Built for an exam, not a streak
A1 · A2 · B1
A plan built back from your exam date, and one guided session a day. For the visa, the residence permit or the job.
The beta sign-up is open. The beta runs on TestFlight before the App Store launch in February 2027. Testers who send feedback get three months of Lautly free at launch.
And three stories in the German of your level: Bis Sonntag, Krämerbrücke and Schwarzer Rand.
Most adults who learn German are not doing it for fun. A certificate stands between them and the next part of their life. Lautly is built for that certificate.
A1 · Family visa
The visa to join a spouse in Germany usually asks for A1. Lautly takes you through every part of the A1 exam, one session a day, so the language is not what keeps you apart.
B1 · Staying for good
A settlement permit and naturalisation usually ask for B1. Lautly takes you there on one path, A1, A2, then B1, and tells you when each part of the exam is ready.
B1 or B2 · Working in care
Nursing and other regulated jobs usually ask for B1 or B2, depending on the job and the state. Lautly covers the road to B1. B2 is not part of the course.
Requirements depend on your situation and can change. Check with the authority handling your case. There is no B2 course.
Every level is a route with eight stops. Each one is a stamp with the date you reached it, and each one opens something new. Day one is simple. Features open as you go.
Los geht’s
Let’s go · when you start
Your first session, the sounds course, My words and your plan
Erste Schritte
First steps · after 3 lessons
Reviews, Say it, daily listening and dialogues
Angekommen
Arrived · unit 1 done
Guided conversation, grammar drills, reading, tasks for later and Bis Sonntag
Geschichten
Stories · unit 2 started
Krämerbrücke, the daily drama and scene, and Mini mocks
Im Gespräch
In conversation · unit 4 done
Free conversation, scored pronunciation, writing and dictation
Prüfungsluft
A taste of the exam · unit 6 done
Schwarzer Rand, Half mocks and exam-format practice
Endspurt
Final sprint · the last weeks
Full mocks, examiner scenes and a mock every week
Geschafft
Made it · the level is done
The next level opens
Today always shows the next stamp and how far away it is. A feature one stamp ahead shows as a dashed card, and most of them you can try once before it opens. Endspurt comes when your exam is close, so the last weeks are about the exam.
A placement check starts you at your level, and the levels below count as done. Later, the level test lets you move on faster: one try per level a day.
A short placement check finds your level. Enter your exam date, how long you have each day and which days. Lautly tells you whether that fits, before you commit.
Today shows one postcard: the lesson, its parts and one button, Start · 45 min. Behind it are the words due today, one lesson, one spoken sentence, then a block you choose from three picked for you. Leave early and it waits where you stopped.
As your date comes closer, the sessions shift from learning to exam practice, with a mock each week and a sprint in the final fortnight. The last day is for rest.
Today tells you what to do. The other four tabs are there when you want more.
Today
Today’s session: reviews, one lesson, one spoken sentence and a block you choose. Your week sits under it.
Learn
Your map and your course: A1, A2 and B1 in a fixed order, with an exam stop every two units. Grammar, the sounds of German, your words and the series.
Practice
Your exam, part by part: a box for each part, the weakest one ringed. Then a room for each skill, untimed or on the clock.
Exam
The plan to your date, Mini, Half and Full mocks with a report for every part, and the library: Redemittel, strategies and exam day.
Me
Your week against the days you booked, and a review every seven days. No streak.
Writing is marked against the examiners’ four criteria, with each correction explained: what worked, what to change, and your text corrected. Written on paper? Take a photo and Lautly reads your handwriting.
Readiness is only worth something if it cannot flatter you. So Lautly counts exam work alone, drills in the exam’s format and mock tests, never lessons or reviews.
Lautly is not affiliated with any exam provider. Readiness and mock reports measure what you have practised. They never predict a result.
Speaking is the part most people fear. So you do it every day, out loud.
Free includes three conversations a week. Lautly gives you three a day, with your spoken turns scored.
Rather practise inside a story? Watch the Bis Sonntag film.
Speaking
Ich hätte gern einen Kaffee.
Your plan says whether your pace reaches your date: ahead, on track or behind. If not, it names the one smallest change that would. Then it moves through four phases, and your daily session changes shape with each one.
Exam practice starts 56 days before an A1 or A2 exam, and 70 days before B1. No exam date yet? Everything works without one. Add a date later and the plan, countdown and sprint appear.
Exam practice is the work. The series are the reason you open the app on a tired day: one story to speak, one to hear and one to read, each written in the German of your level, all three in the app from launch.
Speaking series · 24 episodes · A1, A2 or B1
Ayesha, an architect from Dhaka, lands in Hamburg on a Wednesday night. Her brother’s wedding is on Sunday at two, in Konstanz, at the other end of Germany. Her flight is cancelled, her backpack is stolen, and she has 200 euros sewn into her jacket. You are Ayesha, and the story only moves when you speak German.
The same story at A1, A2 and B1, in three parts of eight episodes, about ten minutes each. The first two episodes are free.
How a story gets you speaking
Your turns are recognised on your phone, and your memos stay there. Lautly listens for what you said, not for a perfect accent.
Audio drama · 3 seasons · A1 to B1
Andrés, an intensive-care nurse from Colombia, arrives in Erfurt in the snow. The room he paid for does not exist, and the only one left belongs to Frau Rosch, who always says no. Over three seasons, „Das Zimmer“, „Noch einmal“ and „Das Café“, he learns the language, the job and the people, and has to decide whether Erfurt is home. Every part is spoken by a full cast of AI voices.
