Duolingo is putting ads in Apple's Dynamic Island – even though it's not allowed
According to user reports, the language learning service has discovered a new advertising space. The problem: Apple's developer guidelines prohibit it.
Duolingo's Dynamic Island Advertising: Circumventing the Advertising Ban?
(Image: rapha3l14 / Reddit)
Apple's Dynamic Island, a small display area around the TrueDepth camera module on the front, introduced with the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max, is used to display so-called Live Activities: for example, during sports activities, measuring the progress of an order, or monitoring the progress of a flight. This can be quite practical in everyday life, sometimes it's overkill. What is clear, however: advertising has no place here, as Apple has stipulated in its developer terms since 2022, nothing to look for. However, the language learning provider Duolingo was little bothered by the regulation: According to user reports, including on Reddit, a "Super offer" with a countdown temporarily appeared there.
Crystal clear regulation from Apple
The advertisement promoted a reduced-price offer from the service provider, as became apparent with a single click. Apple actually has clear guidelines here: "Do not use Live Activities to display advertising or [information about] promotions. Live Activities are intended to inform users about ongoing events and tasks, so it is important to display only information related to those events and tasks."
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How Duolingo managed to bypass the guidelines is unclear. So far, there has been no statement – Mac & i has requested one. In the meantime, the advertisement also seems to have been discontinued, at least it could no longer be reproduced. However, it may have only been a test with a small user base. Duolingo is known for such A/B tests and also aggressively relies on the AI-ification of its offering, which alienated some users. This led, among other things, to the development of open alternatives such as Lingonaut.
Notifications with advertising
Advertising in the form of normal iOS notifications has been annoying users for a long time. Apple had originally forbidden these as well, but loopholes emerged. The guidelines now state that "marketing or promotional content" may only be sent if users have "approved" it. However, unlike cross-app tracking via the ATT function, these approvals cannot be centrally controlled.
App providers are also not required to provide proof that this approval has been granted. Users cannot set it up to receive only "real" information via notification, but no advertising messages. If further providers try to use Live Activities for advertising, this could reduce user acceptance of the technology – which cannot be in Apple's interest.
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