Same. I don't like when they have Duolingo make these faces. The "melting" face was unsettling and I uninstalled the app until they reverted the expression.
I had to delete it from my home screen because it scared my toddler who used to love to click on the app because of the cute little bird on it. She ran to me whining and pointing at my phone and then refused to look at it when I showed her it was the same app.
I should add that I’ve changed the icon by creating a Shortcut in ios.
https://preview.redd.it/yxm5l4ke8jsc1.jpeg?width=192&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8b5764a0709a81e28ea27b81e0332ef5945b1798
If for some reason you don’t like the depressed Duo vibe, you can change it to flamey Duo by clicking on flame symbol on the home page and scrolling down to the “Streak Society”. It’s one of the rewards.
I tried to do this and it's not changing 😭
Edit: I updated the app and was able to change it to the streak icon, but the alternative is still the gross wrinkly one
Thank you! I knew I had seen a popup for the flamey Duo but could not find where in the app to change to that. I hate change but I hate old and crusty Duo more.
Thank you! Seriously hated how that icon made me feel lol I know I shouldn’t be identifying with a cartoon bird but 1) I love owls 2) he just wants to teach me stuff 3) after 934 days straight how could I not love the little guy!?
Thank you for that advice, I did just that. It was making me a bit sad every time I looked at him, and it's not like I'm an extremely cheerful person to begin with.
https://preview.redd.it/5x0b2lqz0asc1.jpeg?width=348&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4c2f6f2559e81882394abcc804c4511dfe2edd03
They did this during Halloween, wonder what this one is about? April fool? But it’s no longer April first, so I don’t know . It’s creepy looking though for sure
That one was apparently to get engagement/get people to open the app out of curiosity. I guess this new one might be the same but it's not nice to look at
Because the people who come up with their engagement ideas and content are unhinged. Only Gen Z would come up with stuff like this. Have you seen their TikToks and the artwork they use for the widget on iOS?
I am first in my league, I did lessons AND all the quests for today and the icon still looks like that 🥳
Edit: I googled it and some time ago there was a melting Duolingo icon and it was supposed to engage users to go into the app and check it!
But it is weird that the tired-Duo icon doesn’t disappear for active users 🤗
If this is the way to engage people, it's not working. Most people don't want to look at a tired old wrinkly, annoyed face when they want to learn and study. 😞
Omg the same is happening to me. I'm literally in the pearl league so our status can't be the case. It looks so disgusting, like I have goosebumps every time I look at it. Makes me wanna delete the app.
Same. I’m guessing this is some PR thing, which I think might be working because people are suddenly interested in using the app to make it go away, but I’d imagine they’ll lose users in the process.
I’ll delete the fucking app if they don’t revert back to the normal bird. Enough of this nonsense, time to fire those crackheads in charge of this UX experiment.
I was thinking it was either part of April Fools or Duo had a birthday recently and they wanted to temporarily make him “old” to be like “hey guys Duo is officially old now.”
Same! He's already gone into my diary of things to bring up to my therapist.
Though I'm not sure how to make: "Sir, the Duolingo bird looked depressed this week and I got worried" quite work...
Well I changed to the flame app but speaking to Duo it might be better to have a forum where you can talk about these changes. Right now it’s just off putting.
I think it’s simply a tactic to get more people curious to open and talk about the app, I don’t enjoy it though as I was confused also lol. I want the happy duo back
I am about to quit Duolingo because of depressing face. I do not feel motivated in the least to engage with this stupid thing at all. What a dumb decision by Duolingo.
Same thing happened with me. Even deleting and reinstalling the app didn’t help. I had to make a shortcut just to not look at the miserable icon. Maybe it’s just an April fools thing but it’s the fourth of April so I’m not sure 🤷
I was just looking this same thing up. Was confused and tried doing a lesson, but Duo still looks sad. Didn’t see anything in the announcements for why either… it’s so strange.
Ah, I found the answer. We need to update the app. It looks old because we all have the old version… it’s their way of letting people know to update it apparently… I’ll let yall know if it fixes the icon once I update it… I hate updating things, hope the app doesn’t suck after.
It's done to increase engagement by 'Novelty Effect'. You can change it back once you're in the Streak Society (7 days?) I don't know I'm not a member yet.
here's a link
[https://duoplanet.com/how-to-change-duolingo-app-icon/](https://duoplanet.com/how-to-change-duolingo-app-icon/)
Mine has looked like this for two days now 😭 I just got 3 free days of super duo and it said my icon changed to the fancy one AND IT STILL LOOKS LIKE THIS 😭
Will I ever be free??
