# Preply -- Authenticated Platform Walkthrough

**Date**: 2026-04-12
**Method**: Real registration + login, 18 screenshots
**Screenshots**: All in `/docs/01-audit/competitors/preply/` (files 01-18, no subdirectory)

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## CONFIRMED: No "Preply Kids" product -- but onboarding IS kid-aware

`preply.com/en/kids` returns 404. There is no kids-specific product, no child-safe UI, no COPPA compliance layer, no parental PIN gate, no age-appropriate interface.

However, the 11-step onboarding wizard **branches for kids** when "Lessons for kids" is selected as the goal. Subsequent questions use "the child" language and include kids-specific steps (school type, child's English level). The platform experience after onboarding is identical to the adult product.

**Design signal**: Preply treats kids as a **market segment with a customized acquisition funnel**, not as a product. The onboarding is parent-aware, but the platform is not child-aware. Novakid's advantage: the entire experience is built FOR the child, not adapted from an adult platform.

## Onboarding wizard (screenshots 02-12)

An 11-step progressive profiling flow that runs BEFORE account creation:

| Step | Screenshot | Question | Options (selection in bold) |
|------|-----------|----------|---------------------------|
| 1 | 02 | What's your goal? | Career and business / **Lessons for kids** / Exams and course work / Culture, travel and hobby |
| 2 | 03 | By when do you want to achieve this goal? | 1-4 weeks / 1-3 months / 3-6 months / **As long as it takes** / I just need one lesson |
| 3 | 04 | What kind of school does the child attend? | Elementary/Primary / **Middle/Intermediate** / High school/Secondary / College/University / Homeschool / Not currently attending school |
| 4 | 05 | What's the main reason your child is learning this language? | Studying at school / Exam preparation / Moving abroad / **Communicating with family** / For fun |
| 5 | 06 | Any other topics you would like to focus on? | **English for children** / Conversational English / English for beginners / **American English** / Intensive English / No preference |
| 6 | 07 | What's the child's English level? | Just starting / **Knows the basics** / Conversational / Fluent |
| 7 | 08 | What country would you like your tutor to be from? | Toggle: Only English native speakers. Chips: **Turkiye** / **United States of America** / United Kingdom / Canada / Australia / Any country |
| 8 | 09 | Are there any other languages you'd like your tutor to speak? | Turkish / Russian / Arabic / Spanish / Farsi / **No preference** |
| 9 | 10 | When can the child take lessons? | Days: Mon-Sun. Times: Morning / **Afternoon** / Evening / Night |
| 10 | 11 | What's your budget? | Slider: 100 -- 1,800+ TL per 50-min lesson |
| 11 | 12 | Is there anything else that could help us find your perfect tutor? | Summary tags + free-text field. CTA: "Skip and finish" |

**Design patterns**:
- Consistent layout: whimsical illustration on pink left panel, question on white right panel
- Single-select radios for most steps; multi-select chips for topics, countries, languages
- Pink "Continue" CTA throughout
- Kids-specific language ("the child", "your child") triggered by step 1 selection
- Summary tag wall at the end aggregates all choices visually
- No account creation required during the wizard -- intent capture before friction

## Platform architecture (screenshots 13-18)

**Top nav**: Home / Messages / **My lessons** / **Settings** / For business

No "Progress", "Dashboard", "Reports", or "Parent area" anywhere.

### Tutor marketplace -- filtered for kids (screenshot 13)

- **40,022 English tutors "for kids"** -- massively larger pool than Cambly Kids (~100+) or Novakid
- **Pricing**: 491--1,117 TL per **50-min lesson** (Turkish lira) visible on cards; full budget range 100--1,800+ TL per the onboarding slider
- **Badges**: "Super Tutor" (performance-based) + "Professional" (credential-based)
- **Card info**: price + lesson duration + languages spoken + specialties + star rating + review count + student count + total lessons + "Very popular. Booked X times recently" social proof + bio snippet
- **CTAs**: "Book trial lesson" (pink) + "Send message" (secondary) + "View full schedule"
- **Filter bar**: Learn / Price per lesson / Country of birth / Availability / Specialties / Also speaks / Native speaker / Tutor categories + sort + search by name/keyword

