Reel vs Popcorn
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Reel
This app helps you track and rank movies and TV shows based on your personal taste. Compare your rankings with friends and discover new content through shared leaderboards. Build personalized lists and share your favorites.
- Rank movies and TV shows
- Create watchlists
- Follow friends' activity
- Compare taste with others
- Browse leaderboards
- Jot quick reviews
- Share top films
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Reel is the social movie and show-ranking app for people who actually keep track of what they watch — or always wished they did. Instead of giving every movie a star rating you'll forget in a week, each film you rank gets compared head-to-head against ones you've already ranked, and your personal Top 10 (or Top 1,000) emerges from the choices you make. The result is a list that actually reflects your taste — because it was built from your taste, one decision at a time. WHAT YOU CAN DO • Rank every movie and TV show you've ever seen, in order. • Add films to a watchlist so you never forget what's next. • Follow friends and see what they're watching in real time. • Compare your taste against anyone — see where your lists overlap and where they diverge. • Browse leaderboards of top films among your friends, and globally. • Jot a quick review on any title while it's fresh. • Build streaks for consistent ranking and watching. • Share your top films and lists straight to Instagram or anywhere else. WHY IT'S DIFFERENT Other apps treat film tracking like a review platform: write paragraphs, give five stars, log a date. Reel treats it like ranking — because that's actually how taste works. You don't think "this movie is a 7.4." You think "I liked it more than X but less than Y." Reel turns that instinct into a real, ordered list. And because every film is ranked relative to your other films, your scores stay honest as your taste evolves. The 9.0 you gave at age 12 doesn't trap you forever — re-rank it once and the whole list adjusts. If you've ever kept a spreadsheet of films, a notes-app top 10, a Letterboxd diary you abandoned, or a running mental list of "things I should watch" — Reel is the app you've been wanting.
Popcorn
This app helps you rank every movie you've watched by comparing them head-to-head. It automatically sorts your preferences into a personalized list and allows you to discover new films. You can also compare your rankings with friends and explore their favorite movies.
- Head-to-head movie comparisons
- Automatic personalized ranking
- Discover new and upcoming films
- Save movies to Watchlist
- Compare rankings with friends
- Track taste statistics
- Sync rankings across devices
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Rank every movie you’ve seen - in the exact right order. Popcorn uses smart head-to-head comparisons to build your personal movie ranking. Pick your favourite between two films, repeat, and your list sorts itself. Rank & Rate • Compare movies head-to-head • Build a ranked list that actually reflects your taste • Turn rankings into personalized star ratings Discover • Swipe through box office and coming-soon films • Save movies to your Watchlist • Get recommendations based on your taste Friends • Compare rankings with friends • Share your Popcorn Ticket • Explore friends’ top movies Taste Stats • See your top genres, decades, and directors • Track how your movie taste changes over time Sync Everywhere • Sign in with Apple, Google, or email • Sync rankings across devices • Full account deletion included Movie data provided by TMDB.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Popcorn at none against Reel's shown. Popcorn also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.6) and review sentiment (100% vs 83%). Reel's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs every 3 weeks) and ratings volume (88 vs 1). On price, in-app purchases and monetization model 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.
Popcorn holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Reel has 88 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 83% of Reel's written reviews are positive against 100% of Popcorn's.
Reel ships an update every 4 days, Popcorn every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Reel | Popcorn |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (88 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 82.8% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 88 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.2 | 14.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 17 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Reel App LLC | Josh Altmann |
Customer experience
Reel
Popcorn
In-app purchases
Reel
No in-app purchases
Popcorn
No in-app purchases









