LINE vs Messenger
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
LINE
Connect with friends and family through free voice and video calls, messages, and a wide array of stickers and themes. This communication platform offers a seamless experience across mobile, desktop, and smartwatches, with enhanced privacy features and content discovery options.
- Free voice and video calls
- Messaging
- Stickers and emojis
- Customizable themes
- Cross-platform compatibility
- Encrypted messages
- Keep Memo for storage
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LINE is transforming the way people communicate, closing the distance between family, friends, and loved ones—for free. With voice and video calls, messages, and a limitless variety of exciting stickers, you’ll be able to express yourself in ways that you never thought possible. Available all around the world on mobile, desktop, and Apple Watch, the LINE platform continues to grow, always offering new services and features that make your life more fun and convenient. ◆ Messages, Voice calls, Video calls. Enjoy voice and video calls and exchanging messages with your LINE friends. ◆ LINE stickers, emojis, and themes Express yourself just the way you want with stickers and emojis. Also, find your favorite themes to customize your LINE app. ◆ Home Gives you easy access to your friends list, birthdays, the sticker shop and various services and contents offered by LINE. ◆ LINE VOOM Available in Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand, you can explore even more content that you may like in the "For you" tab. ◆ Seamless connection on mobile, Apple Watch, and desktop Chat anytime and anywhere. Whether you’re on the go or working at the office or remotely, use LINE via your iPhone, Apple Watch, or desktop. ◆ Store your personal information with Keep Memo My own chatroom to temporarily store messages, photos, and videos. ◆ Messages protected with Letter Sealing Letter Sealing encrypts your messages, call history and location information. Always be assured of your privacy when using LINE. *We recommend using a data plan or connecting to Wi-Fi as you may incur data usage fees otherwise. *Please check the recommended specifications from LINE settings > “Help center” > “LINE usage environment/Settings” > "System requirements for LINE” when installing/updating the LINE app. In addition, if you're using an old version of iOS, we recommend updating it to the latest version. ▼Click here to see how to update your iOS version. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204204 ********** If your network speed is too slow or you don't have enough device storage, LINE may not install properly. If this happens, please check your connection and try again. **********
Messenger
Connect with friends and family through text, audio, and video calls. Share photos, videos, and large files, and express yourself with custom themes and animated content. Features an AI assistant for help and support.
- Text, audio, and video calls
- High-definition photo sharing
- Shared photo albums
- QR code connections
- Large file sharing (up to 100MB)
- Edit and unsend messages
- Disappearing messages
- AI assistant
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Messenger is a free messaging app that helps you connect with anyone, anywhere. Stay in touch with your friends and family, explore your interests with people like you, build your community, and share your vibe beyond words, all in one app. CHAT AND CALL ANYONE, ANYWHERE Find and connect with your friends and family on Facebook and Messenger, no phone number needed. GET INSTANT ANSWERS FROM YOUR AI ASSISTANT* Meta AI is your assistant that can answer any questions, give you advice, help with homework, and more. SEND YOUR PHOTOS IN HIGH DEFINITION Send and receive clearer, crisper picture of your favorite moments with Messenger. CREATE SHARED ALBUMS From a recent summer vacation to your grandma’s 80th birthday, create albums of photos and videos to share, organize and reminisce over important moments in your group chats. EASILY ADD NEW CONNECTIONS WITH QR CODES Connect with people you meet in real life by scanning their Messenger QR code or sharing yours via a link. SHARE LARGE FILES DIRECTLY IN CHAT Whether it’s a Word, PDF, or Excel doc, you can send large files up to 100MB right inside of Messenger. EDIT AND UNSEND MESSAGES Hit send too soon? You can edit the message up to 15 minutes after sending DISAPPEARING MESSAGES Some things aren’t meant to last forever. Choose how long your end-to-end encrypted chats stick around after they’ve been read. COME TOGETHER WITH YOUR COMMUNITIES Meaningfully connect with people like you from your school, neighborhood, and interest groups. GET IN YOUR FAVORITE CREATORS’ INNER CIRCLE Stay in the know with creators by joining their broadcast channels for authentic and casual content. UNLEASH YOUR IMAGINATION W/ META AI* Tap into your go-to creative partner to create, edit, animate images and more. CAPTURE EVERYDAY MOMENTS ON STORIES Highlight moments of your day using photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours in Stories. DROP A NOTE WITH YOUR THOUGHTS Stay connected with your friends by sharing quick updates that disappear after 24 hours. BRING YOUR VIBE TO YOUR CHATS Sometimes words just don’t cut it. Tap into more ways to express yourself with animated stickers, GIFs, reactions and more. SET THE MOOD OF YOUR CHAT WITH THEMES Customize your chat with a large and constantly evolving list of themes featuring popular artists, holidays, and more. *Meta AI is available in select languages and countries only, with more coming soon.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Messenger at 66% against LINE's 15%. Messenger also leads on rating (4.7 vs 3.2) and ratings volume (14M vs 18K). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. LINE sells 13 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and Messenger sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Messenger holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Messenger has 14M ratings behind it against 18K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 15% of LINE's written reviews are positive against 66% of Messenger's.
