Wattpad - Read & Write Stories

Books & Reference

6.8~~/10~~

Our score

★ 3.7 Google Play·100M+ installs

Reviewed by Editorial Team, ScoredApps editorial · updated 2026-10-01

Screenshots

Romance tab with a Hottest Wattpad Originals row and Chasing Red ranked first with 261M reads

Comment thread under chapter 21 of a story, with replies and like counts beside each comment

Chasing Red story page labelled Wattpad Originals, with 261M reads, 3.95M votes and 73 parts

About Wattpad - Read & Write Stories

Reading and publishing on Wattpad cost nothing: anyone can post serialized fiction, and readers follow it part by part, with a comment thread under each chapter. Unlike GoodNovel or Dreame, which carry no Contains ads label on Google Play but sell in-app items of up to $199.99, it keeps most of the catalog free and paywalls only Wattpad Originals. The trade-off is advertising, and reviewers report an ad after nearly every chapter.

App information

DeveloperWattpad Corp

Version11.40.5 (Android) · 11.40.1 (iOS)

Size167 MB (Android) · 249 MB (iOS)

Price / In-appFree

Contains adsYes

In-app purchasesYes

Content rating16+

Requires (Android)Android 7.0+

Requires (iOS)iOS 15.0+

Offline modeStories on the Offline List and Originals in your Library read offline; adding them needs a connection; no offline mode on the web

Interface languagesAR, CS, NL, EN, FR, DE + 13 more

Store rating (Google Play)3.7 from 5,023,932 ratings

Installs100M+

Updated by developer2026-10-01

Data checked2026-10-01

Specs come from the official store listings and were last checked on 2026-10-01. Developers change pricing and requirements — check the store page before installing.

Wattpad Review: Free Stories and Free Publishing, Paid For in Ads

Free reading: ads between chapters and a capped Offline List

Ads pay for the free tier: the help center lists the homepage, a story's details page and the reader itself as places they appear, and writers earn nothing from ads shown in their stories. Google Play reviews from September 2024 through September 2026 describe an ad after nearly every chapter, and some say an ad freezes the page so the next part will not load. Offline reading runs through the Offline List: you add a story while connected, and it then opens without a signal. Free accounts get a capped list, and reviewers since August 2024 complain that the cap was cut sharply. Premium removes both the cap and the ads, while the web version has no offline mode at all.

Wattpad Originals: only the latest 10 parts sit behind Coins

Originals are stories hand-picked by editors, and unlocking them pays the writer; they are the only part of the catalog with a paywall. On an ongoing Original, just the newest 10 parts are locked. Each time a new part is published, the oldest locked one turns free, and the release day is listed in the story description. Completed Originals keep a fixed paywall. You pay with Coins, where the price of a part depends on its word count, or with Premium+, whose unlock covers one season only. Premium Picks add five Originals a month for any subscriber, but they refresh at midnight Eastern time on the 1st, and the previous month's titles lock again. Ongoing Originals are English-only, while Originals as a whole span English, Filipino, French, Spanish, German and Indonesian.

Rated 3.7 on Android, owned by Naver, and no private messages

Store ratings split sharply: 3.7 stars from 5.02 million Google Play reviews against 4.7 from about 706,000 App Store ratings. In the roughly 500 Play reviews we read, nearly all from 2026, ads were the top complaint, followed by a connection error on a working network and forced logouts, sometimes ending in an empty library. In July 2026 writers also reported that the new Story type and Genre fields would not save, which blocked new parts. South Korea's Naver agreed to buy the platform for more than $600 million in 2021, and WEBTOON Entertainment now calls it its webnovel platform. On May 6, 2024, direct messages were switched off and every old message deleted. Apple's privacy label lists identifiers used to track you across other companies' apps.

Pros

Most stories are free to read, and publishing your own costs nothing
Ongoing Originals lock only the newest 10 parts; older parts turn free
Premium Picks add five Originals a month to either subscription
Originals in your Library read offline without using the offline cap
Mature stories are restricted, and suggestive images are hidden from under-17 users

Cons

Reviewers since 2024 report an ad after nearly every chapter on free accounts
Premium+ Bonus Coins reset every 30 days, and unused ones expire
Android rating is 3.7, with 2026 reviews citing connection errors and logouts
Direct messages were removed in May 2024, and all old messages deleted

Download From Google PlayDownload From App Store

We don't host any files. These buttons open the official Google Play and App Store listings.

Verdict

We score it 6.8. The points come from a catalog anyone can publish to and read for free, plus an Originals paywall that releases a part every time a new one lands; ads after chapters, a 3.7 Android rating and tracking identifiers take them away. Take it if you read or write serialized fiction and accept ads or Premium at $5.99 a month (US price, subject to change). Skip it if you mostly read offline on a free account, or want paid reading without ads, which is how Galatea from Inkitt works.

Core function8.5Free publishing, a mostly free catalog, chapter comments and Originals that turn free part by part.

Ease of use6.5Ads interrupt chapter changes, the free Offline List is capped, and the web version has no offline mode.

Monetisation6.0Removing ads costs $5.99 a month on a US iPhone, and Premium+ Bonus Coins expire every 30 days.

Performance5.5Rated 3.7 on Google Play; 2026 reviews cite connection errors, logouts, emptied libraries and failed story setup.

Privacy & permissions6.0Apple's label lists tracking identifiers; Play lists approximate location and device IDs shared for advertising.

6.8out of 10 · weighted average of the five scores above

Readers’ rating

Not enough reader ratings yet. Be one of the first.

Used Wattpad - Read & Write Stories? Rate it

One rating per visitor, no sign-up. The average updates once a day. Store ratings are shown separately and are not mixed in.

Frequently asked questions

Is Wattpad free to read?

Yes, most stories are free to read and free to publish, paid for by ads on the homepage, story pages and inside the reader. The exception is Wattpad Originals: on an ongoing Original the newest 10 parts are locked behind Coins or Premium+, and one part turns free each time a new one is published. Completed Originals keep a fixed paywall.

When do Wattpad Originals become free?

An ongoing Original frees one part each time a new part is published, because only the latest 10 parts stay paywalled. The release day appears in the story description, the intro chapter or at the end of the last free part. Completed Originals never free up: you unlock them with Coins, priced by word count, or with a Premium+ unlock that covers one season.

How much is Wattpad Premium and is it worth it?

In the US iPhone app, Premium costs $5.99 a month or $59.99 a year and removes ads, lifts the offline cap and adds five Premium Picks a month. Premium+ costs $9.99 a month or $89.99 a year and adds 200 Bonus Coins that reset every 30 days. Premium suits daily readers tired of ads; Premium+ pays off only if you finish Originals monthly. Prices are regional and can change.

What happens to unlocked stories if you cancel Wattpad Premium+?

Parts you already unlocked stay in your Library and can be reread. Unused Bonus Coins do not carry over: they expire at the end of each 30-day cycle on monthly, 6-month and annual plans alike. Without a subscription, Premium Picks are no longer free and ads return. Cancel through Payments & subscriptions in the Google Play app, or Subscriptions in iOS Settings.

Is Wattpad safe for teens?

Accounts are for users aged 13 or older, and accounts found to belong to younger children are closed. Stories rated Mature are restricted in discovery, and suggestive images are hidden from users under 17. Since May 2024 users cannot message each other privately, so contact runs through public comments. Apple rates the app 16+, and Google Play rates it Teen.