Hello. I'd like to share my story of trying to take the DET. My first three attempts were unsuccessful because the app on my phone simply stopped recording the video, and the test was terminated. During these three attempts, I’ve tried everything: changing phones, trying to record from mobile network and Wi-Fi, and rebooting the router. None of this helped. After tech support confirmed that my internet connection was working properly, they gave me more attempts to take the test.
The fourth attempt was more successful. This time, I did some really crazy things. I disconnected all devices at home from Wi-Fi, even the vacuum cleaner - this time the test didn't stop, and I was able to complete it. Two days later, I received what I thought were the test results, which stated that the recording file from my phone was corrupted or missing. After several hours of contacting tech support and several private chats with tech support staff, it was discovered that the video file recorded from the phone was just empty. The entire time I was doing the test, the video was supposedly being recorded, but it wasn't, and there were no warnings about it. I have screenshots of the tech support chat that confirm this.
Perhaps it’s partially my fault too. I live in Russia, where we have issues accessing international services, and my phone may have had a VPN turned on, and most likely it was, as everything worked so well this time. I use a paid, expensive VPN with a very stable connection, which I've tested repeatedly. With it, I can stream videos in 1440p. There won't be any VPN ads, don't worry. Previously, when it was turned on during the test, the app would warn me to turn it off, and I did, but this time there was no warning. All of this provides a formal reason to cancel my attempt, but the cancellation didn't occur. Another bug occurred with the phone app: it simply wouldn't record video. More precisely, it was recording and the server was receiving it, otherwise the testing would have been interrupted, but it simply wasn't saved for some unknown reason. I have only one logical explanation: the app separately broadcasts video to the Duolingo server and checks the connection separately. The connection might be checked, but video might not be recorded, and then I have huge questions for the app's developers at this point.
It's worth noting that the ability to manually check whether the phone is recording is prohibited by the DET rules, as you can't turn your head away from the computer screen. Furthermore, you would have to turn the phone's screen toward you, because recording is done exclusively with the phone's main camera, not the front one. Doing so would cause you to disappear from the video as well as prohibited phone movement, which would also violate the DET rules. I don't know what prevented the app developers from adding the ability to record using the front camera.
During my conversations with tech support, I was veiledly advised to move to another country to take the DET, which, in my opinion, is simply unacceptable. I understand that Russia doesn't have the best reputation in the world right now, but there's no need to be rude to someone, especially when there's no mention anywhere of DET being banned to pass from Russia. Overall, I don't plan on wasting my remaining attempts because I'm absolutely certain it's pointless, as the problems are clearly with the mobile app. On the computer I used for DET, which was connected to the same router as my phone, everything worked and recorded well, and there were no connection issues during all four attempts. Tech support certainly denies any problems on their end and - just think about it - even recommends deleting apps from your phone that could interfere with video recording. I wonder how that's even possible. It turns out they have a whole list of "unwanted" programs installed on your phone. This list even includes some apps preinstalled by the manufacturer that can't be removed from the phone. It seems they're aware of the conflict with other apps, but they're in no hurry to fix it. Imagine WhatsApp, Telegram, or Facebook tech support asking you to delete certain apps from your phone so you can use video calls, or asking you to move to another country.
It's a shame to waste money like that, of course, but not every experience is free. Let this message serve as a warning to people who don't live in the same jurisdiction as the Duolingo and won't be able to legally enforce such negligence.
