Temu: Shop Like a Billionaire

Temu Review: Sold Counts Instead of Reviews

Every Listing Shows How Many Have Sold

The number under each product is the useful signal: 33,000 sold on one dress, 100,000 on a pair of trainers, 1,300 on a kitchen item. With ratings averaging four stars almost everywhere, the sold count is what separates a listing that works from one that arrived last week. Categories run down a sidebar rather than through search, which suits browsing rather than looking for something specific — and browsing is what this app is designed for, with the interface built around scrolling. Filters exist but are shallow, so the sidebar and the sold count end up doing the work a proper search would.

Prices Move, and the App Says So

The store screenshots carry a printed warning that actual prices fluctuate by time and region, and that what is shown may differ from the app. That is worth taking literally: the same item can carry a different price on two consecutive days, and discount countdowns are a permanent feature rather than an event. There are no in-app purchases and no advertising badge on the Play listing — the margin is in the goods themselves, and shipping from China is what makes the numbers possible. Nothing about the checkout is unusual: card or wallet, an address, and a delivery estimate measured in days rather than hours.

A 70 MB Install and Seven Data Categories

This is the smallest shopping app reviewed here by a wide margin, and it supports iPhones going back many releases, which fits a product aimed at buyers who are price-sensitive about hardware too. Google Play lists seven collected categories including location and personal information, with device identifiers shared with third parties. Ratings are high on both stores: 4.7 on the App Store from 2.2 million ratings and 4.5 across 12.7 million Play reviews, on more than a billion installs. Both figures come from very large samples, so the app is genuinely well regarded by the people who use it rather than merely popular.