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

Marco Polo vs Snapchat

Marco Polo 4.8★ · Free + IAP 75
Winner Marco Polo
Snapchat 4.5★ · Free + IAP 60

Marco Polo is better for asynchronous, family-oriented video messaging, despite recent paywall criticisms, while Snapchat is better for real-time, social interactions with a broader feature set, but suffers from reliability and support issues.

Full reviews: Marco Polo · Snapchat

Marco Polo excels as a simple, asynchronous video messaging app, particularly for family, though recent paywall changes have frustrated users. Snapchat offers a wider range of social features and filters but is plagued by complaints about account bans, memory deletion, and excessive monetization.

Head to head

Core Messaging Experience edge: Marco PoloR2R14R35R56
Marco Polo Marco Polo is praised for its asynchronous video messaging, allowing users to communicate with friends and family at their convenience, like FaceTime but without the need for an immediate response R2R14R35R56. Users appreciate its simplicity for staying in touch with loved ones, including elderly family members .
Snapchat Snapchat is valued for its real-time social interactions, including calling and chatting, and its extensive use of filters . Users enjoy snapping friends and making memories, often using it as their main camera .
Features and Functionality tieR4R7R10R16
Marco Polo Marco Polo's core strength is video messaging, with some users wishing for more functions like text chat within the app . However, many features, including unlimited storage, video uploads, transcripts, and even basic closed captions, have been moved behind a paywall, causing significant user frustration R4R7R10R16.
Snapchat Snapchat offers a broad range of features, including diverse filters, Bitmoji customization, and the ability to post videos . However, users are frustrated by features being moved behind paywalls, such as storage for memories, and the removal of previously free options like music play or background music R61.
Ease of Use and Reliability tieR6R12R13R21
Marco Polo Marco Polo is generally considered simple and easy to use . However, many users report significant glitches, including videos not loading or playing, freezing, delays, and messages being deleted for no reason R6R12R13R21. Some also experience issues with video quality .
Snapchat Snapchat's interface is generally intuitive for its user base, but it suffers from various bugs and reliability issues. Users report problems with saved photos not loading, the navigation bar disappearing, and accidental group chat creation . A recurring complaint is accounts being banned or locked without clear reason, leading to loss of access and memories R64R72.
Notifications tieR1R3R21R36
Marco Polo Marco Polo's notification system is a major point of frustration. Users complain about excessive and irrelevant notifications, such as friends being online or being 'all caught up,' with limited ability to customize settings R1R3R21R36. This often leads users to disable notifications entirely.
Snapchat Snapchat users also express dissatisfaction with notifications, specifically unwanted alerts about friends' stories or general junk notifications that cannot be easily turned off R85R89. Some report issues with the app opening to Spotlight automatically .
Price and Value tieR4R7R9R10
Marco Polo Marco Polo is heavily criticized for its pricing model. Many users feel that too many essential features have been moved behind a paywall, making the free version severely limited and difficult to use R4R7R9R10. The subscription price is considered too high, with recent increases making it even less justifiable for many .
Snapchat Snapchat is also facing strong backlash for its increasing monetization. Users are upset about having to pay for features that were previously free, such as storage for memories, Bitmoji outfits, and certain filters R61. Many feel that the app is becoming greedy and that the value proposition for Snapchat Plus is diminishing.
Customer Support edge: Marco PoloR22R29R70R73
Marco Polo Marco Polo receives mixed reviews for its customer support. One user reported responsive customer service that helped resolve an audio issue R29. However, another user stated they reached out about missing closed captioning and received no response after six days R22.
Snapchat Snapchat's customer support is widely criticized as being poor or non-existent. Users report being unable to get help with banned accounts, login issues, or general app problems, with pages not working and no email support R70R73.
Pick Marco Polo if

you prioritize asynchronous video communication for staying in touch with close friends and family, especially if you value simplicity and are willing to pay for premium features like unlimited storage and transcripts R2R14R35.

Pick Snapchat if

you want a versatile social media app for real-time communication, sharing photos and videos with filters, and engaging with a broader network of friends, and you are comfortable with its evolving monetization model .

