Verithiathe honest score on any app
Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

Marco Polo vs X

Marco Polo 4.8★ · Free + IAP 70
Winner Marco Polo
X 4.6★ · Free to download 40

Marco Polo is better for intimate, asynchronous video communication with known contacts, despite its recent shift to a more aggressive paid model, while X is a broad social media platform struggling with content moderation, glitches, and user experience changes.

Full reviews: Marco Polo · X

Marco Polo excels at personal video messaging for close connections, though users are increasingly frustrated by features moving behind a paywall and notification issues. X, on the other hand, is a general social media platform praised for real-time information but heavily criticized for content moderation failures, numerous bugs, and unpopular UI changes.

Head to head

Features & Core Functionality edge: Marco PoloR2R4R7R9
Marco Polo Marco Polo is valued for its asynchronous video messaging, allowing users to communicate with friends and family on their own time R2. Users appreciate features like live chat and the ability to share updates R10. However, many core features, such as unlimited storage, transcripts, closed captions, and even basic playback controls like fast-forward, have been moved behind a paywall R4R7R9R10. This has led to significant frustration, especially for those who relied on accessibility features like captions R22.
X X is seen as a platform for instant information, open conversation, and sharing thoughts . Users appreciate its role in staying current with news and its free speech protections . However, recent updates have removed or broken key functionalities, such as swiping through media on profiles and displaying retweets R81. There are also complaints about the search feature being ineffective and the inability to remove unwanted content from feeds .
Ease of Use & Reliability edge: Marco PoloR1R3R5R12
Marco Polo Marco Polo is generally considered simple and easy to use for its core purpose of video messaging R5. However, many users report significant reliability issues, including videos not showing up or being deleted for no reason R12R13, frequent lagging and glitches R13R21R24, and messages not playing or freezing R21. Some users also experience problems with notification systems R1R3R21 and specific bugs like video speed changing automatically .
X X is described as simple to use by some . However, a large number of reviews highlight widespread glitches and broken functionality . Users report issues with age verification , posts not sending , videos getting stuck , and the app crashing frequently . The user interface changes are also widely disliked, with comments on it being "ugly" and making navigation difficult .
Price & Value edge: Marco PoloR4R7R9R10
Marco Polo Marco Polo is free to download but many users feel that most valuable features are now behind a "premium" paywall, making the free version "extremely limited" or "terrible" R4R7R9R10. The subscription price is frequently criticized as too expensive, with recent "crazy price increases" R15. Users express unwillingness to pay for features that used to be free R9R10 or for an app they only use with one person R12.
X X is free to download, but some features, like posting, are perceived as requiring a subscription . Verification costs are considered too high for ordinary users . The platform is increasingly seen as "pay-to-play," where non-subscribers' profiles may not get acknowledged .
Support & Content Moderation edge: Marco PoloR22R29R61R66
Marco Polo Marco Polo has some positive mentions of responsive customer service R29. However, there's a specific negative experience where a user reached out to support about missing closed captioning and received no response for six days R22.
X X faces severe criticism regarding content moderation and support. Users report an abundance of fake content R61, AI videos R66, and explicit or inappropriate content, including pornography and child pornography R79R81R82. Many feel the platform has become a "hate platform" with racial slurs and dehumanizing content that is not policed R85. Support is described as "obviously automated" and ineffective, with reports of accounts being suspended for no reason and no communication .
Pick Marco Polo if

You want a dedicated app for asynchronous video communication with close friends and family, and are willing to pay for premium features or tolerate the limitations of the free tier R2.

Pick X if

You prioritize real-time news and open discussion on a broad social media platform and are willing to navigate significant content moderation issues and frequent app glitches .

Evidence note: Marco Polo's reviews show a strong negative skew in recent feedback, primarily due to the shift from a mostly free model to a subscription-heavy one. Many negative reviews for Marco Polo are from users frustrated by features being paywalled, which were previously free. X's reviews are overwhelmingly negative, focusing on content moderation failures, technical issues, and unpopular changes under new ownership.

Frequently asked

What are the main complaints about Marco Polo's pricing?
The main complaints about Marco Polo's pricing are that many previously free and essential features, such as unlimited storage, transcripts, and closed captions, are now behind an "expensive" paywall, with recent price increases making it unaffordable for many users R4R7R10R15.
Does X have issues with inappropriate content?
Yes, X has significant issues with inappropriate content, with users reporting an abundance of pornography, child pornography, racial slurs, and hate speech that is not effectively moderated R79R81R82R85.
Are there many glitches in Marco Polo?
Yes, many Marco Polo users report frequent glitches and reliability issues, including videos not showing up or being deleted, lagging, freezing, and messages not playing R12R13R21R24.