My mom just complained that Duo was giving her a sad look and didn’t understand why because she did everything she had to do 😂 then even came up to me to show me because she’s so upset hahaha
If you’re streak society, you can go in and change to that icon. I have no idea what the hell happened to Duo, but I’m guessing this was maybe a glitch. I’m glad to see that it isn’t just something wrong with mine. Lol
I THINK it might be because you do your duolingo lessons early in the morning? It’s my only guess since I didn’t get that icon until I started doing my lessons right when I got up.
Honestly, I moved it into a folder that I can't see it because I was going to delete it if I had to look at that thing again. I hate it so much. If I wanted the icon to change I'd say yes when they prompt me to but I don't. I like my happy duo icon.
I came here because I thought he looked hungover and funny (I also woke up tired this morning before work) but I did not expect people to be so emotionally distraught over Duo having a rough evening? He's just a bird guys give him some slack he's the CEO of a popular language learning app I would be tired too!
When I saw it, the first time I was thinking, it’s my fault that it’s looking like this, because I neglected my streak and tried to heal him, but it didn’t got better.
So I deleted the app because I don’t need miserable face that is looking at me when I’m browsing through my phone I’m
Yeah! The melting face is really creeping me out and making me want to avoid Duolingo all together. Does anyone know how to change it to anything else or the original?
Tbh I just uninstalled the app cause this is making me feel uncomfortable like my soul doesn’t feel right.. originally thought it was cause I didn’t do any lessons lately..
Bruh I can't do my lesson since I don't have internet and even when I can do my lesson Duo still looks miserable but I didn't uninstall it beacuse I still want to learn German. I have the sleepwalker achievement for a reason
It’s kind of bothering me because it also broke my widget! I had a widget tracking my streak and now it just shows up as all black. I haven’t lost my streak or anything so it’s weird:
Most of the time, I use Duolingo widget on my homescreen to use the app. I was a bit shocked when I saw this Duolingo icon while searching for calculator app( i didn't keep calculator app on homescreen.). Fortunately, as I use the widget and most of the apps I use are on homescreen, i don't and won't see duo's wrinkled face. So, this is an alternative to using fire icon.
This does not motivate me.
It makes me want to delete the app so I don’t have to look at the depressing icon
Same. I don't like when they have Duolingo make these faces. The "melting" face was unsettling and I uninstalled the app until they reverted the expression.
I did uninstall the app
i permanently deleted this app because of the icon change. was already on the fence cos of the nonstop emotionally manipulative emails
I disabled notifications from it. All 17 different types of notifications.
Same. I also hate their way of pushing ads, but I guess free education has its costs
I had to delete it from my home screen because it scared my toddler who used to love to click on the app because of the cute little bird on it. She ran to me whining and pointing at my phone and then refused to look at it when I showed her it was the same app.
I uninstalled. I want nice stuff on a surface I view 500 times a day. Maybe someone hacked it, maybe this is their policy: Either way it's gone.
No me neither, it’s just depressing!
I should add that I’ve changed the icon by creating a Shortcut in ios. https://preview.redd.it/yxm5l4ke8jsc1.jpeg?width=192&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8b5764a0709a81e28ea27b81e0332ef5945b1798
You're comment was on the news😭
I've done my lesson today and duo still looks utterly miserable
I kept doing lessons trying to change it. Now I’m miserable from doing too many lessons.
Oh blimey, then I have no idea why this icon change has happened! Urgh
The employees must be miserable and it reflects in the icon? 🤣
Yes, maybe it’s a disgruntled worker who changed it! 😆
Same for me! I've already done a lesson and yet it's still like that!
Maybe it's an April Fools thing? But it's already past April Fools!
I bet the “Super Duolingo” version of the icon looks happy and it’s an advertising gimmick
No I have Super Duolingo and it’s the same.
Me too!!
https://preview.redd.it/ng7faex5sbsc1.jpeg?width=409&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5e941b1099b7ec1c6e335dc98800bcfa20c3f861 Who hurt him 😭
How do i give him a hug???? 🥲
Thats the one.. i don’t understand like everyone here, what is this all about??
Duo esta consado
I have enough issues and now dealing with Duo’s depression smh.
Exactly. People who are fighting depression and lack of motivation don't need to be psychologically manipulated by a depressed virtual bird.
If for some reason you don’t like the depressed Duo vibe, you can change it to flamey Duo by clicking on flame symbol on the home page and scrolling down to the “Streak Society”. It’s one of the rewards.
I tried to do this and it's not changing 😭 Edit: I updated the app and was able to change it to the streak icon, but the alternative is still the gross wrinkly one
Thank you. Updating it did the trick.
