True vs The Madfly
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
True
This app offers a private social networking experience focused on genuine connections with trusted individuals. It prioritizes user privacy by avoiding targeted advertising and data selling, creating a safe and positive space for sharing.
- Private by default sharing
- No ads or tracking
- User data ownership
- Focus on real friends
- Safe and positive environment
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Focused on people you really know, we’re making social a safe, happy place again without targeted advertising. • It’s the quality of relationships, not quantity, that make us happier. We’re building new ways to tell your story and strengthen your community • We don’t spy on you, read your cookies or follow you around the internet. You own your data, forever, and we’ll never sell or share it with anyone It’s time to try an honest solution. We’re thrilled to get you back to things that matter. • Private by default – photos, and updates only with people you trust. • No ads. No tracking. Ever. – we never sell your data. • Real friends, real life – original content from people you actually know, not influencers or brands. • Safe and positive – a drama-free space designed to make social a happy place again. The True Story True was founded in a lovely little mountain town filled with giant redwoods, beautiful valleys and neighbors who look after each other. It’s this real-life Happy Valley that inspired us to build a company that gets back to things that matter. Real friends and real life without commercial interruption. It’s the quality of our relationships, not the quantity, that make us happier. It’s the joy of making new friends and connecting with old ones that strengthen our sense of community. Somehow, in a rush for growth and profit, these feelings have been lost. Social today no longer feels like a Happy Valley, it’s more like we’re all living in a big creepy commercial. Big social companies are in the middle of our relationships. They’re taking our best intentions and selling them to the highest bidder. Well, we’re just not going to do that anymore. Why Should I Trust You Guys? There’s a lot of talk about privacy. Every few weeks, another big company gets caught in a new scandal. But there is never anything really done about it and we go on accepting the problem. The crazy thing is, this is never going to stop. As long as these companies make money by selling our personal information, they will always find ways to collect it. But we never signed up for this. We didn’t post our lives, families and personal relationships for sale. We did not agree to let these companies make money from being in the middle of our friendships. We believe you should be free to share your life without big brands competing for your attention. You should own your information and decide what you want to do with it. 3rd parties should never have access to your data. You should not be the product. We believe your privacy matters. We take it into consideration with every decision we make. You should believe we respect your privacy and trust we’ll do the right thing with your information. What’s Different About It? We just don’t think you can be yourself in a world of perfect pictures awash in a sea of influencers. Old-school social is for blasting your life to people you don’t really know, measured by standards you will never achieve. So we’ve built a new kind of threaded sharing that is private by default. Until now, no one has tried this before. It gives you control over things you want to share and who you want to share them with. By combining beautiful, edge-to-edge storytelling with private messaging, it’s the best of both worlds. What do we all love? Updates from real friends. But original thoughts and stories have gone missing in big social. Sadly, most content today is created by companies with an agenda. We share an endless stream of news and ideas pushed by these companies and no longer share our real lives. So we built a platform that only allows original content. There are no political arguments here. You come to True to see real updates from friends. Content they created themselves, not clickbait designed to hold your attention and manipulate opinion. True lets you… be you. Real sharing from real friends, we’re making social a safe, happy place again.
The Madfly
Connect with friends and family by highlighting commonalities and sharing images/videos. Enjoy private messaging and content that automatically deletes after one week. Maintain control over your information and express yourself freely.
- Connect based on commonalities
- Post images and videos
- Private 1-to-1 messaging
- Content auto-deletes after 7 days
- Link other social profiles
- Direct business messaging
- Anonymous business feedback
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Madfly is the Un-Social Network. It is the app that allows you to connect and stay connected without the need to give up control. Features include the ability to match your commonalities with your friends and family, and post images and video's. Link your other contacts so that you can easily be found. Drop a 1-1 and keep it private. Discover what you and your Family have in common, and do not focus on what makes you different. We think this is what will make a difference in your world, focusing on all that we share. Maybe then we can start to engage in different ways. Ways that bring us closer together. You are in control. That's the Madfly difference. Enjoy total freedom online and stop living in the past. Madfly automatically deletes all posted content after 1 week. We like to think that some things in life are better left in the past. Madfly has a Very short-term memory After 7 days we remove what you posted unless you decide to beat us to it. During that week, all your comments on postings are private. Public scrutiny is best left to the other platforms that form opinions. Confidently connect and post without criticism and share anything you want privately. Express yourself without compromise. The internet is a big place and your social circle can be overwhelming. Quickly and easily locate everyone everywhere. Share where you are in the digital world. Use this application to link all your profiles, encourage followers and friends to join you across multiple platforms Update without the mass text or mass email. New Number or Profiles can be easily updated allowing your MAD FAMILY to not miss a beat or bother you with the question. “Hey, what’s your email?“ The best part of Madfly is You! Madfly goes through great lengths to make sure you and your information is safe and secure and under your control. We think you will agree, that Madfly is really the place to be. Connect with businesses that you frequent. Have 1 touch access to their customer service or send a concern directly to them on the Madfly messenger service. Do all of this anonymously and under your complete control. Help shape and create the newest products while viewing and seeing the latest that these businesses have to offer.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: The Madfly at 4.7 against True's 4.2. True's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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. The Madfly sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. True asks for nothing beyond the download.
The Madfly holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 9 and 15 respectively.
True ships an update every 3 weeks, The Madfly monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | True | The Madfly |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (9 ratings) | 4.7 (15 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 85.1% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 9 | 15 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Monthly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Ad-supported — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 102 MB | 87 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Hello Mobile Inc. | Madfly LLC |
Customer experience
True
The Madfly
Bugs and requests
True
Reported bugs
17 issues- Posts revert to older dates
- Cannot read email for verification
- Cannot view or open notifications (likes, comments, friend requests)
- Cannot get verification code by email
- App crashes or freezes
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- Cannot access other albums
- Camera roll is a mess
- Cannot use own GIFs
- Confirming account is a nightmare
- Cannot confirm phone number
- Cannot set password
- Phone seizes up when writing reviews
- Location history not fully captured
- No response from support
- Cannot upload own GIFs (no animation)
- Spam notifications from 'Alex'
- App keeps showing error messages
Requested features
7 requests- Allow editing of posted text
- Allow pictures and videos as comments
- Provide a way to download photos
- Dark mode
- Evernote integration or export options
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- Add missed location logs
- Improve contact access
The Madfly
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
True
No in-app purchases
The Madfly
- OneThousandsExtraCoins$0.99
- Get extra 10,000 coins$8.99
- madflybronze$19.99









