LINE reviews
What users love and hate, from real reviews
Japan's dominant messenger built around stickers, calls and LINE Pay, which has turned into a trap for longtime users: killing phone-number login locks people out of accounts with years of history everywhere outside a handful of Asian countries.
What users love
Paid stickers and themes make chats more expressive
A huge collection of branded stickers, emoji and themes is what people love LINE for. Many call them the cutest and most varied of any messenger, and stickers are what make chatting feel alive.
I love the sticker selection. It is amazing and makes chatting so much more fun. The custom themes are beautiful.... It is far more creative than any other communication app. I recommend this
nice communication app and the best sticker ever
the sticker collection is unmatched compared to any other messaging app out there, which just makes daily chatting a lot more fun
Crystal-clear voice and video across distances
When login works, LINE remains a reliable way to stay in touch with friends and family abroad: voice and video calls are praised as crystal clear even over long distances.
The voice and video calls are always crystal clear despite the distance.
LINE provides high-quality voice and video calling services, making it easy for users to stay connected with family and friends regardless of location
Call video clear, group chat tak lag.
What users hate
Killing phone-number login locks people out of old accounts
LINE abruptly disabled phone-number login everywhere except a few Asian countries. Users whose accounts aren't linked to Google, Apple or email are completely locked out — no access to years of chats, contacts and purchased stickers.
I lost contact with a lot of friends because I cannot login with my phone number
No longer can login with phone number... Since I don't link my line account to Google or Apple account, basically I can't access my account. Stupid product decision.
Couldn't log in using phone number in Indonesia. I just lost my Line account. Thank you so much
Account transfer is impossible without the old device
To sign in on a new phone, LINE demands confirmation from the old device — a QR code or a code sent in chat. But if the old phone is broken, lost or wiped, there's nowhere to get the code, and the account becomes inaccessible.
to transfer my Line account to this device you wish to verify me by sending a code via Line - how stupid can you be?! how can I get the code if the app is not installed yet?!
my previous device was destroyed and I just got my new device today. I am unable to use my previous device. I cannot sign into line.
stupid app. can't log in with new phone as keep asking me to verify from old phone which is dead.
Unsending your own messages got locked behind Premium
Unsending a message after the one-hour window is now only available with the paid LINE Premium plan. Users see it as extortion: a basic feature that used to be free, walled off behind a paywall.
now we have to pay you greedy crooks to unsend our own messages?
Forcing users to pay for a premium plan just to edit or unsend messages after a certain time feels like highway robbery.
LINE forces users to upgrade to premium subscription to unsend messages. The corporate greed is sick and disgusting.
A forced in-chat AI agent you can't turn off
An AI agent was added to chats — it takes up screen space and can't be disabled permanently, only "hidden" for 30 days. Users also flag the lack of consent: if the person you're talking to uses the AI, your data gets fed into it.
they've now implemented an AI agent in chat that you're not allowed to disable, and can only "hide" temporarily.
You can only hide this feature for 30 days - there is no way to disable it permanently.
Trying to force AI slop into your chat window and forcing the user to remove it every 30 days is an insane decision.
Accounts get banned with no reason given
Freshly created accounts get suspended out of nowhere, sometimes before sending a single message. Support refuses to name a reason, citing "terms of service", and there's no way to get the account reactivated.
It is impossible for me to create an account without it getting instantly banned. Support refuses to tell me why I get banned other that I might have "Violated Terms of Service".
i got banned for no reason and Line refuses to give a reason why. it's a waste
My account was suspended for NO REASON! No customer service, no help desk, nobody can help reactivate my account
Chats take 10-60 seconds to load every single time
After recent updates the app stopped being an instant messenger: the chat list takes tens of seconds to load and each individual conversation opens with another delay — every single time. Notifications arrive 20+ minutes late.
takes 10 seconds to load up chats every time after recent update, very annoying 😤
When launching the app, it takes about 30 to 60 seconds to display the chats. After that, opening the individual chats takes another 15-30 seconds. And that's EVERY SINGLE TIME you open a chat.
I consistently get notifications 20 or more minutes late. I don't even understand how it can be this bad.
Support doesn't respond, or responds with a bot
There's no help section, no chat or phone line, and the contact form just opens the very app the user can't log into. Replies take weeks and come only from a bot — no real humans to be found.
Horrible customer service after failed account transfer. takes weeks to get a response and no chat or phone numbers available
there is no "help" section to resolve problems.
the only responses I get are from some stupid so-called robot or AI. It’s incredibly frustrating. Are there even any real humans left anywhere anymore?
Region locks cut off users around the world
LINE is pushed worldwide, yet outside Japan region restrictions keep piling up: you can't register a UK, Bangladesh or Romania number, can't add friends overseas, can't connect between Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Can't register UK phone numbers so cannot even find contacts or use the damn app. They why the heck is it on the UK play store then!
basically unusable outside of japan. not sure what happened between now and the last time i used line, but i used to be able to use this perfectly fine without endless run-ins with new region restrictions all over the place
can't add phone number in Bangladesh! 😡
Finding and adding friends often just fails
Adding a friend means digging through hidden settings to enable your LINE ID, only to hit "ID not found", a tries limit, or a region block. You can't search by username, and People Nearby refreshes itself the moment you open a profile.
I can't add anyone as it always says ID not found. It's been a problem for a year with so many people and not getting fixed.
first you need to find hidden settings and turn. them on activate line id etc to try to add a friend or a username, when u get past that it tells you your region cannot do that
i enjoy the app very fast and reliable...but it's very easy and hard for me... you can't use username to search or add someone
Backups and chat history are lost for good
Full chat backup and restore are premium-only and limited to some countries, history is capped at 100MB per account, and media isn't saved to Google Drive. On a new device users find empty chats stripped of old messages, photos and voice notes.
cannot fully backup/restore chat history, while some country offer premium option to fully backup/restore
fixed 100mb storage per account.
I logged in on my other device and all my conversations with my friends weren't there