A language learning tracker for daily practice
Compound is a language learning tracker for iPhone that asks one question a day: did you get closer to your goal today? A real lesson finished, a conversation attempted, flashcards actually reviewed — tap ↑ Closer. Your answers build a trajectory chart of your language practice consistency, alongside whatever course or app you’re already using. Free on the App Store.
Why language streaks stop working
Language apps love a streak counter, but streaks reward opening the app, not actually practicing — plenty of people tap through a single flashcard just to protect a number. Compound asks a more honest question: did today’s practice actually move you closer to speaking the language?
A streak measures whether you showed up; it says nothing about whether the ten seconds you spent counted as real practice. That gap is how streak apps quietly stop working while still looking successful.
Language fluency is built over months of real sessions, not unbroken app-opens. Compound tracks the honest version — an answer you can only give truthfully if you actually practiced.
How Compound tracks language learning
Name your goal — “Conversational Spanish,” “Pass the JLPT” — and answer one question each evening: did you get closer today? The chart turns your honest answers into a visible trajectory across weeks and months, which is the actual timescale fluency is built on.
- Finished a real lesson and reviewed the vocabulary → ↑ Closer
- Busy day, kept it alive with five minutes of review → → Same
- Skipped practice entirely → ↓ Further — noted, and tomorrow is new
Compound doesn’t replace your course, app, or tutor — it tracks whether you showed up for real practice, on top of however you’re learning.
What a skipped week looks like in Compound
A shallow dip — a run of ↓ Further and → Same days — that stays in proportion to the months around it. Nothing resets, no streak-saver purchase required. The chart just quietly shows the drift, and the language is still there waiting when you come back.
Streak-based apps make returning after a broken streak feel worse than never starting — the visual reset punishes exactly the moment you need encouragement most.
Compound’s chart never resets. A skipped week is a dip you can see and move past, not a demolished number you have to rebuild from zero.
Pulse notices how you actually practice
Pulse, part of Compound Pro, reflects your recent pattern back to you — when your real practice sessions happen, and what precedes a week of drift.
“Your ‘Closer’ days almost all include speaking practice, not just review. Weeks with a set morning slot for practice rarely dip below ‘Same.’”
Language learning questions
Related ways to use Compound
Compound is a general goal & habit tracker — see everything it does →
See you tomorrow.
Scan to download on your iPhone