Rebtel Review UK: Is It Worth It for Calling Family Abroad?

Rebtel is an international calling app run by Rebtel Networks AB, a Swedish company (number 556680-3622) based in Stockholm. You buy prepaid credit or a monthly plan, then ring ordinary mobile and landline numbers abroad from the app; the person you call doesn't need Rebtel, an app or a data connection. The same credit can send mobile top-ups to phones in more than 150 countries. Rebtel's money transfer service closed on 15 March 2025.

It isn't a bank or a UK phone network. Rebtel Credits are "not cash", can't be withdrawn or transferred, and can only be spent on Rebtel's own products. We couldn't find a UK regulator named on Rebtel's pages or confirm a UK registration, so treat a balance like a prepaid voucher and keep it small. For customers outside the US, the terms are governed by Swedish law, and disputes go to the Stockholm District Court first.

Rebtel's terms say it doesn't replace your ordinary phone service. It carries no emergency calls, so keep your normal line for 999, and it isn't meant for calls within your own country, so it's no use for ringing UK numbers from home. What it does is outgoing international calls.

In the app's call set-up you choose how calls connect: phone lines, Wi-Fi, mobile data, or Auto, which uses the strongest connection available. A fifth setting, Travel Mode, only ever uses Wi-Fi.

Phone lines is the one to understand. Your phone makes an ordinary local call to a Rebtel access number and Rebtel carries the international leg, with no internet needed. It works in 47 "Rebtel countries", and the UK is one of them. You pay Rebtel's rate, and your own network charges for a local call of the same length. Rebtel pitches the option at people with cheap or unlimited local minutes, so check what your plan includes; a few operators also charge extra for calls to Rebtel's access numbers. Wi-Fi calls cost nothing beyond Rebtel's rate, and mobile-data calls use your data allowance.

Abroad, the setting matters more than the rate. Rebtel says that if you call over phone lines, data or shared local numbers while travelling, your operator "will very likely" charge roaming fees. Switch on Travel Mode before you go, or buy a local SIM and add its number to your account. If you swap SIMs, log out of Rebtel and back in with the number you are using: Rebtel's own help centre describes a user who skipped that step and was charged over €500 by their operator.

Android users have a second trap. On Android 15 and later, Rebtel's intercept feature, which caught international numbers dialled from the phone's normal dialler, no longer works reliably, so those calls can go out through your carrier at its own international rates. Rebtel says it isn't liable for those charges. Always dial from inside the Rebtel app, and turn intercept off in its settings.

An account on a UK number is priced in pounds, and credit comes in £5 and £7 packs. On 13 October 2026 Rebtel's rate pages showed these prices a minute: India 1.49p (£7 buys 469 minutes), China 1.1p (1.21p to some mobile networks), Hong Kong 2.2p to mobiles and 1.62p to landlines, Pakistan 3.5p to mobiles and 4.89p to landlines, Bangladesh 2.5p, Poland 0.81p to landlines and from 4.79p to mobiles, the US 0.8p, Nigeria 12.81p, and the Philippines 12.87p to mobiles and 8.82p to landlines.

Those prices exclude VAT. Rebtel shows prices without VAT until you log in, then adds it at checkout for customers living in Europe, which includes the UK. With Rebtel Credits the VAT is taken when you spend credit on calls, not when you buy it, and shows under Account Activity in the app; mobile top-ups carry none. The UK standard rate is 20%. We couldn't confirm exactly how it changes the minutes the app shows, so expect calls to cost more than the headline rate.

Calls are billed in whole minutes, rounded up. Rebtel's own example is a call of 7 minutes 10 seconds billed as 8. With short calls that adds up: ten calls of 2 minutes 10 seconds come to under 22 minutes of talking but are billed as 30.

Rebtel sets its own price in each currency rather than converting at the market rate. Your account's default currency follows your phone number's country, and you can change it under My Rebtel, My profile, Currency. Paying in a currency your card isn't in can add a bank fee.

