Review Insights · App Store
Renfe
Renfe Viajeros · 3,048 ratings · ★ 4.6
4.6
★★★★★
3,048 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 87 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"website"
19 negative reviews mention this · 22% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Horrible UI, constantly times out. Very frustrating to use. Error messages not translated correctly, page load time was horrible, app better then website but still not good. Had to attempt to purchase tickets 10x before it worked. Payment page constantly not working" - Mallory1010
2
"work"
17 negative reviews mention this · 20% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Horrible UI, constantly times out. Very frustrating to use. Error messages not translated correctly, page load time was horrible, app better then website but still not good. Had to attempt to purchase tickets 10x before it worked. Payment page constantly not working" - Mallory1010
3
"renfe"
15 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Renfail. renfe sucks royally" - HonestReviewerJoe
4
"ticket"
15 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Bad user experience. I tried booking a ticked to Toledo. Did not complete the purchase because of this horrible app and decided not to go. The app forces you to create an account and enter your information before telling you there no available slots. It’s easy …" - Nich11000
5
"number"
15 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Can’t register US phone number. The app is 100% useless which is about the same as the website. Couldn’t even register due to not able to use +1 country code for USA. Even tried fake and real +34 numbers and unable to register. This is very unfortunate. Had to take vacat…" - P_Buddy
6
"phone"
14 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Use the web to create an account. Useless app unless you have an account. No english support unless logged in, doesn't fetch personal info from the phone, no OK button when registering! Demands that you have two surnames! Payment system is bad. Otherwise the app after…" - BahjkDude78
7
"tickets"
14 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Horrible UI, constantly times out. Very frustrating to use. Error messages not translated correctly, page load time was horrible, app better then website but still not good. Had to attempt to purchase tickets 10x before it worked. Payment page constantly not working" - Mallory1010
8
"error"
13 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Terrible payment system. The app is absolutely ridiculous. Each time I tried to pay, I received an error processing message. I tried using different cards to no avail. Really frustrating." - senegalkygyrz
9
"does"
13 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Use the web to create an account. Useless app unless you have an account. No english support unless logged in, doesn't fetch personal info from the phone, no OK button when registering! Demands that you have two surnames! Payment system is bad. Otherwise the app after…" - BahjkDude78
10
"account"
12 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Bad user experience. I tried booking a ticked to Toledo. Did not complete the purchase because of this horrible app and decided not to go. The app forces you to create an account and enter your information before telling you there no available slots. It’s easy …" - Nich11000
11
"create"
10 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Bad user experience. I tried booking a ticked to Toledo. Did not complete the purchase because of this horrible app and decided not to go. The app forces you to create an account and enter your information before telling you there no available slots. It’s easy …" - Nich11000
12
"doesn"
10 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Use the web to create an account. Useless app unless you have an account. No english support unless logged in, doesn't fetch personal info from the phone, no OK button when registering! Demands that you have two surnames! Payment system is bad. Otherwise the app after…" - BahjkDude78
📋 All 87 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
Renfail
renfe sucks royally
No valen para nada
Gestión pésima de todo
Mierda
Una mierda de servicio al cliente un país manejada por rojos!
Worst experience
These guys have the worst software in the world
Frustrating payment experience
Had to change 3 cards and even PayPal account. Keeps saying “technical error”
What kind of accounting is this?
I purchased a ticket then I had to change itinerary. Going through the motions of the app, the difference between the new ticket and old ticket was €17,75. When I went to pay, it was charging me again for the old ticket instead of deducting it and then adding the cost of the new ticket for a grand total of €58,20
This app sucks
This app sucks. Italian train services were way easier to book and had better English operability
Horrible UI, constantly times out
Very frustrating to use. Error messages not translated correctly, page load time was horrible, app better then website but still not good. Had to attempt to purchase tickets 10x before it worked. Payment page constantly not working
Beautiful app but errors out
I’ve been trying to buy a ticket for days online. I was thrilled to find Renfe has such a highly rated app. It’s UI is fantastic. Unfortunately, it does nothing but error out every time I try to buy a ticket. Disappointing.
