Duolingo Streaks: Winning 500M users
How Duolingo achieved a record-breaking 40% increase in engagement with Streaks.
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I’ve been the biggest fan of Duolingo’s smart gamification.
Luckily, I found behind-the-scenes insider stories of how they design Streaks and its huge gamification impact. Afterall, it’s the largest education company in the world with 500M users today.
What you don’t know about Duolingo Streaks design could change everything.
Let’s get into the post for today… 👇
An Untold Story — How Duolingo Achieved a Record-breaking 40% Increase in Engagement with Streaks
Imagine you are the PM/Design Lead at Duolingo.
Can you spot the difference between the two designs?
And what do you think works or not (plus why)? Today’s post will surprise you with Duolingo's most powerful learning on gamification via Streaks.
👀 Do you want to make a bet?
(We’ll reveal this below).
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Streaks are powerful.
Whether it’s hitting 10,000 steps or posting on LinkedIn daily, streaks tap into our desire to stay consistent. But what happens when streaks stop motivating and start stressing users out?
Duolingo’s streak feature—a cornerstone of its gamified learning experience and probably the best in the world—was causing some users to quit entirely after breaking a long streak.
Higher goals, lower streaks?
Duolingo’s original streak design required users to hit a daily XP goal (e.g., 20 XP) to keep their streak alive. While this motivated many, it also punished those who showed up but fell short of their target.
For users with long streaks, missing a day didn’t just feel bad—it often triggered the “what-the-hell effect,” where frustration leads to abandonment.
The team realized they were mixing two ideas:
Showing up: Logging in and doing something, even small.
Hitting a goal: Completing a set target, like 20 XP.
Users who tried but didn’t hit their goal felt punished unfairly.
The solution?
You won’t believe what happened when Duolingo put these insights into their next design iteration and its results. 👇