Duolingo Challenges – EVERYTHING You Need To Know
If you need any more motivation to log in and complete your daily Duolingo lessons, then Duolingo Challenges might just give you the nudge you’re looking for!
Challenges have been around for a while now and have become a big part of the Duolingo experience.
So in this article, we’ll take a closer look at Duolingo challenges. We’ll go over what they are, how you get them, what you get for completing them, as well as some thoughts about they could be improved.
Let’s get into it!
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What are Duolingo Challenges?
As of July 2022, Duolingo challenges are split into three categories: Daily Quests, Friend Quests and Monthly Challenges.
However, it’s important to point out that Duolingo are doing A LOT of A/B testing at the moment.
So if you don’t have access to some of the stuff below, don’t worry — everyone’s getting a different experience.
Daily Quests
Daily Quests were added to Duolingo challenges in early 2022.
They’re basically a set of 3 random challenges that you have to complete every day to earn gems.
They’re usually pretty easy and can include some of the following:
- Earn XP
- Complete lessons
- Spend […] minutes learning
For each quest you complete you’ll unlock a chest. The bronze and silver chests contain gems, while the gold chest usually contains a 15-minute XP Boost.
Friends Quests
Friends Quests appeared on Duolingo sometime between May and June 2022.
They’re similar to the daily quests in that they’re random challenges.
However, the biggest difference is that you complete them with one of your Duolingo friends and it refreshes every week.
The challenges include earning a certain amount of XP and completing a certain amount of lessons.
It’s a cooperative thing, so you have to share the load between you.
So if the challenge is to complete 30 lessons in 4 days, then you could do 15 lessons each, 10 + 20, 1 + 29 etc.
For completing the challenge, you both get a 30-minute XP Boost, 100 gems, and 5 quests towards your monthly challenge badge…
Monthly Challenges
The third kind of challenge is the monthly challenge.
Back in the day, the goal was to earn 1000 XP before the end of the month. Although the name and theme of the challenge would change each month, the goal itself was exactly the same for all users.
However, in July 2022, Duolingo introduced a new format built around quests.
Although each challenge still has its own unique theme, users now have to complete a certain number of quests each month to complete it.
The number of quests you have to complete appears to be determined by how much time you spend on Duolingo. The more you’re on there, the more quests you’ll have to complete, up to a current maximum of 50 per month.
If you manage to complete the required number of quests before the month ends, you’ll unlock the month’s exclusive badge.
How to access Duolingo Challenges
To access Duolingo Challenges, simply navigate to your quests/challenges dashboard by tapping the little chest icon at the bottom of the screen…
Here you will find a list of your current challenges and quests, as well as your progress in all of them…
The second tab shows you your completed monthly challenges and will display all of your badges…
What do you get for completing a challenge?
For every daily quest you complete, you’ll earn a chest of gems.
For every friend quest you complete, you’ll earn a chest of gems, an XP Boost, and 5 quests towards your monthly challenge.
And when you complete a monthly challenge, you’ll receive an exclusive badge.
This month’s challenge (December 2023) is called Eddy’s Wood Carving Craft.
The goal is to complete a certain number of quests before the month is out.
For completing this you will earn the Wood Carving badge.
Badges can only be earned once, so if you don’t hit your target by the end of the month you won’t get another chance to earn it. So time is of the essence!
Once you’ve completed a challenge, the badge will appear in your ‘Completed’ section.
Follow me on Duolingo!
Up for some friendly competition? Then be sure to follow me on Duolingo!
My username is DCiiieee ๐
(If the link doesnโt work then just type my username into the โSearch for friendsโ bar on the app)
All Duolingo Monthly Challenges so far
So far there have been 32 monthly challenges.
The first challenge was in May 2021: The Hamamatsu Kite Festival Challenge. This is something that has been celebrated in Hamamatsu, Japan for over 450 years!
The second challenge, the 9th Duoversary Challenge, celebrates 9 years since Duolingo first launched to the public.
The third challenge was called Eddyโs Big Race, which celebrated the Summer Olympics in Japan.
Augustโs challenge was called Oscarโs Duocon Keynote, which was all about getting you ready for Duocon on August 20!
