Ellie Swain
Craving newness?
Opportunities to learn new things are all around you (and inside your phone’s app store). You just need to seize them.
There are innumerable apps to help you study whatever your heart desires. These learning apps help you study at your own pace, anytime and anywhere in the world.
People can use learning apps for various reasons, including expanding their knowledge, learning a language, studying a course or earning a degree.
These best learning apps for adults have surpassed the barriers of space and time, so students, teachers and parents can remain connected wherever they are. People can improve their academic progress more easily.
The 16 Best Learning Apps for Adults in 2022
Here are some of the best learning apps for adults in 2022, covering various topics and interests.
1. Dorothy
Sure, maybe we’re biased, but Dorothy is one of the absolute best learning apps for adults. The app can be used in various ways, for example, if you’re preparing for an important exam, studying for a new qualification or learning a new language. Dorothy helps people spend as little time as possible studying what they already know and more time studying what they’re likely to forget.
Dorothy is the app for you if you’re studying something and want to learn it for the long term with minimal effort and time.
Dorothy is available on desktop, tablet or mobile—whatever device works best for you.
2. Khan Academy
Khan Academy offers courses on a selection of subjects. The app delivers these courses in a personal one-on-one style instead of a recorded lecture like many alternatives do.
The Khan Academy learning app for adults uses diagrams and visual aids with a digital drawing board to offer other learning styles.
Khan Academy specializes in math and science topics but also offers humanities courses like history and art. The classes are free and are available on iOS or Android, as well as YouTube or its dedicated web app.
3. Coursera
By using Coursera, it’s possible to remotely learn a course from your favorite university that may be physically far away from you. Coursera’s Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) platform allows people to pursue the courses of their dreams from top universities online and gain a valid degree, diploma or professional certificate.
Coursera offers over 4,000 courses from 150 universities, including renowned top educators like Yale University, Stanford University, University of London and tech giants such as Google, Meta and IBM.
4. Duolingo
Duolingo is, perhaps, the most well-known language learning app. The app helps teach many languages, including a couple of fictional ones just for fun.
The app offers learners short exercises to familiarize themselves with the language in both spoken and written formats.
Participants are motivated to practice their language of choice with a reward system and social component. Learners receive between one and five “lingots” (the app currency) daily to meet their set threshold. Lingots can be spent in the Duolingo store on fun accessories and power-ups.
Members can invite friends to the app and compare scores via the in-app social network.
5. TED
Most educational apps aim to teach people the fundamentals of existing knowledge. However, the TED app is different. The app exposes its members to innovative and creative ideas that are set to reassess and challenge the world we live in.
Each TED talk consists of a verbal presentation from leaders and experts in hundreds of fields and industries. There are talks on everything from science to philosophy to art to open the mind.
No matter the subject, each presentation is delivered at an accessible comprehension level so everyone can tune in.
TED talks are also available on the brand’s website and YouTube channel. However, the TED learning app for adults offers some excellent features, including downloading videos for offline viewing and the opportunity to lock your device without interrupting playback.
6. Codecademy
Codecademy offers targeted lessons to help learners develop computer skills one concept at a time. The app features built-in code editors and interactive consoles, so participants don’t need to download any extra software.
Courses are grouped based on the type of projects users are interested in, and learners don’t need to know anything about programming languages to get started.
Simply choose the path you find the most interesting, and there will be a selection of suitable courses for you.
Each lesson provides several steps, whether from a set of courses or an individual course. Every stage offers a short explanation of the concept to learn, along with a coding exercise.
There will be a short quiz at the end of each lesson on all the steps featured in the study, and then you’re ready for the next one.
7. edX
edX offers complimentary access to university courses taught by professors from some of the most highly regarded schools in the United States. These are all done by video. Every course is free, and the app provides the option to pay for a certification valid as college credit.
There are various courses available in the science and technology fields. Classes include video lectures followed by quick quizzes. For some topics like programming, interactive online labs are available.
