[DISCUSS] Sololearn is falling down: this is why

Question

Hello! First of all I’d like to say that I love this app as I first leant how to code using it.
However, since I joined there have been many (MANY) changes that have harmed the user experience a lot.
Some of them are: the introduction of the live system, the introduction of many invasive ads, the removal of the big majority of courses and the removal of the horizontal mode.
I understand that maybe the app has economical problems but this is forcing many new and old users to leave this marvellous app.
👇

Answer 1

Anyways, the introduction of AI is one of the best changes ever made, roughly damaged by the pay to learn mechanics that have been made to this app.
Everything is perfect: the courses, the way of explain… but these changes are dropping off the app.
What do you think? Disscuss is open!

Answer 2

Yup, but at the last financial problems are the major issues which cause Sololearn to make such steps you mentioned...idk why they removed the horizontal mode it was nice and also Sololearn is really a amazing application for mobile coders and it worths a lot, sololearn helped many peoples learn to code and the main thing is it's Free and yup some courses are paid but com'mon Sololearn also needs to make revenue.

at the last i hope Sololearn will Rise again and will reach it Golden era again

Answer 3

I'm not an old user, but I think there are many reasons for SoloLearn being underrated and falling down. Here are some of my opinions:

1. Focus on new features over stability: SoloLearn tends to prioritize adding new features rather than ensuring the stability of the existing ones.

2. Outdated UI: The user interface has not evolved significantly. While many other apps have adopted modern design systems like Material 3, SoloLearn's UI feels a bit dated and lacks a consistent theme.

3. Poor promotion: SoloLearn struggles with effective promotion. They don't emphasize why users should choose SoloLearn over other learning apps like Mimo or Enki. For instance, SoloLearn solves a crucial problem for beginner coders by allowing free coding practice, code sharing, and a Q&A section for problem-solving, fostering a global community of programmers.

4. Inconsistent design: Unlike Mimo, Enki, or Duolingo, SoloLearn doesn't have a unified design pattern or theme across web, Android, and iOS platforms.

5. Server issues: There are occasional slowdowns and downtimes, which affect the user experience.

6. Limited course diversity: While they are focusing on AI courses, they need to expand their offerings to include courses on other popular technologies, like Flutter, TypeScript, cybersecurity, and more.

7. Lack of AI features: Despite adding AI courses, there are few AI-driven features, such as personalized code recommendations, which could enhance the learning experience.

Note: These are my guesses for the reasons SoloLearn is not as popular as it should be.

Answer 4

finally someone wrote about these course removal problems and also the paying things 👍

Shihan I agree with you (specially in terms of Ui 😂)

Answer 5

Alhaaz
Yeah we do that but the thing is first they start talking about coding and work like asking help in their codes but then soon they start all the nonsense .

After I had some bad experiences, i don't accept any message requests from anyone . And to report, you need ss of their messages which I always seem to miss.

Next , this exact same thing is happening with many young girls on sololearn and we need to make some difference !

Answer 6

Anushka ✨ ~AZ~ Naryani Priya why you all are replying to them just block and that's it, they never gonna able to access your account. listen if their is light so their will be darkness too.

You just need to do following steps:-
i) Block
ii) Report

Answer 7

There are a million things to say about why SoloLearn is having troubles right now. Some are platform issues, some are course issues, not to mention the marketing challenges going up against YouTube, udemy, and others.

Most of the competitors have user-contributed courses and contain video lectures. They also allow discussions tied to those user-created courses in comments and/or forums. These are very effective and makes it harder for SoloLearn to compete with those platforms.

SoloLearn needs a revamp of it's platform so that it looks and works the same on iOS, Android, and Web. To do that they need a rewrite and that's a massive undertaking. Further, they need to improve the social features to encourage people to communicate more than just coding questions.

There is really little we can do, as a community, to boost SoloLearn, other than to encourage them to rethink many aspects of the platform. I would like to contribute but right now SoloLearn really wants to create their own content, no videos, and limit the social features. These restrictions make it more expensive for SoloLearn to grow.

For me, personally, I occasionally coach new programmers and I have them all start on SoloLearn. But as soon as they know how to write basic code, I immediately send them to other sites with more advanced topics. You cannot go beyond the basics here.

I stick around because I like helping beginners. But I am not allowed to create meaningful content or write articles larger than the very restrictive size limitations on my feed. It feels like SoloLearn wants to cater to beginner students and restricts advanced users from contributing. Therefore advanced users go elsewhere. Perhaps if they gave more capabilities to MENTOR level members.

I will reach out to SoloLearn and discuss these ideas directly with them.

If you want to help, help to bring in new students. What SoloLearn needs most is more members. That is the only way to prevent a downward spiral.

Answer 8

Naryani Priya , True sis , even I'm facing the same issue for the past 1 month, DMs are mostly creepy and this doesn't feel like a healthy environment for learning anymore.

Answer 9

Ithael the sole thing which is similar is the mentor badge. Basically it can be obtained by being helpful to other members of the community. However, users like Ipang haven't been rewarded for they efforts, which I think they should do.
The effort of many on helping the community and keeping the app alive Isn't rewarded, which has made many users left to.
Also, I would like to explain that some users which I haven't seen almost ever in this section have received the mentor badge, which I think is a lot unfair.
I repeat: efforts on keeping the app alive and helping aren't rewarded.

Answer 10

When I first started using this app many years ago, Sololearn prided themselves on the motto “FREE and always will be.”

Answer 11

Robert , very true brother 💯👍🏻

Answer 12

✧Bhavik✧[MORE THAN LESS ACTIVE] ,
I didn't want to create any enmity or annoy others by telling my issues so I just avoided all the creepy dms from the creepy users and when I'm troubled alot I just block them
But thanks alot for your help and suggestion bro 🙂🙏🏻

Answer 13

Alhaaz , yeah bro , I don't reply to any unknown user anymore..👍🏻

Answer 14

I think the reason why the AI courses are not free is that SL has expenses to OpenAI for using their service(GPT-4).

Answer 15

RuntimeTerror Isn't this real??
Maybe you haven't checked this section very frequently, but the lack of new courses is making users question why there arent new ones here and leaving the app consequently.
This is happening with old users which returned recently too: "where is the swift/php course?" and so on

Answer 16

Ugulberto Sánchez , By the creeps I mean some people who would dm asking for personal info and phone number, personal pictures , forcing to be their girlfriend and act like their girlfriends. Proposing out of nowhere, and forcing to accept that and threatening about it , sending some love quotes and cringe videos from YT urls etc. etc..

Answer 17

Shihan , thnx alot bro

Answer 18

sololearn should bring back old courses

Answer 19

I wish Sololearn adds more courses in future updates

Answer 20

Alhaaz
Yeah, the main problem seems to be financial. But I think that if they can get more users, they'll improve financially. To do that, they really need to promote themselves better and show everyone why this app is special. I didn't realize how awesome SoloLearn was until I joined (my first impression wasn’t the best, honestly). They need to know who they are and communicate it clearly. I still haven’t found another coding app with as many free features as SoloLearn, but other apps are more popular because they make their identity clear when promoting. (Also, they have fancy UIs 😂)