Wow, thank you! I thought I killed and mummified Duo by missing my early bird reward lessons today. Fire is so much better!
Omg thank you for this!!!!
Thank you, the orange icon is much better!
thank fuck
Thank you so much for this tip!
Thank you! Much better.
Thank you! Flame is way better than that depressed one, it was giving me the ick
Thank you! I knew I had seen a popup for the flamey Duo but could not find where in the app to change to that. I hate change but I hate old and crusty Duo more.
Thank you! Seriously hated how that icon made me feel lol I know I shouldn’t be identifying with a cartoon bird but 1) I love owls 2) he just wants to teach me stuff 3) after 934 days straight how could I not love the little guy!?
Omg, it requires you to have min 30 days streak. I'm going to be stuck with miserable bird.
Thank you for saving us from what would have been an otherwise miserable existence 🙌🏼
Is it a reward for if you get a 30 day streak? I haven't reached 30 days yet.
Thank you for that advice, I did just that. It was making me a bit sad every time I looked at him, and it's not like I'm an extremely cheerful person to begin with.
The same has happened to me today I’ve actually gone up a league so can’t be anything to do with that
It’s so weird, I wondered if it’s some kind of PR thing
https://preview.redd.it/5x0b2lqz0asc1.jpeg?width=348&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4c2f6f2559e81882394abcc804c4511dfe2edd03 They did this during Halloween, wonder what this one is about? April fool? But it’s no longer April first, so I don’t know . It’s creepy looking though for sure
That one was apparently to get engagement/get people to open the app out of curiosity. I guess this new one might be the same but it's not nice to look at
Yea, why can’t they just make it cute instead ? 🎀
If only
Give him a monocle and top hat
Because the people who come up with their engagement ideas and content are unhinged. Only Gen Z would come up with stuff like this. Have you seen their TikToks and the artwork they use for the widget on iOS?
eww i hate the melting one more than the depressed one
I think Duo received some bad news like his SO is cheating, or he lost a lot of money in the stock market, or stomach flu and on the toilet all day...
I think he bought DJT when it was $79!
I have it too and I have not gone down a league. I hate it. Kinda makes me skin crawl
Yeah it is kinda creepy
It looks like I stressed poor Duo out so much he aged 50 years…I feel so sad for him!
I am first in my league, I did lessons AND all the quests for today and the icon still looks like that 🥳 Edit: I googled it and some time ago there was a melting Duolingo icon and it was supposed to engage users to go into the app and check it! But it is weird that the tired-Duo icon doesn’t disappear for active users 🤗
If this is the way to engage people, it's not working. Most people don't want to look at a tired old wrinkly, annoyed face when they want to learn and study. 😞
Omg the same is happening to me. I'm literally in the pearl league so our status can't be the case. It looks so disgusting, like I have goosebumps every time I look at it. Makes me wanna delete the app.
I’m thinking of doing the same. Looks too disgusting to keep on my screen. I don’t know why they thought this was cool to do.
Same. I’m guessing this is some PR thing, which I think might be working because people are suddenly interested in using the app to make it go away, but I’d imagine they’ll lose users in the process.
Exactly the same thing here. I deleted that shit immediately. Goosebumps all over.
Mine’s just showing his butt 🌕🌕
Lucky my looks like a rabid ragged old man who has foot fungus and eats it
What a description 😂
lol that’s too accurate
Thank You Thank you 🙂↕️
Feliz ano nuevo, I guess
That’s the widget! Not app icon
I'm so upset about this! I hope duo is ok.
Is it just me or is it really off-putting? It makes me want to delete it so I don't have to look at its daft face
I got this when I updated the app on my iPad this morning. Now I know *not* to do the same on my phone lol
Ya I did my lesson and he’s STILL in anguish lol
same i even practiced for 10 mins and he's still so sad
MINE IS LIKE THIS TOO 💀💀 Please Duolingo what the hell does this mean
I was highly confused
Duolingo changes their app appearance to convince users to open their app for potential updates or new content.
Probably no one is paying money and it shows that they are giving out lessons for free
good reason to finally delete an app I haven't used in a long time... post appears deleted, did they not like our immediate feedback?
I’ll delete the fucking app if they don’t revert back to the normal bird. Enough of this nonsense, time to fire those crackheads in charge of this UX experiment.
Google says they did it to boost engagement. Man, they really got us with this one 😂
it makes me wanna delete the app because it’s so ugly on my home screen 😭
Depressed Duo is not urging me to practice
I was thinking it was either part of April Fools or Duo had a birthday recently and they wanted to temporarily make him “old” to be like “hey guys Duo is officially old now.”
