Free or Pro. Free week with Pro Annual.
Discover lock-screen language learning with Lumessa
Wednesday 19 August
9:41
Languages
Six languages at launch.
- Polski
- Français
- Español
- Italiano
- Português (Brasil)
- Deutsch
- No leaderboards
- No streak shaming
- No infinite feed
- No ads
How it works
3 Steps: Widget. Learn. Review.
Discover lock-screen learning with Lumessa.
Today’s words on your lock screen.
The words cycle through the day. See one every time you check the time.
Learn each word in the app.
Open the app to hear each word spoken, see it in example sentences, read a memory hook to help you remember it, and answer a quiz question.
Review on a schedule.
Quiz yourself on previous words at intervals set by memory research. Every word due for review is available, on free and Pro, and when they are complete, the day is done.
The words
Why these words, in this order.
We carefully assembled a custom bank of over 1,000 words and phrases for each language.
- Frequency
The most common words come first.
Easy, useful terms come early and more abstract, unusual ones later.
- Your reason
Your reason for learning shapes the word order.
Choose from: family and heritage, someone you love, travel, work or study, or simple curiosity.
- Memory
Practise before forgetting.
You review what you learn at increasing time intervals, adjusted based on wrong or slow quiz answers, to help you remember best.
What’s inside
A language-learning solution.
You forget new words
Lock-screen widget
Today’s new words on your lock screen, one at a time.
You don’t know pronunciation
Every word spoken aloud
Every word comes with audio. With Pro, the audio extends to full example sentences.
You forget words you practised a while back
Spaced repetition
Each word comes back for review at intervals set by memory research, from the next day to every few months.
Countless notifications and streak anxiety make practice a guilty chore
One optional reminder
One notification a day, at a time you choose, and only if you need it. It never tells you what you have missed.
You don’t keep track of what you learnt
My DictionaryPro
A searchable list of every word you have learned.
You know plenty of words, but can’t build a sentence.
Grammar in plain languagePro
Short written explanations of how the language works.
Free & Pro
Start free. Stay free, if you like.
Lumessa
Free, without conditions
- Three new words a day, every day
- Audio for every word
- Review: quiz on prior words
- No ads, no time limit
Lumessa Pro
£59.99/yr (£5.00/mo) for an annual subscription, or £9.99 month-to-month
- Your Daily Ritual: three, seven, or twelve words a day
- My Dictionary: every word you’ve met, yours
- Grammar: for beginners
- Full-sentence audio on every example
7 days free on the annual plan; no free trial on the monthly plan. Day 5: we remind you your trial is ending. Cancel during the free trial and pay nothing (on iPhone, at least a day before it ends).
By design, not by omission
What Lumessa will never do.
- Streak anxiety
Miss a day and the streak forgives it; nothing scolds.
- Leagues
You’re learning a language, not racing strangers.
- Endless scroll
Each day has a finishing line, by design.
- Countdown offers
No timers, no loss framing. The price is the price.
- Guilt notifications
One optional reminder, only if you asked.
- Exit friction
Ask how to cancel; the first line tells you how.
FAQ
Asked plainly, answered plainly.
What is Lumessa?
A language-learning app built around a finite, enjoyable daily practice. Learn 1 word or phrase at a time, with its sound, an example sentence and a memory hook, brought back for review on a schedule set by memory research.
There are no leaderboards. There is a streak, and it does not punish you for missing a day. Nothing in the app is designed to keep you there longer than the practice takes.
Is there a free version?
Yes — 3 new words a day, with the full lesson for each.
The 3 is a limit on new words only. Words genuinely due for review are never capped, on any plan.
What is in Lumessa Pro?
See the “What you get” section above.
Is a few words a day really enough?
Three words learned properly and retained beats thirty skimmed and forgotten, and if you want more, Pro lets you choose seven or twelve a day instead of three.
Why learn a language when my phone can translate?
For a holiday, a form or a first hello, a translation app is enough. For people you will sit with again and again, the founder thinks it is worth learning some of their language: when he tried live translation with his mother-in-law, the delays made the conversation stilted. He sets out why in If translation apps are this good, why learn Polish for your partner’s family?
