Stories, podcasts, and videos can all help you learn French when you can follow what they mean. That is the idea behind comprehensible input: learning from French you can mostly understand. French is the second most learned foreign language in the world, so there is a lot of French made for learners, from easy news on the radio to videos you can follow on your first day.
These apps help you find French at your level, or make the French you choose easier to follow. For courses, speaking practice, and tutors, see our French app comparison.
Custom Lessons Made for You
Bubblegum
Learn French with lessons made just for you. Poppy, your AI tutor, writes each one for your level, what you like, and why you want to learn. If a sentence is hard to follow, just ask her to explain the words or the grammar.
Bubblegum also has news and stories, so you can read and listen to a mix of French about music, food, family, or daily life.
The trade-off is that Bubblegum can't help you with French you found yourself. For a book, a podcast, or a show you already picked, the apps in Read and Watch French You Choose are the better fit.
- Read and listen to lessons, news, and stories about things you like.
- Choose France French or Quebec French, with lessons written and voiced for the one you pick.
- Regenerative Review™ brings saved words back in new lessons, so you review them by reading instead of using flashcards.
- Ask Poppy about a sentence while you read.
- Lesson audio uses AI voices, not recordings of French speakers.
- You cannot bring in your own books, articles, or shows.
- A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so you can ask Poppy for a free one, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn.
- Regenerative Review™
Mobile
Watch and Listen to French Made for Learners
Dreaming French
Dreaming French comes from the team behind Dreaming Spanish. Its teachers make videos you can follow from your first day. Pick a series at your level, press play, and move up when the videos start to feel easy.
- Teachers make every video for learners, at four levels from Superbeginner to Advanced.
- Topics range from cooking and travel to games and Canadian culture.
- It keeps track of how many hours of French you have watched.
MobileWeb
TV5MONDE EDU
TV5MONDE EDU comes from TV5MONDE, a French-language TV channel. French teachers at Alliance Française centers write exercises for each clip, from beginner (A1) to upper intermediate (B2). It is one of the free tools French learners recommend most on Reddit.
- Free exercises built around news reports, music videos, and film clips.
- Each video has subtitles and a French transcript.
- Hear French as people speak it in Paris, Geneva, Dakar, Montreal, and Brussels.
- Flashcards
MobileWeb
Français Authentique
Français Authentique has made podcasts and videos for French learners for 16 years. They are all in French, and they help you get used to the French people speak every day.
- Free podcasts and videos about everyday French and French culture.
- All of its podcasts and videos in one app.
MobileWeb
Read and Listen to the News in Easy French
Readle
Readle's language experts turn real news and stories into short French lessons, and new ones arrive every day. Each story has a quiz, and you can review its words with flashcards. Readle used to be called Langster.
- Real news and stories rewritten for learners, from A1 to B2.
- Listen to each story one sentence at a time.
- Tap a word to see what it means, with grammar tips in each story.
- Flashcards
MobileWeb
News in Slow French
News in Slow French has made podcasts about the news since 2009. Its hosts talk about current events at a pace you can follow, and the website adds grammar and expression lessons.
- News, talk, and culture read slowly by native speakers, with new episodes every week.
- Each episode has a transcript with English translations.
- Programs for beginners, intermediate learners, and advanced learners.
MobileWeb
Read and Watch French You Choose
These tools help you learn from French shows, podcasts, books, and videos you pick yourself. They suit learners who already know what they want to read or watch.
LingQ
LingQ lets you read and listen to French from its library, including short Mini Stories, or bring in your own. Its reader highlights the words you haven't met yet and the words you are learning, so you can see what is new on each page.
- Thousands of hours of French audio with matching transcripts.
- Import YouTube videos, books, and songs, and turn them into lessons.
- Make a simpler version of a hard lesson with AI.
- Flashcards
MobileWeb
Language Reactor
Language Reactor shows French subtitles beside a translation while you watch. It has a page of French YouTube videos to start with, and it is free to install, with paid extras.
- See French subtitles beside a translation on Netflix and YouTube.
- Look up words in a pop-up dictionary.
- Pause and replay one line when it goes too fast.
