Refold is the method. Immersed plans the day you follow it in and shows the hours.
Refold is a method and a community: a phased roadmap for learning a language through immersion, an instruction library, vocabulary decks, coaching and a free tracker app. Immersed is a language immersion tracker and planner: a free plan built from your answers, then a daily timeline for the shows, podcasts and books you learn from, with 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Something out of date?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 want a full method to follow, with phases, instructions, decks, lectures and coaches, Refold is the more complete package, and its tracker app is free. Many Refold learners also track their hours in Toggl Track.
If you already have a method (Refold or your own) and want a planner and tracker that fits immersion into your actual day, suggests what to watch, and shows your hours by activity, Immersed is built for that. You can follow Refold and track in Immersed.
Hours on their own are one number. Your 1,000 hours and someone else's 1,000 aren't the same, and Immersed shows what yours were made of: which of nine activities, how much you understood, and which shows and channels.
01What each one is
A method with a tracker, or a tracker with a plan.
Refold's center is the roadmap: phases that tell you what to do at each stage, from early sound and vocabulary work to free-flowing immersion and output. Around it sit an instruction library, starter courses, vocabulary decks, weekly lectures on the higher plans and a big community. The Refold app is the part that logs your time.
Immersed doesn't teach a method and doesn't teach grammar or vocabulary. It plans, tracks and shows your immersion. The free blueprint asks about your time, goals, level and what you already watch, then gives you milestones for your first months, a daily protocol and where passive listening fits in your day.
02Tracking
Refold checks your hours against a phase. Immersed shows what they were made of.
The Refold app lets you set goals with a daily minimum, a target and an optional stretch, then log actions by stopwatch, timer or manual entry. Activities follow the roadmap (priming, interactive, freeflow, output), a Reports tab graphs your time, and your cumulative hours are compared to benchmarks for your current phase. Instead of streaks it uses Habit Health: the share of the last six weeks you actually learned, with 80% or more as the aim.
Immersed tracks sessions on a daily timeline. Press play, pick one of nine activities (Active Listening, Passive Listening, Active Subtitles, Reading, Study, SRS, Speaking, Writing, Shadowing), rate how much you understood, and it lands on your day. Paste a YouTube, Spotify or Apple Podcasts link and it plays inside the session.
The reports are where the difference shows. Growth stacks your hours by activity, charts your comprehension over time and links back to the shows and channels you spent the most time with. It's how a learner two months in can be ahead of one six months in: not more hours, but hours spent on the right things at the right level.
03Your day
Fitting the roadmap into a real schedule.
Refold tells you what a healthy routine looks like for your phase, like a balance of priming and interactive immersion. Fitting that around a job, a commute and a family is left to you.
Immersed is built around that part. The timeline runs from Wake up to Wind down: plan tasks into free gaps, set them to repeat, get reminders and tick them off. Hidden Immersion Time shows where passive listening fits, and the play button can default to Passive Listening for the commute.
- Plan tasks into the free gaps of your day, repeat them, get reminders
- The Fluency Checklist: 32 things an immerser has in place, in four stages, with Foundations free on the blueprint
- Monthly Sprints (Pro): one Mission and daily quests. November's, Find your language parent, starts on 1 November and has you pick the native speaker you want to sound like
- An Immersion Library and Discover feed so you always have something at your level
Side by side · checked October 24, 2026
Immersed and Refold, feature by feature.
Method and guidance
A full learning method
Immersed · No, Immersed plans and tracks
Refold · Yes, a phased roadmap
Instruction library and starter courses
Immersed · No
Refold · Yes, free
Vocabulary decks
Immersed · No
Refold · On the Toolkit and All Access plans
1:1 coaching
Immersed · A waitlist for 1-on-1 coaching with me (five at a time, no price listed)
Refold · Coaching plan
Guided next steps
Immersed · Fluency Checklist stages and monthly Sprints
Refold · Roadmap phases
Planning
A plan built from your answers
Immersed · Free blueprint
Refold · Phase recommendations; personal plans on Coaching
Daily timeline
Immersed · Wake up to Wind down
Refold · No
Daily goals
Immersed · Planned tasks on the timeline
Refold · Minimum, target and stretch per goal
Tracking
Timer and manual entry
Immersed · Yes
Refold · Stopwatch, timer and manual entry
Activity types
Immersed · Nine immersion activities
Refold · Priming, interactive, freeflow, output
Comprehension rating per session
Immersed · Yes
Refold · No
Play YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts inside the session
Immersed · Yes
Refold · No
Consistency measure
Immersed · Streaks and a consistency grid
Refold · Habit Health over six weeks
Content and reports
What to watch, listen to and read
Immersed · Library in 22 languages and Discover
Refold · Instructions on choosing content
What your hours were made of
Immersed · Hours stacked by activity, comprehension over time, top shows and channels linked
Refold · Reports tab graphs your time
Hours vs phase benchmarks
Immersed · Milestones for your first months on the free blueprint
Refold · Yes
Export reports
Immersed · PDF, Excel, CSV
Refold · Not confirmed
Apps and price
Platforms
Immersed · Web app on phone and computer, Immersed for Chrome; Android app in testing for Google Play
Refold · Web, Android, and iOS through TestFlight
Price for tracking
Immersed · Immersed Pro, $60 a year or $9.99 a month
Refold · Free
Credit where it's due
Both are good. At different things.
