Empire Cinemas vs Bleety
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Empire Cinemas
Easily book movie tickets and discover showtimes for films playing in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Lebanon. Explore diverse cinema experiences and pre-order food and drinks for a seamless movie night.
- Book movie tickets
- Check showtimes
- Discover upcoming movies
- Pre-order food and drinks
- Explore cinema experiences
- Scan e-tickets
- View movie trailers and info
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The all-new EMPIRE Cinemas app makes movie booking a seamless and hassle-free experience. Planning a movie night? Check which movies are on and avoid the ticket queues by booking with our awesome app! We’ve made browsing and booking a movie easier than ever, right from your phone. Check showtimes, book tickets, and discover more about movies showing in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Lebanon. Explore from our diverse range of cinema across genres; There is something for everyone! Not only this, to enhance your experience even further by exploring a wide range of experiences in which you can enjoy your movies like DOLBY ATMOS, SCREEN X, IMAX, SPHERA, 4DX, MINIS, PREMIERE, FLEXOUND, and many more! What’s more? - Stay updated with Movie Schedules, Upcoming movies, Show timings. - Save your Favorite Cinema, Pick your Movie, and Book. - Skip the ticket queue and Scan your E-ticket at the cinema ticket podium. - Discover all your movie information, with trailers, cast, synopsis, ratings & more. - You can now pre-order Food & Drinks from the app. - Search for movies or your favorite actors. - Experience all of our Ways to Watch movies. - Enjoy a new and improved booking flow. - Booking History. - Get additional exclusive loyalty benefits (Coming soon). Download our app for FREE and book tickets on the go. Entertainment is at your fingertips. We appreciate your feedback and would love to hear from you. Please email us at care@empirecinemas.com.sa.
Bleety
Discover and book tickets for local events, from concerts and festivals to sports and cinema. Secure your spot with digital reservations and QR codes, and get event details all in one place.
- Event discovery
- Ticket purchasing
- Digital reservations
- QR code ticketing
- Event organizer statistics
- Event profiles
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Bleety app serves the purpose of providing users with a seamless navigation experience between local events, cinema halls, sports arenas, musical events, festivals, and international fairs hosted within our jurisdiction. With the app, users can easily buy tickets, reserve spots, or book halls for limited hours. It's a one-stop-shop for all kinds of entertainment available in the city, ensuring users never miss out on any fun activities. Our app offers a range of features that enhance the user experience. Each event has its own dedicated profile, allowing users to easily access information about the event, such as the date, time, location, and price. Users can reserve a spot digitally and receive a unique QR code for any ticket purchased. Different types of QR codes are generated for different events, with variations in the number of times they can be used and their duration of use. Our business app is equipped with a QR scanner that will be used by event organizers to scan tickets purchased. Additionally, event organizers can access valuable statistics about their events, such as the number of tickets sold, the number of tickets remaining, the peak times for ticket scanning, and which ticket types are most popular. These insights help organizers make informed decisions about their events and improve the overall experience for attendees.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Bleety at 100% against Empire Cinemas's 11%. Bleety also leads on rating (4.7 vs 3.3) and ads (none vs shown). Empire Cinemas's advantage is ratings volume (201 vs 20). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Bleety holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Empire Cinemas has 201 ratings behind it against 20, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 11% of Empire Cinemas's written reviews are positive against 100% of Bleety's.
Empire Cinemas ships an update every 10 days, Bleety fortnightly. Both last shipped on November 3, 2026.
| Parameter | Empire Cinemas | Bleety |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.3 (201 ratings) | 4.7 (20 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 11.1% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 201 — better | 20 |
| Update frequency | Every 10 days — better | Fortnightly |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 109 MB | 56 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Binary Numbers ITZone LLP | HESTA COMPANY FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY LTD |
Customer experience
Empire Cinemas
Bleety
Bugs and requests
Empire Cinemas
Reported bugs
84 issues- Cannot change language
- Problems with profile, payments, reservations
- Cannot sign in, OTP not working
- App never loads
- App is confusing and badly designed
Show 79 moreShow fewer
- App doesn't open
- Unable to scroll popup window
- Cannot login to account
- App is very bad, heavy, and slow
- Verification code rejected
- White screen on opening, then back to home
- Cannot buy tickets, agree button not working
- App doesn't work after update
- Sad potato image is uncomfortable
- Stuck on loading screen
- Phone number limit (9 digits only)
- App works only 1 time
- App closes for no reason
- App is not working
- Unusable, no proper message display
- Cannot sign up or verify phone number
- Freezing 95% of the time
- Bad connection message
- App won't start
- Very bad app, cannot book
- Cannot complete profile
- Booking is complicated, Apple Pay/credit card not working
- Cannot complete registration form, very slow
- Authentication by mobile number not completed
- Technical bug with Apple login OTP
- App asks to complete info already completed
- Extremely terrible app, slow, buggy, bad UI
- Worst payment options, ApplePay glitches
- Cannot verify mobile number
- Cannot select seats and pay
- Loading error, nothing loading
- Process not completed when user number reached
- Extremely bad experience, poor app
- App is a disaster, complaints ongoing
- Phone number not accepted
- App not for UK market
- Registration taking too long, no OTP
- Cannot login through Gmail
- Cannot check out movie reservation
- App not working in Iraq, wrong country code
- App for Middle East only, clunky system
- Location changed to Saudi Arabia, user in Iraq
- Ticket prices not listed
- App is confusing and has errors
- App is failing, freezes
- Worst cinema app, wastes time
- Slow like a turtle
- Worst app ever encountered
- App not for UK, useless
- Complete waste of time
- Unusable, CEO's stuck on old ways
- Shame big company can't afford good app
- Very poor app, difficult registration
- Payment not connected to app pay, crashes
- Not friendly use, slow
- Awful app, no UK version
- Literally the worst cinema app, slow
- Worst program for cinema, slow, freezes
- Takes too long to run, no Apple Pay
- Worst booking app, made to steal money
- Cannot get account back, OTP issues
- Cannot book with Apple Pay, add to wallet
- Not professional app, slow, poorly designed
- Useless for UK market
- Not supported by Apple Pay or wallet
- Very slow, cannot set nearest cinema
- Cannot close trailer video, force exit needed
- Some cinema addresses wrong
- Reloads all data when going back
- Price more expensive than at the counter
- Cannot send message for problems, phone not answering
- Freezes, payment issues, no ticket sometimes
- Not helpful for UK film times
- Payment method takes to website, annoying
- Every booking requires re-entering info
- Too expensive
- App needs upgrade
- App keeps crashing
- Not user friendly at all
Requested features
23 requests- Add Apple Pay support
- Add PayPal support
- Add ticket prices to the app
- Add time filters for movies
- Allow setting nearest cinema
Show 18 moreShow fewer
- Fix trailer video closing issue
- Improve cinema address accuracy
- Prevent data reload when going back
- Add UK version of the app
- Integrate with Apple Wallet
- Add gender selection option
- Improve payment options
- Add language options (e.g., Kurdish)
- Allow international phone numbers
- Fix phone number verification for Apple login
- Improve UI/UX for better navigation
- Allow users to set preferred cinema
- Fix profile edit notification issue on iOS
- Improve app speed and performance
- Fix OTP sending and verification issues
- Allow login via Gmail/Google
- Fix registration process
- Support for UK market
Bleety
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Empire Cinemas
No in-app purchases
Bleety
No in-app purchases
