Progress genuinely not saving is rare. What is common is progress not being earned in the first place, for one of three reasons that all look identical from the outside. This article separates them.
Watch: My progress did not save
1 min 34 s · presented by Jason, Mandarin Temple's AI tutor
Captions are part of the picture, under Jason. The full transcript is below.
Read the transcript
- Hi, I’m Jason, Mandarin Temple’s AI tutor. If your progress didn’t save, here’s how to find out why, and where it’s kept.
- First, are you signed in? Here the top right says Sign in, and the red bar invites you to start learning: you’re signed out.
- You can still read this free lesson signed out, and its sections still tick off, like Understanding here, with XP too.
- But signed out, it stays in this browser only. As the bar at the bottom says, your progress is kept once you have an account.
- Signed in, your account appears at the top right instead, and the red bar holds your own dashboard: Daily, Stats, Calendar and Guide.
- Now each section you finish is saved to your account straight away. Here’s Understanding again, ticked off in the contents bar.
- Open the same lesson in another browser, signed in to the same account, and Understanding is already ticked: the record is on your account.
- Each section counts once. Read it again and it’s still useful practice, but no new XP is added, so your total stays put.
- If a section you finished still isn’t ticked, reload the page. If it’s still missing, tell us which section of which lesson.
- Sign in before you start, and every section you finish is kept on your account.
Open the video guide on its own page, with its key moments
1. Were you signed in?
Sessions last seven days and do not renew as you use them, so a device you use daily still signs you out about once a week — quietly, mid-session, without announcing it.
Work done signed out cannot be attributed to anyone. Check the header shows your account, and if not, sign in and redo that section. It is the single commonest cause.
2. Did you actually complete the section?
Checkpoints are per section, and each has its own condition. Reading a section is completed by working through it; an exercise set by finishing it; a podcast by playing it.
Scrolling past something quickly does not complete it, and half an exercise set is not a completed exercise set. The contents bar shows exactly which sections have ticked — the unticked one is the answer.
3. You may already have earned it
Checkpoints pay once. Re-reading a section you finished last week is useful and free, but it is not new progress, so your XP does not move.
That is working correctly, and it is the reason a returning learner sometimes concludes the site has stopped counting.
When it is genuinely a fault
- Reload the page — Progress is recorded as you go rather than at the end, so a reload usually shows the real state — which is often further along than the stale page suggested.
- Check on another device — If the progress is there, the record is fine and one browser is showing something stale.
- Note the specific section — Not "my progress vanished" but "the Exercises checkpoint on HSK 2 Unit 3 Lesson 2 did not tick after I finished it".
- Tell us — Through the contact form, with that specific detail. Progress is our record of your work and we do take it seriously.
What does not happen
- Progress does not expire — Nothing decays, nothing needs redoing, and a gap of months changes none of it.
- Cancelling a plan does not erase it — Progress, XP, streaks, badges and flashcard scheduling belong to your account. Cancelling re-locks paid content and nothing else.
- Changing level does not reset it — Only what is recommended next changes.
- Running out of credits does not affect it — Credits pay for AI calls; they have nothing to do with progress.
If it is your streak that broke
A streak needs one checkpoint on the day — but on your day, in your timezone. A wrong timezone on your account moves the boundary, which is why a late-evening session occasionally counts as tomorrow.
You also hold a freeze that bridges one missed day automatically. If a streak broke anyway, the freeze had already been spent.
Common questions
Either you were signed out, or the section was already completed previously — checkpoints pay once. The contents bar tells you which sections are ticked.