Best app to learn American Sign Language (ASL)
Start with Lingvano ($119.99 a year): short video lessons made and signed by Deaf teachers, and a camera check of your fingerspelling. ASL Bloom ($98.99 a year) also teaches with native Deaf signers, and gives you two lessons free every day for as long as you like. SignSchool's course is free on its website. If you would rather pay once, Rocket Sign Language is $99.95 for good. To sign with a person, book a live session with one of Lingvano's Deaf tutors.
Prices checked 6 Sept to 15 Oct 2026 · How we check
7 of the 60 apps we cover list American Sign Language; 5 of them are free to keep using and 2 more free to try.
ASL is the sign language of Deaf communities in the United States and much of Canada. It is a language of its own, with its own grammar, not English in signs, and it is a different language from British Sign Language. The apps here show you each sign on video and check that you understood it; only Lingvano's camera checks some of what you sign, your fingerspelling, so plan to practise with people who sign as soon as you can.
What a year of American Sign Language costs
Every app that teaches American Sign Language and sells a yearly plan, cheapest first, from the plans on each app's own pages. Not on it: SignSchool, which sells no yearly plan in dollars, and Rocket Languages, bought once rather than by the year.
The yearly planPaying month to month for 12 months
How far each American Sign Language course goes
Each app's American Sign Language course as its maker describes it: the level it says the course reaches, and how big it is. 1 of the 5 courses state a CEFR level; the rest use their own levels or state none. A course's level is what its lessons cover, not proof that you will reach it. Sizes are each maker's own measure (words, hours, lessons or units), so they cannot be compared directly. Read from each maker's pages on 12 Oct 2026 and 15 Oct 2026. What the CEFR levels mean.
| App and course | How far it goes | How big it is |
|---|---|---|
| PromovaAmerican Sign Language · Promova help: languages and levels | A1 | Not stated |
| Rocket LanguagesRocket Sign Language · Rocket Languages: Sign Language (ASL) prices | Beginner to intermediate | 96 hours of lessons: 30 sign language lessons and 18 video lessons, with a video dictionary of 3,090 words and phrases |
| ASL BloomASL · Apple's US App Store: ASL Bloom | Not stated | 23 modules, 120+ video lessons and 1,300+ signs and sentences |
| LingvanoASL · Apple's US App Store: Lingvano | Not stated | 600+ lessons |
| Pocket SignASL · Pocket Sign's lessons page | Not stated | 76 lessons and a dictionary of 10,000+ signs |
Every app that teaches American Sign Language
Recommended first within each type of app. Sort any column or filter by what matters to you.
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| Best for | Free tier | Speech | Tutor | Offline | CEFR | Refund or trial | Where to buy | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Course apps | |||||||||||
| PromovaCourse app | Short lessons with AI speaking practice | $83.99 a year$7 a month, billed yearly | $19.99 | — | Free to keep using Courses are free if you watch an ad before each lesson; AI role-play is limited. | — | No | — | A1 | A free trial for new subscribers. Refunds for website and Google Play purchases are asked for by email; App Store purchases go through Apple. | |
| LingvanoCourse app | Learning ASL or BSL from Deaf teachers, in short video lessons | $119.99 a year$10 a month, billed yearly | $17.99 | — | Free sample A few lessons free, with no payment details; Premium unlocks every lesson, the vocabulary, fingerspelling and numbers trainers and the dictionary, after a 7-day free trial. | — | Signing Practices led by a Deaf tutor, live: a group session or one to one, booked apart from the app, for learners in the US. | — | — | A 7-day free trial with any plan. Bought on Lingvano's website: a refund if you ask within 14 days of your last renewal, through a support ticket. App Store and Google Play purchases are refunded by Apple or Google, and Lingvano says a plan that began with the 7-day trial can't be refunded there. | |
| Rocket LanguagesCourse app | Paying once per level, not a subscription | $99.95Rocket Sign Language | — | $99.95 | Free trial A free trial; the page does not say what it includes or for how long. | — | No | — | Its own levelsBeginner to intermediate | A free trial; 60-day money-back guarantee on purchases. | |
| ASL BloomCourse app | Learning ASL from native Deaf signers, a few free lessons a day | $98.99 a year$8.25 a month, billed yearly | — | — | Free to keep using Two free lessons every day, with no time limit; Premium unlocks every lesson and the Collections. | — | — | — | — | ASL Bloom offers a money-back guarantee for up to 30 days after you buy, and nothing after that. App Store and Google Play purchases are refunded by Apple or Google. | |
| SignSchoolCourse app | Learning ASL free, on a computer | Free | — | — | Free to keep using Everything: the lessons on its website, the dictionary and the review games, with a free account. | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Vocabulary and flashcard apps | |||||||||||
| Pocket SignVocabulary and flashcards | Building ASL vocabulary in short lessons, with a big video dictionary | $59.99 a year$5 a month, billed yearly | $5.99 | — | Free to keep using A free lesson each day, the video dictionary and the alphabet; the other lessons stay locked until you subscribe. | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Language exchange | |||||||||||
| TandemLanguage exchange | Language exchange with native speakers | $39.99 a year$3.33 a month, billed yearly | — | — | Free to keep using Free account with many features; Tandem Pro unlocks the rest | — | No | — | — | Google Play purchases refundable within 14 days of a 1-month subscription or 30 days of a 3-month or 12-month subscription; iOS refunds requested from iTunes within 14 days | |
Which to choose
You want a course taught by Deaf signers
Lingvano
Lingvano teaches only sign languages, and every lesson is made and signed by Deaf teachers. Its ASL course has 600+ short lessons: you match signs to pictures and videos, put signed sentences in order, type what a signer says and watch dialogues between Deaf signers, slowing any video down. The camera checks the letters you fingerspell, and trainers for vocabulary, fingerspelling and numbers, a dictionary of signs and flashcards sit beside the lessons. A few lessons are free; ASL Premium is $17.99 a month or $119.99 a year in Apple's US App Store, after a 7-day free trial.
