# Palaver IRC — user reviews > 113 indexed App Store user reviews of Palaver IRC by COCODE LTD, rated 4.10/5 from 36 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/palaver-irc/id538073623/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/palaver-irc/id538073623.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 21 · 4★ 6 · 3★ 3 · 2★ 2 · 1★ 4 ## What do users think of Palaver IRC? Overall sentiment: mixed **Pros** - 🎨 Clean, modern, and intuitive user interface - 🔗 Excellent ZNC bouncer integration and support - 📱 Native iOS design that feels natural on Apple devices - 🔔 Push notification support for messages - 🖼️ Built-in image preview and Imgur upload features - ⚡ Fast and responsive performance - 👨‍💻 Responsive and supportive developer - 🎯 Best IRC client available on iOS App Store - 🌙 Adaptive theme based on screen brightness - 📝 Message deduplication for ZNC buffer playback **Cons** - 🔌 Disconnects when app goes to background - ⚠️ App requires reconnection after brief inactivity - 🐛 Frequent crashes on startup and during use - 📦 No longer actively maintained or updated - 🔐 Missing security features like Face ID/passcode - ⌨️ Autocomplete interferes with iOS keyboard - 🚫 Limited IRC command support - 💾 No message logging or chat history preservation - 🎮 Lacks DCC file transfer capability - 🔋 High battery consumption reported **Commonly reported bugs** - App closes connections when backgrounded - Crashes on startup for some users - Autocomplete adds random characters and spaces - Keyboard fails to minimize and pops back up - Whois queries display incorrectly - Channel ghosting on app reopen - Slow scrollback loading with large buffers - Auto-scroll interferes with reading history - Nick autocomplete capitalizes incorrectly - Crashes when viewing channel user list - Push notifications sent multiple times - Notification badge counter inaccurate - ZNC push notifications failing intermittently - Message retention conflicts with ZNC playback - Server messages incorrectly prefixed with nick - Cannot join hidden channels - Performance issues with large ZNC buffers **Most requested features** - Background connection persistence - Face ID or passcode app security - DCC file transfer support - Blowfish encryption support - Custom channel sorting/organization - Message logging and chat history - Keyboard shortcut for input focus - Custom quit/exit messages - SASL authentication support - Landscape mode support - Custom themes and color customization - In-app browser for link preview - Notification tone customization - iCloud sync for settings across devices - Persistent channel topic display - Tab-based channel switching - Nick autocomplete via tab key - User list visibility while typing - Command history navigation - Detailed IRC command support ## Newest reviews (13 of 113) ### 2/5 — Keeps disconnecting *2025-11-13* Will not stay connected, even if I switch away from it for just a moment. Also doesn’t reconnect properly. ### 3/5 — Disconnection still a problem *2024-09-10* The first and immediate concern is, why does the app close connections when the app isn’t in focus. Sending the app to the background will close out your connections. The observation has been made by several other reviewers. Would like to hear from the developer. It also seems that the app has not received a new build in quite some time. Otherwise a solid app for the price. ### 4/5 — Znc! *2022-08-30, version 2.10.3* It’s great that it has znc capabilities and I have it setup with linuxserver.io docker-znc image, which includes the palaver extension. But I have to dock palaver one star because it doesn’t have Face ID or a passcode to secure the app. Maybe I’m paranoid, but I don’t want someone using my phone to have access to my IRC. ### 4/5 — Best irc app *2021-11-09* This is a great app, but I wish above any other feature, that I could automatically sort my channels without having to manually drag the channels around. ### 4/5 — Pretty good *2020-10-27* Can you make a keyboard shortcut to focus on the input box though? This is almost completely navigable with keyboard only, except for sending messages 🤠 ### 4/5 — Almost Perfect *2020-08-01, version 2.10.1* IRC is old, and let’s be honest, hasn’t kept up with the shift to mobile and multiple devices. However, Palaver combined with ZNC and the Palaver push notification module is probably as close as you can get to a fluid mobile experience. It’s a great app and offers all the feature you’d expect from irc plus a few more ### 4/5 — I like it BUT... *2020-07-27* I like the App so far- aesthetically pleasing, ergonomical, fairly straightforward. HOWEVER, I wish it had a function or option to REMAIN CONNECTED when I go use another app or do something else with my phone. For $1.99, I think I should get that. ### 4/5 — Can’t Connect to Gamesurge server (EDIT) *2020-06-20* Does this app support gamesurge? I tried connecting and am getting an error, perhaps I am typing in incorrect info but if anyone knows how to connect to Gamesurge via ANY IRC app for Iphone, please