7 Best Apps for Learning Latin: A Latin Teacher’s Top Picks

Learning Latin can be tough, so diversifying your studies with language apps is an excellent idea. But how do you know which Latin apps are worth your time?

Every language app will tell you that it’s the best thing ever. But let’s face it: unfortunately, this is simply not true. There are some excellent apps for learning Latin out there (like Legentibus and Cattus), but there are also some terrible ones.

As a Latin teacher, I want you to use the highest quality resources . . . and that’s why I have been testing all of the top Latin apps so I can point you in the right direction. Some feature immersive audio, others provide a gamified setting for practicing noun and verb endings, and still others include cultural and historical tips.

And the best thing about it? All of these apps can be used for free.

Are you ready to improve your Latin with fun challenges and bite-sized lessons? There’s no time to waste!

I will give you my honest, unbiased opinions, so you can integrate apps into your Latin studies with confidence!

This post may contain affiliate links and I may receive a commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link. See my disclosures for more details.

1. Cattus

• Developer website
• Price: Free (with ads)
• Yearly Subscription: $24.99 (no ads)

Cattus: Learn Latin introduces you to Latin with short, interactive lessons. Each lesson has a grammatical explanation and vocabulary list for you to look at first, and then you can dive into the exercises.

Fill-in-the-blank and multiple-choice questions predominate in the beginning. For instance, you get a word like rosae and then have to choose whether ūna or duae could accompany it. Or you have to decide the case of each noun and adjective in a sentence – say, Iūlia rosās pulchrās portat.

I like these questions because they encourage you to engage with Latin without translating first. That said, some of the hardest questions involve translation into Latin. You produce noun and verb endings yourself based on the context – a great way of activating your grammatical knowledge.

Cons: Cattus isn’t perfect, and in fact the developers encourage feedback! One major downside is that there isn’t any audio. Furthermore, the grammar explanations are sometimes unclear (although not incorrect), and macron usage is inconsistent. But overall the app provides accurate, useful information, which makes it worth your time.

How To Use This App: I recommend Cattus as a supplement for beginning Latin students. You’ll learn some new words and get lots of practice. You could also use it as your primary Latin-learning resource, although I think it’s always best to have an independent textbook. If you are a more advanced student, this app can help you to grow more comfortable producing grammatical forms – and perhaps prepare you for Latin composition in the future.

👉 Download Cattus from Google Play or from the Apple Store!

2. Mango Languages

• Mango website
• Price: $11.99 per month (access to one language)
• Free Options: see below

Mango’s Latin course is truly delightful: you learn Latin via excerpts from ancient texts (including texts by Caesar and Cicero)! Each lesson introduces grammar, vocabulary, and cultural information, interspersed with exercises that allow you to practice your newly acquired skills.

This Latin app blends inductive and deductive learning quite nicely. In other words, sometimes you are asked to infer Latin grammar rules based on examples, and other times the grammar rule is explicitly laid out for you.

This keeps your brain working in different ways. You are constantly asked to produce your own Latin, whether through speech or typing, and before you know it you will be quoting Caesar.

Another strength of this app is the emphasis on oral Latin. Words and sentences are read out loud with authentic Latin pronunciation, and many exercises prompt you to speak Latin out loud for yourself. In fact, it is even possible to complete the lessons in “autoplay” mode, where everything is conveyed via audio. This means that you can learn Latin on the go, whether you are driving a car or making dinner or exercising.

Each chapter is accompanied by a vocabulary list and flashcards, and there is also a recap so you can review challenging materials. The “Review” tab at the bottom of the screen will automatically recommend flashcards to you.

Free Option: Don’t let the price tag scare you away: you may be able to access Mango Languages for free! Mango has partnered with thousands of libraries, schools, and community organizations worldwide. When you first download the app, you will be prompted to make an account and then see if you can get access through an organization near you. I was able to use the app through my public library just by entering my library card number!

Cons: This course is at times fast-paced, so if you are a complete beginner, you may struggle a bit. It is also built around specific Latin texts, so the vocabulary can be quite niche. (For instance, you learn how to talk about Celts, Belgians, and Aquitanians, since these are all tribes relevant to Caesar’s Gallic Wars.) Other than this, occasionally the narrator will slip into ecclesiastical Latin pronunciation, but it’s rare and almost imperceptible.

How To Use This App: Mango’s Latin course is fantastic for anyone who would like to read Roman literature in the original language. You can use the app as your primary Latin course, although there are only 74 lessons, so you will eventually need to turn to other learning resources. If you are a high beginner or above, I heartily recommend that you try out this app!

👉 Download the Mango app from Google Play or from the Apple Store!

3. Legentibus

• Legentibus website
• Price: free (limited titles)
• Subscription: $9.99 per month (varies)

Legentibus means “for readers”, and this app is indeed an amazing resource for anyone who wants to improve their Latin comprehension skills. It is advertised as “a library of Latin texts with synchronized audio”, and I can’t think of a better description!

