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Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

rednote vs Spotify

rednote 4.9★ · Free + IAP 40
Winner Spotify
Spotify 4.8★ · Free to download 75

Spotify is the clear winner for music streaming, offering a vast library and generally reliable performance, while rednote faces significant challenges with account management, content moderation, and technical issues.

Full reviews: rednote · Spotify

rednote, a social media app, struggles with user account issues, content moderation, and technical glitches, despite some users finding value in its content. Spotify, a music streaming service, is praised for its extensive music library and overall reliability, though its free tier is heavily criticized for ads and limited functionality.

Head to head

Features & Content edge: SpotifyR2R6R9R19
rednote rednote users appreciate its diverse content for learning Chinese culture, art tips, and finding specific communities like cosplayers R6R19. However, many are frustrated by the inability to upload profile pictures, lack of search filters, and the inability to mute live stream gift effects or video audio R2R9.
Spotify Spotify is highly praised for its extensive music library, allowing users to find almost any song imaginable R62. However, free users are severely limited, unable to pick specific songs, control playback order, or skip more than a few times per hour R62R66R70. Some users also report issues with lyrics not aligning or being unavailable .
Ease of Use & User Experience edge: SpotifyR1R2R12R21
rednote rednote users report significant issues with intrusive notifications, fake iOS pop-ups, and persistent recommendations even when turned off R1. There are also problems with basic functions like setting birthdays or profile pictures R2R12. Some users find the app generally good and foreigner-friendly R21.
Spotify Spotify is generally considered easy to use, with many users loving its organization and overall experience . However, free users find the experience frustrating due to excessive ads and limitations on skips and song selection R62R66R70. Some also report lagging and freezing .
Reliability & Performance edge: SpotifyR3R4R7R10
rednote rednote users frequently experience account restrictions, bans, and suspensions for unclear reasons, with no meaningful appeal process R4R7R10R26. There are also reports of posts and comments being hidden or censored without notification R24. Technical issues include network timeouts, lost accounts, and problems with phone number linking R3.
Spotify Spotify generally performs well, with users noting it rarely lets them down and is consistently updated . However, some users experience issues with the app freezing, lagging, or music randomly playing . There are also reports of the app going into offline mode despite having a connection, or not loading songs on CarPlay .
Support & Moderation edge: SpotifyR4R6R10R23
rednote rednote's customer support is widely criticized as unhelpful, often consisting of bots or providing generic responses, especially for account issues R4R24R38R56. Users also report issues with content moderation, including racist comments and videos, and a perceived bias against gender equality content R6R10R23. There are also complaints about copyright issues not being addressed .
Spotify Spotify users occasionally report issues with customer support, particularly when trying to recover lost playlists or transfer data between devices, with no clear way to contact them . There are no specific complaints about content moderation, but some users criticize the search algorithm for only showing commercial music .
Price & Value tieR1R4R7R24
rednote rednote is free with in-app purchases. Users do not directly complain about pricing, but the numerous issues with account access, moderation, and intrusive notifications diminish its perceived value R1R4R7R24.
Spotify Spotify offers a free tier, but users widely agree that it provides very little value due to excessive ads, limited skips, and restricted playback options R62R64R66R70. Many feel that the app is only worth it if you pay for premium . Some also feel the premium is overpriced .
Pick rednote if

You are interested in Chinese culture, art tips, or specific niche communities and are willing to tolerate significant issues with account management, intrusive notifications, and content moderation R6R19.

Pick Spotify if

You want a comprehensive music streaming service with a vast library and are willing to pay for a premium subscription to avoid ads and unlock full features .

Evidence note: Reviews for rednote are heavily skewed towards negative experiences related to account bans, censorship, and technical issues, despite its high lifetime rating. Many positive reviews are short and generic. Spotify's negative reviews are almost exclusively focused on the limitations and ads of its free tier, indicating a strong positive experience for paying users.

