Lingo Journal records what you did and how it felt. Immersed plans what to do next.
Lingo Journal is an Android app for keeping a language-learning diary: log activities by category, add notes, rate your confidence and motivation, and keep a separate streak for each language. Immersed starts from a different idea: hours are one number, and what you did in them is what moves you, so every session is one of nine immersion activities with a rating of how much you understood. Immersed is a language immersion tracker and planner. It turns immersion into something you can see, plan and keep: a free plan built from your answers, a daily timeline for the shows, podcasts and books you learn from, and reports of your hours.
Free. About two minutes. No account, no card.
The short version
Checked October 24, 2026.
Something out of date? Tell me.
If you learn several languages on an Android phone and want a free diary of everything you do (reading, speaking with a native, Duolingo), with a streak per language and a note on how confident you felt, Lingo Journal is a good fit.
If you want a plan for how much to immerse and where it fits in your day, a timer that knows passive listening from active subtitles, and ideas for what to watch next, Immersed is built for that. Its reports show what your hours were made of, by activity and by how much you understood, which says more about your progress than the total. Immersed costs money for the tracker part.
01Before you start
A habit to keep, or a day to plan.
Lingo Journal helps you set daily or long-term goals and keep the habit with reminders and a streak for each language. What goes into the day is up to you.
Immersed starts one step earlier. A free blueprint, about two minutes of questions, sets milestones for your first months, a daily protocol, and Hidden Immersion Time: the commute, the dishes, the gym, where passive listening fits. The timeline then turns that into a day from Wake up to Wind down that you plan and tick off.
- Free blueprint in about two minutes, no account needed (just a name and email)
- Plan tasks into the free gaps of your day, repeat them, get reminders
- The Fluency Checklist for what to put in place next, and with Pro a monthly Sprint of one Mission and Daily Quests
02Logging it
Your own activity types, or nine immersion activities.
Lingo Journal sorts activities into Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking, General Learning and Other, and lets you make your own types inside them, like "Reading a book" or "Speaking with a native". Each entry can carry a note, plus how confident and how motivated you felt. Its latest release notes add a timer for activities.
Immersed already knows the nine immersion activities: Active Listening, Passive Listening, Active Subtitles, Reading, Study, SRS, Speaking, Writing and Shadowing. Press play, pick one, stop, and it lands on your timeline. Paste a YouTube, Spotify or Apple Podcasts link and it plays inside the session. Rate how much you understood. Forgot to press play? Log it afterward.
- The play button can default to one activity, like Passive Listening on the commute
- Comprehension rating after each session, charted over time
- Immersed doesn't read your viewing history: you press play (one click on YouTube with Immersed for Chrome) or log it. The Discover scroll and the free listening games log themselves
03What to put on
Immersed also suggests what to watch, listen to and read.
Lingo Journal records what you chose. It doesn't suggest content, and it isn't trying to.
Immersed comes with an Immersion Library in 22 languages, built around the platforms native speakers use, and the free blueprint gives you picks from the main platforms for Watch, Listen and Read. Discover is a feed of creators and podcasts in your language, in 11 languages, and scrolling it logs itself as immersion.
04Looking back
How you felt, or what your hours were made of.
Lingo Journal's statistics come daily, monthly and yearly: top activities, the spread across categories, hours spent, streaks, and your average confidence and motivation. That last part is unusual and useful if you want to see when learning felt hard.
Immersed's Growth page shows week, month, year and all time with your hours stacked by the nine activities, so you see how much was active listening, how much was passive, how much was subtitles, reading or speaking. A comprehension line shows whether you understand more over time, and your top shows and channels are listed with links back to them.
That mix is the point. Your 1,000 hours and someone else's 1,000 are not the same hours, and the mix is usually what explains a learner two months in who is ahead of one six months in. Export a PDF, Excel or CSV you can customize, keep monthly reports in My reports, or share a report link.
Side by side · checked October 24, 2026
Immersed and Lingo Journal, feature by feature.
Planning
A plan built for your language and your day
Immersed · Free blueprint from your answers
Lingo Journal · No
Daily planner
Immersed · Timeline from Wake up to Wind down
Lingo Journal · No
Goals
Immersed · Fluency Checklist stages and monthly Sprints
Lingo Journal · Daily or long-term goals
Tracking
Timer
Immersed · Yes, on Pro
Lingo Journal · Yes, per the latest release notes
Activities
Immersed · Nine immersion activities, ready to use
Lingo Journal · Six categories with your own types
How it went
Immersed · Comprehension rating
Lingo Journal · Confidence and motivation
Play YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts inside the session
Immersed · Yes
Lingo Journal · No
Automatic tracking
Immersed · One press to start; Discover scroll and games log themselves; never reads history
Lingo Journal · No, you log it
Browser extension
Immersed · Yes, Immersed for Chrome (unlisted; saving and sessions are Pro)
Lingo Journal · No
Content
What to watch, listen to and read
Immersed · Immersion Library and Toolkit
Lingo Journal · No
A feed in your target language
Immersed · Discover, counted as immersion
Lingo Journal · No
Reports and rewards
Hours broken down by what you did
Immersed · Stacked by the nine activities, with a comprehension line
Lingo Journal · Top activities and category spread
Top shows and channels
Immersed · Listed in the report, with links
Lingo Journal · Not described on the listing
Streaks
Immersed · A streak per language, with a consistency grid
Lingo Journal · A separate streak per language
Rewards
Immersed · Badges that level up; outfits for Aim earned by immersing
Lingo Journal · Streaks
Statistics
Immersed · Week, month, year, all time
Lingo Journal · Daily, monthly, yearly
Export
Immersed · PDF, Excel, CSV
Lingo Journal · Not described on the listing
Apps and price
Where it runs
Immersed · Web app on any phone or computer; Android app in testing for Google Play
Lingo Journal · Android only
Languages
Immersed · Any; Library in 22, hand-picked Toolkit in 11
Lingo Journal · 130+ from a list
Price
Immersed · Free plan; Pro $60 a year or $9.99 a month
Lingo Journal · Free with ads; in-app item $3.49
Credit where it's due
Both are good. At different things.
