ELSA Speak

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

1. [R6] 5/5 · US Great app: A nice app that helped me with pronunciation. · translated
2. [R13] 5/5 · US Good app for English learners: Very helpful
3. [R43] 5/5 · US ELSA is amazing: ELSA is amazing as an Ai assistant for practicing conversation ;Since I have been working with ELSA my confidence in conversation and listening have increased significantly.
4. [R93] 5/5 · US I like learning whit Elsa.: I love her entonation and respect teaching
5. [R107] 5/5 · US Good app and it works: Using this app. Love Role-play feature. Can use it for anything - interviews, discussing music and movies. Works very well.
6. [R4] 4/5 · US Good,but not good enough: While voice recognition has improved significantly, it still fails to recognize speech in certain situations. Currently, the biggest problem with the user interface is the virtual character (the tutor) who occupies a third of the screen, which is unreasonable. This is an unnecessary (even useless) feature that only obstructs the view during learning.
7. [R1] 2/5 · US Don’t recommend: I am a Lifetime License holder, but now half of the learning interfaces require me to pay extra to unlock them. Gating content behind a new tier after selling a "lifetime" deal is highly unethical. On top of that, the recent app updates completely butchered the UI. The interface and content layout changed drastically and became so complicated and hard to use. They ruined a perfec
8. [R39] 1/5 · US Why did you do that?: We humans aren't so used to everything suddenly being drastically AI-powered. This new format confuses me. All my progress has been wasted. Why? What did you guys do? It feels awful interacting with a character that just floats around or moves. No, no, do something and fix this!
9. [R44] 1/5 · US Very Disappointed After the Latest Update, Long-Time User: I have been using Elsa Speak for about 4 years, and until today, I was genuinely satisfied with the app. It helped me improve my pronunciation and build confidence in speaking English. However, after the latest update, I am extremely disappointed. I spent around two hours trying to use the new version, and it feels completely different,
10. [R48] 1/5 · US Very difficult to use: The UI has been significantly changed, leading to a much worse experience. The content quality was already poor, but by only changing the UI without improving the content, it has become even worse. I've been using ELSA for three years, tolerating it because BoldVoice was expensive, but now I'm finally switching. It's a shame. * A 3D teacher model now appears, drastically increasing battery drain. Loading has also become slower. The 3D teacher's pronunciation and mouth movements aren't even synchronized, making its purpose unclear. This 3D teacher constantly occupies half of the learning screen and cannot be dismissed, making the learning content difficult to see. * Button placement is inconsistent and hard to operate. For example, when the score is bad, the retry button is on the right, but when the score is good, the retry button appears small on the left, and the button on the right is for advancing. This frequently leads to pressing the wrong button. Also, even when pressing the retry button, it doesn't immediately... · translated
11. [R18] 1/5 · US I have a lifetime subscription 👎: The only reason why I don’t cancel my subscription is because I can’t. In fact, I made the terrible mistake of purchasing a lifetime subscription. I used to like the old app before they rolled out the “coaches”. The lesson content is sometimes too political and I don’t like to be indoctrinated, but that is not the main issue. The real problem is that the app is sl
12. [R53] 1/5 · US It is a trash: I got this app paid over 2 hundred per year, after a few months doesn’t le me use if I don’t pay for updates is crazy
13. [R174] 3/5 · US Lifetime license doesn’t work often. Took months to hear back from customer support.: Lifetime license purchased in 2023. It stopped to work in 2024. Contact to customer support many times, no response. Finally get an update after 3 months continuous following up. In 2025, license stopped to work again. A few emails sent to customer support, finally heard back over a month.
14. [R7] 2/5 · US Buggy app: The app is so slow, sometimes it glitches. Incorrect score calculation.
15. [R41] 1/5 · US Buggy: AI thinks forever to respond
16. [R47] 2/5 · US It was better before the update: The app used to be easy to use, lightweight, and fast. Now they added useless 3d characters, every lesson loads eternity. No way of just choosing predefined dialogs - I have to scroll through all of the existing lessons to find some.
17. [R42] 1/5 · US Latest Update Ruined the App: I am extremely disappointed with the latest update. I purchased a yearly subscription based on the previous version of the app, which was simple, clear, and actually helpful for learning. Now the entire concept has changed. The app relies heavily on AI, but it does not work properly. Speech recognition is inaccurate, even for very simple words, which makes it frustr
18. [R52] 1/5 · US Speak not work: This version has failed when i tried speak, not at all
19. [R8] 1/5 · US Disappointing trial experience: I tried to cancel before being charged, but the app warned that canceling would immediately disable the trial features, so I continued the trial. After 7 days I was charged $99.99 without a reminder. I contacted Apple and ELSA immediately, but both refused to help. The app itself may be useful, but the subscription/trial cancellation flow needs to be more transparen
20. [R17] 1/5 · US Scam, get away: It practically impossible to cancel a subscription. I had to cancel my credit card to get rid of it. Refund, forget about it! They keep renewing even they know you’re not using. No communication, no support, no contact!!!
