Audited 12 November 2026
Nameberry App Review (2026): What Version 2.0 Changed
A baby name swipe app that rebuilt itself six months after launch.
Summary
The Nameberry app lets two people swipe on baby names separately and shows only the names you both love. Version 2.0, released on 22 October 2026, added search, lists and 1,000 free swipes. Premium costs $19.99 a year. Google Play rates it 1.5 out of 5 from 18 reviews, and the iOS rating rests on two people. We audited the listings, changelog and launch thread to see what holds up. Good as a free companion to the site, not yet a clear pay-up.
The Nameberry app is a decent swipe tool that is still catching up with its own website. Version 2.0 (22 October 2026) added search, lists and 1,000 free swipes, yet the stores still show 1.5/5 on Google Play from 18 reviews. Premium costs $19.99 a year. Worth installing free to test with a partner, not worth paying for before the swipes run out.
- Partner matching
- 7/10
- Suggestion quality
- 4/10
- Value for money
- 7/10
- Stability and polish
- 5/10
- Each partner swipes alone and only shared likes surface, so the loudest voice cannot steer the shortlist
- Version 2.0 put name pages, search, lists and popularity charts inside the free app, with 1,000 free swipes
- The developer answered all 10 written store reviews we could read, usually with the fix already shipped
- Google Play shows 1.5/5 from 18 reviews, and reviewers describe obscure names and little control over style
- iOS shows 5.0/5 from only 2 ratings, while the written reviews beneath it are almost all critical
- Premium is a subscription now, $49.91 for a first year on monthly billing against $19.99 on the annual plan
Free to download. Premium from $4.99 for the first three months.
How we reviewed it
- Version tested
- iOS app 2.0.2 (3 Nov 2026); Google Play listing updated 3 Nov 2026
- Test period
- 2026-11-12 → 2026-11-12
This is a desk audit done in one session on 12 November 2026, not weeks of daily swiping. We did not install the app and we did not buy Premium. We read the live App Store and Google Play listings with their changelogs and every written review shown, the app page on nameberry.com, the launch thread on the Nameberry forum, the founder's launch newsletter and the first-party screenshots. We also searched Reddit, Trustpilot, G2, Capterra and Product Hunt, reading Reddit excerpts only. Counted numbers come from the pages that day. Claimed numbers are Nameberry's own. Arithmetic is ours and labelled.
Should you install the Nameberry app?
YES if you...
- Couples who disagree quietly and want to compare likes without a spreadsheet or a debate
- Readers who already use the Nameberry website and want its name pages and lists on a phone
- Parents happy to try 1,000 free swipes before deciding whether Premium is worth it
- Families who want a grandparent to swipe too, since invites are uncapped
NO if you...
- Anyone who wants strong style filters inside the swipe deck, because reviewers say the deck ignores them
- People who need a custom name added to the deck so a partner can react to it
- Parents who expect every feature to work the same on Android as on iPhone
- Readers who dislike subscriptions
What the Nameberry app costs in November 2026
Prices read from the App Store and Google Play listings and the app page on 12 November 2026.
Free download
Contains ads according to Google Play
- 1,000 free swipes, raised from 50 in version 2.0.0
- Search, name pages, lists and the blog
- Solo swiping with a choice of gender
Premium, first three months
Then $4.99 a month
- Unlimited swipes and naming partners
- Name style analysis and popularity forecasts
- Forum posting, no ads, also works on nameberry.com
Premium, annual
About $1.67 a month
- Everything in monthly Premium
- Cheapest route if you swipe for more than five months
- Managed in your App Store or Google Play account
ROI breakdown: The annual plan works out at $1.67 a month. Monthly billing for twelve months costs $49.91, which is 2.5 times as much. At launch the app was a one-time $4.99 purchase. Premium is now a subscription, and people who bought earlier keep their access.
Hidden costs & gotchas
- The $4.99 monthly price starts again after the three-month offer ends
- Naming partners need a paid member to invite them, so the free tier is mostly a solo trial
- Google Play lists ads in the free app, even though the launch post promised none
One name, three facts, two buttons
The deck shows a name with its gender, origin and meaning, then asks you to pass or love it. Nothing else competes for attention.
