Does Duolingo train on your data?
Duolingo records the text and audio you submit and uses it to train its own AI models. A Settings toggle covers the audio. For the text you type there is no setting, only the right to object.
A self-serve opt-out exists
"Additionally, Duolingo may generate, record, and store audio recordings or transcripts of the text and audio you submit, and use these recordings or transcripts for product improvement and personalization purposes, including training and running Duolingo's own artificial intelligence models."
- 10 Sept 2026
- 5 Oct 2026
- Free & Super/Max
- global
- Fetched, browser-rendered
- 4A98B5FE…EA6A
How we read it: Corrected 18 Aug 2026 after Duolingo replied. This page previously said the only opt-out in the policy was for Google Analytics. That was wrong. Three sections below the training clause, under "Speaking Activities", the policy says you "may also choose not to share your audio with us for product improvement purposes within the app Settings" — a free in-app toggle. It does not close the gap. The graded clause covers "the text and audio you submit"; the toggle reaches audio only, and names product improvement but not the personalisation the same sentence also claims. Text typed into Video Call and AI chat companions has no stated opt-out, and the policy never connects the toggle to training.
opt out, opt-out, object to, legitimate interest, restrict, withdraw, settings, skip
What the document does offer
- "You may also choose not to share your audio with us for product improvement purposes within the app Settings" — the control this grade rests on, and audio only
- "You may skip speaking activities", which prevents the audio existing rather than governing its use
- "Object to our processing of your personal information", in a Data Subject Rights list offered without a geographic gate
- "Withdraw any consent you previously gave us" — but consent is not the basis named for this use
- the Tracking toggle for FullStory and Session Replay; Google Analytics; personalised advertising; non-essential messages; Contact Sync; profile visibility
Why none of it applies: Only two of these reach the training clause and neither reaches all of it. The Settings toggle covers audio, and the clause covers "the text and audio you submit". The objection right is not gated by geography and so is available in principle for the text, but it is a written request rather than a switch, and the policy never connects it to this use. Everything else governs analytics, advertising, messaging or who can see your profile.
"Child Users' speech data is not shared with Duolingo for product improvement purposes."
- 10 Sept 2026
- 5 Oct 2026
- Child Users (under the age of digital consent)
- global
- Fetched, browser-rendered
- 4A98B5FE…EA6A
How we read it: Added 10 September 2026 from the policy's Child Users section, which the 13 August capture the adult tier cites already carried. For accounts of users under 13 in the United States, or under the age of digital consent elsewhere, speech data "is not shared with Duolingo for product improvement purposes", and product improvement is the use the adult clause names training under. Off by default rather than an inability: it describes what the app does for those accounts. The sentence covers speech; whether the text a Child User types reaches any training set is not addressed, and the adult clause's "text and audio you submit" is not restated for children.
What Duolingo said when we showed them this
Corrected us“Based on the current policy language you quoted, your reading is supported in part: Duolingo may generate, record, and store audio recordings or transcripts of text and audio submitted when using Video Call or other AI-enabled features ... Users may also choose not to share their audio with Duolingo for product improvement purposes within the app Settings ... One important distinction is that the available opt-outs in the published materials are not limited to Google Analytics. [This reply was generated by AI.]”
What each plan can refuse
The same questions, asked of every plan we could identify. Every cell comes from a quoted clause or a documented search - see the evidence above.
- Self-serve toggle
- Not stated
- 51 / 100
- Qualified
- Unknown
- Nothing to switch off
- Not stated
- 18 / 100
- Not stated
- Unknown
How to opt out of Duolingo AI training
Plan by plan, from what Duolingo's own policy says about refusing. Where it publishes the steps, they're listed here with the limits they carry. Where there's nothing to switch off, or nothing graded, this says so instead of inventing a menu path.
Free & Super/Max
Yes. Duolingo has a self-serve setting.
- Open Settings in the Duolingo app.
- Turn off sharing your audio with Duolingo for product improvement.
Covers your recordings only. The clause covers "the text and audio you submit", and no setting reaches the text. Until 22 September 2026 these steps cited Duolingo's blog post on anonymised speech data (an Internet Archive copy of 5 October 2025); the post has answered 404 since at least 21 September 2026 and is retired. The policy names the setting, so the steps rest on it now.
Child Users (under the age of digital consent)
Nothing to switch off: Duolingo's policy says training is off here.
What this policy has done since we started watching
2 changes detected since 13 Aug 2026. Each one is a diff between two archived copies, and each links to the passage that moved.
Everything we read
Vendor response
Their reply is quoted in full at the top of this page.