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Best Group Chat Apps for iPhone (2026)

16 apps ranked S through F · · Ranked by AppTierList, computed, never sold · JSON

Part of Text Messaging.

GroupMe is the top-ranked of 16 group chat apps on iPhone, at S tier with 4.7/5 from 1,559,136 ratings.

  1. 1
    GroupMeS
    Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 1,559,136 ratings · score 99
  2. 2
    Signal - Private MessengerS
    Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 1,100,834 ratings · score 98
  3. 3
    Discord - Talk, Play, Hang OutS
    Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 3,571,871 ratings · score 98
  4. 4
    WhatsApp MessengerS
    Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 18,798,631 ratings · score 98
  5. 5
    BAND - App for all groupsS
    Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 71,343 ratings · score 94

What belongs in this list

Talk with several people at once in a shared text conversation, such as family or friends.

Not here: one-to-one messaging alone; group voice chat or voice rooms alone; public community chat rooms with strangers alone; a general AI chatbot alone; a group name or title keyword alone

How we pick

For this list we ask the App Store the same searches a person would, in several countries, and keep every app it returns. A model reads each app's listing and rejects the ones that only mention the use case. Every app that stays is scored out of 100 from four parts, each 0 to 100 and averaged with no weights: its App Store rating, how many people rated it, where the App Store itself ranks it for this list's searches, and how recently its current version shipped. An app showing Apple's Editors' Choice badge gets a fifth part of 100, which can only lift its score. Tiers follow fixed score bands: S from 90, A from 80, B from 70, C from 60, D from 50, F below. The list's leader is S if it scores 80 or more. On a list of 20 or more ranked apps, a tier from S to D takes in new apps only up to a quarter of the top 40: an app pushed out of a full tier falls to the next tier with room, and F takes the rest. An app already in a tier keeps its place while the tier is at most 2 apps over a quarter; past that, only the apps over that margin go down, lowest score first. Equal scores share a tier, and no app has a better tier than an app ranked above it. An app keeps its tier until its score passes the band edge by more than 1 point, or a full tier or the order above moves it. Only the top 40 of a list get a tier. Read the full method →

S
GroupMeSignalDiscordWhatsAppBAND
A
Zoho CliqGroupSpotStarsWeChatKakaoTalkFlareRocket.Chat
B
Rakutenbuz
C
Shapes, Inc.
D
imo video
F
None at F yet

Compare every app

  1. 1
    GroupMeS
    Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 1,559,136 ratings · score 99 · best in class
  2. 2
    Signal - Private MessengerS
    Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 1,100,834 ratings · score 98 · best in class
  3. 3
    Discord - Talk, Play, Hang OutS
    Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 3,571,871 ratings · score 98 · best in class
  4. 4
    WhatsApp MessengerS
    Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 18,798,631 ratings · score 98 · best in class
  5. 5
    BAND - App for all groupsS
    Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 71,343 ratings · score 94 · best in class
  6. 6
    Zoho Cliq - Team CommunicationA
    Free download · ★ 4.8 · 6,547 ratings · score 90 · excellent
  7. 7
    GroupSpotA
    Free + IAP · ★ 4.8 · 4,447 ratings · score 88 · excellent
  8. 8
    Stars Messenger Kids Safe ChatA
    Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 4,971 ratings · score 88 · excellent
  9. 9
    WeChatA
    Free + IAP · ★ 3.9 · 81,440 ratings · score 87 · excellent
  10. 10
    KakaoTalk : MessengerA
    Free + IAP · ★ 4.4 · 47,758 ratings · score 84 · excellent
  11. 11
    Flare - For GroupsA
    Free · ★ 4.9 · 6,819 ratings · score 83 · excellent
  12. 12
    Rocket.ChatA
    Free · ★ 4.4 · 3,747 ratings · score 81 · excellent
  13. 13
    Rakuten Viber MessengerB
    Free + IAP · ★ 4.6 · 831,149 ratings · score 73 · good · provisional
  14. 14
    buz - voice connectsB
    Free · ★ 4.9 · 18,678 ratings · score 71 · good · provisional
  15. 15
    Shapes, Inc. - AI with friendsC
    Free + IAP · ★ 4.5 · 2,612 ratings · score 66 · situational · provisional
  16. 16
    imo video calls and chat HDD
    $6.99 + IAP · ★ 3.4 · 75,149 ratings · score 51 · weak · provisional

New in the last 30 days

Questions people ask

What is the best group chat app for iPhone?
GroupMe, S tier, ranked #1 of 16, rated 4.7 by 1,559,136 people.
Which group chat apps are free?
15 of 16 are free to download: GroupMe (S), Signal - Private Messenger (S), Discord - Talk, Play, Hang Out (S), WhatsApp Messenger (S) and more. 11 of them sell in-app purchases. 3 report no in-app purchases.
Which group chat app has the best App Store rating?
buz - voice connects at 4.9 from 18,678 ratings.
How many group chat apps reach S or A tier?
12 of 16. Tiers follow fixed score bands: S from 90, A from 80, B from 70, C from 60, D from 50, F below. The list's leader is S if it scores 80 or more. On a list of 20 or more ranked apps, a tier from S to D takes in new apps only up to a quarter of the top 40: an app pushed out of a full tier falls to the next tier with room, and F takes the rest. An app already in a tier keeps its place while the tier is at most 2 apps over a quarter; past that, only the apps over that margin go down, lowest score first. Equal scores share a tier, and no app has a better tier than an app ranked above it. An app keeps its tier until its score passes the band edge by more than 1 point, or a full tier or the order above moves it. Only the top 40 of a list get a tier.

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