Project

Listen (Mobile)

Mobile App
React Native
Google Cloud
Open AI

Podcast player app for English learners

Listen's logo

Story

Many Japanese people feel that they aren’t good at English because they rarely have opportunities to use English in daily life.


Japan has a lot of English learning content, but most of it features audio recordings by professionals, making it hard to study with authentic English audio.


So, I decided to create an app that supports English learning using real English audio.

Since I enjoy listening to podcasts, I chose to build an app that leverages English podcasts for learning. It took about six months to develop, and I released it on both iOS and Android.


This app allows English learners to study while listening to authentic English audio.

It includes features like subtitles, translation, dictation, and reminders to support the learning process.


However, I shut down the app eight months after its release.

The reason was the high maintenance costs. I hadn’t properly considered the business model before launching, and the expenses, such as OpenAI API fees and backend server costs, were too high. Even with a growing user base, there was no potential for revenue.


Although I closed the app, I learned a lot about the importance of cost management from this project.

Since then, I’ve made sure to carefully consider the business model before starting any personal development projects, making this experience incredibly valuable.


I wrote a blog post about the shutdown. You can read it here.

Features

Listen

Listen is a podcast player app that helps people study English.


It has the following features:


  • Subtitles: You can read the subtitles while listening to the podcast.
  • Translation: You can translate the subtitles into your native language.
  • Dictation: You can practice dictation by typing the subtitles.
  • Reminders: You can set reminders to study English at your preferred time.

Thanks to power of React Native, it was available on both iOS and Android.