[1] AllMusic's Tim Sendra wrote: "people looking for a bit more substance from a band that once made concept albums and instituted its own Belief System might wonder what the heck is going on, but anyone who loves pop music that moves feet, brings smiles, and snaps like bubblegum, and who is also deathly tired of the mainstream, will think I Thought the Future Would Be Cooler is just about the coolest thing around".

[2] Brice Ezell of PopMatters praised the album, saying: "future finds YACHT alive in a whole new way, with the group crafting not only some of the best pop of their careers, but of 2015 as a whole".

[8] Sasha Geffen of Consequence of Sound found "YACHT balances its snark with just enough warmth to keep its dystopian dreams engaging".

[11] In mixed reviews, Mat Smith of Clash wrote: "YACHT have consciously positioned themselves as intelligent conceptualists, not wanting to adhere to what's expected of them, and that makes for an interesting amalgam of deep themes set to brazenly outlandish pop styles".

[5] Patric Fallon of Pitchfork wrote: "future is YACHT's would-be critique of our pre-dystopian, post-Internet culture, but it rarely comes off as more than a charismatic cover band singing us yesterday's news".