First lesson, first impression: twelve exercise formats, one session

Verdict: The first LingFit lesson is denser than you’d expect from a beginner app. It constantly switches format: swipe, listen, build, speak. In between there’s a half-time break with a joke from the mascot. At the end, the words you got wrong come back. That wins you over immediately. But not everything reveals itself in session one. Some formats only show their value once your vocabulary grows. Our take: start, and give it the first three lessons before you judge.

Reference: current build, App Store version 2.9 from 4 October 2026.

What shipped: twelve formats

LingFit lists twelve exercise formats. A lesson mixes them. Exactly which ones appear in the first lesson depends on the chapter. Here’s the full list, grouped by what they train:

Getting words in - Vocabulary swipe: flashcards where you reveal the back. Unknown cards return in a new round. - Picture to word: you see a picture and choose the matching word.

Faster recall - Speed Matching: match words and translations against the clock. - Listening speed matching: match what you hear to the written word.

Listening - Single-word listening: listen to a word and select it. If the sound is off, the app shows the word as text. - Sentence comprehension: listen to a whole sentence and show that you understood it.

Building - Sentence building: assemble the translation from word bubbles. Drag, tap, hint button for the next word. - Word building: form a missing word letter by letter. - Fill in the blank: choose the right word for a sentence. - Dialogue building: put questions and answers together into a conversation.

Understanding and speaking - Text in context: read a short text and answer a question. - Speaking: say the sentence out loud. Recognised words light up green.

What wins you over straight away on day one

The switching keeps you alert. No format lasts long. No sooner have you got used to the cards than a listening test comes along. That reduces the risk of tapping on autopilot.

The redo round. At the end of a lesson it says “Let’s improve!”. The words you got wrong come back. So you don’t leave the lesson with unresolved mistakes.

The half-time break. In the middle, a mascot character appears. It shows your progress so far and tells a joke or a fun fact about itself, in your own language. It’s a small reward, not an interruption.

The reaction lines. After every exercise, a short line appears. There are over 200 of them. The tone adapts to the age range from onboarding.

The first-time hints. New users see short tips, such as “Long-press a word for its translation”. They disappear once you know the app.

What only makes sense later

Long-pressing words. In lessons, a long press on a word bubble opens the tooltip with translations, base form and audio. In session one you still know few words. The benefit grows with every chapter.

Word building and fill in the blank. At first they seem easy. Their value is active recall. Forming a word yourself is harder than choosing it from a list. You only notice that once the words become more similar.

The speaking exercise. On day one it feels unfamiliar, especially on the train. You can postpone it. If you’re practising, you should still take it on early.

What’s missing

• No teacher to correct pronunciation. Speech recognition shows recognised words in green. There’s no detailed sound analysis.
• No overview of the formats beforehand. You learn them by doing. For some that’s good, for others confusing.
• No details on repetition intervals. All that’s known is: mistakes come back in the same lesson.

What to watch next

• How the format mix feels after ten lessons of a level.
• Whether the half-time jokes repeat or stay fresh.
• How reliably speech recognition works in noisier environments.

Launch Score and recommendation

Our Launch Score for the first lesson: 8.8 out of 10, the editors’ opinion. The format mix is broad and well paced. A small deduction because some tools only show their value after several sessions.

Buy, wait or skip? Start. Three lessons give a fair picture. The course structure with 60 chapters is on the official LingFit page.