Indian Urdu is the one to learn if your family is from India, or you're moving to a city like Delhi or Lucknow. Most Urdu apps teach one general Urdu and don't say which country it comes from. About 51 million people in India named Urdu as the language they grew up with in the 2011 census. Our Urdu app comparison covers apps for any kind of Urdu.
Bubblegum
For serious learners, Bubblegum is the best app to learn Urdu (India). You learn from Urdu (India) you can mostly understand, which is called comprehensible input.
Tell Poppy, your AI tutor, that your aunt in Lucknow is calling this weekend, and she writes that call as an Urdu lesson at your level. You can hear it in a Delhi voice and ask her about any word.
Bubblegum focuses on reading and listening more than speaking, so for speaking practice, try a tutor in Practice With a Tutor.
- Lessons are read aloud by voices from Delhi.
- Learn the Urdu letters in 12 short chapters, with pictures that help you remember them.
- Read lessons in Urdu letters, or in the Latin letters many people text Urdu in.
- Lessons fit your level, interests, and goals.
- Regenerative Review™ brings saved words back in new lessons, and you can export them to Anki.
- Clear, expressive AI voices read every lesson aloud, with a different voice for each speaker.
- You can't turn an Urdu novel you bought in Lucknow into a lesson. However, you can send Poppy a photo of a page, and she'll explain it.
- Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read.
- Regenerative Review™
- Teaches the Urdu Alphabet
Mobile
Rekhta
Rekhta's app holds ghazals, poems, and stories from writers such as Ghalib, Premchand, and Gulzar. If you already read Hindi, switch a couplet to Hindi letters first, then read it again in Urdu letters.
- Read poems and stories in Urdu letters, or switch them to Hindi or Roman letters.
- Tap a word to see its meaning in Urdu, Hindi, or English.
- There are no lessons or reading levels, so it suits learners who can already read some Urdu.
- Doesn't teach the Urdu Alphabet
MobileWeb
Karak
Karak is a reading app made for Urdu learners, with stories, everyday scenes, and real conversations. You can choose the script and font that are easiest for you to read, and tap a sentence to see it in English.
- Every line is read aloud by a person.
- Its letters section shows each Urdu letter beside Devanagari, the Hindi letters.
- Flashcards
- Teaches the Urdu Alphabet (partly)
MobileWeb
Rekhta Urdu Dictionary
The Rekhta Urdu Dictionary helps when a song or a ghazal uses a word you don't know. Because it gives the Hindi meaning too, it suits learners who already know some Hindi.
- Each word has meanings in Urdu, Hindi, and English.
- Hear how each word sounds.
- It looks up words but has no lessons, so use it beside a reader or a course.
- Doesn't teach the Urdu Alphabet
MobileWeb
Preply
On Preply you can pick an Urdu tutor by price and by the hours they're free. Ask yours to talk the way people do in Delhi or Lucknow, and to bring the songs and sayings you hear at home.
- Hundreds of tutors teach Urdu online.
- Ask for a tutor from India when you book.
MobileWeb
italki
italki has Urdu teachers who teach online. Tell yours that you want the Urdu of India, so the words and examples fit the people you'll talk to.
- Book one-to-one Urdu lessons over video.
- Pick a time that suits you and your teacher.
MobileWeb
Other Apps We Looked At (3)
- LingShort, game-like Urdu lessons that teach the script step by step.
- UrduPod101Audio and video Urdu lessons, each built around a short dialogue a teacher explains.
- Mango LanguagesUrdu lessons built around real conversations. Many public libraries offer it.
India's National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language runs a one-year Urdu course taught through Hindi or English. It starts on April 1 each year, and you can join through a study center or on your own. For a paid course on the letters alone, Rekhta Learning's Rasm-ul-Khat has 10 chapters taught in English.
