Steam Chat vs BARQ!
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Steam Chat
Stay connected with your Steam friends and communities on the go. This app brings desktop chat features to your mobile device, including a friends list, rich media sharing, and customizable notifications. Organize game nights and connect with friends easily.
- Friends List
- Rich Chat with media
- Invite Links
- Customizable Notifications
- Group Chats
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Take your Steam friends, groups, and conversations with you wherever you go. The Steam Chat app includes many key features of the desktop Steam client chat, including: Friends List – See who’s in game or online at a glance. You'll see your custom categories and favorites bar just like you can on your PC. (repeated above) Rich Chat – Your chats get even better with higher fidelity links, videos, tweets, GIFs, Giphy, Steam emoticons, and more. Invite Links – Add new friends on Steam with a link. Generate an invite link you can text or email. Customizable Notifications – Mobile notifications mean you'll never miss a message or game invite. You can customize your notifications per friend, group chat, and chat channel. Group Chats - Get everyone on the same page. Groups make it easier to do things like stay in touch with your communities and organize game night with your best friends.
BARQ!
Connect with the furry community through a next-generation social app. Discover local furries, join interest-based groups, and find information about meetups, events, and conventions. The platform is continuously evolving with new features and an expanding user base.
- Connect with local furries
- Join communities
- Discover meetups and events
- Attend conventions
- Growing feature set
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Join barq, the next generation social app for furries! Find furries around you, join communities and attend meetups, events and conventions. barq is currently in active development and our user base and feature set is growing constantly. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Terms and Conditions: https://barq.app/terms Privacy Policy: https://barq.app/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: BARQ! at 2.9 against Steam Chat's 1.8. BARQ! also leads on review sentiment (33% vs 14%). Steam Chat's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 6) and chart position (#88 vs unranked). On price, update cadence, ads and device support 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. BARQ! sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Steam Chat asks for nothing beyond the download.
BARQ! holds the better App Store score, 2.9 against 1.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.6K and 319 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 14% of Steam Chat's written reviews are positive against 33% of BARQ!'s.
Steam Chat ships an update every 5 weeks, BARQ! every 4 weeks. Both last shipped on October 25, 2026.
| Parameter | Steam Chat | BARQ! |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 1.8 (1.6K ratings) | 2.9 (319 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 13.7% of reviews | 32.5% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1.6K — better | 319 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks | Every 4 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #88 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 10.0 — better | 15.8 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 36 MB | 107 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Valve | BARQ! |
Customer experience
Steam Chat
BARQ!
User reviews
Steam Chat
From 1.6K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Convenient mobile chat
- 👍 Clean and intuitive UI
- 🔒 Secure login process
- 💡 Ability to use Steam emotes
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent login issues
- 🐛 Unreliable notifications
- 🐛 Disappearing message history
- 🔋 High battery consumption
- 👎 Lack of voice/video chat
BARQ!
From 319 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🤝 Found local furry friends
- 💕 Met partner through the app
- 👍 Good app design
- 🔍 Able to find nearby furries
- 🎨 Customizable profile
Room to improve
- 🐛 Buggy, crashes often
- 🔇 Notification issues
- 🚫 Accounts getting deleted/banned
- 🔒 Unsafe login methods
- 🚫 Allows problematic content/users
Bugs and requests
Steam Chat
Reported bugs
3 issues- Unable to log in with valid credentials
- Messages failing to send or receive
- Inconsistent friend status updates
Requested features
4 requests- Add voice and video chat
- Integrate with main Steam app
- Optimize for tablet devices
- Improve notification reliability
BARQ!
Reported bugs
5 issues- Login/sign-up issues
- Profiles not loading
- Inability to change settings
- Disappearing accounts
- Broken image uploads
Requested features
5 requests- Dark mode option
- Ability to delete chats
- Custom sexuality options
- Improved moderation and safety features
- Better notification system
In-app purchases
Steam Chat
No in-app purchases
BARQ!
- Silver Supporter$4.991 Month
- Gold Supporter$9.991 Month
- Diamond Supporter$24.991 Month
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- Silver Supporter$54.991 Year
- Gold Supporter$109.991 Year
- Diamond Supporter$274.991 Year
