Interstellar vs Retichat
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Interstellar
Access and interact with communities across Mbin, Lemmy, and PieFed. This open-source client provides a unified platform for engaging with your favorite fediverse content.
- Access Mbin, Lemmy, and PieFed accounts
- Interact with fediverse communities
- Open-source platform
- Bug reporting via GitHub
- Feature requests via magazine
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Interstellar is a free and open source, fediverse client, allowing you to access your Mbin/Lemmy/PieFed accounts and interact with your favorite communities. If you encounter any bugs or would like to request a feature, please report it on the GitHub repository (github.com/interstellar-app/interstellar) or the Interstellar magazine (kbin.earth/m/interstellar).
Retichat
This app provides end-to-end encrypted communication over decentralized networks. It supports store-and-forward propagation and federated nodes for lightweight push notifications. Future updates will include LoRa, group, and channel support.
- End-to-end forward encryption
- Decentralized and organization-less
- LXMF Store-and-Forward support
- RFed federated propagation
- Lightweight push notifications
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Reticulum LXMF chat client for iPhone Offers end-to-end forward encrypted communication over Reticulum networks Completely decentralized and organization-less Support for LXMF Store-and-Forward propagation Additional functionality using RFed federated propagation nodes Features lightweight push notification through a notify-only (no message data) relay RFed capability Soon to come: LoRa support Group support Channel support
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Interstellar at 100% against Retichat's 36%. Interstellar also leads on rating (4.8 vs 2.9) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.6). Retichat's advantage is update cadence (every 3 days vs every 2 months). On price, ratings volume, 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Interstellar holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 2.9. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 8 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Interstellar's written reviews are positive against 36% of Retichat's.
Interstellar ships an update every 2 months, Retichat every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on September 27, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Interstellar | Retichat |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (4 ratings) — better | 2.9 (8 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 36.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 4 | 8 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 79 MB | 18 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | John Randall | New Endian LLC |
Customer experience
Interstellar
Retichat
In-app purchases
Interstellar
No in-app purchases
Retichat
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Interstellar free?
Is Retichat free?
Which has better reviews, Interstellar or Retichat?
Do Interstellar or Retichat have ads?
Which is updated more often, Interstellar or Retichat?
Other comparisons
