Comparison

True vs Spread

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Private by default sharing
  • No ads or tracking
  • User data ownership
  • Focus on real friends
  • Safe and positive environment
Features
Read full description

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.

About

Spread

Access exclusive content from top publications by proving you're human. Follow influential individuals to discover their curated reading, listening, and watching lists. Share access to content with friends and followers.

Highlights
  • Human verification for content access
  • Follow journalists and thinkers
  • Discover curated reading lists
  • Share access with others
  • Spread content from any app
Features
Read full description

Spread: The Human Internet Prove you’re human to unlock access across top publications with Spread. Discover what journalists, creators, and other smart people are reading, listening to, and watching. HOW IT WORKS: - Verify you’re human to unlock access across top publications. - Discover and access things journalists, creators, and other smart people are reading, listening to, and watching. - Drop links in Spread from any app or browser to unlock access. - Share Spread links in group chats and on social media to pass unlocked access to your friends and followers. Join our mission to enable human access to the world's information.

Screenshots

True4 screens
Spread4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Spread at 4.9 against True's 4.2. Spread also leads on monetization model (free vs ad-supported) and ratings volume (56 vs 9). True's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.1). 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

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

Spread holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Spread has 56 ratings behind it against 9, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 85% of True's written reviews are positive against 94% of Spread's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

True ships an update every 3 weeks, Spread fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
True versus Spread: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTrueSpread
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (9 ratings)4.9 (56 ratings) — better
Positive reviews85.1% of reviews94.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings956 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationAd-supportedFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size102 MB43 MB
Age rating12+17+
DeveloperHello Mobile Inc.Spread Social, Inc.

Customer experience

True

All ratings9 ratings
Positive77.8%
Neutral0.0%
Negative22.2%
Written reviews194 reviews
Positive85.1%
Neutral4.6%
Negative10.3%

Spread

All ratings55 ratings
Positive98.2%
Neutral0.0%
Negative1.8%
Written reviews17 reviews
Positive94.1%
Neutral0.0%
Negative5.9%

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
Show 12 more
  • 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
Show 2 more
  • Add missed location logs
  • Improve contact access

Spread

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

True

No in-app purchases

None

Spread

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is True free?
True is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Spread free?
Spread is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, True or Spread?
Spread is rated higher. True averages 4.2 out of 5 from 9 ratings, while Spread averages 4.9 from 56 ratings.
Do True or Spread have ads?
Neither True nor Spread shows ads.
Which is updated more often, True or Spread?
True ships an update every 3 weeks, and Spread fortnightly. Most recently, True was updated on October 23, 2026 and Spread on October 24, 2026.

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