Browser extension
Lingopie
Lingopie streams French shows, films, and music videos with tools for learners. Save words as you watch, then review them with flashcards and games.
- French TV shows and films with subtitles in French and English.
- Tap a word to see what it means and hear how it sounds.
- Short stories with French and English side by side, plus audiobooks and podcasts.
- Flashcards
MobileWeb
Free French to Watch, Hear, and Read
RFI, a news radio station that broadcasts worldwide from Paris, makes the Journal en français facile, a free 10-minute news show in simple French on weekdays, with a transcript and exercises on its website. For news written for children in France, 1jour1actu has short articles and videos.
On YouTube, French Comprehensible Input has free videos from beginner to advanced, and Alice Ayel tells easy stories in French. Easy French films street interviews with subtitles in French and English, and makes slower Super Easy videos for beginners. Learners on Reddit also suggest Extr@, a sitcom made for people learning French.
For podcasts, Coffee Break French has free lessons from beginner to advanced, and LanguaTalk Slow French is made for A2 and B1 learners. InnerFrench ended in September 2026 after 200 episodes for intermediate learners, and you can still listen to every one. For books, Olly Richards' Short Stories in French are graded readers with eight stories in each book, starting at A2.
Learn French in Your Language
These counts cover menu-language choices, including script variants. Other apps’ counts and full lists come from their iPhone listings, except Language Reactor (Chrome Web Store). The free websites, podcasts, and YouTube channels are in French, some with English. Word meanings, lesson explanations, and other platforms may differ.
| App | Supported Display Languages | Full List |
|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | 74 | Full list
|
| Dreaming French | 1 | Full list |
| TV5MONDE EDU | 10 | Full list |
| Français Authentique | 1 | Full list |
| Readle | 23 | Full list |
| News in Slow French | 1 | Full list |
| LingQ | 17 | Full list |
| Language Reactor | 27 | Full list |
| Lingopie | 6 | Full list |
Other Apps We Looked At (9)
- ImmersionA comprehensible input site with more than 150 hours of French and German video at four levels, read-alongs that light up each word, and an AI tutor for speaking practice. Beginners on r/DreamingFrench like its large set of the easiest videos.
- MigakuA browser extension and app that makes the subtitles of French shows on Netflix and YouTube clickable, shows how hard a video is for your level, and turns words into flashcards with the sentence, sound, and a picture.
- ReadlangClick a word or phrase on any French web page, or in a text or ePub you upload, to see what it means, then review it with flashcards.
- BeelinguappAudiobooks with French and your own language side by side, read by native speakers, for beginners to advanced learners.
- FluentUFrench movie clips, music videos, and news with subtitles you can click for a meaning, plus quizzes and flashcards.
- Yabla FrenchReal French videos with subtitles translated by people, plus slow play and a loop for hard lines.
- EppikaGraded books from A1 to B2 in French and other languages, with native audio and a translation for any word you tap. It is new and growing.
- TV5MONDEplusTV5MONDE's free streaming app, with films, series, and documentaries from France, Quebec, Africa, Switzerland, and Belgium.
- Coffee Break AcademyThe official app for Coffee Break's French courses, with video and audio lessons and a free starter course. It is new and growing.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much French do I need to understand?
Research on reading suggests you need to know about 98% of the words in a text, or all but one word in 50, to follow it with ease. If you need to stop at almost every line, try something easier.
Can I learn Quebec French with comprehensible input?
Yes. Radio-Canada's free Mauril teaches with clips from Canadian shows and podcasts, and our guide to Quebec French lists more shows, podcasts, and apps.
Is Bubblegum free?
Yes. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn. It holds lessons that other learners asked Poppy for. A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so you can ask Poppy for a free one, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons.
Sources
- Organisation internationale de la Francophonie: La langue française dans le monde 2026
- Hu and Nation (2000), Unknown vocabulary density and reading comprehension
- r/learnfrench: InnerFrench Podcast is Finished with 200 Episodes
- InnerFrench on Apple Podcasts
- Bubblegum
- Dreaming French
- TV5MONDE EDU
- Français Authentique
- Readle
- News in Slow French
- LingQ
- Language Reactor
- Lingopie
Checked on October 8, 2026 against each app's own pages.
