Duolingo VIP Status – What Is It, How Do You Get It, Does It Matter?

Showing off your streak has always been one of the biggest flexes on Duolingo.

Now, with VIP Status, you can take your bragging to the next level!

Read on to find out everything you need to know!

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What is VIP Status on Duolingo?

VIP Status on Duolingo relates to the length of your streak.

It has nothing to do with how much XP you’ve earned, what league you’re in, or how much of your course you’ve completed.

VIP Status is one of the main perks that come with being a part of the Streak Society.

However, you won’t unlock VIP Status as soon as you join. Instead, you’ll need to keep growing your streak — for a realllly long time!

VIP Status is available on all platforms, meaning you’ll be able to get it on IOS, Android and Desktop.

How do you get VIP Status?

To achieve VIP Status on Duolingo, you need to have at least a 365-day streak. As you extend your streak, you’ll move up through the different tiers.

To activate your VIP Status, simply head over to your streak tab, swipe over to Streak Society, and tap ‘enter now’.

If you’re eligible, you should have the option to activate your VIP Status.

Once it’s on, it will say ‘activated’ underneath and you’ll be able to see your VIP Status underneath your username on the leaderboards and on your profile.

Your VIP Status will last for as long as your streak does.

What do you get for being a VIP?

As fancy as it sounds, you don’t actually get much for being a VIP on Duolingo.

For the most part, it’s just bragging rights. It’s an opportunity to show the world just how much of a streak freak you are.

You get to show this in your weekly leaderboards and on your profile page.

On top of this, you also get all the other goodies that come from being in the Streak Society, which are:

  • A new app icon — fire Duo!
  • Up to 3 bonus streak freezes
  • Free trials for Super Duolingo (if free member)

VIP tiers

VIP Status works in yearly tiers.

You reach the first tier once you hit a 365-day streak.

After that, it goes up every year, and this will be reflected on your weekly leaderboards and profile page.

So if you keep the flame burning for 3 years, you’ll have a little 3-year badge underneath your username.

Can you hide your VIP Status?

At the moment, it’s not possible to hide your VIP Status.

Once you’ve activated it in the streak tab, you’re stuck with it until you lose your streak.

Can you lose your VIP Status?

Your VIP Status only lasts for as long as your streak does. So the moment you lose your streak, you also lose your VIP Status and all the benefits of being in the Streak Society.

How to keep your VIP Status

The best (and only!) way to keep your VIP Status is to keep your streak above 365 days.

To do this, consider some of these tips and approaches:

Don’t ignore the owl

When Duo says it’s time to learn Spanish, you better stop what you’re doing and dive into a lesson!

As much as we joke about the owl and his pushy notifications, the easiest way to lose your streak is to start ignoring him.

If needs be, set your reminder times to a time of day when you’re most likely to want to practice. That way you give yourself the best opportunity of keeping the streak burning.

I tend to get my notifications early as I like to get my lessons out the way as soon as possible.

Use streak freezes

I generally don’t recommend using streak freezes as I think it defeats the purpose of having a streak.

That being said, it’s all fair game. The option’s there, so, if push comes to shove, you might as well use it.

It’s a good safety net if ever you really can’t get to your device to do a lesson. And you can be safe in the knowledge that your VIP Status is well protected.

Form a habit

This basically follows on from the first point — if you resolve to never ignore the owl, then, over time, you’ll form a solid habit.

This isn’t just essential for learning a language — it will also ensure you don’t lose your streak.

If you make your Duolingo lessons a part of your life, then you’ll always find the motivation to log in every day and complete your lessons, even if you do just one.

It could be a lesson, a timed challenge, a story, it doesn’t really matter. So long as you do something every day on Duolingo, your streak will stay alive — and you’ll keep your VIP Status!

Does VIP Status matter?

For all the talk of being a VIP and the glamour that you might think comes with it, does it really matter?

After all, you don’t really get anything for being a VIP, aside from the other little perks that come from being in the Streak Society.

The only thing it represents is that your current Duolingo streak is over 365 days. It shows you’re a dedicated Duolingo user and that you’ve formed a solid habit.

That said, it doesn’t really matter that much in the grand scheme of things. It’s a nice little incentive/reward, but it doesn’t say anything about the reason we all start using Duolingo — that is, learning a language.

I’ll admit that I don’t always put much effort into my Duolingo lessons. Sometimes I’m just not feeling it, so I’ll only do one little thing every day.

While this is definitely better than nothing and will keep my streak alive, it’s not exactly going to help me make progress in my target languages.

Realistically I want to be spending at least 30 minutes with my target language every day, otherwise, I’m just not going to make the kind of progress I want to make.

If I were to do one lesson every day for a year, then I’d unlock VIP Status… but I wouldn’t necessarily be any good at using my target language.

Now consider if I were to spend an hour a day with my target language, but missed one day every week. I wouldn’t get VIP Status, but, by the end of the year, I’d be a lot more advanced in my target language.

That’s definitely something to think about!


For more on the streak society, and other Duolingo news and features, feel free to follow me on Twitter.

Also, consider checking out my Streak Society article!