September’s challenge was Juniorโs Field Trip, October’s challenge celebrated Halloween with Lily’s Jack-o-lantern, and November’s challenge was Oscar’s Mustache Marathon.
The December challenge was Falstaff’s Big Sleep, and the first challenge of 2022 was Zariโs Sparkly New Year.
The objectives of the pre-July 2022 challenges were exactly the same: earn 1000 XP by the end of the month.
In July 2021, some users got a slightly different format, which broke the challenges down into three tiers: Bronze, Silver and Gold.
To unlock the Bronze badge you needed to earn 500 XP by the end of the month; for Silver, 1000 XP; and for Gold, 2000 XP.
However, Duolingo reverted to the original format of just one badge for 1000 XP in September.
The bronze, silver and gold format was probably just in the spirit of the Olympic challenge back in July — although, knowing how Duolingo likes to experiment, I wouldn’t be surprised if they bring it back in future!
Every Duolingo Monthly Challenge in order
- May 2021 – The Hamamatsu Kite Festival
- June 2021 – The 9th Duoversary
- July 2021 – Eddyโs Big Race
- August 2021 – Oscarโs Duocon Keynote
- September 2021 – Juniorโs Field Trip
- October 2021 – Lily’s Jack-o-lantern
- November 2021 – Oscar’s Mustache Marathon
- December 2021 – Falstaff’s Big Sleep
- January 2022 – Zariโs Sparkly New Year
- February 2022 – Lin and Lucy’s Lunar New Year
- March 2022 – Vikram’s Garden
- April 2022 – Zari’s Cherry Blossom Picnic
- May 2022 – Bea’s Mindfulness Practice
- June 2022 – A Decade of Duo
- July 2022 – Junior and Eddy’s Beach Trip
- August 2022 – Lily and Zari host Duocon
- September 2022 – Vikram’s Reading Marathon
- October 2022 – Lilyโs Halloween Costume
- November 2022 – Duoโs Big Game
- December 2022 – Oscar Goes Ice Skating
- January 2023 – Celebrate the New Year with Duo
- February 2023 – Juniorโs Love Letter
- March 2023 – Lilyโs Punk Rock Band
- April 2023 – Beaโs Earth Day Celebration
- May 2023 – Eddy and Juniorโs Fishing Trip
- June 2023 – Duoโs Birthday
- July 2023 – Falstaffโs Discovery
- August 2023 – Lucyโs Cat Clowder
- September 2023 – Vikram’s Sunny Hike
- October 2023 – Duocon 2023
- November 2023 – Duo’s Chess Match
- December 2023 – Eddy’s Wood Carving Craft
duolingo badges list
For every challenge, there’s a badge! Here’s the complete list of every single Duolingo badge:
2021
May – The Hamamatsu Kite Festival badge
June 2021 – The 9th Duoversary badge
July 2021 – Eddyโs Big Race badge
August 2021 – Oscarโs Duocon Keynote badge
September 2021 – Juniorโs Field Trip badge
October 2021 – Lily’s Jack-o-lantern badge
November 2021 – Oscar’s Mustache Marathon badge
December 2021 – Falstaff’s Big Sleep badge
2022
January 2022 – Zariโs Sparkly New Year badge
February 2022 – Lin and Lucy’s Lunar New Year badge
March 2022 – Vikram’s Garden badge
April 2022 – Zari’s Cherry Blossom Picnic badge
May 2022 – Bea’s Mindfulness Practice badge
June 2022 – A Decade of Duo badge
July 2022 – Junior and Eddy’s Beach Trip badge
August 2022 – Lily and Zari host Duocon badge
September 2022 – Vikram’s Reading Marathon badge
October 2022 – Lilyโs Halloween Costume badge
November 2022 – Duoโs Big Game badge
December 2022 – Oscar Goes Ice Skating badge
2023
January 2023 – Duo’s New Year’s Party badge
February 2023 – Junior’s Love Letter badge
March 2023 – Lilyโs Punk Rock Band badge
April 2023 – Beaโs Earth Day Celebration badge
May 2023 – Eddy and Juniorโs Fishing Trip badge
June 2023 – Duoโs Birthday badge
July 2023 – Falstaffโs Discovery badge
August 2023 – Lucy’s Cat Clowder badge
September 2023 – Vikram’s Sunny Hike badge
October 2023 – Duocon 2023 badge
November 2023 – Duo’s Chess Match badge
The state of Duolingo Challenges [updated: July 2022]
I think I speak for a lot of Duolingo users when I say I’ve got mixed feelings about challenges.
