Duolingo Switches from Hearts to Energy System

Duolingo is shaking things up by ditching the hearts system in favor of a new "energy" mechanic. This shift aims to transform the learning experience from one that penalizes errors to one that feels more encouraging and adds a fun, gamified twist.

In the old system, every mistake during a lesson would cost you a heart. To get your hearts back, you'd have to watch ads, spend Duolingo's Gems currency, or simply wait for them to replenish over time.

With the new energy system, each exercise will cost you one unit of energy, and a mistake will also deduct one energy. However, you'll earn bonus energy at a randomized rate for completing lessons consecutively. This means you can do more lessons without running out of steam, and according to Moses Wayne, a senior staff engineer at Duolingo, the data supports this. "We feel like this is a way that we can motivate you to focus on things you’re getting right rather than penalizing for the things that you’re making mistakes on," Wayne told The Verge. He also mentioned that the aim was to "gamify the experience a bit more."

GIF: Duolingo

A full energy bar now contains 25 units of energy, a significant increase from the previous five hearts. Just like hearts, energy will regenerate over time, Wayne explained. You can also purchase additional energy using Gems. Subscribers to Super Duolingo and Duolingo Max will enjoy unlimited energy, much like the unlimited hearts they had before, according to Duolingo spokesperson Monica Earle.

Wayne highlighted a key advantage of the energy system: "In an energy world, that’s really not going to happen because we’re not penalizing you for mistakes anymore." He noted that Duolingo's overall metrics indicate users are engaging much more with the app now than they did under the hearts system.

The rollout of the energy system will start on iOS devices over the coming weeks and months, with plans to extend it to Android later in the year. If you use Duolingo on both iOS and Android, you'll notice that the Android version will stick with hearts, while the iOS version will switch to energy. These won't sync up, Wayne said.

Adding to the excitement, Duolingo's CEO recently declared that the company is shifting to an "AI-first" approach and has doubled its language course offerings thanks to AI.