HelloTalk Review: Language App Or Dating App?

Learning a new language doesn’t mean you have to lock yourself in your room and practice conversations with the wall. These days, you can take your language learning anywhere in the world by connecting with native speakers who want to learn your language too. Language exchange apps have made it possible to find conversation partners from Tokyo to São Paulo, all from your phone.

HelloTalk is one of the most popular language exchange platforms out there, but after using it for several months, I’ve noticed something interesting: the line between language learning and dating can get pretty blurry.'

In this review, I’ll walk you through what HelloTalk actually offers, whether it lives up to its promise as a language learning tool, and yes—we’ll address the elephant in the room about whether people really use it for dating. I'll also cover the features I genuinely love, the aspects that need work, and help you decide if this language learning app deserves a spot on your phone.

What Is HelloTalk?

HelloTalk is a language learning app connecting over 30 million language learners worldwide. Unlike other language apps, HelloTalk allows you to speak with native speakers via text, chat, or video stream and get actual conversations rolling in. The best thing about it is that you can talk about anything under the sun, this means you can definitely find something of your interest.

Aside from the language exchange features, HelloTalk also has learning-focused features: built-in translation, correction tools, and AI-powered grammar assistance that make conversations flow even when your language skills aren't quite there yet.

The app does offer some structured learning materials, but most of the good stuff costs extra. While the basic messaging and correction features work well enough to justify downloading the app, HelloTalk clearly wants you to pay for the premium experience.

Still, even with its limitations, I found genuine language learners who were patient, helpful, and refreshingly normal people just trying to improve their skills.

How Does HelloTalk Work?

Getting started with HelloTalk is straightforward, though the app makes you answer a question that feels a bit loaded: are you here to "improve foreign language skills" or "make international friends"?

I picked the language learning option, but honestly, the distinction feels artificial since good language exchange naturally leads to friendships anyway. The app seems to use this to filter your experience, though I'm not entirely sure how much it actually changes what you see.

Once you're past the setup, HelloTalk's dashboard gives you five main areas to explore.

• HelloTalk is where your private messages go to
• Connect is where you browse and search for new language exchange partners
• Moments functions like a language learning social media feed where people post in their target language, and others can correct their grammar or offer feedback
• Voiceroom opens up live audio and video chat options, plus live podcast-style group conversations that can be surprisingly engaging.
• Me is your profile section where you can tweak your learning goals and see your activity.

Overall, the layout feels intuitive enough, though like most language apps, it takes a few days to figure out where everything actually is.

From there, you’re free to start conversations however you want—and that's pretty much it. There’s no language learning roadmap to follow, no vocabulary lessons to complete before you can chat, and no progression system to keep you motivated. There’s also no way for you to track your progress aside from the streak feature (which isn't that motivating TBH!).

What I Liked About HelloTalk

Social Media-Style Interface

The biggest advantage of HelloTalk's approach is how it lowers your affective filter—basically, the anxiety that prevents you from actually using the language you're learning. Because everything feels like scrolling through social media rather than sitting in a formal classroom, you naturally relax and start communicating more freely. When you're not worried about being "correct" all the time, you actually end up practicing more, which is exactly what language acquisition needs.

Moments Feed Feature

The Moments feed gives you access to corrections from multiple native speakers, which can be incredibly valuable for understanding different perspectives on your writing.

Qhat's weird though is that when you go to correct someone's post, HelloTalk shows you an AI-generated correction that you can just send with one click. This feels like it defeats the purpose like are you getting genuine human feedback or just AI corrections that someone was too lazy to personalize?

Another downside is that not all corrections are created equal, and now you have to wonder whether that helpful correction came from a thoughtful native speaker or someone who just clicked "send AI correction."

Live Voice Rooms and Interactive Features

When you stumble into a voice room full of serious language learners, the experience can be amazing for practicing listening and speaking in real-time. The problem is that "when" part because most rooms are pretty random, with people dropping in and out or using the feature more for casual socializing than focused practice.

In fact, sometimes people are just sitting there listening to music without anyone actually talking! It's honestly pretty weird when you join expecting language practice and find yourself in what feels like someone’s silent Spotify session.

Word-Click Translation Tool

For beginners, this feature is genuinely helpful and probably the most practical learning tool the app offers. You can tap any word in a message to get an instant translation, which keeps conversations flowing when you hit vocabulary gaps. Just keep in mind that if your chat partner makes spelling mistakes (and they will), the translation tool can't work magic.