On a UK account, 30 days of unlimited calls costs £2 to the US, £3.40 to China, £6.50 to Hong Kong, £8 to Bangladesh, £8.40 to Poland and £8.70 to India (India also has 90-day and 180-day plans at £20 and £35). Some countries get a bundle of minutes instead: 120 minutes to the Philippines for £6.50, 140 to Nigeria for £6.50 and 250 to Pakistan for £8. All prices are before VAT.

Global Unlimited is £8.70 a month for unlimited calls to 50 countries, including India, China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Poland, the US and Australia. It leaves out the Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria and Bangladesh. Rebtel contradicts itself on the count: the Global page says 50 countries, while its rate pages say a country "and 46 other countries". It costs the same as the 30-day India plan, so if you call India and anywhere else on the list, Global gets you both for the same money.

Unlimited means fair use. Rebtel says the plans are for "normal residential, non-commercial and single individual use" and judges that on things such as how many different numbers you call, how many devices you use and how many minutes you talk. Minutes don't roll over: whatever is left at the end of the 30, 90 or 180 days is removed.

Most plans start with a free trial, usually a week (Nigeria's 140-minute bundle runs for two weeks, and the Pakistan and Philippines bundles give 10 and 30 trial minutes). Rebtel's help centre is plain about what follows: "After the trial, the subscription will be charged at full price and it will be renewed every 30 days." If you only want to try it, put a reminder in your calendar to cancel before the trial ends.

Whether a plan beats credit depends on how much you talk. Divide the plan price by the pay-as-you-go rate: Hong Kong mobiles break even at about 295 minutes a month, India at about 584. Talk less than that and credit is cheaper.

Rebtel describes the invite bonus only in US dollars. At its US-dollar rates, US$10 buys 418 minutes to India, 666 to China, 357 to Hong Kong mobiles, 222 to Pakistan and 62 to mobiles in the Philippines, before VAT and per-minute rounding. For scale, a £7 pack on a sterling account buys 469 minutes to India.

Two things we couldn't confirm: what the US$10 shows as in an account priced in pounds, and whether it comes on top of the credit you buy. Rebtel's referral page says "buy just $5 of credit and get $10", which can be read either way. Check your balance after your first purchase.

So the bonus covers a few hundred minutes to the cheaper destinations, or about an hour to Philippine mobiles. It is a good reason to try Rebtel, but it is a one-off: whether Rebtel is worth keeping comes down to the rates for the countries you call and whether you'll manage the settings above.

Sign up through our invite link, buy credit, and Rebtel adds US$10 of Rebtel Credits to your account. Its help centre says the credit arrives instantly once you have made a first payment of at least US$1; its referral page talks about buying US$5. Aim for the higher figure: the smallest pack on a UK account is £5, which clears both. Buy pay-as-you-go credit rather than starting a free trial, because Rebtel's referral terms say free credits, deals and trials don't count.

Do the sign-up and the first purchase on the web page the link opens rather than in the app. The link opens Rebtel's web sign-up, and buying through Apple's App Store adds Apple's fees. We couldn't confirm whether the credit still applies if you join in the app instead.

The conditions: you must be new to Rebtel, not a current or former customer. Making extra accounts with other phone numbers to refer yourself counts as misuse, and Rebtel can take back bonuses for misuse or fraud. Rebtel can also end the programme at any time. The credit isn't cash, can't be refunded or transferred, and only pays for international calls and mobile top-ups, so not for calls within the UK or top-ups to UK numbers.

On expiry, Rebtel's pages disagree. Its help centre says referral credit stays valid until 12 months of account inactivity, but its terms say credit from referrals carries its own expiry terms, and another help article says gift minutes are normally valid for 30 days. The app shows the actual date: tap Services, then the credit message at the top, and look under "Expiring Free Credits". To be safe, use it within a month.