What a bad App
Never works
App doesn’t work
App doesn’t work on iOS 26 iPhone 17 pro max. It used to work before I do the upgrade, now not anymore
Neither the RENFE app, nor website work
At first, it appeared that I was able to register with my email and password on RENFE’s app. However, when I tried to sign in to buy tickets, my password wasn’t recognized. I requested a new password, but never received an email from RENFE. I also tried to login via their website, but was unsuccessful there, as well.
Terrible
Tuve que intenter 3 veces para comprar mi ticket. Busquen nuevos programadores. Asi estamos botando los impuestos.
does not work
the app does not work. a lot of the time you cannot click on “buy” in the app, so you’re just screwed.
Lucky if it works
This app is better than their website but it is clunky, unpredictable, and frustrating. One hour to change a ticket and Oops - that seat is busy. Or Oops - a problem with your card. Or Oops - another problem.
Horrible App/Customer Service
App is constantly down, and calling in to the customer service was fruitless. Unable to change or cancel my first class tickets. Very unhelpful App/Customer Service, especially when you do not speak Spanish.
Glitchy cannot complete purchase
Tried several times to make a purchase. The first time I completely entered card and it said there are no silent car seats. Really? It waited until bank approval? The next few times the message is gibberish. But to add insult it says “accept”. I do not.
Me gusta Renfe pero no su año
La disponibilidad de los trenes no está en tiempo real y solo te dice que no tiene plazas al final cuando procedes al pago. Esto lleva así años
Can’t register US phone number
The app is 100% useless which is about the same as the website. Couldn’t even register due to not able to use +1 country code for USA. Even tried fake and real +34 numbers and unable to register. This is very unfortunate.
Had to take vacation time aside to buy tickets in person which ended up taking over an hour between traveling to office and long wait times.
Fix this $&!¥
Had to take vacation time aside to buy tickets in person which ended up taking over an hour between traveling to office and long wait times.
Fix this $&!¥
Unusable
Much like the Renfe website, this app is unusable. The user registration process doesn’t have an option for the +1 US country code. Almost 4,000,000 from the US traveled to Spain in 2024 (which is more than any other country) but the rocket scientists who developed this app couldn’t be bothered to add the country code.
So, when you try to register you simply get “oops, try again later “
Hire a third party to develop a new version please.
So, when you try to register you simply get “oops, try again later “
Hire a third party to develop a new version please.
Can’t create an account
Trying to create an account with a U.S. phone number. App says “something went wrong”. Website says the phone number format is incorrect no matter how it’s formatted. Tried with a random Spain number and it sent a validation code to that number, but obviously can’t get that code. Ridiculous.
Don’t use if you are from United States
It doesn’t work with USA phone numbers. Don’t even try to register, it doesn’t even think USA exists.
No compre billete cancelable o cambiable, no funciona.
Compré billetes cambiables y cancelables. Al tratar de cambiarlos la aplicación no me aceptó ningún cambio. Al tratar de anularlos indicó que ya había sido anulado. Tuve que comprar nuevos billetes. Es la segunda vez que me ocurre lo mismo.
Useless
Does not recognize phone numbers from the States. Unable to create a login.
Hot Garbage
This app is hot garbage. Cannot make an account to buy tickets, so many errors that don’t have any context. This is truly awful - the errors need context so the end user can correct them and give you money, I’ll just ride Iryo instead.
Crappy app
I tried to create an account but it keeps giving me an error “something went wrong “. Maybe be because I refused to select the option of sharing my personal data with third party services to send me info about their products. I just wanted to get the app to buy and manage train tickets
App Needs Update
Unable to continue with registration once under privacy section, it gives out a warning “something is wrong here” even all the demographics added in the registration is correct.
mal
ofrecen trayectos para los que no hay asientos y no comunican la falta de asientos hasta que uno finaliza la transacción, después de anotar tarjeta de crédito, verificar la transacción con la app del banco, etc., y vuelta a empezar. elijo otro tren y “error técnico”, y vuelta a empezar. casi peor su app que la página web
Aplicación mala con muchos fallos
La aplicación después de muchos años sigue siendo una tortura de usar.
Ofrece plazas que después no hay al llegar a la pasarela de pago.
En los viajes con con dos y transbordo, sólo muestra el billete y QR del primer trayecto.
El QR para cercanías entre Chamartin y Atocha no funciona.