You want to start free and keep going a while
ASL Bloom
ASL Bloom is taught by native Deaf signers, in 23 modules of short video lessons built around everyday places, from introductions and family to the café and the doctor, with lessons on ASL grammar and Deaf culture. You watch each sign, slowed down if you like, and answer quizzes on it, and a dictionary of 11,000 sign videos sits beside the lessons. Two lessons a day are free with no end date; Premium is $98.99 a year in Apple's US App Store, and ASL Bloom refunds a purchase within 30 days. Nothing checks how you sign.
You want it free, on a computer
SignSchool
SignSchool is free: a course of short video lectures, interactive exercises and reviews on its website, built by a team that includes a Deaf co-founder, with a webcam view so you can sign alongside the teacher (nothing is recorded or checked). Its phone apps hold the dictionary of thousands of signs from different signers, searchable by topic or handshape, with review games and a fingerspelling game.
You want vocabulary in a few minutes a day
Pocket Sign
Pocket Sign teaches ASL vocabulary in 76 short video lessons, from food and family to questions and feelings, with a dictionary of 10,000+ signs, the alphabet and flashcards. One lesson a day is free; the rest need $5.99 a month or $59.99 a year in Apple's US App Store. Its makers call it a study companion and advise learning from Deaf teachers too.
You would rather pay once
Rocket Sign Language
Rocket Languages sells Rocket Sign Language for $99.95 once, with lifetime access: 96 hours of lessons, beginner to intermediate, in 30 sign language lessons and 18 video lessons, a searchable video dictionary of 3,090 words and phrases, and lessons on Deaf culture and etiquette. Every video can be slowed down or replayed. It comes with a free trial and a 60-day money-back guarantee.
You already learn a spoken language with Promova
Promova
Promova's American Sign Language course is one level, A1 by Promova's own count: the alphabet and fingerspelling, everyday signs, simple sentences and questions, each sign shown in a close-up video by its tutor, with quizzes and Deaf culture notes. Its first lessons are free, and Premium ($83.99 a year) covers every language Promova teaches, so it suits you best if you use Promova for another language too.
You want to sign with a person
A Deaf tutor on Lingvano, or Tandem
Lingvano's live Signing Practices are led by Deaf tutors, for learners in the US: on its booking page (read 15 Oct 2026) a group session is $19 for an hour, and one to one $29 for 30 minutes or $45 for 45, booked apart from the app. Tandem, the free language exchange, lists American Sign Language among its languages, and its video calls let you practise with a partner who signs. Neither replaces a local ASL class or time with Deaf signers.
Questions people ask
What is the best app to learn ASL?
Lingvano, for short video lessons made by Deaf teachers and a camera check of your fingerspelling. ASL Bloom, also taught by native Deaf signers, if you want to learn free for a while: two lessons a day cost nothing. Rocket Sign Language if you would rather pay once ($99.95) for a course from beginner to intermediate. The table lists every app we cover that teaches ASL, with its price.
Can you learn ASL for free with an app?
Yes, the basics. SignSchool's whole course is free on its website, with a free sign dictionary in its apps. ASL Bloom gives you two lessons free every day and Pocket Sign one, for as long as you like. Lingvano gives you a few lessons free and Rocket Sign Language has a free trial. Promova's ASL page offers free intro lessons, and its help pages say its courses are free if you watch an ad before each lesson. Tandem is free, and lists American Sign Language among the languages you can practise with a partner.
Is ASL the same as British Sign Language?
No. ASL and BSL are separate languages, and even their fingerspelling differs: ASL spells with one hand, BSL with two. Bright BSL and Lingvano teach BSL as its own course (see the best apps to learn BSL), and Lingvano teaches Austrian Sign Language from German.
Can an app check my signing?
Partly. Of the apps we compare, only Lingvano's camera checks what you sign, and only the letters you fingerspell in ASL. SignSchool shows your webcam beside its teacher so you can compare, but nothing checks it. The other courses show you each sign and check that you understood it, not how you made it, so a Deaf tutor or a class is how you find out whether people read your signing.