What Lingo Journal does well
- Confidence and motivation tracking, which almost no other tracker has
- Custom activity types inside six clear categories, so a Duolingo lesson and a call with a native both fit
- A separate streak for each language, good for polyglots
- Daily, monthly and yearly stats with top activities and category spread
- Over 130 languages, including Welsh, Hawaiian and Esperanto
- Free to use, with a 4.4 rating from over 60 reviews and 5,000+ downloads on Google Play
- Still updated: the latest Google Play release is from May 2026, and its notes add a timer
What Immersed does that Lingo Journal doesn't
- Builds you a plan first, from your time, your goals and your level
- Plans your day on a timeline from Wake up to Wind down
- Tracks nine immersion activities, so the report shows what your hours were made of, not only how many
- Asks how much you understood, and charts comprehension over time
- Rewards immersion with badges that level up from grey to gold and outfits for Aim, its mascot, earned only by immersing
- Tells you what to watch, listen to and read, and gives you a feed in your language that counts
- Exports PDF, Excel and CSV reports, and runs on any phone or computer through the browser
Pick Lingo Journal if
- You use an Android phone and want a native app
- You learn several languages and want a streak for each one
- You want to record how confident and motivated you felt, not only the time
- You log courses, tutors and apps as much as immersion, and want it free
Pick Immersed if
- You want a plan that fits your actual day, not just a goal
- You want a timer that separates passive listening, active listening and active subtitles
- You want to track how much you understood over time
- You want help finding things at your level to watch, listen to and read
Use both, or move over
Diary in one, plan in the other
Some learners like a diary for the feeling of the day and a planner for the hours. Lingo Journal is a good place for a note on how a call with a tutor went. Immersed plans the listening, times the sessions and gives you the monthly report.
If you want one app, pick by what you track most. Mostly courses, tutors and mixed study: Lingo Journal. Mostly shows, podcasts and books in your language: Immersed.
Pricing · checked October 24, 2026
What each one costs.
Immersed
- Free: the blueprint for one language (with the Toolkit, Library picks and the Fluency Checklist's Foundations), the listening games in 12 languages with their leaderboards, Aim Runner, the Discord and the sample app. A free account also gets the Fitting Room's day-one outfits, Hour Marks and badges from game time.
- Immersed Pro: $60 a year (starts with a free week, about $5 a month) or $9.99 a month. Timeline, sessions with the nine activities, Discover, Library, Growth and reports, monthly Sprints, more languages.
Lingo Journal
- Free to download on Google Play, with ads.
- An in-app purchase listed at $3.49 on Google Play (US). The listing does not say what it buys, so check in the app.
Lingo Journal costs nothing to use and at most a few dollars once. Immersed costs about $5 a month on the yearly plan, and what you pay for is the plan, the timeline, the nine activities, the library and the reports built around immersion.
FAQ
Questions people ask.
Is Lingo Journal free?+
Yes, it is free to download on Google Play and shows ads. There is an in-app purchase listed at $3.49, and the listing does not say what it adds.
Is Lingo Journal on iPhone?+
I only found it on Google Play. Immersed works on iPhone in the browser and installs to your home screen like an app, and a native iPhone app is coming. Immersed's own Android app is in testing for Google Play, with nine home-screen widgets, the running session as a card in the notification shade, and Aim's face as the app icon.
What do users say about Lingo Journal?+
Reviews on Google Play praise seeing exactly what you did for each language. Requests include typing in your own language instead of picking from a list, Mandarin and Cantonese as separate options, and a way to turn off streaks for languages you study in intervals. One reviewer hit a date bug when logging late at night.
Do either of them track automatically?+
Neither reads your viewing history. In Lingo Journal you log each entry. In Immersed you press play or log it afterward; with Immersed for Chrome, one click on the YouTube page starts the session, and the Discover scroll and the free listening games log themselves.
Can I track Mandarin and Cantonese separately in Immersed?+
Yes. Any language can be tracked in Immersed. Mandarin and Cantonese each have their own Library and their own hand-picked Toolkit; Discover covers Mandarin but not Cantonese yet.
Which is better for immersion?+
Immersed, because it is built around it: passive listening, active listening and active subtitles are separate, you rate comprehension, the report shows the mix of what you did, and it suggests what to watch. Lingo Journal is a better general diary for mixed study.
More comparisons
Stop guessing. See what your hours add up to.
Answer a few questions and Immersed builds your plan: a daily routine that fits your life, milestones for your first months, and things to watch at your level. Free, about two minutes, no account needed.
The plan is free and stays free. No card.
Checked October 24, 2026 against published product information. Prices and features change; if something here is out of date, tell me on Discord and I'll fix it.