The makers of Legentibus have recorded hours and hours of audio so that you can read and listen at the same time. Texts range from novellas for beginners to works by classical authors such as Cicero and Cornelius Nepos.

Each text comes with additional support. You can tap and hold down any word to look up a definition. You can change the font size and the space between lines, and you can fast-forward and rewind as much as you would like.

For some texts, you can turn on interlinear English translations. Others have grammar notes available, indicated by superscripts.

Cons: The only downside to this app is that most of the content is behind a paywall. But Legentibus is the fruit of years of labor, so it’s completely understandable that there is a charge! I have never subscribed myself, but I enjoy listening to the free books. Here’s how to find the free titles: hit the “Explore” button on the app’s home page and then scroll down on the newly opened page. You will see a green button labeled “Free Books”.

How To Use This App: Legentibus is meant to help you with Latin reading and listening comprehension, and it’s an excellent tool to add to your Latin study kit. The synchronized audio, set on autoplay, urges you to read the text at a steady pace and encourages you to process Latin words in their original word order. There is no time for obsessing over little grammatical details or for translating every word into English – the goal is to understand the gist of things, to experience Latin in Latin.

👉 Download Legentibus from Google Play or from the Apple Store!

4. Vice Verba

• Price: 100% free (no ads!)

Two Classics professors, both with PhDs from the University of Washington, collaborated to produce this simple but effective app. Vice Verba can test your knowledge of 17 different Latin verbs.

To get started, choose a verb. Make sure you toggle macrons on, since it’s important to know which vowels are long and short.

Next choose which tenses, voices, and moods you want to be quizzed on. Once you have made your selections, hit “Play” and you will receive 10 verb forms to identify one by one. Occasionally you will also be asked to type in a verb form yourself.

If you struggle with parsing verbs, then Vice Verba is your dream come true! I love the fact that you can customize the verb forms. If you are a beginning student, I would recommend starting with the default: present, future, and imperfect tenses of the indicative active.

Cons: There are only 17 verbs available, and you can only study one at once (that is, you can’t make a quiz featuring multiple verbs). But the selection is good: all four conjugations are represented, as well as irregular verbs such as sum (to be) and possum (to be able).

How To Use This App: Vice Verba can help Latin students of all levels get better at recognizing verb endings. The fact that you can target specific forms makes this app especially useful. For example, if you have just learned the passive voice, you might want to see all six verb tenses, but only in the passive – so you can turn off the active voice.

👉 Download Vice Verba from Google Play or from the Apple Store!

5. Grammaticus Maximus

• Developer website
• Price: Free (with minimal ads)
• Premium Version: $1.99 (one-time fee to remove ads)

A Dutch coder and teacher who goes by the name Magister Ludorum has blessed us with an addictive Latin inflection game. The barbarians are attacking Rome, and only you can save the city: by parsing nouns and verbs!

Each barbarian has a name. If you are playing in “Noun Mode”, you may see virtutem or templorum coming to attack. In “Verb Mode”, you may spot potestis or ceperam or audient.

Select the appropriate gender, number, and case (for nouns) or person, number, and tense (for verbs). Then tap a city gate to send out a Roman soldier to meet the barbarian. If you parsed the noun or verb correctly, your soldier will triumph. If not – the barbarian keeps advancing.

In the first level (Day 1), three barbarians attack, and there is plenty of time in between for you to identify them. But as you advance through the levels of the game, the attacks grow in number and frequency. My record is Day 30 so far; it gets to the point where I simply can’t tap the screen fast enough!

Cons: There are no macrons in this game, which is especially problematic with nouns – femina could mean fēmina (nominative singular) OR fēminā (ablative singular). More pressingly, sometimes the barbarians’ “names” are small and hard to read on my phone, but I think you could get around this by playing on a tablet.

How To Use This App: Grammaticus Maximus is an awesome app for anyone who wants to drill noun endings and verb endings. Note that you CAN adjust the difficulty. In Noun Mode, you can choose which cases to see, and in Verb Mode, you can choose which tenses. So you can play this game even if you are a beginner, as long as you have some basic grammatical knowledge! Note: all verbs are active indicative.

👉 Download Grammaticus Maximus from Google Play or from the Apple Store!

6. Logeion

• Developer website
• Price: 100% free (no ads)

I could not possibly write a post on the best apps for learning Latin without mentioning Logeion. I use this app every single day – and no, that’s not an exaggeration.

Logeion incorporates multiple Latin (and Greek) dictionaries into one user interface. If I search for sella, the app supplies a “short definition”, frequency information, and the Frieze-Dennison Vergil definition before showing the extensive data from Lewis & Short, my favorite Latin dictionary for advanced learners.

Other dictionaries are available in a menu at the top of the app. In the case of sella, we have DMLBS (Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources), Gaffiot (a Latin-French dictionary), and Latino-Sinicum (a Latin-Chinese dictionary). You can tap on whichever dictionary interests you.

