Idea Store vs MatesPlace
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Idea Store
Manage your library account on the go. Search the catalog, renew borrowed items, and place holds on new books directly from your mobile device.
- Manage library account
- Search catalog
- Renew books
- Reserve books
- Access from iPhone/iPad
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Access Idea Store - Tower Hamlets Libraries from your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Manage your account, search the catalogue, renew and reserve books.
MatesPlace
Find flats and flatmates in the UK through your social network. Connect with friends of friends for secure and trusted housing options. Ideal for students, professionals, and those new to the UK.
- Find flats and flatmates
- Connect through friends of friends
- Secure and trusted housing
- Control search by connection degree
- Award-winning customer support
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MatesPlace is the only app to help you to find flats and flatmates through friends of friends. Whether you're looking for a spare room or whole house in the UK, using MatesPlace you have the reassurance and security of finding a place through friends of friends and your wider social network. You can control the search to your preferred degrees of connection, meaning safer, trusted and more reliable places to live. We’ve helped thousands of people find their perfect flatmates and flatshare, becoming friends for life. Whether you’re doing an internship, leaving university, moving to the UK or just looking for a change – we’re here to help. We’re all about quality over quantity which is why everything we’ve achieved has been through word of mouth and recommendations. Our award-winning customer support team can help you with your search. If you require support, find a bug or want to provide feedback, you can message us and look forward to a speedy response.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: MatesPlace at 57% against Idea Store's 20%. MatesPlace also leads on update cadence (every 4 weeks vs every 2 months). Idea Store's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and ads (none vs shown). On price and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. MatesPlace sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Idea Store asks for nothing beyond the download.
Idea Store ships an update every 2 months, MatesPlace every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 10, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Idea Store | MatesPlace |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 3.7 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 20.0% of reviews | 56.9% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | — | 3 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 4 weeks — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 16.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 49 MB | 64 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Idea Store | mymatespace ltd |
Customer experience
Idea Store
MatesPlace
Bugs and requests
Idea Store
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
MatesPlace
Reported bugs
10 issues- App crashes frequently
- App logs out on closing
- Cannot report problems, sign out, or delete account
- Messages not sending completely
- Posts not being verified
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- Search saving not working
- Filters not working correctly
- Loading of places is bad
- App freezes when writing bio
- Outdated listings not removed
Requested features
9 requests- Add age range filter
- Allow distance filter below 5 miles
- Integrate Facebook friends for connections
- Improve search refinement
- Add option to sort by price low to high
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- Add filters for parking, en-suite, etc.
- View flats from a map
- Automatically remove leading zero from phone numbers
- Allow filtering by pet-friendliness
In-app purchases
Idea Store
No in-app purchases
MatesPlace
- Ready to go$11.99
- Taking it easy$22.99
- Waiting for the one$24.99
