Comparison

Tab vs Polls for iMessage

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Tab

Effortlessly split bills with friends by simply snapping a picture of your receipt. The app automatically identifies items and prices, allowing users to claim their share. It handles tax and tip calculations proportionally, eliminating manual math.

Highlights
  • Receipt scanning
  • Automatic item and price detection
  • Real-time item claiming
  • Proportional tax and tip calculation
  • Shared item splitting
  • Birthday bill splitting
Features
Read full description

Tab is the simple way to split a bill amongst friends. Snap a pic of the receipt and tap your items to claim them. Tax and tip are calculated for you. No more back-of-the-napkin algebra or typing in prices by hand! Here’s how it works: - Take a picture of your itemized receipt. Tab automatically detects all the items and prices. - Select which items each person ordered. Everyone that has Tab on their phone can join onto the bill and select their own items - the app keeps everything synced in real-time. - Multiple people can select the same item if they shared it. - Tax and tip are automatically divided proportionally. - If it's someone's birthday, you can split their total evenly among everyone else. - View and share detailed summaries of your past bills Tab has been featured on the Today show, "apps of the year" lists from Buzzfeed, Complex and others, Product Hunt, CNN, and more!

About

Polls for iMessage

Easily create and manage group polls directly within iMessage conversations. Customize poll settings like anonymity, editing rights, and multiple voting options. Share results live and even declare a winner with fun animations.

Highlights
  • Create polls directly in iMessage
  • Live poll result updates
  • Customizable voting options (anonymous, multiple votes)
  • Control poll editing permissions
  • Declare a winner with animations
  • Picture polls and link integration
Features
Read full description

Free and unlimited forever Create polls, vote, and view the results directly in iMessage —— How it works —— • Create polls, vote, and view the results in iMessage • Updates to the poll are shown at the bottom of your conversation and update live for everyone to see —— Features —— Customize Polls with 4 new controls: • See Who Voted: Leave it on to let everyone see who is voting on what. Toggle it off to keep it anonymous • Edit Poll: Leave it on to let everyone help with the poll, or toggle it off and you’re the boss, no one else can edit • Multiple Votes: Leave it on, sometimes we like more than one thing, so let people like multiple options. Toggle it off and friends can only vote on one option, but can change their vote if they need to • Declare a Winner: Leave it on and the winner will be declared once everyone votes. Toggle it off, when everyone votes on your poll everything stays the same, just no confetti - Create a picture poll with photos from your camera roll - Smart Calendar helps you coordinate, if you type a date, we’ll make it look pretty - Add links to polls, like Yelp for restaurants or Airbnbs for rentals - New cards give you even more space for more awesome options —— Team —— Jeff Hanna, Kevin Hanna, Dominic King —— Business Development —— Interested in working with us? You can reach us at partner@pollsforimessage.com

Screenshots

Tab4 screens
Polls for iMessage4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Polls for iMessage at 4.9 against Tab's 4.2. Polls for iMessage also leads on review sentiment (84% vs 65%) and ratings volume (11K vs 1.2K). Tab's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Polls for iMessage holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Polls for iMessage has 11K ratings behind it against 1.2K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 65% of Tab's written reviews are positive against 84% of Polls for iMessage's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Tab ships an update every 3 weeks, Polls for iMessage monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Tab versus Polls for iMessage: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTabPolls for iMessage
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (1.2K ratings)4.9 (11K ratings) — better
Positive reviews65.4% of reviews84.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.2K11K — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterMonthly
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS12.011.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size47 MB62 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developerbring10, LLCPolls for Messages, Inc.

Customer experience

Tab

All ratings1,043 ratings
Positive79.8%
Neutral7.4%
Negative12.8%
Written reviews237 reviews
Positive65.4%
Neutral12.2%
Negative22.4%

Polls for iMessage

All ratings10,936 ratings
Positive98.7%
Neutral0.5%
Negative0.8%
Written reviews605 reviews
Positive84.1%
Neutral4.5%
Negative11.4%

User reviews

Tab

From 1.2K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Easy to use
  • 👍 Intuitive interface
  • 🚀 Convenient bill splitting
  • 🚀 Accurate receipt scanning
  • 👍 Helpful for group dining

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Inconsistent receipt recognition
  • 🐛 Inaccurate tax and tip calculations
  • 🐛 Buggy Venmo connectivity
  • 🐛 Limited editing capabilities
  • 🐛 Disappearing bill history

Polls for iMessage

From 11K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🚀 Convenient for group decisions
  • 💡 Helpful for organizing events and activities
  • 🚀 Efficient for getting group feedback
  • 👍 Intuitive interface

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Issues with poll loading/sending
  • 🔒 Requires all participants to have the app
  • 🔒 Anonymous voting not truly anonymous
  • 🐛 Glitches with editing polls
  • 🔒 Can't see who voted for what

Bugs and requests

Tab

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Incorrect item pricing and totals
  • Tax calculation issues
  • Venmo authorization problems
  • Inability to edit bill names
  • Crashing on older devices

Requested features

7 requests
  • Ability to manually edit tax and tip
  • Option to split items unevenly
  • Detailed receipt breakdown sharing
  • Support for multiple currencies
  • Saved group/friend profiles
Show 2 more
  • Improved Venmo integration
  • Offline bill saving functionality

Polls for iMessage

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Inability to delete the app
  • Polls failing to send due to internet connection issues
  • Votes being counted multiple times

Requested features

7 requests
  • Option to disable others from adding poll options
  • Option to limit number of votes per person
  • Option to hide poll results until completed
  • Ability to edit poll options after creation
  • Support for adding images/GIFs as poll options
Show 2 more
  • Customizable poll templates
  • Integration with calendar/scheduling apps

In-app purchases

None

Tab

No in-app purchases

None

Polls for iMessage

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Tab free?
Tab is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Polls for iMessage free?
Polls for iMessage is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Tab or Polls for iMessage?
Polls for iMessage is rated higher. Tab averages 4.2 out of 5 from 1.2K ratings, while Polls for iMessage averages 4.9 from 11K ratings.
Do Tab or Polls for iMessage have ads?
Polls for iMessage shows ads; Tab does not.
Which is updated more often, Tab or Polls for iMessage?
Tab ships an update every 3 weeks, and Polls for iMessage monthly. Most recently, Tab was updated on November 6, 2026 and Polls for iMessage on November 9, 2026.

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