In theory, I think they’re a great idea.
Although your priority should be learning your target language, ultimately it gives you another reason to login and do some lessons.
And given you need to spend lots of time with a language to learn it, this can only be a good thing.
I also think the daily quests are pretty cool, especially for free members who need gems to replenish their hearts.
And the new friend quests are a neat way of connecting with your Duolingo buddies.
I also like what the direction they’re taking with the new monthly challenges.
They were pretty boring before — every month the challenge was exactly the same, just with a different name and theme.
I’m not sure they really motivated anyone to go the extra mile in their lessons.
But now they’re mixing it up with the objectives, it definitely makes things more interesting.
how duolingo could improve challenges
Even so, I think there’s still some room for improvement!
I think the current formula’s fine. Duolingo just need to be a bit more imaginative.
For instance:
- Let learners display their badges on their public profiles
- Bring back the challenge tiers from Summer 2021, then…
- Offer different rewards for each tier. These could include:
- Keep mixing up the monthly objectives. It looks like Duolingo are starting to head in this direction, so hopefully each monthly objective is more than just a different theme. XP, quests, perfect lessons etc. There’s a lot of room for Duolingo to get creative!
These simple changes would make the monthly challenges wayyyyy more interesting and worthwhile.
They’d actually be worth completing and would finally incentivise learners to spend more time on Duolingo — which, surely, is a win-win for everyone!
What do you think of Duolingo Challenges?
Challenges have so much potential. Thankfully it seems Duolingo are starting to realise it!
With a few simple tweaks, I think it could soon become one of Duolingo’s main features.
But what do you think?
As always, let me know in the comments!
Thanks for this discussion! Like you, I earned my Hamamatsu Kite festival badge and was really looking forward to making it my โspeech bubbleโ for leader boards. Iโve been desperately trying to work out how to display it, and I hope that Duolingo introduce this ASAP.
Cheers!
That’s a great suggestion, Adam! I actually missed out on the Hamamatsu badge so I’m very jealous. Hopefully Duolingo will let you show it off soon!
ุงุฑุณู ุตูุฑุฉ ุงูุดุงุฑุฉ ูู ูุฑุฌุงู ูุงู ุงุชุณู ูุงูุช
What’s the next challenge.
Well – I finished the Hamamatsu Kite Festival Challenge in May, but I never received the badge. Looks like a software bug
How annoying! Iโd definitely chase Duolingo up about that!
One sec to see your badges see complete part
Hello Matt, right now I am learning english with duolingo. But unfortunately I am an android user and I cannot see the challenges. Hopefully this will change soon!
Greetings, Alexandros
Hi there! I completed the July challenge (Eddyโs big race) in just 9 days! I am probably a very quick learner on Duolingo!
wait are you chinese or something? because i also am( if you are)
They’re active on Android now (at least for me). Eddy’s Big Race in July was the first one available to me.
Same here, Challenge popped up, and I’m sad that it won’t be available over the browser. Actually a motivation for me, although the target-time frame is a bit big for my taste. Might motivate, though, to finally develop a habit.
Hej, thanks for the great information! Just wanted to say that is is now available on Android for me, first challenge is Oscar’s Duocon
I like the idea behind the badges but this may be a bug: I completed the gold level for July and August (2107 xp in July, 2114 xp in August) but when I look under badges, it says that I only completed the 1000 xp badges.
Oh I just noticed that too. They all say 1000 XP regardless of how much XP I actually earned.
I wonder if that means they do plan to make different types of challenges in the future and are marking these as those you had to earn 1000 XP for?
