In the iOS ecosystem, the boundary between an engaging user experience and intrusive advertising is clearly defined by the strict Apple’s guidelines.
Recently, however, it seems that Duolingo’s cute green owl Duolingo has decided to cross this limit, triggering the ire of the community and risking sanctions from the Cupertino giant.
Duolingo and the “Super Offer” incident
Everything started when several users began reporting anomalous behavior of the app on iPhone.
According to a thread that became popular on the subreddit r/iphone, Duolingo would have used the function “Live Activities” and the Dynamic Island not to show real-time progress of a lesson or a useful piece of information, but to deliver an advertisement.
Specifically, users found themselves in the Dynamic Island and on the lock screen a persistent banner with the inscription “Claim your Super offer!” (Request your Super offer), promoting the paid subscription “Super Duolingo”.
The interface, designed by Apple to monitor ongoing events such as the score of a game or the arrival of a taxi, has effectively been hijacked for direct marketing purposes.
What Apple’s rules say
The violation appears fairly evident if you consult Apple’s official developer documentation. The Human Interface Guidelines are crystal clear regarding the use of Live Activities:
“Do not use Live Activities to show advertisements or promotions. Live Activities help people stay informed about events and tasks in progress, so it is important to show only information related to those events“.
Apple’s aim is to prevent the lock screen and the Dynamic Island from becoming a chaotic advertising board, preserving the usefulness and cleanliness of the operating system. Using this privileged space to push a subscription goes against the very philosophy of the feature.
User reaction and risks for Duolingo
The online community’s reaction did not wait. Many Reddit users expressed frustration, describing the move “bold and stupid” by a company the size of Duolingo. Some suggested reporting the incident en masse to Apple, urging the removal of the app from the store as a fitting punishment.
But what are the real consequences? In theory, Apple reserves the right to remove apps from the App Store that violate the guidelines for the interface.
Although an immediate and total removal is an extreme scenario (usually reserved for major fraud or security risks), it is very likely that the App Store review team could block future Duolingo updates until the violation is corrected.
A step back or a calculated test?
At the moment it has not been possible to replicate the advertisement on other devices. This suggests two hypotheses: it could be an A/B test limited to a small number of users to evaluate conversions, or Duolingo may have already removed the functionality server-side following the initial complaints.
The fact remains that the episode highlights a rising tension between the need for freemium apps to monetize and users constantly bombarded by advertisements.
Duolingo, known for its aggressive gamification strategies and for using memes to engage users, this time might have pulled the string too far, risking turning its famous owl from a beloved mascot into an unwelcome guest on our screens.