Frequently asked

Is rednote a reliable social media app?
No, rednote users frequently report issues with account restrictions, bans, and suspensions for unclear reasons, often without a meaningful appeal process R4R7R26. Many also experience technical problems like network timeouts and lost accounts R3.
What are the main drawbacks of Spotify's free version?
Spotify's free version is heavily criticized for excessive ads, limited skips (only 6 per hour), and the inability to pick specific songs or control the playback order on mobile devices R62R66R70. Many users feel it offers very little value without a premium subscription R64.
Does rednote have good customer support?
No, rednote's customer support is widely described as unhelpful, often consisting of bots or providing generic, unresolving answers, especially for critical issues like account bans or content censorship R4R24R38R56.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R2] rednote 4/5 · US Few Issues: One issue being it won’t let me upload a profile picture nor a background, it just loads & wont stop. Second issue being there’s no filter option for search so it’s hard to find small creators under 1K
  2. [R6] rednote 3/5 · US App is good but some videos and comments are Awful: Personal I liked the app especially to learn Chinese, but there are a lot of rasist comments and videos about India, it's really sad for me to read as an Indian
  3. [R9] rednote 3/5 · US World Cup live broadcast gift effect: Why can't it be turned off? · translated
  4. [R19] rednote 5/5 · US peak of the peak: in china right now, and my vpn works buns. rednote is such an amazing alternative to other social media apps. ive been using it for art tips, but omg everyone else is great too.
  5. [R1] rednote 1/5 · US Rogue software: I turned off all in-app notifications, but it still kept popping up homepage recommendations in my push notifications. Customer service feedback was still useless; updating the app didn't fix the problem. I can only turn off all Xiaohongshu push notifications in settings, which is so frustrating. · translated
  6. [R12] rednote 3/5 · US Issues: It’s asking for my birthday and year and when I put it in it doesn’t move to another screen and may I Mind you I’m over 13
  7. [R21] rednote 5/5 · US My experience: I love it. It’s very foreigner friendly
  8. [R3] rednote 3/5 · US Aplicación: La aplicación es excelente pero muy débil la señal 🤦‍♂️
  9. [R4] rednote 2/5 · US Account being restricted for random reasons: They decided there was a safety issue on my account, so they restricted the account access. No appealing granted, only to verify myself with upload of the passport. Yet their system is not capable of doing so. Tried to contact the support team, only bots were given unhelpful answers. Tried to Uninstall the app, didn’t work. Tried to have a new account,
  10. [R7] rednote 1/5 · US Banned: They banned me after 2 days of having the account. Idk why coz I’m not a bot- I also wasn’t posting a lot. I didn’t post or comment any inappropriate stuff so it’s really frustrating. I only created an account on rednote coz I wanted to follow the love and deepspace cosplayers and also watch reels from people who went to AX expo. There’s more about that here than on IG. Then I got banned.
  11. [R10] rednote 1/5 · US It’s not supporting gender equality: Everything deals with gender equality will be banned. This is an app with sexism.
  12. [R23] rednote 4/5 · US Creepy people: Hey rednote good and great app but some men on here are inappropriate with their behavior on here comment section wise and chat wise that I had to block them please do something about this and thank you great app nevertheless!❤️🐧
  13. [R24] rednote 1/5 · US Xiaohongshu really loves to censor: Censoring comments: Comments you post aren't visible to others, and you don't tell the person who posted them. Censoring posts: Posts you make aren't visible to others, and you don't tell the person who posted them. Is this how you respect your users? Always doing things behind their backs? All sorts of castrated designs, truly marinated in it. Update: Received a developer response telling me to contact customer service. Guess what? I actually did. First, your customer service is all bots. You tell me to contact customer service, but it's just talking to a bot? You're wasting my time. Second, the bot customer service blames "censorship" on "review." Saying posts need to be reviewed. Guess what? I went and verified again. I posted something, and it clearly showed "review passed," but others still couldn't see it. So you're lying! You're not honest or truthful. By the way, are you going to tell me to contact customer service again about why others can't see my posts? Lol, I'm done. · translated
  14. [R26] rednote 2/5 · US Unclear suspension and no meaningful appeal: My RedNote account was permanently suspended without a specific explanation or clear evidence of a violation. I appealed through the app, but only received a generic response and no meaningful human review. I am giving this rating because the account enforcement and appeal process is not transparent or fair.
  15. [R62] Spotify 4/5 · US Skips: Great app! Has all the songs you could possibly imagine. Only thing that is missing is that 6 skips is little, like just because I don’t have premium I only have 6 skips..
  16. [R64] Spotify 1/5 · US you give me nothing without premium. You treat me like if I don’t spend $125 a year on your premium.: 0/10
  17. [R66] Spotify 3/5 · US Ok: I hate that on our free subscription. I can’t pick what order my songs playing on my playlist. Also, I hate you only get six skips and then at a certain point you guys just start playing the full track and I don’t wanna listen to all that.
  18. [R70] Spotify 1/5 · US What a bunch of greedy rich: After every song they put 3-6 ads, and the only way you can avoid them is to pay. Most people don’t have that money. And to listen to some music? What a joke. Not to mention, you only get to skip a song 6 times every hour, which is ridiculous, because they’re basically putting up a fee for nothing. This app isn’t worth it. Don’t even bother giving it your money or your
  19. [R38] rednote 1/5 · US Support sucks: I got blocked for absolutely no reason. Banned. Can never log in again. I’ve tried contacting support at least 10 times and no response or they are completely useless
  20. [R56] rednote 1/5 · US Human customer service is no different from AI: My account was blocked, and I appealed for a month with no results. Contacting customer service only gets me "the department is still processing and will continue to follow up," and then they say the same things as an AI, like "please understand and wait patiently." I've already waited a month. I asked customer service in between, and they said they'd expedite it, but two weeks have passed, and there are still no results. · translated

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store