[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 Outdated UI: The user interface has not evolved significantly.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

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 6

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 7

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

Answer 8

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 9

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 10

Robert , very true brother 💯👍🏻

Answer 11

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 😂)

Answer 12

Shihan it's not just mimo's great UI/UX which make it better they have complete courses i mean that they had front end , backend , courses on python for AI , React , etc . The sololearn is not focusing on the improvement in their content and resources. Mimo have Practice feature in which we can revise the learner concepts .

MIMO actually doesn't charge for the courses they charge for the projects and if u want to make the app ad-free . Mimo is really a better place to learn than sl that this point of time

Answer 13

I totally agree with the poor UX decisions made over the years. I first downloaded the app in 2016 when I started learning to code, and the app was amazing back then. But by 2020, quite frankly, it became garbage. Ads everywhere, the feed, the poor quality of content posted everywhere. That's when I deleted the app and my account. Today I decided to sign up and check out what's going on :D
I must say it doesn't look that dead to me. Still, plenty of users and engagement. But the UI is horrible. Surprised this company has over a hundred employees and didn't bother to invest in senior UX designers. But for a company this size, a hundred employees is overkill and clearly a sign of mismanagement and inefficiency, so they probably have to deal with other business problems first. Less than 10 people could run this whole platform. Easy.

Answer 14

What Sololearn needs is a system that truly values community contributions. Recognize us with badges, XP, free courses with certificates, or exclusive privileges. That sense of shared success would inspire more of us to actively improve the platform.

Rewarding users based on seniority, experience, and contributions (like creating educational content) could also open up opportunities for community-led courses and content. Sololearn’s true potential lies in empowering its community. When the platform struggles, it’s the community that can keep it afloat-even boosting its visibility on search engines.

Answer 15

Moree that is exactly what I think!
If you don't reward the community for their time in your app, the community will be dissapointed and will leave it.
It isn't hard to understand!

Answer 16

I agree with you, FAKER.
The courses on MIMO are actually way more enjoyable and more fun to learn.
Also, they have more up to date courses than SoloLearn.

Answer 17

Bobby Greatly said, agree with you! 💯
The only thing keeping this platform alive is the community, Even though SoloLearn doesn't prioritize that.

I also wonder how many employees do sl have? They are so slow, dead-like that it feels like only 7 people running this.

Answer 18

Sololearn should also learn something from PUBG, LET USERS HELP YOU GROW. One of my most favourite things about PUBG is that you can actually register to become a moderator, you get to see complaints and handle them accordingly etc (failing to do so will also get you banned lol).

Sololearn should allow users, at a certain level and xp (maybe), to sign up for moderator roles. With these you can access courses and edit them if you find any bugs/flaws/outdated info ETC.

What I'm talking about is literally not different from Github in the way you are able to fork, push, pull, branch, etc.

I hope a moderator working at Sololearn just sees this discussion....

Regards,

Ithael

Answer 19

Shihan TRUE!
Maybe theyre questioning why other apps like Mimo are growing a lot... Maybe because this apps focus on user experience instead of adding mechanics

Also, before there were sections in which you could create questions used for challenges or talk with experts, or even creating extra lessons for courses. But all of them were deleted. Disgusting.

Answer 20

Robert agreed 100%