Is BAND safe to use?
Most reviewers use BAND without incident to coordinate schools, teams, and families, and it's a large, established app. But there's a real pattern in recent reviews of accounts being taken over — email and phone number changed by an attacker, locking the original owner out — combined with reports that support review of these cases can take a month or longer, which is a genuine security and support concern worth knowing about before you rely on BAND for something time-sensitive.
it was great until it wasn't! my account got hacked they changed my email and phone number so I am unable to log in I reached out but apparently ot takes over a month to even review my case! I am an admin/creator of one of my groups and we have an event in a few days and I have no way to communicate with the entire group now! and I am in my daughters dance group. Hopefully whoever stole my account doesn't post anything inappropriate. To top it off it won't let me make a new account with my name
3
reviewers mentioned this in the last 60 days
Why do I keep getting locked out of my BAND account?
Beyond outright account takeovers, reviewers separately report being abruptly locked out with no clear cause and then stuck in a slow support queue — bot responses, tickets that promise follow-up months away, and no way to reach a human while locked out. If you're a group admin, it's worth having a backup way to reach your members outside BAND in case this happens.
No help from support - I am the group admin and was suddenly locked out of the app, cannot login. I have reached out to support multiple times with various unhelpful bot responses - my latest response saying they will review my ticket and follow up 3 months from now. Cannot currently communicate with my group and missing important events/chats within the app. No real people to help assist regaining access.
1
reviewer mentioned this in the last 60 days
Why does BAND ask for so many permissions?
Reviewers note the app requests access well beyond messaging — notifications, photos and videos, and music and audio — for something like downloading a shared PDF, which feels excessive for that single action. These are standard Android permission categories tied to file-sharing and media features elsewhere in the app, but if you only use BAND for basic group chat, you can typically decline the ones you're not using.
I go to download a pdf and I have to grant the app permissions to Notificaitons, Photos and videos, and Music and Audio?!?! This is awful
2
reviewers mentioned this in the last 60 days
Can spam or scam messages get into my BAND groups?
Yes — reviewers report random accounts joining open groups and sending spam, including attempts to sell tickets or push other scams. Since anyone can typically request to join a group unless it's set to private, the practical fix reviewers recommend is making your group private and vetting join requests rather than relying on BAND to filter this automatically.
Spam bots may try to sell you tickets and stuff. make your groups private!
2
reviewers mentioned this in the last 60 days
Answers above are generated from real Google Play reviews of BAND - App for all groups, not editorial opinion.