Evidence note: Both apps have significant negative sentiment regarding recent paywall changes and feature removals, which is reflected in the reviews. Marco Polo's negative reviews often focus on the paywall and notification issues, while Snapchat's negative reviews frequently mention account bans, memory deletion, and poor support.

Frequently asked

Is Marco Polo free to use?
Marco Polo offers a free version, but many core features, including unlimited storage, video uploads, transcripts, and closed captions, have been moved behind a paywall, making the free experience very limited and frustrating for many users R4R7R10R16.
What are the main complaints about Snapchat?
The main complaints about Snapchat include accounts being banned or locked for no clear reason, the removal of previously free features like memory storage and certain customization options now being behind a paywall, and a lack of effective customer support R61R64R72R73.
How do the notification systems compare?
Both apps receive criticism for their notification systems; Marco Polo users are frustrated by excessive and irrelevant notifications about friends being online or being 'caught up' with limited customization R1R3, while Snapchat users complain about unwanted story notifications and general 'junk' alerts that are hard to turn off R85R89.

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. [R14] Marco Polo 5/5 · US Marco Polo: Marco Polo is great for friends who have moved away so you can keep in touch like FaceTime!!
  3. [R35] Marco Polo 5/5 · US Best app ever: Best app ever it makes it so that I can talk to my entire family even when I don’t respond that moment, I can still see what they Marco Polo mean later on my free time best app ever
  4. [R56] Marco Polo 5/5 · US The best: Marco Polo is such a great app I get to talk to my friend and they don’t need to respond right away I could be sitting in a chair outside drinking coffee or watching movies and I will just make a Marco Polo or catch up with my friends such a good game download it,Great job
  5. [R4] Marco Polo 1/5 · US Buns: Will literally delete everything if you don’t pay for it
  6. [R7] Marco Polo 1/5 · US Most features are PAID: Free features are extremely limited. Would rather use WhatsApp than this
  7. [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
  8. [R16] Marco Polo 1/5 · US WHY DID YOU REMOVE CLOSED CAPTIONS!!??: My wife is deaf and can only watch our family Polos with captions! Very ableist and a dirty trick by the developers and needs to be reversed! Even people who aren’t deaf or hard of hearing may like this feature to watch a Polo without the sound as to not disturb others. The developers of this app are constantly removing basic features and placing them behin
  9. [R6] Marco Polo 3/5 · US Great until you pay for it: I have had Marco Polo for a while now, this is how I talk to my best friend everyday. I decided to upgrade to premium because we use it so much that it was worth the money for the features. However, ever since upgrading and now paying the app has severely lacked. When actively talking back and forth most of the time the “live” doesn’t come back until 3-4 minutes into th
  10. [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
  11. [R13] Marco Polo 1/5 · US It lags: The video most of the times doesn’t show up
  12. [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.
  13. [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.
  14. [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
  15. [R36] Marco Polo 3/5 · US Annoying reminders: You’ve been threatening to delete my past videos for a year and a half, just do it already. Otherwise it’s a great app.
  16. [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?
  17. [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.
  18. [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.
  19. [R70] Snapchat 1/5 · US Can’t unlock: Yall saying snap can be unlocked but that a damn lie it not giving me the option to unlocked my snap
  20. [R73] Snapchat 1/5 · US No support: L app, no support or email. pages don’t work either .
  21. [R61] Snapchat 1/5 · US Going downhill fast: Snapchat used to be great, an ad every now and then, your friends, then some news on the side. All for no subscription. When Snapchat plus rolled out and promised access to new features I purchased the yearly plan right away and kept it. Now however Snapchat is getting greedy. Those promised subscription features have moved behind yet another pay wall. Which is changing the te
  22. [R64] Snapchat 2/5 · US It’s ok: I had Snapchat for two years and it was fun but then I got banned for no reason, and I used it all the time.
  23. [R72] Snapchat 3/5 · US It’s cool: Got banned for life on my old one for no reason and there was nothing I could do to fix it
  24. [R85] Snapchat 1/5 · US Junk Notifications: Im about to uninstall and delete my 12 year old account because of the notifications that I can’t seemingly turn off
  25. [R89] Snapchat 5/5 · US Inproper notifications: Stop notifying me about mfs story’s lol

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