# BuyNothing — user reviews > 384 indexed App Store user reviews of BuyNothing by Buy Nothing Project, Inc., rated 4.30/5 from 2,073 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/buynothing/id1557679959/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/buynothing/id1557679959.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 1,492 · 4★ 175 · 3★ 108 · 2★ 88 · 1★ 210 ## What do users think of BuyNothing? Overall sentiment: neutral **Pros** - 🤝 Friendly community interactions - ♻️ Promotes sustainability and reducing waste - 🌍 Global reach beyond local groups - 🏠 Hyper-local focus when set up properly - 📦 Smooth gifting and receiving process **Cons** - 🐛 Buggy and unreliable app functionality - 📍 Difficulty filtering for local posts - 🔑 Login and account issues - 💬 Inconsistent notifications and messaging - 💰 Paywall for key features **Commonly reported bugs** - Frequent app crashes and freezes - Login issues and inability to reset passwords - Inconsistent location settings and radius - Unreliable notifications and messaging - Inability to edit or update posts **Most requested features** - Search function to find specific posts - Ability to edit and update posts - Improved organization and sorting of posts - Syncing across multiple devices - More robust moderation and community tools ## Newest reviews (18 of 384) ### 2/5 — Messaging unusable *2026-09-05, version 3.1.5* Messaging is unusable on my phone because the message area and send button are covered by the keyboard. Fortunately the web site eorks. ### 2/5 — I really want to use this app *2026-08-19, version 3.1.4* I keep seeing bug fixes, but after contacting the company and installing the updates, I am still unable to type a message on this app. As soon as I bring up the keyboard, it covers the words I am writing. So basically I am writing blind. Almost unusable as is. I have a lot of things I want to get rid of but just can’t with this app. ### 2/5 — Location *2026-07-25, version 3.1.1* So I used the app for the first time in awhile and it won’t let me change my location at all, I went everywhere and it’s not even an option unless I upgrade to premium which sucks because I moved across the country. Idk if it’s a me problem but no matter what I clicked or did it wouldn’t let me. ### 2/5 — Nice concept, app sucks *2026-07-24, version 3.1.1* I like BuyNothing for the concept, but the poor functionality of the app is a deterrent and makes me re-delete it. Idk why it constantly cant find a login. The app has login failed for every login option and isnt sending email codes. Yet browser works fine. In fact, this started happening when I went to screen record tapping 15-20 times to open anything listing. I cant ever see the text im typing. The text box doesnt exist. Impossible to edit. So if you tap to try and send your comment, sometimes you tap away. Its just awful. On Iphone 14. ### 3/5 — Interesting, but got paper cuts *2026-07-14, version 3.1.1* The app brings a lot of what I’m looking for but it also has some annoying parts. Even when I select a radius of <1 mile I see posts coming from a different city that is around 400km away. When I tap the title of a post, it doesn’t do anything; have to tap the image to see the post. Overall clunky UX, but usable. ### 2/5 — Great concept but almost unusable in iPhone *2026-07-13, version 3.1.1* I love the concept of this — giving and receiving items to neighbors. However, the app makes it almost impossible to do certain things. For example, the message feature doesn’t work correctly. There is no way to send a message because the keyboard covers the window so I can’t see what I’m typing. I also cannot hit the submit button because it won’t let me scroll down. I was able to get everything working on my computer, but it is disappointing that this doesn’t work well enough to use on the phone. ### 2/5 — Not Hyper-Local *2026-06-17, version 3.1.0* I thought the whole point of Buy Nothing was that it’s a hyper-local gifting community. I’m on a Buy Nothing group on Facebook which is only for our town. This app shows me asks and gives all over the county and the neighboring counties. I don’t want to see posts that are a 45min drive away. I feel like it completely defeats the purpose. ### 2/5 — Nice Bones but Doesn’t Work? *2026-06-15, version 3.1.0* The app concept and general design of the app is solid but it doesn’t work half the time. The listings don’t show up, home feed only loads and never shows anything, certain options when listing an item breaks and prevents posting, a lot of pages don’t load. Not sure if it’s just me but all my other apps work fine. ### 2/5 — Good purpose, terrible app *2026-06-14, version 3.1.0* App is constantly struggling to load content. Enjoying staring at loading spinners ### 3/5 — Notifications don’t work *2026-06-14, version 3.1.0* The app overall is good but notifications never come through when people message you or respond to your items. This make it so hard to coordinate pickups and not forget. ### 3/5 — Unhappy since the update *2026-06-07, version 3.0.20* I’m not able to stay logged in anymore so I miss notifications. The old version