Smartphones can be such convenient tools to have around, but the unfortunate truth is that they can be equally addictive and detrimental to our quality of life. Instead of giving in to doomscrolling every time you pick up your phone, it can be a great idea to invest in some top adult learning apps to give you a productive reason to look at your phone when you’re bored. Breaking the TikTok addiction isn’t easy—these apps are designed to keep you numbed and engaged—but successfully doing it can be refreshing. Looking through our list of the best learning apps for adults in 2025, you might just find the inspiration you need to get started.

Learning doesn’t have to stop once you graduate from school or college. The more you open yourself to new knowledge and skills, the healthier it is for you in the long run, no matter your age. From the best language apps to the ones that introduce you to coding, a lot can be learnt online, even as you focus on the challenges that make up your day.

Image: Pexels

Best Learning App for Adults in 2025—Here’s How to Keep the Doomscrolling Away

If you’re used to checking your phone to see the time only to realize that two hours have passed and you’ve spent them scrolling through Reels instead of checking the time and putting it back down, you’re not alone. We’re all bound to look for distractions when we are bored or when we are avoiding things we don’t want to work on. It’s a natural phenomenon that has always been around, but instead of focusing on hobbies or building up skills, we now tend to rely exclusively on social media. 

This can lead to an addictive loop of giving in to temptation and feeling guilty over it when you finally snap out. Social media content is also inflammatory by nature, feeding into your emotions and insecurities and providing you with a constant stream of content that aligns with it, making you feel worse at the end of it all. 

If you’re looking for apps to replace doomscrolling, you’ve come to the right place. We’re breaking down some educational tools for adult learners, which should give you an opportunity to break the cycle and spend your time on something fruitful.

Image: Babbel on Google Play Store

1. Babbel: Top Language App for 2025

If you’ve always wanted to learn a new language or brush up your skills with one you already know, using Babbel is a great way to do it. The app offers 13 different languages to choose from, allowing you to perfect your linguistic skills before your next trip abroad. It also offers online classes for those who prefer group learning, making the experience more engaging. Unfortunately, the majority of its services are paid, but if you’re serious about learning, it can be well worth the cost.

The Babbel app is one of the best learning apps for adults in 2025, particularly because of its option to learn through group classes. It can be more advanced for learners who are starting their language journey in an entirely unfamiliar tongue, so if you’re a beginner, you can try Memrise or Rosetta Stone instead. Duolingo is facing some backlash due to its unabashed use of AI, so if you’re looking for an alternative, consider these apps a pathway to your learning.

Image: Nerdish on Google Play Store

2. Nerdish: Best Choice For Learning Something New Every Day

In 2025, most of the information we consume revolves around trends or the political climate, leaving little room for learning about the art, science, and history that have reshaped where we are today. A little bit of learning never hurt anyone, and Nerdish is a great way to have a fun fact or two at your disposal every time you want to pop one out at a party. 

The app provides bite-sized articles on a range of topics to ensure you aren’t bogged down by the information, building up your world knowledge one step at a time. You can also try out some quizzes to test your retention, making it a fun way to learn and remember more. If you’re looking for educational tools for adult learners, this is a great place to start.

Image: Sololearn on Google Play Store

3. Sololearn: Learning Coding On the Go

Among the many top-rated learning tools for adults, we often find coding alternatives frequently make an appearance. Many have made careers in coding, while others with a passing interest in it never found a chance to explore it fully due to one reason or another. If you’re among the latter, apps like Sololearn can make it very easy to start with the basics of programming languages like SQL, Java, C#, Python, and many more. 

Learning directly from an instructor is always better, but if you don’t have time to enroll in a full-time course, relying on an app can be a good use of your free time. Khan Academy, Grasshopper, and Enki are some other coding alternatives as well. 

Image: Brilliant on Google Play Store

4. Brilliant: Best Choice to Work on Math and Problem Solving 

Promising to help users get smart in 15 minutes, Brilliant is an extremely useful way to revisit math and science concepts daily. Learning math in school is fun for some and a nightmare for many, but a lot of that knowledge is lost in adulthood, when the principles are rarely applied and a calculator is just one click away. 

Brilliant breaks down complex concepts into bite-sized chunks and pairs them with interactive lessons for a more hands-on approach to learning. Another one of the top learning apps for adults in 2025, Brilliant allows you to familiarize yourself with tricky concepts and the logic behind them rather than just forcefully learning them as a matter of fact with no explanation. If you want to keep your brain young and healthy, this is one way to do it. 

Image: Fable on Google Play Store

5. Fable: Commit to Reading More In 2025

Fable isn’t an educational app per se, but it gives you a good reason to start a new habit. The app allows users to track their reading for the year, giving them an opportunity to review and discuss their thoughts on their latest reads. Instead of spending time on traditional social media apps that leave you frustrated or on the edge, Fable allows you to build a community around reading, opening up discussion rooms for those who really want to get down into the details of their favorite books.

The app makes it much easier to find your next read and provides you with the encouragement you need to meet your reading goals, thanks to its well-designed stats page. You could also give Goodreads a shot, but the outdated UI can be a little unappealing. Storygraph is also another similar alternative.

It’s Time to Invest in Apps to Replace Doomscrolling

Apps that promise a more productive way to spend your time on your smartphone can be the one factor that changes your mood and clears up any lingering brain fog in record time. If these apps don’t work for you, also consider alternatives from our list of special mentions.

• Really: For those who have a scrolling addiction but want to spend it on learning something new
• Deepstash: For those who want to develop a habit of learning something new every day, making it possible in just 5 minutes
• Brain Games For Adults: For those who love puzzles and want to build on their concentration and reasoning
• Yousician: For those who want to learn musical instruments but don’t know where to start
• Crash Course: For those looking for a refresher on humanities and science topics
• Morse Mania: For those who have always wanted to learn Morse code
• Google Arts & Culture: For those who want a fun way to look at art and find magic in their own images

No matter where your interests lie, there’s an app out there that can help you develop a more productive way to direct your screen time in 2025. Take a moment to check out these apps and see if you find one that catches your interest. Learning doesn’t have to be difficult or boring, and neither does it have to stop.

Did you have your own recommendations for learning apps for adults in 2025? Let us know what apps you use to replace doomscrolling. Subscribe to Technowize for more updates on all things technology.