mewe: The Safe Network

Review by eFreeware

If you have grown tired of social apps that treat your posts as inventory, mewe is worth a look. It is a free social network built around privacy, groups and conversation, and it is most likely to appeal to people who want to keep in touch with friends and family without handing over more than they intend. The developer describes it as a place where you find your people, and the structure of the app backs that up: a personal profile, a feed you can adjust, and a large catalog of communities.

The pitch is straightforward. You share text, photos and video with followers, join groups that match your interests, and message people directly or in small chats. The developer says your data is not sold to advertisers, which is the central promise here. With more than 10 million installs and a 4.1 average from over 187,000 ratings, it has clearly found an audience since its release in October 2014.

What sets it apart from a generic social feed is the emphasis on groups. Groups number over 700,000, spanning interests such as birding, sourdough and vintage motorcycles. That number matters because it changes what the app is for: it is less a place to broadcast to the world and more a place to settle into a few communities and talk.

Posting, scheduling and the two feeds

The core loop is familiar. Followers see the text, photos and video you add to your profile. You can also schedule posts for later, which is a small but useful touch if you like to write when you have time and publish when your audience is around.

The feed gives you two ways to look at things. A chronological view shows what the people you follow have posted, in order, which is what you want when you are catching up rather than being entertained. Switching between the two is the main way you shape what the app shows you.

Storage is part of the deal too. The developer offers 2GB of cloud storage at no cost. That is where the paid tier comes in, and I will come back to it below.

Groups, chats and calls

Groups are the part of mewe I would expect most people to spend their time in. You can browse public groups to find new interests, or set up private ones for people you trust. Community owners can set how their own group runs.

Messaging runs alongside the groups. There are group chats and one-to-one conversations, so a thread can stay with the people it belongs to instead of spilling into a public feed. Voice and video calls work worldwide, which makes the app feel closer to a messaging service than a pure timeline.

The recent update tidied a few things up. Your Favorites feed now sits inside the Following dropdown, the group settings screen has a refreshed look, and a video playback issue that stopped some videos from playing has been fixed. None of that changes what the app is, but it does suggest the developer is still working on the basics.

What Premium adds

mewe is free to download, and there is a paid tier on top. Premium costs $6.49 per month or $69.99 per year, and it removes ads, adds unlimited worldwide voice and video calling, full HD video quality, 100GB of extra cloud storage, exclusive stickers and emoji, and a premium profile badge.

The storage figure is the one I would weigh most carefully. Between the free 2GB and the extra 100GB, the paid tier adds a substantial amount of storage. The calling and video quality items matter if you use the app as your main way of talking to people, and the ad-free browsing is a straightforward convenience.

Subscriptions bought through Android are charged to your Google Play account, and they renew automatically unless you cancel more than a day before the next billing date. After buying, you handle them in your Google Play account settings. That is standard for store billing, but it is worth knowing before you commit to a year.

What you need before you start

There is not much in the way of setup to describe. You download the app, create a profile, and start following people or joining groups. The app is available on Android through Google Play.

The content rating is Mature 17+, which reflects that this is a social space where adults post and talk to each other. If you are setting it up for someone younger, that rating is the thing to look at first.

The app has been updated recently, with the latest release in September 2026. If you have used mewe before and drifted away, the Favorites feed change and the video fix are the two items most likely to affect your day-to-day experience.

Who it fits best

I would expect mewe to suit people who want a social app that behaves more like a set of communities than a global stage. If you have a handful of interests that are too specific for a general feed, the group catalog is the strongest reason to try it. The developer's privacy stance is the other draw, and it is the claim the whole product is organized around.

It also fits people who want messaging and calls in the same place as their posts. Having group chats, one-to-one messaging and voice or video calling under one roof keeps those features together.

The free tier lets you try the groups and the feed style. If you find yourself posting a lot of media or calling often, the Premium tier is where the extra storage and call features live. If you mostly want a public timeline and a follow graph, the group-centered design here may feel like more structure than you need.

A social app built around groups and privacy

mewe is a free social network with a clear point of view: privacy first, groups at the center, and messaging close at hand. That combination is what makes it worth considering rather than just another timeline.

The trade-offs are the ones you would expect. The most useful extras sit behind a $6.49 monthly or $69.99 yearly subscription, and the free storage is 2GB. The content rating is Mature 17+, so it is aimed at adults.

I would suggest it to people who want to post, chat and join groups without feeling like the product is the audience. If that describes you, the free download is an easy way to see whether the communities you care about are already there.

What's new in version 9.0.26.6

Your Favorites feed now lives inside the Following dropdown, keeping everything in one place. The group settings screen got a fresh UI refresh. We also fixed a major video playback issue where some videos wouldn't play at all — smoother watching from here on out.