News in Levels — English Learning App
Overview
Built the Android app for News in Levels, a language learning platform that teaches English through real-world news stories at three progressive vocabulary levels. The app grew to 1M+ downloads with a 4.8★ rating on Google Play and 16K+ reviews.
The Challenge
News in Levels had an established web product but needed a native Android app to reach learners who consumed content primarily on mobile. The app needed to work well on low-end Android devices common in their key markets, support audio playback for pronunciation, and handle daily content updates seamlessly.
What We Built
We built a native Android application with three reading levels per news story, integrated American and British voice narration, offline reading support, vocabulary highlighting, and a content recommendation engine based on reading history. The app was optimised for performance on mid-range and low-end Android devices.
Results
The app reached 1M+ downloads and achieved a 4.8★ rating with 16K+ reviews — one of the highest-rated English learning apps on the Play Store. Daily active users consistently grew quarter-over-quarter following launch.
Technologies Used
App Screenshots
Questions & Answers
How did the app achieve a 4.8★ rating with 16K+ reviews?
It starts with the core product decision: offline reading, dual-voice audio narration, and three vocabulary levels make the app genuinely useful. We also optimised for fast load times on low-end Android devices common in the app's primary markets (Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe), which drove sustained positive reviews from real users.
Did you build the web product too?
No — the client had an established web product at newsinlevels.com before we were engaged. We built the native Android app, which became the primary channel for new user growth.
Can you build an EdTech or content-driven learning app?
Yes. EdTech and audio-driven content apps are a strong suit. We've built apps with multi-level content systems, offline caching, and CMS backends that let non-technical teams publish updates without submitting app store releases.