was functional and more simple. ### 2/5 — Worse than the old version *2026-05-15, version 3.0.20* The old version felt much more streamlined. This new version seems to add a bunch of social features while making the flow of giving away things I need more difficult. There is also a bug with notifications where it perpetually shows I have a notification that I can’t clear. ### 1/5 — Virtually useless in a rural area with only a 20mile radius *2026-05-12, version 3.0.19* I love the Buy Nothing concept and I have used a Facebook group based on it when I lived in an area that had one but the app is clearly only useful for large cities because a 20 mile radius is nothing in rural areas. You’d be better off throwing paper airplanes with your offering and hoping it lands on someone’s property who can use it. I hope they will rethink this. ### 1/5 — Just spins and spins *2026-05-03, version 3.0.19* I have restarted, updated and redownloaded the app several times and it just spins and spins. ### 1/5 — App down? *2026-04-30, version 3.0.18* I haven’t been able to log on. It says account blocked, contact support. Support hasn’t replied to me in days… ### 1/5 — Won’t even open *2026-04-29, version 3.0.18* This app won’t even open. I just get a spinning wheel. ### 1/5 — Sad app *2026-04-23, version 3.0.18* It’s a great concept but the app is horrendous. Glitches all the time and not intuitive. ### 1/5 — Useless now *2026-04-09, version 3.0.16* They took a perfectly good app, that I used frequently, and made completely useless. Constant glitches! ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — can not get into it! *2026-08-05, version 3.1.3* I used to use this app regularly. When I tried to log on today, I had to ask for a security code and when I typed it in, there was no way to go to the next page. On one of my earlier attempts, I got Capcha pages that I clicked and again, there was no way to click to the next page! I made my text smaller. Same problem. I reloaded the whole app. Still could not get in. very disappointing. ### 1/5 — Difficult to navigate; many items abandoned *2026-07-29, version 3.1.2* This app is confusing to navigate. Tried many times to respond to an inquiry about my post, unsuccessful. Looked at many items that I was interested in, and all ended with a comment asking if they could see it, then nothing for like years. I assume the giver failed to close it out, and the App maker failed to observe this. ### 1/5 — Must tap multiple times and quadruple pings *2026-07-22, version 3.1.1* It pings me 4 times for each notification in rapid succession, and I have to keep tapping for several minutes to get the listing to open, it’s very buggy and as a programmer myself I find it hard to believe this isn’t deliberate ### 1/5 — Can’t Create an Account *2026-07-19, version 3.1.1* Can’t create an account, can’t sign in, in an endless loop. Garbage. ### 1/5 — Can’t verify email *2026-07-13, version 3.1.1* I get a code sent to my email to verify, enter the code but then the verify button isn’t accessible to push (it’s behind the number keyboard that doesn’t disappear) so can’t set up the app. ### 1/5 — great idea but… *2026-06-14, version 3.1.0* … but it didn’t let me even get started. app needs testing. ### 1/5 — Won’t let me log in *2026-06-01, version 3.0.20* I was using the app and I needed to talk to someone so I can pick up an item tomorrow June 1 but all of a sudden it logged me out and won’t let me log in at all. I even made a new account and it let me but I couldn’t find my other profile and the post I made asking about items I needed. This is stupid. ### 1/5 — This app sucks *2026-05-28, version 3.0.20* They regularly update the app design but it is always buggy. I donated money to them and hopefully they use it to make the app work. ### 1/5 — Pay wall immediately *2026-05-16, version 3.0.20* You can’t even get in to look at the app without subscribing. Kind of contradicts the idea of philanthropy and community support and such. ### 1/5 — Hypocrisy in values and actions *2026-05-13, version 3.0.19* Buy nothing used to allow the gift of knowledge, but now if you try to share the gift of knowledge of a community signal group, it’ll get deleted, probably because they want you to pay for the “Communities” feature. So, they won’t allow that, but they’ll allow stools made out of endangered animals (Elephants) skin and delete your comments and try to berate you for “not uniting the community” if you try to point out not liking that it’s allowed on their platform. I have better luck with fb marketplace and my local community group anyways. Deleted. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Update *2026-08-18, version 3.1.4* Works really well now! After the rocky update and redesign I’m loving it. ### 5/5 — Sharing treasures *2026-06-12, version 3.1.0* I’ve been using this app for over a year and it has helped me find homes for treasures I no longer need and find clothes, toys and equipment for my little granddaughter. Selling items can be very time consuming and stressful. It’s so much easier to just give them away. 