I kept seeing the ad on Facebook and honestly, some of the history really caught my attention that being said, I decided to give the app a try. I will say there is a fee, but unlike some of the others stories, I’ve listened to that aren’t actually factual or educational. This app actually caught my attention. There is an option to deep dive, which further elaborate into the mindset of the history, which is really intriguing. I’m not even a history buff however, I do have to say the app challenged me to how much I retained, and I retained quite a bit of information I didn’t realize I would. I also noticed that when I got an answer wrong it circled back to allow me to get the answer correct which lets me know how much of the lesson I really have learned all while it not feeling as though I’m learning anything. This app is actually fun and if history class was ever like this, I would’ve definitely retained so much more. I love the stories and the way they’re told the illustrations are simple yet engaging you really just gotta try it out. It’s a whole experience worth actually paying for.

Just started using this app because I’ve always wanted to be better at history, but have a hard time remembering facts and reading dense books and articles when I don’t have anything to apply it to in real life right away. It’s a little more simplistic than I thought it would be, but it is easy to digest. My biggest complaint would be that sometimes when concentrating on 1 person in a chapter, they name other people that were around them and involved in their lives, but don’t include their actual names. For example, the chapter about Benjamin Franklin, they briefly mention his wife and then in the rest of the chapter and the quizzes, she’s just referred to as Benjamin Franklins wife. Would I remember her name? Honestly, in a setting like this app where there’s so much repetition (which I’m not comparing about, I think I like that), I probably would. I feel like names are important and would also make the quizzes more challenging. The quizzes are pretty easy and I like to have things hard enough where I get a few wrong so I have to go back and see what I missed.

I downloaded this app because it was advertised to me as “Duolingo for history” but that is pretty far from the truth. The truth is the app is filled with typos, grammatical errors, misrepresentations of history, and outright falsehoods. The stories are often biased and avoid talking about the complexities of history that are often left out of these oversimplified narratives. Some of the quiz questions are irrelevant to their topics and include topics that weren’t covered in the lesson beforehand. The quote questions don’t even ask who said the quote and instead rely on the user to figure out what they are asking. On at least one question, I was told I had the wrong answer when my answer was objectively correct. There is a paladin feature that is supposed to have characters you’ve unlocked help you in future lessons but it apparently isn’t working because they never showed up for me. The amount of historical figures is extremely limited but that could just be because it’s new I guess. The figures the app chooses to focus on is also slightly concerning and lacks diversity. Overall it’s a cool idea to make history more fun but it has a long way to go before it’s something I would actually pay money for.

Let me start by saying this app is great. It has allowed me to learn about many historical figures, many whose stories I’ve known, and many who I have not. I only have one gripe about this app: it claims to be like a replacement for social media. On social media I can scroll at my leisure, something this app doesn’t do, at least not yet. You select a story about a figure or event, and then the story begins with a narrator guiding the story. That’s not a bad thing, but the story will continue until you reach the next chapter. As a dad with a toddler, I’ve found myself more often than not starting a story then having to stop it all together when my toddler starts acting up or needs my attention. And then I have to restart the whole story(or chapter, rather). The premise and idea of this app are fantastic and I will continue to use it, I just wish that minor tweak would be added where I continue to the next phrase of reading on my time.