What users complain about in plant care apps

The complaints that repeat

Each heading sums up what reviewers wrote; the quotes under it are their own words.

1. 01

   Notifications fail to trigger or arrive erratically across multiple apps

   Several users

   “This app suppose to remind you to water you plant with some kind of notification or alarm, at least that is what i thought, but it does not do anything when the day come.”

   “I set an 8 day reminder 10 days ago, and nothing happened, I even checked the settings, and notifications are enabled for the app”

2. 02

   Rigid or inaccurate watering schedules that ignore environment and kill plants

   Several users

   “with the fixed watering schedule without knowing your location and tracking your local weather, you may get your plants killed with this app.”

   “So admittedly I’m new at plants, but even with the location classification, the watering schedule is way off.”

3. 03

   Inability to backdate completed tasks or adjust schedules when watering off-cycle

   Several users

   “The only suggestion I have is to make the app where I can adjust the date when I click on "task complete" with watering.”

   “If I miss a watering, I cannot mark it for the day I actually watered, nor expect the schedule to automatically shift.”

4. 04

   Plant Parent misidentifies plants or gives inaccurate disease diagnoses

   Several users

   “This app correctly identified plants less than 1 out of 3 times.”

   “My plant had thrips the app told me my plants were just dry from not…”

5. 05

   Aggressive paywalls, deceptive free trials, and refusal of refunds in Plant Parent and Planta

   Several users

   “I thought I subscribed to the 7-Day free trial but accidentally hit the year subscription. Once discovered I immediately contacted them and requested a refund. However instead of issuing a refund, I was giving the runaround.”

   “DO NOT EVEN DOWNLOAD THE FREE TRIAL! l made that mistake and even when going into right way to delete, they still charge you for a year subscription.”

6. 06

   Plant Watering Reminder apps bombard users with disruptive or un-mutable video ads

   Several users

   “I fully understand and appreciate using ads to make money off of your app, but when they are Auto played videos that are loud, you get one star out of me.”

   “I just got the app and the adds are already taking a life of their own! Annoying!”

What users ask for

• Batch or multi-select actions to mark watering/fertilizing completed at once

  Asked for a few times

  “However it would be nice to be able to click one button for tasks like watering and fertilizing of multiple plants.”

• Tracking options for pruning and specific fertilizer types/amounts

  Asked for a few times

  “Another user recommended adding pruning dates too, that would be nice.”

• Home screen widget for daily care schedule

  Asked for once or twice

  “I'd like to have a widget on my home screen with the daily schedule on it.”

• Sorting and filtering plants by light and humidity requirements

  Asked for a few times

  “I'd also like to be able to sort my plants by humidity or light needs, etc.”

What these apps get right

What users praise, and would expect from anything new.

• Planta and Plant Parent provide extensive plant catalogs and room-by-room organization
• Comprehensive care schedules that ease mental load for forgetful plant owners

Apps we read

• Plant Parent: Plant Care GuideGoogle Play
• Plant Watering ReminderGoogle Play
• Plant Watering Reminder: Care For Indoor PlantsApp Store
• Planta: Plant & Garden CareGoogle Play

App names belong to their owners. Quotes are from public store reviews, and the summaries describe what those reviewers experienced; they are not claims we have verified.