Dice que el tren va en hora cuando en realidad lleva 20’ de retraso…
Muy mala aplicación, sufriéndola durante años que no mejora con el tiempo.
Ofrece plazas que después no hay al llegar a la pasarela de pago.
En los viajes con con dos y transbordo, sólo muestra el billete y QR del primer trayecto.
El QR para cercanías entre Chamartin y Atocha no funciona.
Dice que el tren va en hora cuando en realidad lleva 20’ de retraso…
Muy mala aplicación, sufriéndola durante años que no mejora con el tiempo.
Junk app
It’s only 20% reliable if it works at all .
It’s almost 2025 and this has been going on for over 3 years now! Time to fire Renfe’s useless employees or subsidiary that make this app fail over and over.
It’s almost 2025 and this has been going on for over 3 years now! Time to fire Renfe’s useless employees or subsidiary that make this app fail over and over.
Terrible for foreigners
Lots of issues for turists
Worst app I’ve ever experienced
While the Renfe app is marginally better than their website, which wouldn’t even let me finish checking out, this app is still one of the worst I’ve encountered in the modern era. It feels like it was built in 2008 my developers first learning how to develop for the iPhone.
Purchasing tickets forces you to create an account, and the account creation flow is one of the most frustrating I’ve encountered.
Tapping the text field to input your passport number and then tapping again so that you can tap Paste (because people Copy their passport numbers from other apps) is exceedingly frustrating, as if you don’t hit a tiny tap target, it just closes the text field entirely. This means you’ll likely tap the passport field several times just trying to paste.
When you enter your phone number at the bottom of the registration flow, the last step in the process, there is no button to dismiss the keyboard and say Done. The only button is the Back button, which takes you back to the home screen and erases all of your progress. The only way to finish signing up for an account is to figure out that if you tap the visibility button that hides whether the password is visible or not will also dismiss the keyboard, which will then let you hit the Confirm button to continue the registration process.
Finally, when you finally are able to buy tickets, you’ll probably want to add them to your Apple Wallet. However, the Renfe app fails here too. There’s a “Download ticket” button, but all that does is download a PDF. There is also a smaller “Add to wallet” button above the ticket itself, but that of course doesn’t work and gives you a nondescript error. When I came back to the tickets, this button no longer appeared, and I have no idea how to find it again.
Renfe needs to start from scratch on this app and hire a development team that knows what they’re doing. This iteration is an embarrassment and makes me want to take a plane instead of a train - and I love trains!
Purchasing tickets forces you to create an account, and the account creation flow is one of the most frustrating I’ve encountered.
Tapping the text field to input your passport number and then tapping again so that you can tap Paste (because people Copy their passport numbers from other apps) is exceedingly frustrating, as if you don’t hit a tiny tap target, it just closes the text field entirely. This means you’ll likely tap the passport field several times just trying to paste.
When you enter your phone number at the bottom of the registration flow, the last step in the process, there is no button to dismiss the keyboard and say Done. The only button is the Back button, which takes you back to the home screen and erases all of your progress. The only way to finish signing up for an account is to figure out that if you tap the visibility button that hides whether the password is visible or not will also dismiss the keyboard, which will then let you hit the Confirm button to continue the registration process.
Finally, when you finally are able to buy tickets, you’ll probably want to add them to your Apple Wallet. However, the Renfe app fails here too. There’s a “Download ticket” button, but all that does is download a PDF. There is also a smaller “Add to wallet” button above the ticket itself, but that of course doesn’t work and gives you a nondescript error. When I came back to the tickets, this button no longer appeared, and I have no idea how to find it again.
Renfe needs to start from scratch on this app and hire a development team that knows what they’re doing. This iteration is an embarrassment and makes me want to take a plane instead of a train - and I love trains!
No support for foreign phone numbers
Renfe apps accept phone numbers from other countries when you setup your account, but then, they cannot be used for two-factor authentication. Also, if you change/cancel your ticket, they cannot send any information to these phones
App vs browser
The app didn’t show half of the available trains compared to the browser for the same route.
Both app and browser have huge issues with required telephone number. One page has the USA written in Spanish to find the country code. One has no country names, just numbers, and is missing the country code +1 for USA, and when the number is available, it will not accept valid phone numbers saying that they do not have the correct number of digits (this happened for a USA phone and Kenya phone number, and you cannot complete the sale without a number. It also makes you reenter all of this info even if you have made a sign in profile with the info AND confirmed with an email code AND confirmed that the passport is correct. The screen requiring reentry pops up in Spanish even if you chose English as the language. Definitely has some needed fixes for international users.