🌻 ### 5/5 — Much needed update! *2026-03-20, version 3.0.15* Rocky launch but app found its groove, Great idea, app improving. ### 5/5 — Much better version of the app *2026-02-27, version 3.0.11* Great job - the improvements since I last used in 2023 make it so much better! ### 5/5 — A Noble Pursuit. Great People. New App Has Some Unfortunate Bugs. *2026-02-22, version 3.0.9* I love this app and the community supports and I think it's really cool that they are working on improving the application so that more people have access to it and it can be used more seamlessly. I see where they are listening to their users in trying to make changes and troubleshoot, etc., but I do wonder whether maybe there are too many chefs in the kitchen? The new version of the app feels a little bit disorienting if I'm honest and personally, I've had more trouble with notifications and getting in touch with people about pick up and drop offs than I did before. And I'm not sure but I think this version might be less accessible, which I think contradicts the ethos of resource sharing with your neighbors. my top suggestions: 1) the messaging system UI is oversimplified. Maybe return to the old interface. It looks and feels like an RSS feed now-- can't tell how many messages I have or when I have messages from anyone at all. its almost *too* "sleek". 2) more customizable notification settings. At the moment I appear to have the option to either not receive any push notifications at all or receive multiples of the same notification over and over again. 3) there is no way to exit viewing a picture within a post without restarting the app. lost functionality. 4) I see the benefit of separating asks and gives, but I might reevaluate the order they are placed in on the home screen. It took me a good amount of time to realize that the general "all recent posts" still existed because it's so far down. But most importantly, I think that by placing the gives at the top, many people are less likely to ever really see the asks unless they go looking for them, which I think disenfranchises community members that might be in need, while prioritizing the concept of taking rather than giving/not really connecting giveaways with fulfilling a need. It feels more fractured this way and, again, seems to contradict the ethos of the project. Personally, I would prefer to have them all together on a single page with the option to filter them, but if it's necessary to have them separated, this way, you might put the unified feed first, or have tabs for it down at the bottom. like I said, I say all of this with love, I know it's entirely likely that these are volunteers working on developing this app and I want the best for it! ### 5/5 — was great but can't log in after upgrade *2026-01-25, version 3.0.0* my old account is gone ### 5/5 — Great way to declutter *2026-01-16, version 2.3.5* I really appreciate to community aspect and have used it as a tool to help declutter and gift things I no longer use. Maybe I could have gotten a few hundred dollars selling things in Craigslist, but this makes me feel good and is much easier. ### 5/5 — Changing the world one item at a time *2025-12-26* It is Never that I will write a review for an app. Yet I do believe every rule has an exception. There is no other application I look forward to opening as much as this one. BuyNothing has been the cornerstone in restoring my capacity for humanity. I have met community like no other through our shared items we have excess of, and are seeking without a price tag. I am so grateful to be a conduit for magical moments. like being able to fill someone’s entire advent calendar of tea, like furnishing an entire apartment as a full time student while working, like swooping in to help clear an apartment of stuff after someone passed, like asking for extra carbs while training for a marathon (with so much encouragement), like helping organize a BuyNothing free yard sale where you bring anything you don’t need, and take what you do. The future I want is one of both community giving and receiving. I don’t need the latest gadget, the fanciest chtochkey, or whatever the latest cheap trend is. I love my dresser More because i know someone else loved it first and took care of it for the next person. I can only hope that until the day i die- I will be part of something bigger than myself, keeping items out of landfills by using them and caring for them. I know I am just one person. Yet I have met a plethora of people through this app that think the same way, and that lights up my world. This was written by a real person that cares. BuyNothing has deeply affected my life, and deserves more stars than one could ever rate it. ### 5/5 — I can now give stuff that I love to someone who will love it too *2025-12-01, version 2.3.4* This also keeps my info off the internet so I don’t have even MORE spam calls ### 5/5 — I love the people on this app! *2025-11-27, version 2.3.4* I’ve used this app to unload some items I no longer need. So far, the people I’ve met offline are kind and prompt to pick up their items. Way better experience than FB Marketplace. --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-09.*