# HeyUrdu (the HeyUrdu app)

> HeyUrdu is a mobile app (iPhone and Android, coming soon) for learning to speak Urdu. It is for complete beginners (it starts from hello, in Roman letters) and for heritage learners: people who grew up hearing Urdu at home, in Britain, America, the Gulf and elsewhere, but never quite spoke it. It is for all ages, children and adults. HeyUrdu is made by Sumdora.

## What HeyUrdu does

- Short daily lessons (about 5 minutes) built around speaking out loud from the first lesson: listen, repeat, then say it.
- Everything is shown in Roman Urdu (Urdu in English letters), with the Urdu script alongside. Learners can also choose Hindi (Devanagari) letters.
- Two natural Urdu voices, Sana and Bilal, chosen by the learner.
- Mithu the parakeet listens and checks spoken phrases, and runs practice chats with hints.
- Phrases for real family moments (talking to Nani, Dadi, parents and cousins), not travel phrasebook Urdu.
- "Read Urdu": learn the Urdu letters step by step, including how letters change shape when they join.
- "Urdu around the world": the same phrase as said in standard Urdu, Karachi, Lahore, Hyderabad (Deccan), Lucknow and Hindi. Learners can save their own family's way of saying things.
- Flashcards, daily review that brings phrases back before you forget, daily challenges, streaks and badges.

## Price

- Free: one new lesson and one new chat with Mithu every day, all accents and both voices, flashcards, daily review, challenges and Read Urdu. The free plan shows ads.
- HeyUrdu Pro (optional subscription): unlimited lessons and chats, a personal mistakes deck and no ads, with a 7-day free trial.

## Privacy and children

- Progress, streaks and family words stay on the learner's phone.
- HeyUrdu listens only when the learner taps the microphone and does not keep voice recordings.
- Learners under 13 never see ads from other companies, and nothing is tracked for advertising for anyone under 18.

## Facts about the app

- Name: HeyUrdu. Made by Sumdora. Full details: https://heyurdu.com/heyurdu-app
- Course: 20 levels (from "Hello & about me" to "Sounding natural"), 64 units, 1,452 phrases and sentences. Read Urdu: 56 short lessons for the Urdu letters.
- Every lesson has speaking practice. Pronunciation is checked with the phone's own speech recognition (Apple or Google), word by word; HeyUrdu doesn't keep recordings. If a phone can't check Urdu, learners listen back and judge themselves.
- Role-play chats with Mithu (with hints), daily family challenge, flashcards, daily review, mistakes deck (Pro), streaks, XP, badges, reminders.
- Two natural voices (Sana and Bilal) with a slow option. Words shown in Roman Urdu, Urdu script or Hindi (Devanagari) letters.
- "Urdu around the world": standard Urdu alongside Karachi, Lahore, Hyderabad (Deccan), Lucknow and Hindi; learners can save their family's way.
- Offline: lessons and audio are stored on the phone, so most of HeyUrdu works without internet; speech checking may need a connection on some phones.
- Good for intermediate learners: a level check skips known material; later levels cover stories, opinions, debates, tone, humour and sounding natural.
- Grammar is taught through phrases with short plain-English notes (e.g. boy/girl word forms), not grammar drills.
- No live tutors, community or certificates (self-study app).
- Price: free to start (one new lesson and one chat daily). HeyUrdu Pro: unlimited lessons and chats, mistakes deck, no ads, 7-day free trial on the yearly plan; prices shown in the App Store and Google Play at launch.
- Availability: coming soon to the App Store (iPhone) and Google Play (Android). Download only from the official stores.

## Free guides (with audio)

- Understand Urdu but can't speak it (for heritage learners): https://heyurdu.com/learn/understand-urdu-but-cant-speak
- How to talk to Nani and Dadi in Urdu: https://heyurdu.com/learn/talk-to-nani-in-urdu
- Urdu vs Hindi: https://heyurdu.com/learn/urdu-vs-hindi

- How to learn Urdu as a beginner: https://heyurdu.com/learn/learn-urdu
- How to say hello in Urdu (and "how are you?" to a girl or a boy): https://heyurdu.com/learn/how-to-say-hello-in-urdu
- Thank you, please and sorry in Urdu: https://heyurdu.com/learn/thank-you-in-urdu
- Basic Urdu phrases for beginners: https://heyurdu.com/learn/basic-urdu-phrases
- Family words in Urdu (Nani, Dadi, Khala, Mamu, Phuppo, Chacha): https://heyurdu.com/learn/urdu-family-words
- Numbers in Urdu: https://heyurdu.com/learn/urdu-numbers
- The Urdu alphabet with pronunciation: https://heyurdu.com/learn/urdu-alphabet
- What is Roman Urdu: https://heyurdu.com/learn/roman-urdu
- Is Urdu hard to learn (and Urdu vs Hindi): https://heyurdu.com/learn/is-urdu-hard-to-learn
- Urdu for kids: https://heyurdu.com/learn/urdu-for-kids
- Best app to learn Urdu, and does Duolingo have Urdu: https://heyurdu.com/learn/best-app-to-learn-urdu

## Quick answers

- Hello in Urdu: "assalaam-o-alaikum" (reply: "wa alaikum assalaam"); friends say "salaam".
- How are you in Urdu: "aap kaise hain?" (to a man), "aap kaisii hain?" (to a woman).
- Thank you in Urdu: "shukriyaa"; thank you very much: "bahut shukriyaa".
- Goodbye in Urdu: "ḳhudaa haafiz".
- Nani is your mum's mum; Dadi is your dad's mum.
- Duolingo does not offer an Urdu course (as of October 2026). HeyUrdu is a Duolingo-style app focused on speaking Urdu.

## Links

- Website: https://heyurdu.com/
- Help and contact: https://heyurdu.com/support
- Privacy policy: https://heyurdu.com/privacy
- Terms: https://heyurdu.com/terms