Disclosure: the link is GetQuids' own Rebtel invite, so our account receives US$10 of credit too once you pay. Rebtel lets each member refer up to 50 friends, so if the credit hasn't appeared after your first payment, contact Rebtel before you buy more.

Rebtel Credits also send prepaid airtime to phones in more than 150 countries, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, the Philippines, Indonesia, China and Poland. The UK and Hong Kong aren't on Rebtel's list. Top-ups carry no VAT, unlike calls.

Check the number before you send: a top-up can't be cancelled, refunded or moved once it has gone. Some local operators take a fee from top-ups, so the person may receive less than you sent, and Rebtel doesn't show that fee at checkout.

Rebtel says it charges nothing beyond its prices and VAT, but others can. Apple adds its own fees if you buy through the App Store, so buy on Rebtel's website. Your bank may charge a foreign-currency fee if you pay in a currency other than your card's. You can pay by card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Maestro and others), PayPal or through the App Store.

Bought credit can be refunded within 90 days if you haven't used it. Welcome offers and intro deals can't be refunded, welcome offers last 30 days from purchase, and credit from vouchers can't be refunded either. Bought credit expires after 12 months with no activity on the account, so using it now and then keeps it alive.

If you switch on auto top-up, Rebtel charges your saved card automatically, up to 24 hours before each top-up, and if Rebtel changes the price, leaving auto top-up switched on counts as accepting it.

The biggest bills in user reviews aren't Rebtel's charges at all: they come from roaming with Travel Mode off, and from calls on Android 15 slipping past the app to the carrier. Set both up before you rely on Rebtel.

On 13 October 2026 the Rebtel app (version 6.85.0, released 28 September 2026) was rated 4.7 out of 5 from 20,613 ratings on the UK App Store. Google Play showed 4.5 for UK users (listing updated 6 October 2026), with more than 188,000 ratings worldwide and more than 10 million downloads. Trustpilot is cooler: 3.2 out of 5 from 10,618 reviews, 19% of them one-star, although Rebtel had replied to 98% of the negative ones.

The headline scores hide a recent dip. Of the 50 most recent UK App Store reviews, written between January and September 2026, 29 gave one or two stars. Similar themes come up there, on the Hong Kong App Store and on Trustpilot: trials turning into paid plans without people noticing; calls failing or dropping, with Bangladesh, Brazil and Chinese landlines named; roaming bills with Travel Mode off; carrier charges for calls that went over phone lines instead of Wi-Fi; login and text-code failures, and accounts restricted after the first call; credit missing or expired; the Apple Pay button not responding; slow support that starts with a bot; and "unlimited" plans limited under fair use.

Rebtel's contact details list an email address, support@rebtel.com, alongside its help centre.

Sign-up needs a mobile number, which Rebtel confirms with a text code. Save the numbers you call in international format, starting with + or 00 and the country code, or calls may not connect. Rebtel works on iPhone and Android; without a smartphone you can call through shared local access numbers in Rebtel countries.

To cancel a plan, open Account, then Your Subscriptions in the app, or log in on the website and choose the service's tile. Uninstalling the app doesn't cancel anything, and Rebtel suggests removing your saved card as well.

To close the account, log in to My Rebtel and go to My profile, then Delete Account. Deleting the app doesn't delete the account. If you want unused bought credit back, ask for the refund within 90 days of buying it, before you close.

Get it if you regularly ring ordinary numbers in India, China, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Poland or the US, especially people who don't use WhatsApp or have patchy data; if your phone plan has plenty of UK minutes for the phone-line option; and if you'll diarise trial end dates.

Skip it if everyone you call is happy on a free app call over good data, if you mostly call mobiles in the Philippines or Nigeria (about 13p a minute, and neither country is in Global Unlimited), if you'd rather not manage subscriptions, or if you travel often and might forget Travel Mode. For another calling app with its own invite credit, see our Yolla review.