let me know. I was able to successfully connect to Gamesurge, which was the main issue here. App looks great, I really enjoy the layout. The only things bugging me is the fact that if I leave the app running in the background for a very short amount of time, if I bring the app back up, I have to reconnect to everything, which is a bit annoying. Only other thing is the signature when you leave, it leaves a link to Palaver’s website, which I don’t want. A custom exit message could be nice, but I mostly just don’t want to see the link. Aside from this, I do enjoy the app. **Developer response:** Hey westside24ch, connecting to GameSurge works just fine in our testing, just make sure to turn off SSL (the server does not seem to support this). If you still experience issues, could you reach out to us on support@palaverapp.com and share the exact error message? Then we can help you find the problem. ### 3/5 — Please add Blowfish support *2020-05-23* Blowfish encryption is missing to this beautiful client. Without blowfish it's almost useless ### 2/5 — No DCC *2019-12-30* Shame that an IRC client that has been around for as long as this has — and still being maintained! — still has somewhat limited functionality. **Developer response:** We're open to feature suggestions from our users and like to know what other features you miss in the client. We would like to invite you to our #palaver channel to discuss further. We've considered supporting DCC, but concluded we cannot offer a reliable experience in a mobile client. The DCC protocol is problematic on most mobile, including Wi-Fi networks due to carrier-grade NAT, NAT, and firewall restrictions. IPv6 vs IPv4 on networks are also rather problematic. Even if we were to include support, it will not work for most of our users. ### 5/5 — Excellent client for the price *2019-07-27, version 2.8.4* This is a really slick client. I love the way it looks (very iOS-y, 10/10 btw), the way it loads, and the way there is a level of "hackability." I've never had to pay for a mobile IRC client before but after seeing the price of other clients and the departure of others, I feel comfortable paying for this one. Will definitely recommend to my friends. ### 5/5 — My preferred for 2+ years *2019-03-19, version 2.8.3* It does pretty without skimping significantly on functionality. kudos for proactively supporting ZNC. I considered this the best IRC app on iOS over 2 years ago and after taking a long hiatus that hasn't changed. well done. ### 5/5 — Best IRC client period! Read... *2017-08-29, version 2.6.0* I been on IRC for 18 years. I used a ton of clients, from windows OS to Linux/UNIX. Shell based and etc. Wrote scripts for clients. I also used many IRC clients for iOS since first one ever came out and always had some disappointments, there was always something missing even if it was paid ones. This app is great, very simple and very clean GUI. All the features you can possible need and more if you want. Hands down, the best IRC client for iOS since iOS was released. I want to thank these guys for releasing it for free with no ads and doing such a great job. I would be more then happy to actually pay for this. Please keep up a great work and keep this app alive. Twitter: vysniukas, Freenode: ertz ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Don’t buy until there’s an update in 2024 *2024-05-25, version 2.10.3* Lots of bugs. It’s currently abandonware. Don’t recommend buying until they update it for new iOS versions ### 1/5 — No Longer Maintained *2024-02-27* Palaver has not been updated in years and lacks many IRCv3 capabilities. I would recommend users try Goguma. ### 1/5 — Mystified *2023-12-31* I paid the fee to check it out. I don’t get it at all. What’s it supposed to do? ### 1/5 — Bought it for one reason, and it didn’t come with that feature… *2022-03-25, version 2.10.3* I bought Palaver to be able to do dcc file transfers. Unlike some other IRC programs on iOS it does not do them. I feel like I wasted my money therefore. ### 1/5 — Not bad *2020-12-26, version 2.10.2* It use to be okay back in the day but now lags behind the competition - there are better alternatives. ### 1/5 — Can’t recommend *2020-02-12, version 2.10.0* Failing to send push notifications while running in background using ZNC. Bought this app specifically to get notifications, on my phone, for 24/7 response. ### 1/5 — The latest update screwed things up for ZNC users. *2017-09-19* The latest update (2.7.0) seems to have added your nick as a prefix for server messages and it's especially noticeable with ZNC altering your away status when you start the app. This is not normal at all. As such, Palaver recognizes these as notifications since like a typical IRC client, you want to be notified when your nick is mentioned. By connecting to a number of networks at once through ZNC, you are shown that your nick was mentioned a large number of times (mine being 22 times). You have to view the server messages for each network in order to clear them which is a big annoyance. After