Learning a language on Duolingo has long been a social experience, but now, with friends quests, it’s also a cooperative one!
Maybe you’ve completed a few already and you’re wondering what they’re all about. Or perhaps you haven’t done one yet but you’re super keen to get involved.
Or maybe you’re fed up of getting paired with the same partner each week and being left to do all the work?!
Well, in this article, I’ll give you all the need-to-know details about friends quests on Duolingo.
Let’s get into it!
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What are friends quests?
Friends quests on Duolingo are weekly challenges that you complete with one of your Duolingo friends.
They are one of the 3 main Duolingo quest types — the other two being daily quests and monthly challenges.
Friends quests are mostly random — meaning both the friend you do them with and the quest itself can change every week.
Both you and the friend Duolingo pairs you with will be set a joint challenge, and everything you both do will count towards your progress.
There are no fixed ratios, meaning one friend could contribute more to the quest than the other. For instance, if the quest is to earn 250 XP, then one friend could contribute 200 XP, while the other could contribute 50.
If you manage to complete the friends quest before the time runs out, you will both receive a special reward!
Friends quests are currently only available on mobile devices.
How to find your friends quests
It’s really easy to find your friends quests.
To do so, on mobile, simply tap the chest icon to go to your challenges page…
Then, scroll down to your friends quest section…
If you have a friends quest active, it will show here. You’ll be able to see what the quest is, your current progress, who you’re completing it with, and how long you have left.
You’ll also be able to send your friend a nudge or a gift.
A nudge is just a gentle reminder that you can send to your friend to get busy!…
Whereas a gift is always an XP Boost…
Nudges are free to send but gifts will cost you 20 gems.
How to start a friends quest
The only thing you need to do to start a friends quest is, firstly, make sure you’re on mobile and, secondly, make sure you have at least one Duolingo friend that is also on mobile.
This means that you both need to be following each other!
Apart from this, there isn’t anything you need to do. There aren’t any buttons you need to press or invites you need to send out.
Friends quests usually start on a Tuesday and finish on a Saturday.
Before the next quest starts, you may get invited to choose your partner. This doesn’t always guarantee you’ll be paired with them, but it lets Duolingo know your preference.
After this, Duolingo will set up your next friends quest. When this happens, you should get a notification both outside and inside the app to let you know that a new friends quest has started.
What are the different friends quests?
Friends quests change every week.
While some weeks you can be paired with the same friend over and over again, the quests themselves usually switch up each time.
Some of the most common friends quests include:
- Earn {…} XP
- Complete {…} lessons
- Complete {…} perfect lessons
- Complete {…} lessons with 90%+ accuracy
What is the reward for completing a friends quest?
If you both manage to complete the friends quest before the time runs out, you will both receive a special reward.
In fact, you’ll receive not one… not two… but THREE rewards!
The first is an XP Boost that lasts 30 minutes. You can either activate it as soon as you complete the challenge, or you can claim it later in the shop…
The second reward is a chest of 100 gems.
And the third reward is 5 completed quests towards your monthly challenge badge.
The rewards are the same for both friends regardless of who contributes more or less to the quest.
Friends quest not working (no friends available)
It’s not uncommon for friends quests to not work.
Usually, it has something to do with availability. If Duolingo has already paired off all of your friends, then there won’t be anyone available for you to complete a quest with.
In this scenario, you’ll have to wait for the current cycle to end and hope that Duolingo pairs you up the following week.
You can increase your chances of finding a weekly match simply by adding more friends. You don’t have to know them, but they will need to follow you back as well.
Probably the best thing to do in this case is to flick through your weekly leaderboards and add some users that appear to be regularly active.
If they follow you back, then not only will you increase your chances of getting a friends quest every week. But if they’re regularly active as well, you’ll also increase your chances of completing your quests!
Tips for completing friends quests
Friends quests are generally pretty straightforward and shouldn’t take you too long to complete (even if your partner doesn’t pull their weight!).
However, if you’re looking for ways to smash them every time, consider some of these tips:
send nudges
Think your partner is slacking a bit? Then it doesn’t hurt to send them a gentle nudge!
A nudge is just a reminder that will pop up in their notifications, as well as when they open the app.
You get 4 to choose from and it’s a useful way of keeping you both focused on achieving your goal.
Of course, they won’t necessarily pay it any attention, in which case you might be better served sending them something else…
send gifts!
If the stick doesn’t help, then it stands a chance the carrot will!
Sending your friends-quest buddy an XP Boost will set you back 20 gems, but it’s a great incentive for them to crack on with some lessons.
I’d say it’s also pretty thoughtful as well. You never know – they might appreciate it so much that they send you one in return!
get familiar with the requirements
Friends quest requirements aren’t usually that taxing, meaning you should be able to comfortably complete them within the timeframe — even if your partner isn’t active.
That said, it still makes sense to familiarise yourself with the requirements each time.
For instance, if you need to score over 90% in a certain number of lessons, then being aware of this requirement will likely change the way you approach your lessons. If you usually go at them all guns blazing, then you might opt for a more measured and thought-out approach while completing the quest.
Keeping the requirements in mind will give you a much better chance of completing the quest quickly and getting your hands on the 30-minute XP Boost much sooner.
be aware of how much time you have
It’s also important to be aware of how much time you’ve got left.
Friends quests generally last about 4 days so you’ll always have plenty of time. However, you don’t want to be coasting along thinking you’ve got plenty of time left, when in reality you’re down to your last hour!
You can avoid this by checking your friends quest on a daily basis. This will keep you up to speed with how long you’ve got left, as well as how much of the quest you still need to complete.
This will increase your chances of getting your hands on the juicy rewards!
For more on Duolingo friends quests, as well as daily quests and monthly challenges, feel free to follow me on Twitter.
I’d also recommend checking out my Duolingo challenges guide, which explains all the different quests and challenges in detail!
I got to get used to content being delivered consistently! I noticed you’re sending out tutorials rather than Duolingo updates lately.
I want to know the deadline for the friend quest because I hate when I’m being randomly failed while trying to collect the last exp needed on my own as my “friend” is not active.
It would be great if it could be the same deadline as the leaderboards (this deadline also seem to change randomly but that can have something to do with time zones)
Google claims the information I’m searching for is here but I can’t find it.