Plenty of apps and websites can help you learn a language, and we've been reviewing them for over a decade. Few, however, cover American Sign Language (ASL). That's unfortunate since there are many reasons you might want or need to learn it. Here, we detail our five favorite apps we tested for learning ASL. Note that a hearing person wrote and edited this article; it's not meant to speak for the experience of the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities. Beyond our picks, we discuss how learning ASL differs from picking up most other languages, along with some practical advice that might help you along your journey.
Best Free Site
Lifeprint.com (ASLU)
Don't be put off by this site's old-school look. Lifeprint.com, also called ASL University or ASLU, is a wonderful free resource for ASL learners with fantastic lessons for beginners. Look for the ASL Lessons section in the upper-right corner of the homepage. Dr. William G. Vicars, Ed.D., who goes by Dr. Bill, runs the site. He was a full-time Associate Professor of American Sign Language and Deaf Studies at California State University–Sacramento.
The material in the video-based lessons is excellent. You watch as Dr. Bill teaches a student (the on-screen students rotate) while you follow along. Each lesson is between about 25 and 45 minutes. You learn a few words at a time that can build on one another to make sentences. The lessons are silent, and Dr. Bill uses a video screen to help guide you and the student along and occasionally to type out anything you might not understand through signs or fingerspelling. The one downside is that the site isn't a modern learning platform, so there aren't interactive quizzes. You're also on your own in terms of tracking your progress. The material is excellent, though, and well worth your time.
Platforms: Web
Best Overall for Adults
Sign It ASL
Of all the ASL apps and learning sites PCMag has tested, Sign It ASL is by far the most engaging and the best for adults (teens, too). Each lesson contains a short storyline built around a theme, like an episode of television you watch unfold in sign language. Between scenes, there are more focused teaching sections and quizzes. At the end of each lesson, Sign It gives you bonus content, such as interviews with the team behind the site and special guests.
Sign It ASL does an impressive job of explaining the nuances of the language. For example, you learn about ASL gloss, indexing, nonmanual markers, and other essential concepts. The program has a diverse cast of characters, so you see a variety of people signing, and you can pick up on how they do it differently, the same way you might hear different accents or word choices in orally spoken languages.
Lessons take between 45 and 60 minutes to complete, and if you're new to signing, you should repeat each two or three times. Buying all 20 lessons, which is a lot of content, costs $159.99 for lifetime access. You also get an ASL dictionary with your account. Options are available for group access at a higher cost. If you're unsure about committing, you can buy five lessons at a time for $49.99. Families with a deaf or HoH child younger than 36 months can apply for free access to Sign It ASL.
Platforms: Web
Best for Children
Signing Time (for Kids)
Signing Time handles ASL education for kids. It comes from the same team that makes Sign It, including co-creator and host Rachel Coleman. Signing Time has lessons for babies, children three years and older, and parents who want to teach young children baby sign language. In one behind-the-scenes interview on Sign It, Coleman explains that she started Signing Time to teach her extended family how to communicate with her deaf child. You can subscribe to Signing Time or buy specific video packs for lifetime access. The site sells other materials, too. You can find some of the videos on YouTube for free, but, more importantly, you get a 14-day trial when you sign up.
Platforms: Android, Apple TV, Fire TV, iOS, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, and Web
Best for Additional Practice
Lingvano
Lingvano is an online, interactive site for learning ASL. It works best as an app you use to practice ASL by yourself while learning and studying in another way. You work through Lingvano's lessons sequentially. Along the way, you learn useful concepts, such as that many ASL signs are universal and that others get easier to figure out the more you learn the language. Each lesson gives you interactive exercises. You watch video clips of someone signing to learn new words and then answer quiz-style questions.
This ASL app can also use your computer's or phone's camera to create a mirror image on the screen so you can watch yourself practice the signs. You get a fairly comprehensive ASL dictionary, too. You can access some lessons with a free account but need a Premium membership (starting at the rather high rate of $17.99 per month) to unlock all the lessons and features. The annual price ($119.99) is closer to what other language-learning apps charge.
Platforms: Android, iOS, and Web
Best for Religious Words and Phrases
Rocket Languages
Rocket Languages is one of the few language learning apps that offers online courses in orally spoken languages and ASL. The company sells its ASL course separately from other languages; you pay $99.95 for lifetime access or $20 per month with a six-month commitment. You can try the first few lessons for free.
This online course includes information about deaf culture and the history of American Sign Language. When it comes to learning signs, it presents each in a standalone video, making for a somewhat choppy experience. Other online ASL classes give you a longer video with multiple words at once. Every lesson has a theme, such as Baby Sign Language, Different Dialects, Inflection and Intensity, and Traveling. It also has lessons with religious content; learning ASL is common among religious people who actively convert, and Rocket Languages is a good resource if you are in that group.
Platforms: Android, iOS, and Web