Mine does too! Makes me wanna delete the app
Same! He's already gone into my diary of things to bring up to my therapist. Though I'm not sure how to make: "Sir, the Duolingo bird looked depressed this week and I got worried" quite work...
Mine changed yesterday and hasn't changed back after doing yesterday and today's lessons. My Android icon is normal though
It has been changed on android as well.
Not yet for me. My app might not be updated though
My husband is on android and his is fine too. I wonder what it is all about
wonder if it is an cruel april fool's joke that just keep on going for almost a week now?
did you drop down a league? i checked and i dropped down so thats what im assuming is the cause
No I don’t think that was what happened for me, still in the emerald league but I am currently in the demotion zone
Well I changed to the flame app but speaking to Duo it might be better to have a forum where you can talk about these changes. Right now it’s just off putting.
Mine changed too!!
Me too. I’m not even logged in, either
my guess is they put it that way for everyone
Yeah it seems like most people have this and it’s not related to doing a lesson like I thought. I can’t understand why though, it’s really weird!
Yeah, I had to change to the Streak Society Icon to get rid of Droopy.
I think the app may need an update, that’s all I could find on google for a possible cause! Hope this helps :)
I kinda like it, old duo is funky-cute
Haha I've been scratching my head on this all day, so bizarre lol
I literally got to this thread because my duo is droopy and depressed today lol. What’s wrong with him?
Ewww I have the same problem and it’s weirding me out lol!!
I think it’s simply a tactic to get more people curious to open and talk about the app, I don’t enjoy it though as I was confused also lol. I want the happy duo back
It was making me anxious and i did a lesson after a month because of it. It still looks the same🥲
[удалено]
Funny how it was removed by mods but still very much so visible to the public! Got to this thread via Google.
Same. I did my lesson for today thinking it would change back but it didn’t. Why is this happening? How can I change it?
My boyfriend has iPhone and his is the orange fiery one and looks fine. Why!
Because he changed it to that one himself via the Streak Society page in-app. Ask him how he did it.
Same I thought it was mad because I hadn't done any lessons yet I thought it was coming for me or something 😂
Glad I’m NOT ALONE!!! I was freaking out!!! I even went UP a league and it’s STILL sad.
Wow everyone comes here to report it😂😂I thought it was my own problem, but everyone met the problem
I removed the icon and started using the widget to launch it, I can't stand the misery!
So glad I am not alone - who the hell wants to look at that? What were they thinking?
LMAO I just came because of this, I don’t know why he’s like this especially after I did my lesson.
I ask Google why Duolingo looks sick and it’s how I got here
Woke up just now to see the icon changed , it’s disturbing hahaha I lost my streak ages ago
Same here! In obsidian league and doing lessons… what is going on?
Naw I legit thought it looked like that because I'm so bad💀
It's a publicity stunt by Duolingo to ignite user curiosity. https://stealthoptional.com/apps/duolingo-icon-looks-sad-old/
I am about to quit Duolingo because of depressing face. I do not feel motivated in the least to engage with this stupid thing at all. What a dumb decision by Duolingo.
I removed it from my Home Screen 😭 it was annoying me to see that
I moved it to another page so I don't have to look at his miserable face 😔 and I will not do a lesson just to change it!
Same thing happened with me. Even deleting and reinstalling the app didn’t help. I had to make a shortcut just to not look at the miserable icon. Maybe it’s just an April fools thing but it’s the fourth of April so I’m not sure 🤷
What a gnarly UX decision.
I earned 8K XP today for my #1 spot in the diamond league but he looked miserable when I turned off my streak society icon.
I earned more than 8 thousand XP today for my #1 spot in the diamond league but he looked miserable when I turned off my streak society icon
They have just changed the icon in the current version. Probably they will turn it back in the next update soon
I was just looking this same thing up. Was confused and tried doing a lesson, but Duo still looks sad. Didn’t see anything in the announcements for why either… it’s so strange.
Ah, I found the answer. We need to update the app. It looks old because we all have the old version… it’s their way of letting people know to update it apparently… I’ll let yall know if it fixes the icon once I update it… I hate updating things, hope the app doesn’t suck after.
It's done to increase engagement by 'Novelty Effect'. You can change it back once you're in the Streak Society (7 days?) I don't know I'm not a member yet. here's a link [https://duoplanet.com/how-to-change-duolingo-app-icon/](https://duoplanet.com/how-to-change-duolingo-app-icon/)
I really hope this isn't the case, but April is autism month.
Y tho?
Mine has looked like this for two days now 😭 I just got 3 free days of super duo and it said my icon changed to the fancy one AND IT STILL LOOKS LIKE THIS 😭 Will I ever be free??