LINE ships an update every 9 days, Messenger weekly. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.
| Parameter | LINE | Messenger |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.2 (18K ratings) | 4.7 (14M ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 14.8% of reviews | 66.2% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 18K | 14M — better |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days | Weekly — better |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #37 | #9 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 397 MB | 255 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | LINE Corporation | Meta Platforms, Inc. |
Customer experience
LINE
Messenger
User reviews
LINE
From 18K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💬 Great messaging app
- 🎨 Customizable with cute stickers
- 🌐 Useful for international communication
- 🔒 Secure and private
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent bugs and glitches
- 🔑 Difficult account recovery and transfer
- 🚫 Accounts suspended without explanation
- 🤖 Poor customer support
- 🔍 Difficulty adding and searching for contacts
Messenger
From 14M App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 📱 Useful for staying connected with friends and family
- 🗣️ Enables easy communication through text, voice, and video
- 💬 Convenient group chat features
- 🌐 Works across multiple devices and platforms
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 🔒 Privacy and security concerns
- 🔄 Unnecessary updates that remove useful features
- 📤 Issues with message delivery and notifications
- 🗂️ Cluttered interface and poor organization of chats
Bugs and requests
LINE
Reported bugs
5 issues- Unable to log in or sign up
- Messages not sending or receiving
- Notifications not working properly
- App crashing after updates
- Incompatibility with new devices and OS versions
Requested features
5 requests- See who is online and typing
- Ability to translate messages
- Automatic chat history backup and sync
- Easier sticker management and organization
- More ways to earn free stickers and points
Messenger
Reported bugs
4 issues- Unable to log in or access account
- Messages failing to send or receive
- Unexpected app crashes and freezes
- Syncing issues between devices
Requested features
4 requests- Add option to delete or unsend messages
- Improve search functionality for chat history
- Introduce customizable notification settings
- Bring back old features like emoji reactions and location sharing
In-app purchases
LINE
- スタンダード1 Month trial$3.991 Month
- Monthly Plan1 Month trial2 variants$4.991 Month
- 50 LINE Coin$0.99
- 70 LINE Coin$1.39
- LINE Characters: All the Love$1.99
Show 8 moreShow fewer
- Brown & Cony's Secret Date!$1.99
- Brown & Cony's Lovey Dovey Date$1.99
- 100 LINE Coin$1.99
- 150 LINE Coin$2.99
- 200 LINE Coin$3.99
- 500 LINE Coin$7.99
- 800 LINE Coin$11.99
- 1600 LINE Coin$22.99
Messenger
- Avatar Item$0.99
- Avatar Item$1.99
- Avatar Item$2.99
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- Avatar Item$3.99
- Avatar Item$4.99
- Avatar Item$6.99
- Avatar Item$7.99
- Avatar Item$8.99
- Avatar Item$9.99
- Avatar Item$10.99