### Messages tab (screenshot 14)

- Sub-tabs: All / Unread / Archived
- Empty state: "Ready to start learning? Find a tutor and book a lesson to start improving your skills."
- Split-pane layout: conversation list left, message thread right
- Standard messaging interface, not kid-adapted

### My lessons tab (screenshot 15)

- Empty state: "No lessons yet -- As soon as you find a suitable tutor and book your first lesson, you'll see it here."
- CTA: "Find a private tutor" (pink outline)
- **No progress data, no analytics, no reporting** -- this is a booking list only

### Account Settings (screenshot 16)

Left sidebar menu:
- Account (name, photo, phone, timezone Europe/Istanbul GMT+3:00, social login -- Facebook disconnected, Google connected as Diyor K.)
- Password
- Email
- **Payment methods**
- **Payment history**
- **Autoconfirmation**
- **Calendar**
- **Notifications**
- Delete account

**No progress data anywhere in settings.** Purely account-management + billing.
**No child sub-profile** creation visible -- the parent IS the account holder, there's no concept of a child profile.

### Lesson autoconfirmation (screenshot 17)

Unique feature: automatic lesson confirmation so tutors get paid.
- Lessons in Preply classroom: autoconfirmed **15 minutes** after completion
- Lessons outside Preply: autoconfirmed **72 hours** after scheduled end time
- Two modes:
  1. Only lessons scheduled by you or rescheduled by your tutor on your behalf
  2. **Autoconfirm all** (selected) -- includes weekly lessons and tutor-initiated reschedules

### Google Calendar integration (screenshot 18)

- Connected to: diyor.khakimov@gmail.com
- "Add lessons to calendar" auto-sync to Personal calendar
- **Conflict checking** against multiple calendars (Russian Holidays, "scheduled", Personal)
- Lesson reminders: No notification / **15 min before** (selected) / 60 min before / 24 hours before
- More functional than Cambly Kids' basic calendar sync (which lacks conflict checking)

## Key findings for thesis

### P1: "Lessons for kids" filter with smart onboarding != "kids product"

Preply's approach is more nuanced than initially noted. The onboarding IS parent-aware (school type, child's level, child's schedule), which means Preply captures meaningful context about the child. But the platform experience after onboarding is identical to the adult product: 50-minute lessons (vs. Novakid's attention-optimized 25 minutes), no child-safe UI, no parental controls.

**Citation for research.html**:
> "Preply lists 40,022 English tutors 'for kids' and runs an 11-step onboarding wizard that asks about the child's school type, English level, and schedule. But the experience after onboarding is identical to their adult platform: 50-minute lessons (vs. Novakid's attention-optimized 25 minutes), no child-safe UI, no COPPA compliance, no parental controls. The 'for kids' label is a search filter with smart onboarding -- not a product."

### P2: Zero progress visibility -- confirmed

No parent-facing progress view anywhere. "My lessons" shows a booking/history list, not longitudinal progress tracking. No metrics, no charts, no AI summaries, no teacher feedback aggregation, no CEFR tracking.

### P3: Pricing signal

Visible tutor card prices: 491--1,117 TL per 50-min lesson. Budget slider full range: 100--1,800+ TL. At ~35 TL/USD, that's approximately $3--$51/lesson. Combined with 50-min lesson duration, this positions Preply as a marketplace with extreme price variance (tutors from different economies).

### P4: Autoconfirmation -- unique booking feature

Auto-approve tutor-initiated schedule changes and lesson completions. 15 min auto-confirm for in-platform, 72h for external. This is a maturity signal for frequent users. Novakid could consider "auto-rebook" for parents with established teacher relationships.

### P5: 11-step onboarding as competitive intelligence

The onboarding captures: goal, timeline, school type, learning reason, topic focus, English level, tutor country, tutor languages, schedule, budget, free-text notes. This is the most comprehensive onboarding among all competitors reviewed. It demonstrates parents are willing to provide detailed context about their child if the UX is smooth and illustrated.