- Each partner swipes on their own phone
- A match appears only when both people love the same name
Your taste in syllables and first letters
Stats cover names swiped, share liked, longest and shortest favourite, syllables and first letters. It is playful rather than deep.
- Tabs for activity, you, your partner and together
- One reviewer wanted more depth, such as boys against girls
What we measured and read
Every figure comes from a page we opened on 12 November 2026. The source sits in each note.
- Free swipes before Premium
- 1,000 swipes App Store and Google Play description; raised from 50 in the 2.0.0 changelog of 22 Oct 2026
- Days from launch to version 2.0
- 175 days 30 April 2026 launch post to 22 October 2026 release (our arithmetic)
- Releases since launch
- 9 Version history on the App Store, 0.1.2 to 2.0.2
- Annual Premium per month
- $1.67 $19.99 divided by 12
- First year on monthly billing
- $49.91 $4.99 for three months, then nine months at $4.99 (our arithmetic)
- Google Play rating
- 1.5 /5 18 reviews, 1K+ downloads, listing updated 3 Nov 2026
- App Store rating
- 5.0 /5 Only 2 ratings; 7 written reviews are shown below it
- Written reviews answered by the developer
- 10 of 10 7 on the App Store and 3 on Google Play, all with replies dated around 29 Oct
Open the app page on nameberry.com and read what the app promises.
Open the Google Play listing and read the rating and recent reviews.
Look at the first-party swipe screen.
Look at the first-party stats screen for a partner.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Matching that removes the loudest-voice problem Each person swipes alone, and only names you both love reach the shared list.
- A real rebuild, not a patch Version 2.0 moved search, name pages, lists, forums and popularity charts into the free app within 175 days.
- A developer who answers All 10 visible written reviews have a reply, several naming the exact version that fixes the complaint.
- Fair price once you commit $19.99 a year is $1.67 a month, with unlimited partners.
Cons
- Android ratings are very low 1.5/5 from 18 reviews. Sample size is small, and most reviews predate 2.0, but the number is what shoppers see.
- Suggestions feel untuned to reviewers Several people swiped hundreds of obscure names before seeing a common one, and the deck does not accept style filters.
- The store ratings tell two different stories iOS shows 5.0/5 from 2 ratings while its written reviews are mostly critical, so neither number is reliable.
- Pricing changed after launch The one-time $4.99 purchase became a subscription, and monthly billing costs 2.5 times the annual plan.
- Ads appear in the free Android app Google Play lists ads, while the launch thread said the app had none.
Final verdict
The Nameberry app is easiest to recommend as a free companion to the website. The swipe idea is sound: two people react alone and only shared likes appear. Version 2.0 fixed the loudest complaint by adding search and lists, and the developer clearly reads every review.
What holds the score back is evidence, not features. The Google Play rating is 1.5/5, the iOS rating rests on two people, and the written reviews describe a deck that shows obscure names without much steering. Most of those reviews predate 2.0, and we could not confirm they still hold.
Our advice: install it free, spend the first 200 swipes with your partner, and see whether the names fit your taste. If they do, the $19.99 annual plan is fair. If they do not, keep using the website and shortlist elsewhere.
- Partner matching 7/10 Independent swipes, shared likes only
- Suggestion quality 4/10 Obscure names, little steering
- Value for money 7/10 $1.67 a month on the annual plan
- Stability and polish 5/10 Nine releases, loading bugs reported
- Research tools 7/10 Name pages, lists, popularity charts since 2.0
- Developer support 8/10 10 of 10 visible reviews answered
Common questions about the Nameberry app
Is the Nameberry app free?
How much does Nameberry Premium cost?
Do both partners need to pay?
What changed in Nameberry app version 2.0?
What is the Nameberry app rating?
Is there a Trustpilot or G2 page for the Nameberry app?
Update log
- Initial publication. Desk audit of the iOS and Google Play listings, the app page, the launch thread and the version history.