Logeion is my go-to app whenever I need to look up a Latin word. Free, no ads, high-quality content: I will love this app forever!

Cons: Logeion is only available for iOS at the moment, so if you don’t have Apple products, you will have to use the web version. Furthermore, Logeion’s detailed entries can be confusing when you first start using it, especially if you’re a beginner. If you’re a beginning student, I would wait on this app. Instead I recommend that you use the glossary at the back of your textbook, or else this fantastic but cheap student dictionary.

How To Use This App: If you are reading unadapted ancient texts in Latin, then you are ready to use Logeion. The dictionary entries will give you a basic definition, but also a wealth of information about shades of meaning and idiomatic usages. I have been using Logeion daily for years, ever since I started graduate school at Harvard back in 2017. Now, this app is an essential part of my professor toolkit.

👉 Download Logeion from the Apple Store!

7. Duolingo

• Duolingo website
• Price: free (with lots of ads)
• Premium Version: $7.99 per month (varies)

Duolingo is the most used language-learning app in the world, and I have enjoyed using it in the past for multiple languages. But I have mixed feelings about the Duolingo Latin course, especially in its current iteration.

First, the good: Duolingo helps you to practice Latin in a fun atmosphere with an emphasis on audio. You get to experience Latin in a new way, in a format very different from standard grammar-translation textbooks.

Duolingo will teach you lots of Latin vocabulary and will help grammatical forms to sink into your brain. For instance, seeing domī and Rōmae over and over can help you to absorb the use of the locative, an important case which is often neglected. And you will get comfortable with the pesky Q-words (quis, quī, quae, etc.) because they pop up so frequently.

There’s also the fact that the entire Duolingo interface is very motivational. You don’t want to let the owl down, so you make sure you get your Latin lesson in before midnight!

Cons: The major issue with Duolingo Latin is that learners feel like it moves too fast and without sufficient explanation. If you haven’t studied Latin before, you may be lost when faced with seven Latin cases and dozens of verb endings.

There used to be grammar notes accompanying the course, but they have now disappeared. This website has saved some of them, but they don’t always match the new lesson order. At this point, would-be Latin students are thrust into a world of changing endings with no guidance.

Other cons include inconsistent audio quality, lack of macrons, occasional weird word choices, and the ever-increasing number of ads. To be honest, I think the app is almost unusable now if you haven’t paid for the premium version, Super Duolingo.

How To Use This App: I don’t recommend Duolingo as a standalone Latin course, but it can be an enjoyable addition to your Latin study schedule. You’ll learn some new words and absorb some grammatical forms – it certainly won’t hurt you! The course is best suited to beginning and intermediate Latin students, but advanced students might get some benefit out of it, too. The 14-day free trial of Super Duolingo can give you a taste of the app.

👉 Download Duolingo from Google Play or the Apple Store!

Latin Learning Apps To Avoid

So far I have focused on the apps that I do recommend, but now I must turn to a less pleasant task: telling you which Latin apps to avoid. Because yes, there are some apps that will do you more harm than good.

At the top of my no-no list is Mondly, whose Latin course is – quite frankly – horrendous. I began the course with high hopes, since lots of websites recommend it.

I can only assume that none of the recommenders actually completed the course, because it is laughably inaccurate. I could have looked past the pronunciation errors, but the incorrect vocabulary and grammar were too much.

It’s a shame, because Mondly’s setup is cool and I was excited to test the interactive chatbot. But please, steer clear of this course!!! Use Mango, Cattus, or even Duolingo instead.

Another app that isn’t worth your time is Perdisco, one of the first Latin apps listed in both Google Play and the Apple Store. I find the interface very unintuitive, and in any case within 10 minutes of testing I came across a terrible error: the relative pronoun quī was translated as “this”.

Choose Your Apps for Learning Latin

So, what is the best app for learning Latin? It really depends on what you are looking for.

If you want a comprehensive course, then Mango or Cattus would be a good place to start. But no app is going to singlehandedly lead you to mastery of Latin. Online programs can get you going, but eventually you will need to explore other materials (textbooks, grammar books, commentaries, etc.).

Legentibus, Vice Verba, and Grammaticus Maximus don’t provide complete Latin courses. Instead, they focus on honing specific skills such as listening and parsing. Logeion, of course, is a dictionary.

BONUS: There are various Latin flashcard apps, but I have not listed them here because most are not very high quality. Instead, I encourage you to use Anki, my favorite flashcard app. You can create your own Latin flashcards or download decks made by other users. I explain some of the advantages of Anki in my post on digital vs. paper flashcards.

Have fun exploring these Latin apps! I hope they help you out on your Latin-learning journey.

YOU MAY ALSO LOVE:

A Review of Familia Romana (LLPSI)

Best Latin Dictionaries for Students

Easy Latin Novellas for Beginners

9 Reasons To Learn Latin