What Are Good Apps to Learn French? 9 Compared by Goal (2026)

The short answer: good French apps each do a different job. For a free daily habit, Duolingo. For structured lessons, Babbel or Busuu. For free exercises built on real French-language TV, TV5MONDE EDU. For hours of easy French you can follow, Dreaming French. For a free audio course, Language Transfer. For listening to French in songs, stories and YouTube, with every word explained in your own language, Soma. For flashcards you control, Anki. Most learners combine two: one for structure and one for listening.

"What are good apps to learn French?" usually gets the same five names in reply. This guide sorts nine apps by what you actually need: a free start, real listening, speaking, explanations in a language other than English, or vocabulary that sticks.

How we compared them

We looked at each app's own pages and store listings in October 2026 and asked five questions:

1. What do you actually do in it? Lessons, videos, songs, audio, flashcards.
2. Do you hear real French? Meaning natural speech at natural speed, ideally from more than one place: French in Paris, Montreal and Dakar does not sound the same.
3. Which language explains the French? For many learners in India, the Gulf and Latin America, English is a second language too.
4. Does it bring words back before you forget them (spaced repetition)?
5. What does it cost? Free, a free tier, or a subscription after a trial.

We don't quote prices, because they change by country and month. Each app's own page has the current price.

French learning apps compared

Best free app to learn French

TV5MONDE EDU is the strongest free option. TV5MONDE, the international French-language TV channel, built an app that teaches French "through videos from the TV5MONDE universe", with exercises from beginner (A1) to advanced (B2) and grammar and vocabulary taught in context. It is free, and its menus come in ten languages.

Language Transfer has a free French audio course, taught in English and funded by donations, with "no adverts, no sign-ups".

Duolingo is free with ads and is good at one thing: making you open it every day. Its weakness is depth. Learners often finish a unit able to read sentences but not to follow spoken French at full speed.

Soma is free for one language, with every song, story and picture in it. If French is your one language, you get all of the French. It runs in any browser on your phone or computer; native iOS and Android apps are coming soon.

Best app for listening to real French

Spoken French is hard to follow at first: words run together, and many of the letters you see are not sounds you hear. That makes listening the skill to start early, not after the grammar.

• Soma builds listening in three ways. Original French songs are sung word by word in karaoke, with the translation under every line; you can slow them down or switch the vocals off and sing. Spoken stories and dialogues come at four levels, and in a dialogue you can take a part and answer aloud. And a French YouTube video you paste becomes a lesson. Tap any word for its meaning and its dictionary form: suis shows être, "to be". The songs are made with AI for learners, and every lyric is checked by people.
• TV5MONDE EDU builds its exercises on TV5MONDE videos, so you learn to understand French "as it is spoken in Paris, Geneva, Dakar, Montreal, Brussels, and elsewhere".
• Dreaming French uses the comprehensible-input method of Dreaming Spanish: you watch videos you understand from day one, with "no vocabulary lists" and "no grammar drills".
• Lingopie does this with TV shows: click a word in the subtitles to translate it and save it. It suits intermediate learners who can already follow a scene.

Try one before you decide: Sous les tilleuls opens with Sous les tilleuls ce soir ("Under the linden trees tonight"). The full karaoke is on the page, no sign-in needed.

Best app for speaking French

• Babbel has you speaking from the first lesson, with voice recognition, and Babbel Speak helps you practise pronunciation in real conversational contexts.
• Busuu lets you practise real-world conversations and get feedback from native-level speakers.
• Soma trains speaking through shadowing: you hear a sentence, say it back, and it scores your pronunciation word by word. Scoring is on the Pro and Max plans, and it uses the French of France (fr-FR) as the reference accent, which is worth knowing if you are heading for Quebec. In a dialogue you can also take one part and answer aloud.

Best app if English isn't your first language

Most French apps explain French in English. If your strongest language is Hindi, Arabic, Portuguese or Spanish, you are learning French through a second language, and every explanation costs you twice.

• TV5MONDE EDU's app comes in ten languages: Arabic, English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese.
• Soma explains French in the language you choose. It offers 22, including Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Bengali, Arabic, Portuguese and Spanish. The app's menus switch to that language too.
• Duolingo, Babbel and Busuu: which language explains the French depends on the course, so check what each offers from your language.

Best app for French vocabulary

French spelling hides the sound, so a word you have only read is a word you may not recognise when you hear it. The tools that help most:

• Anki, if you like control. Free on desktop and Android, with the modern FSRS scheduler built in.
• Babbel builds spaced repetition into its course.
• Soma keeps every word or line you save in one spaced-repetition review, and each word comes from a song or story you heard, so you learn its sound along with its spelling.

If you're wondering which words to learn first, the frequency list is a better guide than any textbook: see the most common French words.

Is Duolingo enough to learn French?

For a start, yes; to follow spoken French, almost never on its own. Duolingo is excellent at habit and early vocabulary. It gives you little long, natural listening and little speaking under pressure, and spoken French is exactly where written knowledge stops helping. Keep the streak if it motivates you, and add one listening tool and one way to speak. More options in Duolingo alternatives.

Frequently asked questions

What are good free apps to learn French? TV5MONDE EDU is free, from A1 to B2, and built on real TV. Language Transfer's French course is free audio. Duolingo is free with ads. Soma is free for one language, including all its French songs and stories.

Which app is best for French listening practice? For beginners, songs and short stories with a translation under every line (Soma) or easy videos (Dreaming French). For French from many countries, TV5MONDE EDU. For intermediate learners, TV with dual subtitles (Lingopie) or French YouTube turned into lessons (Soma).

Which app teaches French in Hindi or Arabic? Soma explains every word and song line in Hindi, Arabic or 20 other languages, whichever you choose. TV5MONDE EDU's app is available in Arabic among its ten languages.

Can I learn French with songs? Yes, as part of a routine. Songs make words and pronunciation stick because the melody carries them, but you also need to read, speak and review. See best apps to learn a language through music for how it works and what the research says.

Which app is best for the DELF, TCF or TEF Canada? None of these apps is an exam course, so check the format on the exam body's own site. Busuu and Babbel follow CEFR levels, which helps you see where you stand, and the listening tools above train the comprehension that every one of those exams tests.

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Sources: vendor pages and store listings checked October 2026: babbel.com/learn-french, busuu.com, languagetransfer.org, lingopie.com, duolingo.com, apps.ankiweb.net, and the App Store listings of TV5MONDE EDU and Dreaming.

Comparing apps for another language? The same guide for German, Spanish and Japanese.

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Try Soma free. Hear French in songs, stories and real YouTube videos, with every word explained in your own language and kept with spaced repetition. Play Sous les tilleuls first, no sign-in needed, then start at app.soma.ninja; plans are on the pricing page.

Drafted with AI, edited and fact-checked by a human.