Introducing Fluency Streak: The Language Habit Tracker Built by a Polyglot Who Kept Failing

I've tried every language learning app. Duolingo, Babbel, Pimsleur, Anki, italki, Glossika — you name it, I've downloaded it, used it obsessively for three weeks, and then quietly abandoned it.

And here's the thing: the apps were fine. Some of them were genuinely great. The problem was never the method. The problem was me. I couldn't show up consistently.

I'd go hard on Spanish for two months, then life would get busy, and I'd come back six months later having forgotten half of what I learned. I did this for twenty years. Two full decades of starting and stopping.

Eventually I realized something that changed everything: language learners don't fail because they lack methods. They fail because they lack consistency. The bottleneck isn't finding the right app — it's showing up daily.

So I built one that focuses entirely on that.

Why Another App? (Because Nothing Else Worked)

I'm an iOS developer. Seventeen years in tech. I speak five languages — Greek, Spanish, French, Italian, and Catalan — at varying levels, all of which I've nearly lost at some point due to inconsistency.

I didn't set out to build a product. I set out to solve my own problem.

I needed something dead simple: a way to track whether I was actually studying each language consistently. Not a flashcard app. Not a course. Not a gamified lesson tree. Just a tool that answers one question: did you show up today?

I tried spreadsheets (abandoned after two weeks). Notion databases (too many clicks). Habit tracker apps (not designed for multiple languages with different goals). Nothing fit.

The irony of being a developer who couldn't find a good app is not lost on me. At some point you stop complaining and start building.

So I built Fluency Streak. And then I realized other people had the exact same problem.

How It Works

Fluency Streak is intentionally simple. It does a few things, and it does them well.

Timer-Based Sessions

Open the app, pick a language, start the timer. Study however you want — a textbook, a podcast, a conversation, Netflix with subtitles. When you're done, stop the timer. That's it. Your session is logged.

You can also log sessions manually if you forget to start the timer. Because real life is messy and sometimes you realize at 11 PM that you forgot to track your Italian reading session from lunch.

Streaks That Actually Motivate

Each language has its own streak. Study Greek today? Your Greek streak grows. Miss a day? It resets. Simple, brutal, effective.

There's real psychology behind this. The "don't break the chain" method — famously attributed to Jerry Seinfeld — works because loss aversion is more powerful than ambition. You'll fight harder to protect a 30-day streak than you will to start a new one. That's not a bug. That's the feature.

Flexible Goals

Not every language needs the same commitment. Maybe you're actively pushing your Greek forward and want to study daily. Maybe French just needs a couple of sessions per week to stay sharp. Maybe Catalan gets an hour a month — enough to keep it alive.

Fluency Streak lets you set daily, weekly, or monthly goals per language. Different languages, different frequencies, different targets. Because a one-size-fits-all approach is how you burn out.

Stats That Tell the Truth

After a few weeks of tracking, something magical happens: you have data. Real data about how you actually spend your study time.

I discovered I was spending 54% of my study time on Greek — which was exactly what I intended. Before tracking, I had no idea. My gut feeling said I was splitting time evenly. The data said otherwise. You can't improve what you don't measure.

Widget on Your Home Screen

A home screen widget shows your current streaks without opening the app. It's a quiet daily reminder — a gentle nudge that says "hey, you haven't studied French yet today."

It sounds small. It's not. The widget catches me at least twice a week when I would have otherwise forgotten.

What's Next

Fluency Streak launched on February 15, 2026, and I'm building this thing in public. Here's what's on the roadmap:

• Android version — it's coming, I promise. iOS first because that's my background, but Android is the next big milestone. Join the Android waitlist.
• More social features — follow your friends as you make progress together

I'm a solo founder building this because I need it. Every feature comes from a real problem I've hit in my own language learning. If you have ideas, I genuinely want to hear them.

Try It Free

Fluency Streak is free to download and use. The core tracking features — timer, streaks, goals, stats, widget — all work without paying anything.

If you want the full experience (unlimited languages, advanced stats, social features), there's a lifetime unlock for $59.99. One payment, yours forever. No subscriptions.

If you've ever abandoned a language not because you lost interest but because you lost momentum — this is for you.

The streak is the whole game. Everything else is just noise. Show up daily, even for 5 minutes, and you'll be shocked where you are in 6 months.