8. Brilliant
Brilliant teaches various math and science subjects with hands-on problem-solving learning techniques. The app offers short descriptions of concepts to learn along with a problem to solve, which includes those concepts.
The app allows you to see the answer to the problem if you struggle to get it. This feature helps stop you from spending too much time blindly guessing and gives clues to what may have caused you to hesitate or get the answer wrong.
9. NASA
The NASA app teaches users what’s going on in space, providing articles and videos that teach the fundamentals of astronomy and beyond. It also gives learners a peek into the latest developments from NASA’s world.
Use the app to learn about NASA’s latest missions and advice on where to look to discover upcoming celestial events like planetary sightings and eclipses.
10. Udemy
Udemy provides courses on a selection of skills, including video editing, search engine optimization, graphic design, language courses and a whole lot more.
The app comes with free and premium courses and also offers certificates to those who want to take their skills to the next level. It’s possible to be awarded a certificate for a small fee after finishing a course and its assignments, depending on its nature.
11. MATH 42
As it sounds, MATH 42 was designed to help people learn math. However, it has a few tricks and features that make it stand out as an excellent learning app.
Learners can input math problems, and the app helps them solve them along the way with handy steps. The app provides a complete suite of math tools, including graphing tools and a calculator for working out equations.
MATH 42 can also give people practice questions by type of math or mathematical principle. These math problems are divided into categories to let you focus on specific areas.
12. Sololearn
Sololearn is another coding e-learning app and website. The easy-to-use platform features short yet helpful content, along with quizzes and tests to challenge your knowledge.
This app is excellent for beginners and people at an intermediate coding stage. There’s a wide range of courses and community talks to discuss your learning with peers. These features can give beginners a helpful jumpstart when learning any programming language.
Sololearn also offers a daily streak feature.
13. Star Chart
Start Chart introduces augmented reality to space enthusiasts for free. Stargazing is a beautiful experience, but navigating and understanding the night’s sky can be tricky, especially in the beginning.
The Star Chart app is designed to help beginners learn about stargazing. For example, maybe you’ve spotted a star shining brighter than most and want to discover what it is. Or perhaps you’d like to find out what interesting event you witnessed in the sky the other day.
Star Chart can help. The app offers an innovative GPS functionality to locate your whereabouts and an accurate 3D universe that will transport you into the skies.
Point your device towards the stars to learn exactly what’s in front of you. The app is enjoyed by both newbies and experts alike. There are plenty of exciting features, and many appreciate the easily navigable design.
Learning isn’t only for kids. Adults are constantly hungry for new information, too. And, fortunately for you, there are tons of tools out there to help you learn new information and expand your knowledge.
14. ChatGPT
ChatGPT may be new(ish) to the world, but it’s taken it by storm. So much so that about a billion generative AI alternatives have cropped up left and right since its launch. As the OG, we’ve included it on this list. You can use ChatGPT to answer almost all of your questions, whether you want to learn about the history of World War II or every element of the periodic table.
Just ask ChatGPT questions about a topic or ask it to create a curriculum for you to help you study. Either way, you can leverage the tool’s ever-evolving artificial intelligence to gain new knowledge.
15. Thinkific
Thinkific is sort of like the other course platforms on this list—except it’s for course creators, themselves. The course creators have made the big bucks (like $650 million) from selling their curriculums here. You can find tons of comprehensive courses on everything from content creation to sales funnels to social media growth and more. The online classes are free, and so are the workshops to help you “level up your entrepreneurial skill set.”
16. Skillshare
With Skillshare, you can take classes taught by industry leaders in all sorts of spaces. Think: how to become a successful YouTube influencer to how to make music sound sweeter to how to make more creative designs.
There are thousands of classes for creative types, and your membership includes the chance to watch them from wherever and whenever. Additional features like offline viewing and access to a community are also available.