Both app and browser have huge issues with required telephone number. One page has the USA written in Spanish to find the country code. One has no country names, just numbers, and is missing the country code +1 for USA, and when the number is available, it will not accept valid phone numbers saying that they do not have the correct number of digits (this happened for a USA phone and Kenya phone number, and you cannot complete the sale without a number. It also makes you reenter all of this info even if you have made a sign in profile with the info AND confirmed with an email code AND confirmed that the passport is correct. The screen requiring reentry pops up in Spanish even if you chose English as the language. Definitely has some needed fixes for international users.
Couldn’t Create an Account
I am a traveler from the United States, and every time I tried to make an account I received an error message. I tried adjusting my information multiple different ways and still couldn’t get the registration to go through. Because I am not a registered user, I can’t use the app to buy tickets and have to go elsewhere.
App failure
I cannot even begin to describe how frustrating it is to use this app. Payments fail constantly, destinations will randomly not appear in the options, and it crashes regularly. I have wasted hours trying to buy tickets with this trash heap of coding garbage.
Vergüenza
como todo lo que administra el estado
Constantly Crashes
After updating anytime I try to book a ticket with my bono it just crashes the app. I have tried reinstalling and no luck. I have to use the website…app is unusable.
Very poor
If you are booking several tix, forget about saving frequent passengers. It gives you the option, but it can’t seem to save more than two, and then you end up having to re-enter all of the info anyway. It has great trouble accepting credit cards. If it offers you the PayPal option, take it. That seemed to work better.
Cannot use discount code
I am unable to use my 100% discount code that I got from signing up for El Pais. I get an error when I try to use it. Please fix this.
Sells ok, changes impossible
If you need to change the ticket, it doesn't work. I have 2 tickets with changes allowed for €5, and when I try to pay, it fails with "Oops something went wrong". The error message is useless. Calling by phone leads to "all are busy, call later".
Buggy app
This app is extremely frustrating. Very difficult to ensure your data is registered. Repeated issues with creating a password, selecting seat, and making payment.
Horroroso servicio
Una vergüenza de servicio. Imposible comprar billete en la aplicación si viajas con un niño menor de 4 años. Da igual si es paypal o tarjeta de crédito tras confirmar el pago solo sale un Opss System error y no puedes saber que ha pasado. Debes ir a las máquinas en la estación para saber que con el menor tienes que ir a ventanilla. Para que? Incluso cuando el menor está como viajero frecuente y ha viajado asociado antes. De pena.
Hands down, the worst train app
Errors for payments, logging you out, not having the right connections (I have to look at other train services to see where YOUR trains actually go) then I have to purchase the stops separately. What a horrible horrible website/app
Not working :(
It does not work at all. It gives “Oops Something went wrong” errors all the time. Totally unusable! :(
Buggy and broken
Couldn’t even create an account so i had to go on the website, which is also terrible
Payments and Beyond
The app is challenging to navigate. It often gets stuck between screens and navigating the payment screen is horrendous. Often boots you out and when you finally make it all the way through, you’re told that no more tickets are available in the price you wanted.
Inútil
Cosas básicas no funciona. Quiero registrarme. He metido una contraseña con letras mayúsculas, letras minúsculas, números (y he intentado con y sin caracteres especiales) y el app no acepta ninguna. Y me da un mensaje explicando el problema pero la mitad del mensaje está fuera de la pantalla. De verdad, una chapuza de app.
App is crap
90% of the time it will tell you there are no trains going between the stations you are traveling to/from. The other 10% of the time it will time out just as you put in your credit card number breaking your heart.
The website is about the same.
The website is about the same.
Another Useless Renfe Product
As I’ve come to expect, this app does not work. Just as their website doesn’t work, and their wifi only sporadically lets you connect. For how much a train ticket costs, you’d think they could pay someone to develop a couple basic, functional software items…
+ 37 more in the clipboard copy
Sentiment summary
90%
Positive (4-5★)
2%
Neutral (3★)
8%
Negative (1-2★)