Functions as described but could be better
This app does the basics of what its supposed to do as advertised, it lets you find people who are learning a language so you can help each other through text in real time and it is free unless you want to pay to remove the ads, which are not intrusive or spam ads (the ads I see in Sydney Australia are ads for university courses). You have to sign up and select the language you are a native of, and the language you are learning. You can select multiple languages. I also tried HelloTalk, which the free version will not allow you to pick more than one language for each.
There are many parts that are not so good, but not bad. While a little slow when message sending, the delay is only about a second. There is no option for picture sending or voice messages so you cannot practise pronunciation. The interface pretty colourful and basic but there is a few functions HelloTalk does not have which I will talk about later. Among its functions are an in-text translator and dictionary that you can use to search a message while chatting, a chat room function that lets you setup a new chat room or join an existing one, and search for people by name, and native or learning language. You cannot do either in HelloTalks free version. In the free HelloTalk, you can only change the age range and nationality, the learning and native language in the search feature is set to whatever you chose and you cannot search any language you want, unless you upgrade. HelloTalk is strictly moderated which is fantastic because in LextTalk, it is not moderated so the vast majority of rooms in the chat room are crazy peoplewho set up a "gay group" a "horny beach" and even a "give me your phone number " and a "love" group. Even the ones dedicated to language have the people end up just chatting in English. One user has decided to post religious messages in every single chat room. Religion, politics and dating are not allowed in HelloTalk which is fantastic, this filters out the people and leaves only the people who are truly here for language learning.
The good part is that there is a map function that lets you find people based on where they are located, which is useful if I want to find a German speaker near me due to time zone differences.
So far most of the people I have talked to are just here for chatting but if you look at peoples profiles, they are here to learn a language. Im giving it 3 stars because it does what it says it does, and the map idea is great but it is not moderated and the interface isnt very good but its usable. I do not get spammed, but the chat rooms are disappointing. Unlike whatsapp, you can log out of this app.
SQSYD about
Lext Talk - Language Exchange!, v3.2.12