Hello i followed you and i use Android and i had uninstalled the app for a while and reinstalled it in this September month and i completed September challenge day before yesterday or yesterday and my duolingo username is @winxfloraindia
I mean winxfloraindia
Wait matt for october challenge its only 500 xp on the challengr
And matt i changed my duolingo username to winxrosameojasi and matt i wish there are different level badges for how many xps you earn and also we can showcase our badges
The Oct 2021 challenge was 1500 xp for me. I think I started Oct in the Sapphire League. Maybe that has something to do with it?
I only started with duo in Aug, so many things are a mystery to me still.
Thanks for the article.
Why didn’t you say up front that this is not available for laptop/desktop users?
Did he ever say that wasn’t available for laptop/desktop users in a not up front way? Maybe it is available? But anyway, I can’t find it on my desktop. That’s what I came here to find. I’m way faster on my laptop than on my phone because I’m more used to typing on a laptop.
The badge for Zari’s Sparkly New Year is the New Year badge, not the Big Sleep badge, Matt!
Hi Matt!
I have been using Duolingo for about 3 weeks and so far, I am unable to do a timed challenge. Sometimes a pop up will invite me to participate in a timed challenge, to which I accept, but then nothing. Any idea why that would be? Glitch? Has this happened to you? If you have any suggestions please let me know! Iโd love to try one out!
So, Iโm having a lot of bugs with Duolingo and Iโve submitted them to support and gotten zero help/response. Iโm so desperate for gems (just to literally finish the โlegendaryโ level sixes. I have multiple in limbo in my lesson tree. Iโve taken to logging into Duolingo every hour on the hour to watch an ad for gems. I realized one of the reasons Iโm so desperate is that my daily challenges arenโt registering. I just completed two stories to fulfill the daily challenge and got no gems and itโs still recorded as not complete. Is it my iOS? Is my app out of date? Iโm seriously desperate here!!
Hi I have a question maybe you can answer it. So as you know itโs the first of July and a new challenge is here, but my challenge is weird because instead of earning 1000 XP I need to complete 30 quests. My other family members just have the normal 1000 XP challenge. Do you know why I got this weird challenge? Have you got it too?
It kind of makes me sad because normally Iโm the first in my family to earn a new badge but this time I simply canโt be the first because I need at least 10 days of completing all daily quests to beat this challenge (itโs motivating myself if Iโm like the first earning it) :(
How does this July challenge work? I have been doing all 3 daily quests every day but I only have 8 points, shouldnโt I have 21 by now? I donโt like that this is not explained or not working correctly.
This July 2022, nothing showed on my app (iPhone) although the corner news said โJuly Monthly Challenge in heating upโ. I googled and saw your post. So I updated the app and the challenge showed up as 30 quests. I used my iPad later and the challenge is 1000xp. I updated the app of the iPad but still the same. After finishing the 30 quests, the trophy was awarded but with a 30xp under it. The app on iPad still showing itโs unfinished (about 700xp now).
While I can’t find challenges on desktop, it does seem that the XP challenges can be completed on desktop and then show up on mobile. However, perfect lessons and stories challenges didn’t seem to transfer. I didn’t wait that long, though. Maybe perfect lessons and stories challenges just take longer, but the XP that I was earning on desktop showed up pretty quickly on my phone’s challenges progress bar.
About six months later, this has not changed. The earned XP appears immediately on my iPhone app, but I completed 4 perfect lessons on the website via my laptop and they didn’t count as completed quests (one was 2 perfect lessons). This data should mirror or it loses the appeal.
I just updated my Duolingo app for the first time in a while, a day before the end of the month, and it has now switched from earning 1000XP for the challenge to the 30 quests. Except any quests I did complete this month arenโt added. I was so close to 1000xp and Iโm so bummed itโs now impossible to earn the badge!! Really wish they wouldnโt change the way you earn badges even if you updated until the next month. Iโm so discouraged now.
So I completed the July quest but for some reason I didnโt get a badge can anyone help me.
I think this was because Duolingo was A/B testing with the new Challenges format. Hope that was helpful.
Another tweak they could make is to allow people to opt out of being in challenges completely. As in don’t even show them or force us to see our “progress” throughout the week/month.