dealing with this multiple times, you sort of stop caring if any of these notifications came from an actual person mentioning your nick in a channel. As of now my options for dealing this is currently: a) waste time clearing these out every time I launch the app, b) completely disable notifications which means I won't be told when someone mentions my nick, or c) use a different iOS IRC client. Until this issue is fixed or turned into a configurable option, I'm going with c). To repeat myself, this has nothing to do with ZNC and is very much a client-end thing, and a strange one at that. **Developer response:** Hi, We started badging the network console when you receive unknown events as it was unclear to users where these went. Looks like a few slipped through that shouldn't cause the badging and we've now ignore away and unaway like messages. Palaver 2.7.1 will be out shortly making this change. We've added a configuration option in 2.7.1 to disable this feature entirely if desired, please email us or reach out on IRC if you need any help. Please enjoy Palaver 2.7.1. ### 1/5 — No longer connects. *2017-04-16, version 2.5.2* Trying to connect to an irc always fails, so… what's the point? ### 1/5 — Needs serious support and bug fixes *2016-12-22, version 2.5.1* Update: Versions 2.5 and 2.5.1 contain multiple serious bugs and crashes. New message retention feature seems to conflict with ZNC playback module. Downgraded to 2.4.1. Update: Version 2.4.1 seems to be working properly. Update: Version 2.1.1 crashes on iOS 7 when connecting to ZNC. Reinstalling does not help. Keep hoping for a working update, each one says it fixes bugs but creates new crashers. Update: Version 2.1.0 (1281) crashes instantly on iOS 7. Wiping app and settings, then reinstalling and recreating settings seems to work. Developers continue to ignore support channels. Avoid. Clean and functional when it works, but unstable and support is non-existent. Resource intensive, takes forever to load single channels/queries, kills battery. iPad version has some really bad layout bugs. ### 1/5 — Font is broken *2016-06-01, version 2.4.1* New update increased font size. Cannot use small font size even when disabling system font settings within app ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Best IRC for Apple Products *2025-01-16* Clean and modern client that aims to bring IRC back to the masses with an easy-to-use interface. ### 5/5 — Amazing little client *2023-08-04, version 2.10.3* This client has ZNC support where the disconnect and reconnect are seamless, which is nice since iOS and iPadOS limit background connections. The in app link and image preview feature is great too. ### 5/5 — Simple,beautiful,useful. *2021-02-02* It’s really easy to use. The only issue is always be disconnected. But I give 5 star for effort. Many thanks. ### 5/5 — It’s the best we’ve got *2020-11-26* So, look. I gave it five stars on a curve. The rest of the field is... lacking. Palaver’s ZNC support is great. The UI is standard iOS, which is good. I’d love for custom themes, or at least the ability to customize elements within a theme. Still, it’s easily the best IRC client on the App Store. ### 5/5 — Active developers, daily use app. *2020-05-28, version 2.10.0* “Your app lit my cat on fire. It’s good enough that I realized… the cat can suffer.” Former Mutter user, switched to Palaver without hesitation after witnessing the developers responsiveness and passion within their support channel. ⌘K was a suggestion of mine; thanks! ### 5/5 — Smooth and well designed experience. *2020-04-12, version 2.10.0* I use Palaver for my iPhone and iPad and it works exceedingly smooth. Modern features are supported along with some ZNC bouncer support. Devs are also responsive. ### 5/5 — Best Mutter replacement *2020-01-11* For a long time I used Mutter IRC to access IRC through my ZNC bouncer on my iPhone. Mutter reached its end of life this past summer, and I was left in want of the features that Mutter had, particularly a ZNC push notification module. Palaver works great as a Mutter replacement! It has a ZNC push notification module that works just like Mutter’s did. It’s design is intuitive and sleek. My only qualm with it was resolved in Palaver’s most recent update—it now supports the buffextras ZNC module, so joins/parts read correctly on playback! ### 5/5 — Best IRC App *2020-01-10, version 2.10.0* Literally the best IRC app I’ve ever used for any platform ever, and I’ve been a user of IRC for nearly 20 years. If I could pay for this app all over again I would ### 5/5 — Decent app, great developer! *2020-01-09* I appreciate the developer’s supportiveness. I had trouble getting the ZNC-push module to work for me. It turned out to be an SSL certificate trust issue on my server, and Kyle pointed me in the right direction to get things working again. ### 5/5 — Does what I want *2019-11-15* Connects to my bouncer. Presumably will keep getting updated since it’s for-pay. --- *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 2026-06-10.*