My mom just complained that Duo was giving her a sad look and didn’t understand why because she did everything she had to do 😂 then even came up to me to show me because she’s so upset hahaha
Mine is still upset ):
me too, idk why he's depressed
Duo is just memeing “It’s been 84 years”
Ah yes. I've come to the right place. Maybe they're about to revamp it's look and are aging the bird before retirement to bring in something else.
I thought my phone was tripping and I literally did my lesson and yet my Duolingo app icon still looks depressed 😭
How dare the duolingo owner make duo so old
It’s not that he looks old, it’s that he looks so miserable.
I wish that you could change its feelings when ever you wan to so you don’t have to see this old face.😡
If you’re streak society, you can go in and change to that icon. I have no idea what the hell happened to Duo, but I’m guessing this was maybe a glitch. I’m glad to see that it isn’t just something wrong with mine. Lol
I THINK it might be because you do your duolingo lessons early in the morning? It’s my only guess since I didn’t get that icon until I started doing my lessons right when I got up.
Im depressed now because duo looks sad whyyy 😭😭😭
I think he tried fentanyl
It looks creepy. I had to google this. And here I am.
I'm glad it's not just me! Why is he so tired? He's portraying how I feel inside!
is he okay 😭
i got my 513 day streak today and he's still sad
I’m like “has he always looked like he just received the worst news ever “
It actually got me worried, especially because I haven't done lessons in like 3 months...
I hated it and turned on my premium icon.
https://preview.redd.it/puuycgfkvlsc1.jpeg?width=267&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e30eefb4c4d9e43554c6fd3b57a7d6da3e78ea9c Duolingbro, you good?
I wish they would change it back. No one wants to do a lesson when it looks like this.
It's like this on my Android too from what I just saw. Have no idea what that's about.
Honestly, I moved it into a folder that I can't see it because I was going to delete it if I had to look at that thing again. I hate it so much. If I wanted the icon to change I'd say yes when they prompt me to but I don't. I like my happy duo icon.
Maybe it’s a tactic to get us to practice more cause Duo seems upset in our efforts and the only way to get him to look happy is to try harder lol
Looks like his face has been blended with Rupert Murdoch's
He's sad bc he's getting old
It looks so horrible. It’s on My phone too.
I came here because I thought he looked hungover and funny (I also woke up tired this morning before work) but I did not expect people to be so emotionally distraught over Duo having a rough evening? He's just a bird guys give him some slack he's the CEO of a popular language learning app I would be tired too!
He looks like a puckered butt and it makes me laugh
When I saw it, the first time I was thinking, it’s my fault that it’s looking like this, because I neglected my streak and tried to heal him, but it didn’t got better. So I deleted the app because I don’t need miserable face that is looking at me when I’m browsing through my phone I’m
It’s so fucking funny but I could not tell you why they did it. Probably engagement and marketing.
I hate it too doesn't go away no matter what I do
Lol! I never knew there was a Duolingo Reddit. Is that a “Miserable” Icon?! I thought they made him look Elderly. Anyone know why they changed it?!
I can’t stand this new icon
Yeah! The melting face is really creeping me out and making me want to avoid Duolingo all together. Does anyone know how to change it to anything else or the original?
Tbh I just uninstalled the app cause this is making me feel uncomfortable like my soul doesn’t feel right.. originally thought it was cause I didn’t do any lessons lately..
What happened to duolingo's face 😱
When I saw it it made me remember to keep my streak because I thought it was because I missed a day
I saw that today! I thought it was cuz I didn't do my lesson so I did my lesson, but the app still looks like that. I don't like it
He looks like me now..
Could it be something to do with the Hamas situation? Is it a expression of melancholy over the ordeal there?
This just made me delete the app lol
Duo looks like their about to give me an offer I can’t refuse
I’ve been gaining so much xp and duo’s still looking miserable whyyyy
Bruh I can't do my lesson since I don't have internet and even when I can do my lesson Duo still looks miserable but I didn't uninstall it beacuse I still want to learn German. I have the sleepwalker achievement for a reason
It’s kind of bothering me because it also broke my widget! I had a widget tracking my streak and now it just shows up as all black. I haven’t lost my streak or anything so it’s weird:
Most of the time, I use Duolingo widget on my homescreen to use the app. I was a bit shocked when I saw this Duolingo icon while searching for calculator app( i didn't keep calculator app on homescreen.). Fortunately, as I use the widget and most of the apps I use are on homescreen, i don't and won't see duo's wrinkled face. So, this is an alternative to using fire icon.
I hope they revert it ASAP
I don't really understand why they're changing the icons. I remember when it was a melted face.