Pick your level. Season 1 is told in A1, A2 and B1, Season 2 in A2 and B1, Season 3 in B1. The story and the scenes stay the same, the German follows your level, and if you switch, you carry on at the same part.
Three ways into every part
After parts 10 and 20, a timed half-season test. Timed tasks at your exam’s level count towards your readiness in the Exam tab.
Crime series to read · 3 seasons · A1 to B1
A Munich newspaper prints death notices for people who are still alive. Lena Falk, 25, demoted to the obituary desk, has four days to find out why. Sixty-six episodes to read, starting at A1 and ending at B1, with every word explained on tap.
Read the story on its own, or in study mode with words, questions and grammar after each episode.
Each kind of tool is good at something. Lautly is good at one thing: getting you ready for a German exam.
| Compared | A general language app | An AI chatbot | Lautly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built for | A daily habit, often in many languages | Answering whatever you ask | One German exam, on one date |
| A plan to your exam date | Not the focus | Only if you write and keep one yourself | Worked out from your date and minutes |
| Practice in the exam’s format | Not the focus | Possible, without the exam’s clocks | Every part, untimed or on the clock |
| Full timed mock tests | Not the focus | Not built in | Mini, Half and Full, with a report per part |
| Knowing if you are ready | Progress usually means activity | An impression, chat by chat | Readiness from exam work only |
| Speaking the exam way | Varies | Free conversation | An AI examiner for speaking practice |
| Any question, answered at once | Not the focus | Its strength | Grammar questions, inside the course |
A general description of each kind of tool, not of any one product.
Use one. It is good at explaining a rule or checking a sentence. But a chat answers the question you ask. An exam asks its own questions, on its own clock, and marks you by its own rules.
It knows your date, keeps every answer you give, and practises the exam’s tasks in their format. Then it turns your results into tomorrow’s session and your readiness, part by part. The course is written and reviewed, not generated on the fly, and anything AI writes in the moment is labelled.
When I was learning German, I wanted one app to practise with every day: conversation, writing and listening, with AI that helps in the moment I get stuck. I looked for it. I found apps for collecting points and keeping streaks, but none built around the exam I actually had to pass.
So I started building it. That is Lautly today: a daily plan that leads to your exam, practice in the exam’s own format, and an honest answer to whether you are ready.
The founder
Two plans, nothing to work out. Lautly Free keeps your daily practice going for as long as you like. Lautly opens the whole course, every mock test and the full exam preparation. There are no ads in either.
€0 for as long as you like
€7.99 a month, or €44.99 a year (€3.75 a month, save 53%), incl. VAT, billed by Apple
Lautly is a monthly or yearly subscription. Apple bills it, and you can cancel at any time in your Apple ID settings. In mock tests, writing is marked against the examiners’ criteria and speaking is a self-check for now. Scored pronunciation checks have a fair-use limit of 30 a day. These are the planned launch prices in euros, incl. VAT, billed by Apple. Prices in other countries differ, they may change before launch, and the app always shows the price before you buy.
Rewards are always in the app, never in cash.
Who makes it
Lautly is made by a sole trader in Chemnitz, Germany. The full address is in the imprint. Every lesson and mock goes through automated checks.
What is inside
718 lessons in 62 units, 31 exam stops, 68 mock tests and 72 grammar topics. Written and checked once, the same for every learner, not made up on the fly.
What we never do
Lautly is in development. A public beta on TestFlight comes first, and the App Store launch is planned for February 2027.
Early access to Lautly on TestFlight before launch, at no cost, and a say in what changes before it ships. Testers who send feedback get three months of Lautly free when it launches. Sign up below and we will email you an invitation.
It prepares you for German exams at A1, A2 and B1, in each exam’s own format, and tells you honestly whether your date fits your pace and which parts are ready. It never predicts a result.
No. Everything works without one. With a date, Lautly adds a plan, a countdown and, if you want it, a sprint for the final weeks.
You choose: 15, 30, 45 or 60 minutes, and 3, 4, 5 or 7 days a week. Lautly tells you what that rhythm buys before you commit, and never asks for more than an hour.
Nothing is lost. There is no streak. Days you did not book are not missed days, and your week is measured against the days you chose.
A1, A2 and B1, each with its own course, exam stops and mock tests, and a placement check that starts you at the right unit. The first two units of your level are free, and Lautly opens the rest. There is no B2 course.
Yes, for as long as you like. The daily session, with its reviews, lesson and spoken take, is never behind a paywall. The first two units of your level, your exam plan, the pronunciation course, your words and a Mini mock a week are free. The rest comes with Lautly, and the app says so at that point, never in the middle of a session.
€7.99 a month or €44.99 a year, the planned launch prices in euros, incl. VAT, billed by Apple. At launch, the first month is €3.99, and a yearly plan started in the first three months after launch is €34.99 for the first year. It is one plan with everything in it: there are no add-ons, exam packs or ads. The one limit is fair use: up to 30 scored pronunciation checks a day.
Every lesson, mock and tip goes through automated checks before launch.
iPhone only, with iOS 17 or later. There is no Android version at launch. The app is in English: you learn German, and the instructions and feedback are in English.
No. What you say in a conversation is recognised on your phone. When a spoken answer is scored, the recording goes to Microsoft’s speech service in the EU and is not kept after scoring. See the privacy policy.
Lautly opens a beta on TestFlight before its App Store launch in February 2027. Sign up and we will email you an invitation. Founding testers who send feedback get three months of Lautly free when it launches.
Follow Lautly on Facebook for news about the beta.
laut German for loud, and der Laut is a speech sound. That is the whole idea.