What Refold does well
- A complete, well-documented immersion method with clear phases, free to read
- A free tracker app on web and mobile, built around the method
- Habit Health, which forgives one missed day instead of resetting a streak to zero
- Goals with a daily minimum, a target and a stretch, which suits busy weeks and good ones
- Benchmarks that compare your hours to where you are in the roadmap
- Vocabulary decks, lectures and real coaches for people who want human help
- A large, active community of learners following the same path
What Immersed does that Refold doesn't
- Plans immersion into your actual day on a timeline, with repeating tasks and reminders
- Splits immersion into nine activities, asks how much you understood, and shows hours by activity and comprehension over time
- Plays YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts links inside the session
- Tells you what to watch, listen to and read in your language, and gives you a feed that counts
- A free plan before any tracking, with the Fluency Checklist and a waitlist for 1-on-1 coaching
- Exports reports as PDF, Excel or CSV and keeps your weekly and monthly reports
- Imports Toggl Track history, which is where many Refold learners already track
Pick Refold if
- You want a full method to follow step by step, not only a tracker
- You want vocabulary decks, lectures or a coach
- You like the idea of Habit Health and phase benchmarks tied to the roadmap
- You want to track for free
Pick Immersed if
- You already know your method and want a planner that fits it into your day
- You want to see hours by activity, like passive listening vs active subtitles
- You want help finding things at your level to watch, listen to and read
- You track in Toggl today and want reports built for language learning
Use both, or move over
Follow Refold, track in Immersed
Refold and Immersed aren't really rivals. Refold gives you the method: what to do at each phase. Immersed gives you the day: when you'll do it, what you'll put on, and how many hours it added up to. Read the roadmap, then build a free blueprint in Immersed and use the timeline to place your immersion.
If you have tracked Refold-style in Toggl Track, with a project per language and tags per activity, export a CSV and import it into Immersed. It maps Toggl projects to languages and activities, so your history comes with you.
Some of the platforms in Immersed's Library came from the Refold community's language lists, credited to them. It isn't a partnership, just a good list put to use.
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, Discover, Library, Growth and reports, monthly Sprints, more languages.
Refold
- Free: starter courses, time tracking, the roadmap, the instruction library, on mobile and web.
- Toolkit: $9 a month. Online review of all Refold vocabulary decks and access to learning tools.
- All Access: $49.99 a month. Guided courses, decks in Anki format, weekly lectures, coach support by message.
- Coaching: $99 a month with a 3-month commitment. Monthly 1:1 sessions and a personal study plan.
Refold's tracker is free, which Immersed's isn't. What you pay for in Immersed is the plan, the daily timeline, the library and the reports. What you pay for in Refold's paid plans is the method content and the human help. Refold offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on all plans.
FAQ
Questions people ask.
Is Refold an app or a method?+
Both, but mostly a method. Refold is a roadmap for learning through immersion, with an instruction library, decks, courses and a community. The Refold app is its free tracker for logging time and checking habits against the roadmap.
Is the Refold app free?+
Yes. Refold's pricing page lists time tracking, the roadmap, starter courses and the instruction library in the free plan, on mobile and web. Paid plans start at $9 a month for the decks.
Is the Refold app on iPhone?+
When I checked, Refold's download page linked an Android app on Google Play and an iPhone version installed through Apple's TestFlight, and described the app as still in development. There is also a web version.
What is Habit Health?+
It's Refold's replacement for streaks: the share of the last six weeks in which you learned. Refold suggests keeping it at 80% or more, roughly five or six days a week. Immersed uses streaks and a consistency grid instead, along with the days you showed up.
Can I follow Refold and use Immersed?+
Yes. Immersed tracks any method. Use the roadmap for what to do and Immersed for when to do it and how much you did. SRS is one of the nine activities, so Anki time from your Refold routine can be logged too.
Does Immersed have coaching like Refold?+
Not as a plan you can buy. I keep a waitlist for 1-on-1 coaching: five people at a time, reviewed every quarter, no price listed. Refold's Coaching plan is the one to pick if you want monthly sessions with a coach now.
Why do so many Refold learners use Toggl?+
Toggl Track was free, flexible and around long before purpose-built trackers. Learners set up a project per language and tags per activity. Immersed imports those Toggl CSV exports if you want to move your history.
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.