Once you can sound out words, StoryWeaver has hundreds of free Urdu picture books, many from Indian publishers. NewsOnAir, the site of All India Radio, posts short news bulletins in Urdu that you can play. And if you're in Delhi in December, the Rekhta Foundation's Jashn-e-Rekhta fills three days with poetry, music, and talks in Urdu.
| App | Free? | What's Free |
|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | Free version | Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read. |
| Rekhta | Free | The Rekhta app is free to download and read. |
| Karak | Free version | Every Karak story opens with its first chapter free. A subscription opens the full library and starts with a 7-day free trial. |
| Rekhta Urdu Dictionary | Free | The Rekhta Urdu Dictionary app is free to download and use. |
| Preply | Paid | You pay for each lesson, and each tutor sets their own price. If your first tutor isn't a good fit, you can try two more for free. |
| italki | Paid | You pay for each lesson, and each teacher sets their own price. Practicing with the community and taking the level test are free. |
| Ling | Some lessons free | The first two beginner units are free in every language. Ling Pro opens all the lessons, and the yearly plan starts with a 7-day free trial. |
| UrduPod101 | Free version | A free UrduPod101 account gives you a survival phrases course and the first 3 lessons of every pathway, with new lessons each week. Paid plans open every lesson, and Premium starts with a 7-day free trial. |
| Mango Languages | Some lessons free | The first lesson of every language is free, and many public libraries give their members full access at no cost. The paid plans start with a free trial. |
Rekhta and its dictionary explain words in Hindi and English, and Karak's translations are in English. For the other apps, try one lesson in your language before you pay.
| App | Languages You Can Use It In | Full List |
|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | 74 | Supported language pairs |
| Rekhta | 1 | App Store |
| Karak | 1 | App Store |
| Rekhta Urdu Dictionary | 1 | App Store |
| Preply | 19 | App Store |
| italki | 19 | App Store |
| Ling | 68 | Full list |
| UrduPod101 | 1 | Full list |
| Mango Languages | 2 | Full list |
Which app should a beginner learning Indian Urdu choose?
If you are serious about learning Urdu (India), start with Bubblegum. Poppy, your AI tutor, writes lessons at your level about things you like. Or start with Karak if you already read Hindi, because its letters section matches each Urdu letter to a Devanagari one.
I speak Hindi. What do I need to learn for Urdu?
The script comes first. Hindi and Urdu share their grammar and basic vocabulary, so a lot of spoken Urdu will already make sense to you. Learn the Urdu letters, starting with chapter 1 of Bubblegum's Urdu Alphabet course. Then, on Rekhta, switch a couplet you know from Hindi letters to Urdu letters.
Is Bubblegum free?
Yes. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read. Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons.
Sources
- Census of India 2011, Language (Paper 1 of 2018), Statement 4: Urdu, 50,772,631 speakers (4.19%)
- Bubblegum: Urdu and the Urdu Alphabet course
- Bubblegum: Urdu Alphabet course, chapter 1
- Rekhta on the App Store (Urdu, Hindi, and Roman scripts; tap a word for its meaning)
- Rekhta: World of Urdu poetry
- Karak: Urdu stories read aloud by people, with translations and a dictionary
- Karak: pricing (first chapter of every story free)
- Rekhta Urdu Dictionary on the App Store
- Preply: Urdu tutors
- italki: Urdu teachers
- Ling: Learn Urdu
- UrduPod101: the app
- Mango Languages: Urdu
- NCPUL (Government of India): One Year Diploma Course in the Urdu Language, through Hindi and English
- Rekhta Learning: Rasm-ul-Khat, a course on the Urdu script taught in English
- Jashn-e-Rekhta: Urdu festival in New Delhi
- NewsOnAir (All India Radio): news bulletins in Urdu
- StoryWeaver: Urdu picture books
- University of Minnesota: Hindi and Urdu share their grammar and basic vocabulary
- Preply: iPhone App Store listing (languages you can use it in)
- italki: iPhone App Store listing (languages you can use it in)
- Karak: iPhone App Store listing (letters beside Devanagari; choose your script; languages you can use it in)
- Ling: iPhone App Store listing (languages you can use it in)
- UrduPod101: iPhone App Store listing (languages you can use it in)
- Mango: iPhone App Store listing (languages you can use it in)
- italki: what's free
- Ling: what's free
- Ling: what the paid plan adds
- UrduPod101: what's free
- Mango: what the paid plan adds
- Mango: free through libraries
- Bubblegum