Which languages can I learn?
Six at launch: Polish, French, Spanish, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese and German.
Where do the words come from?
From word banks we built ourselves, one per language, each of more than 1,000 words and phrases.
The order is set by how often a word is used, adjusted so that concrete, easily pronounced words come early, and then by your reason for learning. Everyone meets the same bank.
Does everyone get the same words?
The same bank, in an order shaped by your answer to one question at the start: why you are learning. Words that matter for family, a partner, travel, work or study, or curiosity come sooner for the people who chose them.
Nothing is removed and nothing is pushed back. The order underneath stays the same; matching words arrive earlier, that is all.
When does a word come back for review?
On a schedule that follows the forgetting curve Hermann Ebbinghaus measured. A word you learn today comes back:
- next day
- 3 days
- 1 week
- 3 weeks
- 2 months
- then every 3 months
Answer wrong and it goes back to the start. Answer right but slowly and the next gap is halved. Answer right and it moves on.
How much time does it take each day?
As long as the words take. Free is 3 new words; on Pro you set 3, 7 or 12.
Whichever you choose, it is a bounded thing that can be finished, and when it is finished the app says so and stops.
What happens if I miss a day?
Miss one day and the streak forgives it; nothing scolds. Miss two in a row and it quietly resets.
How does the free trial work?
The annual plan carries a seven-day free trial. On day five we send a reminder telling you the trial is ending and what the year costs. Cancel before the trial ends and you pay nothing (on iPhone, at least a day before).
Do I need an account?
Not in order to learn. The daily practice works without one.
An account backs your learning up and keeps it in step across your devices. It is offered, not required, and you can delete it from inside the app at any time.
Does it work without a connection?
Yes, for learning and reviewing. Lessons, reviews and your schedule are all on your device, so they work whether or not you have a signal. Recordings are fetched ahead of time, so they are normally ready when you need them. If a recording has not arrived yet, your phone’s built-in voice speaks the word instead.
A few things do need a signal — buying or restoring a subscription, signing in, and backing your learning up if you have an account.
How does billing work?
Apple and Google sell Lumessa Pro — we do not, and we never see your payment details. A subscription renews until you cancel it.
These are UK prices, including VAT. Apple and Google set the price in your own country and show it to you in your own currency before you buy.
How do I cancel?
Through your App Store or Google Play subscription settings, at any time. If you email to ask, the first line of the reply will be these instructions.
Cancelling stops the next payment. The period you have already paid for runs to its end, and nothing you have learned is removed when it does.
Articles
Questions people ask about learning a language.
Longer answers, written by the founder, and updated when something changes.
- If translation apps are this good, why learn Polish for your partner’s family? Translation apps are enough for a holiday, a form or a first hello. For family you will sit with again and again, the author found live translation stilted, and thinks a translation leaves out much of what a language carries.
- Is Polish hard to learn? An honest answer. Yes, for English speakers: the US State Department puts Polish in its hard group, at about 44 weeks against 30 for French or Spanish. The difficulty sits in a few places, and the figure measures a professional level of speaking and listening.
- How to learn Polish to talk to your partner’s family Learn the alphabet and its sounds first, then the most common words, the words you meet at the family table, and the words of the culture.
- How many words do you need to have a conversation? About 2,000 to 3,000 of the most common words are enough to follow everyday talk in English. The number depends on what you want to do, and the right words matter as much as the count.
- Why can I understand a language but not speak it? Because understanding and speaking are two different skills. Listening supplies the word, but speaking makes you find it yourself, so practise from meaning to word, in whole phrases, out loud.
- Why do I keep forgetting new words in a language? Usually because you have seen them too few times, at the wrong moments. Words stay when you recall them at growing intervals, tie them to your life and keep running into them.
- Can you learn Spanish and Italian at the same time? Yes, with a clear strategy: give each language its own sound, its own culture and its own space, and consider starting one first.