21. [R22] 1/5 · US Fraud: This company is a fraud. I tried the app, and they set it up for auto renewal with no email confirmation or any forms of communication. I get charged with no notification or receipt. I tried to contact via email/app and only received AI responses with instructions that did not work. Contacted to phone number in the US, no answer.
22. [R26] 1/5 · US Automatic deduction: I never chose to subscribe, but suddenly I was automatically charged. Everyone beware. · translated
23. [R263] 3/5 · GB Cannot change the accent: The concept is great but however while there is the option to select different accent, the conversations and pronunciations seems to always be in American English which is really annoying if trying to improve British pronunciation
24. [R271] 3/5 · GB Bring British RP accent: Like many regretting not being able to choose between US accent and UK accent
25. [R273] 3/5 · GB Dear Elsa: ‏ been using Elsa Speak and find it very useful for improving my pronunciation. However, I have noticed that the app primarily focuses on American English. As a learner who prefers British pronunciation, I would like to suggest adding a British accent option to the app. ‏This would be extremely helpful for users who want to learn and practice British English. I hope you will consider
26. [R298] 3/5 · GB Not for people who want to learn British English: It is all about American English but as I live in the UK, it is useless
27. [R27] 1/5 · US Elsa speaks app: I found the app experience frustrating almost immediately. The AI avatar’s voice sounded robotic and unpleasant, and there was no option to change it. This is a significant drawback, especially for a product designed for frequent, long-term use. The lesson structure also felt rigid. I attempted to change the topic from “landmarks,” but the app ignored the request and continued wi
28. [R9] 5/5 · US Cannot afford: It should be affordable for Indians.
29. [R89] 3/5 · US Great idea, but needs development: This app is really interesting, but it needs quite a bit of work. Almost all the lessons have bugs, and it’s hard to make progress through them. I couldn’t find an option to report this issue within the app, so I’m leaving my feedback here. It’s a bit frustrating because, for the cost, you’d expect a smoother experience.
30. [R168] 3/5 · US Expensive for it’s quality: Overall the app might be useful, but the content for practice is very limited and most of the topics are very simple and basic. So, generally, if you’re a beginner and just started learning English it may work for you, but if you’re looking for something more advanced this app is definitely not the best option. It has some additional topics and AI tools but they change
31. [R249] 3/5 · US Performance issues: I like the app in general but really getting tired of performance issues. Sometimes it takes too long to get the results, sometimes it unexpectedly shut down, sometimes no result is shown. This starts to happen after a few unsuccessful scores every single time. It is not even an inexpensive app but there is no fix on those issues. I don’t like writing bad reviews buy but as a
32. [R3] 1/5 · US Unable to unsubscribe from spamming once registered: I’m keep getting spammed by ELSA ever since I’ve created my account. I unsubscribe every single time I get an email. Reached out to support, still getting spammed. Terrible marketing and support. The app wouldn’t be bad otherwise.
33. [R28] 2/5 · US Rigid: So rigid. You are stuck into their training path. You cannot practice speeches
34. [R162] 3/5 · US Do not convenient to continue next lesson: In the learning path, or course, I need to tap multiple times to continue the next lesson. There should be a control button to help user go to next topic or next lession more quickly. Ex: in learning path, after finish one lession or newly start a new day learning, i need to collapse all previous lessions to find my next lession and select it. Or in cours
35. [R20] 1/5 · US Doesn’t work with AirPods 3 pro: Whe I use the app with AirPods 3 pro the voice of the AI mute. I has reinstalled the app an the same happened
36. [R31] 4/5 · US Need iPad support: It is a good pronunciation training tool but I can’t use it in listening game part with iPad. I hope this app can support pad someday.
37. [R45] 1/5 · US Why retry button is so small?: On iPad it looks tiny
38. [R63] 4/5 · US The app is not compatible with iPads.: The app is not compatible with iPads; for example, the app does not rotate when the iPad is held horizontally.
39. [R12] 1/5 · US I like the older version: i am using this more then 2 years.I like the older version,now is piece of…….
40. [R353] 3/5 · GB Elsa: Hello I download your app because it had 7 day free trial. I was unaware that you was going to deduct £43.99 from my account as I had not confirmed I was going to accept it after the 7 day trial. My purchase id MQ913F5QM4. Can I please request a refund back to my account. Thank you Billy.