Confidence Building Through Active & Passive Learning

HelloTalk excels at giving you both active practice (when you're typing or speaking) and passive exposure (when you're reading others' posts or listening in voice rooms). This combination helps build confidence because you're constantly absorbing natural language patterns while also pushing yourself to produce them. It's the kind of immersive experience that traditional language apps struggle to replicate.

What Should Be Improved

Based on my experience, HelloTalk assumes you already know what you want to practice and just need people to practice with. This can be refreshing if you're tired of apps that hold your hand through every step, but it might feel overwhelming if you're a beginner needing more structure. They offer paid content and premium features, but honestly, I can’t see why anyone would pay for them when the free messaging and correction tools do the job just fine.

Aside from my initial observations, here are the other critical areas that I think they need to improve.

Lack Of Language Learning Structure

What frustrates me the most about HelloTalk is that they put all the actual language lessons behind a paywall, with no actual trials for those. Unlike the messaging and social features that feel seamlessly integrated, the paid educational content feels disconnected from the rest of the app experience. Most people aren’t going to pay extra for lessons that don’t even look as polished as the free features they're already using.

Partner Quality and Consistency

While HelloTalk markets itself as a language learning platform, you’ll quickly discover that not everyone shares that goal. Some users are genuinely serious about language exchange and will give you thoughtful corrections and meaningful conversations. I personally have been in rooms where people are just flirting and exchanging numbers!

Others are clearly just looking for hookups or casual dating, which makes the whole experience feel less trustworthy. Personally, I think that the app’s filtering isn't sophisticated enough to separate serious learners from people with other intentions consistently.

Learning Progress Tracking

HelloTalk offers virtually no way to track your learning progress, which is bizarre for a language app. There's no dashboard showing your improvement, no graphs tracking your conversation frequency or accuracy, and definitely no quiz results to review since there aren't really any quizzes. You're left to guess whether all those conversations are actually helping you improve or if you're just spinning your wheels.

Expensive Educational Support Features

The pricing for HelloTalk’s premium features (like the Ebooks, Animated Stories, AI chatbot, and, Audio & Video Courses) is hard to justify when you compare what you get versus other language learning platforms. The one-on-one live lessons and structured courses feel overpriced for what appears to be reasonably basic content. When you can get more comprehensive language instruction elsewhere for less money, HelloTalk’s educational add-ons look like a poor value proposition.

HelloTalk Review: Yay Or Nay?

HelloTalk sits in this weird middle ground where it's genuinely useful for what it does well, but frustrating for what it promises but doesn't deliver. If you're looking for a free way to find conversation partners and practice real-world chatting with native speakers, it's actually pretty solid.

But for me, I see HelloTalk as a supplement to more structured language learning, not as your main study method. The app assumes you already have some foundation to build on and just need people to practice with. You'll be disappointed if you're a complete beginner expecting guided lessons or clear progress tracking.

HelloTalk Vs Other Apps

HelloTalk Vs Lingopie

Lingopie focuses on learning through TV shows and movies with interactive subtitles, which gives you structured content with real cultural context. While HelloTalk throws you into conversations with strangers and hopes for the best, Lingopie lets you learn from professionally produced content where you actually understand what's happening. If you want to improve your listening skills and vocabulary in an engaging way, Lingopie is the clear winner.

HelloTalk Vs Tandem

Between these two language exchange apps, HelloTalk edges out Tandem mainly because of its social media-style interface and additional features like voice rooms. Both apps suffer from the same "is this language learning or dating?" problem, but HelloTalk's engaging UI and simple conversation features simply gets the job done in terms of language exchange.

HelloTalk Vs iTalki

iTalki destroys HelloTalk when it comes to serious language learning. While HelloTalk gives you random conversations with strangers of varying commitment levels, iTalki connects you with professional language teachers who actually know how to help you improve.

Yes, iTalki costs money, but you're paying for structured lessons with qualified instructors rather than hoping some stranger will correct your grammar properly. If you're serious about making progress, iTalki is worth every penny.

So, What’s Next?

And there we have our complete review! As you can see, HelloTalk has its place in the language learning ecosystem, but it’s not the game-changer it markets itself to be. If you're looking for a more structured and effective way to improve your language skills, try Lingopie instead.

Unlike HelloTalk, Lingopie lets you learn through engaging TV shows and movies with interactive subtitles. You'll get the cultural context that makes language learning stick, professional content worth your time, and a clear sense of progress as you work through different shows and difficulty levels. Plus, you won't have to wonder if the person helping you is interested in teaching or just looking for a date.

Ready to learn languages the fun way? Start your Lingopie journey today!