Also this article doesn’t explain EVERYTHING; maybe everything in the app. It would sure be nice to have some explanation about the things that transfer from the web version over to the app and vice versa. The person I’m paired with primarily uses the web version of Duo, and I bounce back and forth between web and app. Only after doing several lessons, we realized the lessons done on the web don’t count toward our friend challenge. Frustrating.
I never heard about challenges until today when one of my students said he had completed them in three languages. I do not see anything icons for challenges on my screen: nothing’s floating, and there is nothing like it on the bar at the bottom. I am using a laptop.
Hi Matt,
When I first joined Duolingo in the bronze league, another user followed me, and when I followed him back, it hooked us up into a Friend Quest, which continued each week with the same guy. I always did most of the work (sometimes all of it), but got a reward for the Quest each week of like 100 gems and a 30-minute 2XP Boost. Nice. But this guy was getting that too, and I didnโt think it was fair because he did sooo little, and sometimes literally nothing. So, I unfollowed him temporarily in hopes that the Friend Quest would transfer to the next person on my follow list, who actually does a lot of work (I still do way more, but at least she does daily effort too, I respect her efforts), so I thought, Iโd anyone should benefit from me ripping through the Quests fast, it should be her.
Well, I ended up losing my Friend Quest altogether this week because now it says I have no friends available to do it with. So she must already be doing it with someone. So I re-followed the other guy, but it still wonโt let me do the Quest! So now Iโve lost out on the weekly 100 gems and 30-min 2XP boost.
How can I get this back? Iโm in the higher leagues now, so itโs not like Iโll find someone who isnโt already doing one, I imagine.
Help, thanks.
My September challenge is to complete 40 quests.
When I’m the one to complete a Friend Quest the XP boost kick in right way (boo). However, what happen if my friend is the one who completes the quest? Do I have to be using the app at the same time to get the boost? Can I choose when the boost starts?
As a former kindergarten teacher, I worked hard to help Junior “earn” his field trip. I was super disappointed that I didn’t get to see a happy image of Junior getting to go on the trip!! Silly of me, I know. But I am spoiled by the Duo characters rejoicing each of my correct answers and have come to expect that interpersonal aspect of the game.
After several months, I finally got Daily Quests on Android! (Sept 2022) I didn’t get the new monthly objective on non-iOS devices, though.
I’d like to see a post about the new achievements. Suddenly, I received a “Nocturnal” achievement for completing the first lesson in a series after 10 pm tonight that requires three more lessons after 10 pm to get to the next level. Is there an equivalent for early birds?
This month’s challenge is actually called Duo’s New Years Party. It used to be called Celebrate the New Year with Duo.
The February challenge, “Junior’s Love Letter”, is not updating. I complete the quests but no progress is added to the challenge.
For reference, I only use the website to do the lessons. Later check the app for the challenge progress (before some reason one cannot see challenges on the website). I never use the app to do the lessons.
I am having the same issue. The completed quests are not registering in the tracker.
Cool- you added a list of badges! Also, the new challenge layout and objective dropped on Android in March 2023. It’s interesting how they had a new CL&O on the same month as the bronze, silver, and gold badges. Was it a coincidence? I don’t know.
Hello, I am unable to use Duolingo when I am away from home and wifi? Is this normal? I do have sรบper Duolingo
Greetings
My first badge was for Oscar’s Duocon Keynote. After completing the challenge I was able to view a video of the Key note.
After that I have completed several other badges but haven’t been guided as to what next. Is it that I should be able to watch videos of the characters linked to the badge I’ve earned? or is earning the badge the only prize for the challenge?
I’m using a Samsung Phone.
Past few weeks I have completed Friend Challenge and received the XP boost for 30 minutes. But…. twice I have not been offered to claim the reward for the XP one a couple of weeks ago was for 1350 XP or there about and the XP reward was 1500 XP. When I went to “claim reward” I was given the 30 minute XP boost but there is no button to claim the XP rewards and they were not automatically added 2 weeks ago and today they have not be added.
I think I may have seen somewhere that you have to watch and be quick when the offer to claim the XP reward pops up unexpectedly at anytime after the Friend Quest is completed.
Does anyone have any information about this, please?
Friend and I completed both Friend Quest in a couple of days.
It is a bit sad to not be rewarded what is “promised”.