Memrise
Memrise is a British flashcard learning tool founded in 2010.[1]
| Basic information | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2010 |
| Type | Private |
| Industry | Education |
| Official website | https://www.memrise.com/ |
Consumer impact summary
Freedom
The service allows users to update, or request the deletion of personal data in the user settings.[2]
Privacy
In the privacy policy of Memrise, it states that it will retain basic, identifiable data of a user if they request that their data is to be removed from marketing lists.[2]
Some exercises in Memrise require voice input (like pronunciation/accent tests). The service collects and stores user voice data.[2]
They also collect device data including the user's OS, system settings, network information and identifiers unique to its device.[2]
Business model
Memrise runs on a freemium model, relying on paid premium memberships for revenue. In 2018, Memrise recieved ~$15.5m in venture capital series B funding from Octopus Ventures, Korelya Capital, Avalon Ventures and Balderton Capital.[3][4]
Market control
Memrise has ~65M registered users.[5]
Incidents
Lifetime Subscription
Users have the ability to pay a one-off sum of money for a lifetime subscription of Memrise Pro. It gives the user access to premium features. However, under Memrise's terms and conditions, such a service lasts 100 years from the day of purchase, or until the service ceases to exist: "Lifetime subscription constitutes 100 years or until the date Memrise ceases to commercially offer the Services".[6]
However, on the payment site, it states in the FAQ that any user who buys a lifetime subscription will: "have Pro status forever."[7]
Deprecation of User-Generated Content
Memrise started as a crowdsourcing platform, allowing users to create and upload their own courses, as well as having courses of their own. However, over time, Memrise began to phase out community support. Around February 2019, Memrise announced plans to move community content to a different website platform;[8] and that the new website would not have an app, nor allow for users to access the material offline.[9]
These plans garnered vocal backlash from users in the community, so on 25 February 2020, Memrise decided to undo the changes in response to the criticism.[10] However, Memrise announced again in November 2023, of its plans to "sunset" user-generated courses.[11] The Memrise forums closed on 8 December 2023, to focus its support from community-created content, claiming that it was "hindering the core Memrise experience".[12][13]
In February 2024, Memrise again separated community courses to another website, which is inaccessible through the mobile app, preventing users from downloading the courses for offline accessibility. One of the selling points of Memrise Pro is the ability to download courses for offline access.[14] Such changes were met with concerns, frustrations and criticism by users.[15][16][13]
Products
- Memrise Pro
References
- ↑ "TigerLaunch 2009". princetoneclub.com. Archived from the original on December 23, 2011.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Memrise. "Privacy Page". www.memrise.com. Retrieved 2025-06-17.
- ↑ "AI-powered language learning startup Memrise raises $15.5m in series B funding". City AM. 2018-06-11. Retrieved 2025-06-18.
- ↑ "Memrise raises $15.5M as its AI-based language-learning app passes 35M users". TechCrunch. 11 June 2018. Archived from the original on 2020-01-12. Retrieved 2020-01-12.
- ↑ "Memrise Statistics: Revealing Revenue and User Insights - Cooljugator". 2023-11-27. Retrieved 2025-06-17.
- ↑ Memrise. "Terms". www.memrise.com. Retrieved 2025-06-17.
- ↑ "Memrise Language Learning App - Subscription Plans". app.memrise.com. Retrieved 2025-06-17.
- ↑ "Important Update: Upcoming changes to Memrise community-created courses". Memrise. 2019-02-19. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
- ↑ "The Creation of Decks and the Future of Memrise". The Memrise Blog. 2019-02-21. Archived from the original on 2020-11-11. Retrieved 2019-02-24.
- ↑ "Important announcement about Decks". Memrise. 2020-02-12. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
- ↑ "Forum absence, outlook". Memrise. 13 November 2023. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
- ↑ "Closure of the Memrise Community Forum". Memrise. 8 December 2023. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Kennedy, Shannon (2024-05-09). "Memrise is Doing Away with User-Generated Content… Now What?". Eurolinguiste. Retrieved 2025-06-18.
- ↑ "Changes to the Memrise app". Memrise. 20 February 2024. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
- ↑ "Why this is happening from the Memrise CEO". Reddit. 23 February 2024. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
- ↑ "Memrise CEO trying again". Reddit. 23 February 2024. Retrieved 25 March 2024.