to speak to a native yet, the AI feature has become my favorite. The developers are quick to action the feedback given as well. I’m loving my experience so far.

Let me start by saying I never have written an app review and I am a real 22 year old girl from Texas trying to learn Spanish. I have spent years trying to find an app where I can practice actual communication and conversations, not just learning vocabulary and building up sentence structures. Sylvi has given me the chance to practice exactly how I speak to my in laws and gives me feedback on how to correct it and provides an explanation to WHY the changes were made. I am so happy to have found this app.

They started charging for everything!! There isn’t even a free option. I’m so disappointed. Like that other review said, it really was the only free app to help learning a language and I really enjoyed it. The quick help feature was nice when I was in pinches at my roofing job. The other conversing was quite repetitive. I had to ask to move onto something else cause we’d repeat lessons. Kinda meh. Really I just loved the quick help with Sylvi cause nobody can rely on google translate- but now I gotta pay for one feature that’s worth it?? No way. Ugh. Glad I’m not the only one who thinks this is disappointing. I’m deleting.

I loved this app because it was basically the only semi free app to use for speaking and listening practice and now you have to pay to do anything. Really disappointed that just because the app started to get popular they decided to try and make a bunch of money off of it.