HelloTalk - Language Learning

Marketed as a language learning app but very clear that the creators have shuffled this into a dating application since they learned this is what makes the most revenue. Odd. Make learning great again.

My experience with HelloTalk has been absolutely disgraceful. I was a paying VIP member, yet my account was permanently banned for “political talks,” with no specific evidence provided to justify such an extreme punishment. I repeatedly asked HelloTalk to show me exactly which messages violated its policies, but all I received was a generic statement. They even claimed multiple users had reported me, yet failed to provide evidence demonstrating that I had engaged in political discussions with multiple people. How can a company permanently terminate a paying customer’s account without offering a clear, case-specific explanation? Here is what actually happened: I did not initiate the political discussion. The other user made negative comments about my country, questioned my knowledge of Chinese history, and made an ignorant assumption that I knew nothing about their history. I responded by providing a summary of China’s history, and the user said it was difficult for them to comprehend. I never said anything bad about China. I was responding to a conversation someone else started, yet I was the one who received the permanent ban. If HelloTalk has rules restricting political discussions, those rules should be enforced fairly and consistently, rather than leaving users feeling that they have been punished simply for participating in a disagreement. What makes this situation even more infuriating is HelloTalk’s complete lack of transparency. I asked for evidence, specific messages, and an explanation of what I supposedly did wrong. Instead, I received a generic policy statement that did not meaningfully address my questions. An accusation is not the same as proof, and a generic response is not a meaningful explanation for a permanent ban. I cannot know how the other user was treated, but I have every reason to question whether my case was reviewed fairly when my requests for supporting evidence have not been answered. This is a language-learning platform that is supposed to bring people from different cultures together. What is the point of encouraging international communication if users cannot exchange perspectives without worrying about losing their accounts? I understand that HelloTalk has community guidelines, but paying customers deserve transparency, consistent enforcement, and a meaningful opportunity to challenge serious accusations. Paying for VIP does not entitle anyone to break the rules, but it certainly does not make it acceptable to provide inadequate explanations when permanently terminating someone’s account and cutting off access to a paid service. I strongly advise people to think twice before purchasing HelloTalk VIP. Based on my experience, I have lost trust in this company and its moderation process. I want HelloTalk to conduct a genuine review, provide the specific evidence supporting its allegations, restore my account and device access if the ban cannot be substantiated, and address the subscription I paid for but can no longer use. This has been an incredibly frustrating experience, and the way my concerns have been handled has left me feeling completely disregarded as a paying customer.

I’ve had to delete my account because of the wrong flag and age I put on accident and because of that people spam reported me but now they banned my device so I can’t make another account

I joined this app thinking I was going learn a language. It’s been an entire pickup app. Guys asking me for my WhatsApp number and when u say no they don’t stop. Others telling u that I am too old for this app. It’s not what I thought it would be. Sorry HelloTalk

I am livid. $13 for VIP. I set my privacy settings so that only people that speak the language I wanna learn would see my profile. Yet, I get messages from every other language except the one I want to learn! I also blocked certain countries and still get messages from people in those countries! I rarely get messages even though I post on Moments. I have a recent profile pic where my face is visible. I interact with posts by liking and commenting. Yet I rarely get profile visits much less messages. Then out of the few messages I receive, maybe 1-2 are from speakers of the language I wanna learn. I could’ve spent those $13 on something else! I know for a fact this app has shadowbanned me or something. Which is insane considering I paid $13!!!! I am so frustrated!!

If you’re a man all you see are thirst traps and men commenting “Check your DMs”. Addictive design for the male brain. Like 10 taps on grey/obscure text to delete. Lots of strange messages from HelloTalk via email saying “come back, we miss you, etc”.

First off after being asked a million questions and verifications you get to the end and you have to pay to use. Secondly you can’t simply uninstall from your phone. Thirdly many useless notifications and welcome messages from the app. Horribly designed app, but great concept though.

老是网卡，加载不出页面

Will delete all your messages in an instant. Be careful.

People block me on the app when I say am Looking for love why is that happening they say to much people reported me why this is nuts

I didn’t give the app my permission to use my location and it still does. I changed it to never use my account and it still shows it.

Overly complicated and designed to inundate you with unwanted free features while charging for what you fundamentally want: a pen pal. The audacity of basing your model on charging people to just message each other in this hyper-connected world…

Payment system fails to recognize my account payment. I told the staff here and they said it was apple’s fault however I checked multiple times with Apple and they said it’s not their system. Mind you I’ve used the payment system just fine before the last update. I believe this is a bug with HT and they refuse to recognize it

Decided to use this again after years. This used to be an amazing app to connect and learn about other languages and cultures. It’s changed so dramatically, it’s uncomfortable to use. Bring it back to what it used to back in 2019/2020. Aside from all the pay walls, it’s just hard to tell who is real and who is fake now.

I’ve been using this app for a year, and this has happened to me before. When I changed my phone and had to reinstall the app on my new phone, all of my conversations disappeared again. Today, I accidentally deleted the app, and even after logging back into my account, all of my conversations were gone once again. I’ve genuinely lost all the people I used to talk to and all the conversations I had with them. These were important conversations and people I had known for a long time. How am I supposed to find all of those people again? I’m really upset and disappointed that this has happened more than once. Please fix this issue and help me recover my conversations.

After I put in my email and password and I press next it just shows me a blank screen and I can’t do anything.

They refuse to remove fake accounts no matter how many times you report and have proof don’t sign up for this app you’re better off learning with delicious Korean teuida or another app If you join follow meow_sagi she’s the only one who exposed catfishes since the hello talk team is useless

A joke the hello talk team is basically a bot and they allow fake accounts my friend and I have been reporting one for over a week and get told there’s no proof despite us sending screenshots comparing pictures and sending links use another app This app is useless you will get scammed

Got banned can’t sign and log in anymore hot trash app fake

Tried to sign up and just got a bunch of blank screens (iPad)

This app can charge you without a clear reason, they will suspend your account after taking your money again for no reason and without providing any proof or explanation. Do not download, use, or pay for this app

I noticed that when someone disagrees with the topic in which you are discussing, they can report you and get you suspended immediately, especially if it’s an Asian from china. That’s kind of sad because being a vip member, you shouldn’t have to face such persecution without first a thorough investigation. Just being an American on the app is enough to make people hate you, let alone get so many good people’s attention. I wouldn’t recommend this app if you’re looking to learn a new language without a fight. These people pretend to be your friends until a petty disagreement.

我不知道会软件没能闭环。被人恶意投诉后，没有申诉渠道，也没有办法删除账号，被恶意投诉就只能被停止使用？而且一个设备只能登一个号，我现在都搞不懂是谁这么想出来的，太不方便了

I’ve been banned from using this app permanently and the support team replies insanely late over 24 hours and they said I was banned for violating the rules and I will be honest. I did say some bad stuff but that doesn’t mean the people. I said it didn’t say best stuff either, but they didn’t get banned only me they don’t ban girls they rarely do and some people can spread gay stuff and Zaneis lobby stuff and they don’t get banned. I reported like a lot of them and they didn’t ban them. I still saw them on the app but when I said some things or defended myself sometimes and then they report me now I’m banned and they’re not doing anything about it. This is the most unfair disgusting app I have ever seen when it comes to talking to people. DO NOT DOWNLOAD IT AND WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY ON IT. ALL OF THE GOOD STUFF IS SOMETHING YOU NEED TO PAY FOR THIS APP USED TO BE FREE BUT NOW THEY ARE GRIEVING GREEDY AS HELL.-1,000,000 STAR

Got banned for loving Israel