Saudia vs Emirates
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Saudia
This travel app allows users to book flights, manage trips, and check in for flights seamlessly. It also provides access to loyalty program information and allows for the purchase of ancillaries like extra baggage and seat upgrades.
- Book flights and purchase ancillaries
- Online check-in and digital boarding passes
- Manage bookings and change seats
- ALFURSAN member dashboard
- Store passenger details and bookings offline
- Book hotels and rent cars
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The Saudia mobile app offers travelers a sleek and superior experience to Book, Manage Trips, Check-In and more. ALFURSAN members have access to a dashboard with key account information at their fingertips – making the app the ultimate traveler companion. FEATURES BOOKING FLIGHTS & PURCHASING ANCILLARIES - Book your flights quickly and seamlessly. - All of your passengers' details are stored on your phone. - Purchase extras such as Extra Legroom Seats, WiFi, Fast Track and Extra Baggage. - Pay with Visa, Master Card, American Express, MADA or SADAD. CHECK-IN - Check-in online and obtain your boarding pass. You have the option to view the digital boarding pass directly in the App or receive it via SMS or email as a digital copy. - Check-in all your passengers while on the move up to 60-minutes before departure time. - Boarding passes are stored on your phone offline. - Enhance your trip with ease, now you can book a hotel, rent a car, and more - all in one convenient place! ALFURSAN Dashboard - ALFURSAN fast enrollment after completing passengers' details during flight booking. - Retrieve and update your own ALFURSAN profile. - Retrieve your miles and rewards. - Retrieve your flight history. MY BOOKINGS & MORE - Retrieve your bookings made outside the app easily and store them on your phone offline. - From changing seats to adding baggage, you can now manage everything in one place! - Streamline your journey using simplified rebooking flow and easily purchase add-ons. - Make an offer to upgrade your cabin through booking management.
Emirates
Book flights to over 150 destinations, manage your trip details like meals and seats, and check in online. Receive real-time flight updates and access your loyalty program information.
- Search and book flights
- Manage trip details (meals, seats)
- Online check-in and digital boarding pass
- Real-time flight updates
- Loyalty program management (Skywards Miles)
- Apple Watch integration for travel alerts
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Explore the world your way with the personalised Emirates App for iPhone and Apple Watch. 1. SEARCH AND BOOK YOUR NEXT GETAWAY Search for flights to over 150 destinations around the world, and complete your entire booking through the app. 2. MANAGE YOUR TRIP ON THE GO Choose your meal and seat preference, and add services such as Chauffeur-drive. It’s easy to update your details, and you can view your full itinerary at any time - even when you’re offline. 3. DOWNLOAD YOUR BOARDING PASS Check in online and download your boarding pass. You can print it, or send it to your phone via SMS or email to use it as a digital boarding pass. On The Emirates App for iPhone and iPad you can download your boarding pass directly to Wallet. 4. GET REAL-TIME FLIGHT UPDATES We’ll send you real-time information about your check-in, departure gate, boarding time, baggage belt and more, straight to your personal device. Tailor the app to your needs by choosing which notifications you want to receive. 5. GET THE MOST OUT OF EMIRATES SKYWARDS Explore ways to earn and spend your Skywards Miles directly within the app. Enjoy easy access to information about your tier status, benefits and Skywards Miles balance, and manage your account wherever you are. 6. THE EMIRATES APP FOR APPLE WATCH Get live travel updates at a glance. The app reminds you when it’s time to board, lets you know if there’s a change to your flight and tells you where to pick up your bags when you land – all without you reaching for your phone.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Saudia at none against Emirates's shown. Saudia also leads on monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and rating (4.7 vs 4.5). Emirates's advantage is review sentiment (57% vs 39%) and chart position (#180 vs unranked). 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Saudia holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Saudia has 59K ratings behind it against 9.8K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 39% of Saudia's written reviews are positive against 57% of Emirates's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on October 15, 2026.
| Parameter | Saudia | Emirates |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (59K ratings) — better | 4.5 (9.8K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 38.8% of reviews | 56.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 59K — better | 9.8K |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | — | #180 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 459 MB | 295 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | SAUDI AIRLINES AIR TRANSPORT COMPANY OF A SINGLE-PERSON COMPANY | Emirates |
Customer experience
Saudia
Emirates
User reviews
Saudia
From 59K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- ✨ Smooth and easy to use app
- 🕰️ Convenient for booking and managing flights
- 🤝 Helpful and friendly staff
- 🍽️ Good in-flight experience with quality food and service
Room to improve
- 🐛 Buggy and glitchy app with frequent crashes
- ⏱️ Slow and unresponsive performance
- 🤖 Lack of human touch in customer service
- 💳 Issues with payment processing and seat selection
- 🧳 Problems with baggage handling and lost luggage
Emirates
From 9.8K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Easy to use
- 👍 Convenient features
- 🚀 Smooth check-in process
- 🚀 Informative and intuitive
- 👍 Excellent app for frequent flyers
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes and technical issues
- 🐛 Bugs and glitches
- 🐛 Unreliable app performance
- 🐛 Slow and unresponsive at times
- 🐛 Session timeouts and login problems
Bugs and requests
Saudia
Reported bugs
4 issues- Inability to log in to Alfursan account
- Boarding pass not working with Apple Wallet
- Seat selection not working properly
- Booking process getting stuck or not completing
Requested features
4 requests- Add multi-destination booking option
- Integrate Apple Pay and other digital wallets
- Improve Alfursan loyalty program integration
- Enhance mobile app functionality to match website
Emirates
Reported bugs
5 issues- Inability to complete check-in through the app
- Passport and personal details not saving properly
- Seat selection and upgrade functionality not working
- Skywards miles not displaying correctly
- Boarding pass not showing all necessary information
Requested features
5 requests- Ability to manage family/group bookings with shared miles
- Improved seat selection and upgrade options
- Better integration with loyalty program and account management
- More language support, especially for Arabic
- Streamlined check-in and boarding pass handling
In-app purchases
Saudia
No in-app purchases
Emirates
No in-app purchases