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] Marco Polo 5/5 · US Communicating: It’s so nice to send these back and forth to family
  2. [R4] Marco Polo 1/5 · US Buns: Will literally delete everything if you don’t pay for it
  3. [R7] Marco Polo 1/5 · US Most features are PAID: Free features are extremely limited. Would rather use WhatsApp than this
  4. [R9] Marco Polo 3/5 · US Cool app won’t pay: Been using Marco Polo for years liked it much better when it was free and they were trying to sell you on a subscription or something. There’s too many other ways to video chat with people that are free so why should I pay a subscription for Marco Polo?
  5. [R1] Marco Polo 2/5 · US Terrible notification system: No, I don’t want to be notified in the middle of the day that I’m all caught up. No, I don’t want to know when my contact is online. I just want to know when I receive a message. Thanks to Marco Polo’s extremely limited notification settings, that’s not a possibility.
  6. [R3] Marco Polo 3/5 · US Notifications needs attention: The app will notify you anytime your friends are online. This is way too often, and there’s not a specific setting to turn it off. It’s miserable. So I’ve had to just disable notifications entirely - I review polos whenever now. My friends are adjusting lol
  7. [R5] Marco Polo 5/5 · US The greatest: It’s just awesome
  8. [R12] Marco Polo 3/5 · US Great idea: The idea is awesome and is easy to use. Unfortunately it works when it wants to work. Some get deleted for no reason or it’s unable to view. It is free so I wonder if we payed for the subscription if it would work better. I can’t justify the price when I only talk to one person though. If I had a family and more friends on it then it might be worth it. Over all it is a neat way to keep
  9. [R10] Marco Polo 1/5 · US Used to be great, greed ruined it: It’s really a huge disappointment. My whole family loved Marco Polo. It was our preferred method of keeping in touch. We would use the Sharecast feature for video updates of our kids. The ability to upload videos, the unlimited storage, even the transcripts of Polos was great. What was really amazing is that as a Plus member you used to be able to gift temporary P
  10. [R22] Marco Polo 2/5 · US Please bring back closed captioning!: The transcript hasn’t been working and my app removed the closed captioning option so I have no way of reading what my friends are saying! Edit: They replied saying I should reach out to the support team, I already did 6 days ago with no response.
  11. [R29] Marco Polo 5/5 · US No Bluetooth?: Fun app! It makes connecting with others easy. Responsive customer service, too. I had an issue with the audio: streaming to Bluetooth-connected devices was not working. I reached out to the developers via customer service and received an email with instructions that led me to the solution.
  12. [R61] X 1/5 · US Boosting Sham: I use X, and verify content with grok. Ratio of real vs fake content is 20% real/80% fake per grok. #Boosting posts on #X Just found out the hard way and thought I'd share, maybe it'll be helpful. I've boosted a couple of posts with an iPhone, in app, on X, to share the books. Almost all of them are free to read and available on paperback. Little did I know there is a backend p
  13. [R66] X 3/5 · US My review: Ai videos are a huge issue for me.
  14. [R15] Marco Polo 3/5 · US Desires in an app: I wish it was free to close the app while listening to the video I want the ability to put the phone in my pocket while listening with my EarPods without the video stopping I also wish it was cheaper to get the premium and even a one time purchase would be great!
  15. [R79] X 1/5 · US STOP THE CP: It takes less than a couple minutes to access cp on x. Think of that. As a 14 year old it sucks to see that you don’t even have to ask for cp to access it on this app. Right, or left, the children of this generation are so much more vulnerable and no matter what your views are politically you need to understand how deeply horrible this app is when it comes to protection of children. T
  16. [R81] X 3/5 · US new update: bring displaying of retweets and threads on the account back
  17. [R82] X 1/5 · US This app is insane bro delete it: Mad pornography on it i downloaded it and was flooded with it , its disgusting
  18. [R85] X 1/5 · US Hate platform: X has become place for racial slurs, dehumanizing races and okay grounds for racists. Stay away from this platform to keep your inner peace! Reading hate posts daily will get you nowhere. Trillionaire musk still wants to make money with hate. Reporting hate tweeters will be of no use as they are all classified under freedom of speech! Grok will are the tweet is hate speech but x mon
  19. [R13] Marco Polo 1/5 · US It lags: The video most of the times doesn’t show up
  20. [R21] Marco Polo 3/5 · US Issues: Marco Polo used to be great to use. Anymore, all you get is multiple false notifications saying you have a message. You get delays in a message playing when you have good service and they have good service. You get freezing of Marco Polo messages and I’m sure I’m forgetting some. It is hardly worth the effort to use it now.
  21. [R24] Marco Polo 3/5 · US Video quality: Bad quality of videos

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