Tapatalk - 200,000+ Forums Reviews

by Mamacatman

The apps on my phone and tablet have stopped working. It’s been a week now and I still can’t get into the forums. Unironically (or not), it stopped working after the latest update. It always screws up for a while after any update.

If it doesn’t constantly ask for a password, it’s something else. When I select a thread from my subscriptions list, I get an error message. This is across the board. No exceptions.

Really super disappointed.

Now using this app on the browser isn’t much better. I have to constantly login. The funny thing is, it always fails, but somehow I get in. Then when I select a thread to open, I have to go through the captcha thing over and over. So I fight through it to see what I really want to see, then quit because it’s too much trouble to continue.

And no, I won’t contact support. This is enough info for you guys to fix this. Other reviews have given you enough info to fix their problems. The standard response is contact support, but there is never resolution to all the problems.

by Sarah1104

Sometime in the last couple of updates Tapatalk has become spammy, stealing your swipes as ad clicks. I’m pretty sure that this far into using an iPhone, I know how to swipe. Still; I, and others on my main forum constantly get ads that open unintentionally. If you want to force ad viewings at least be honest about it.

They also lack basic features. I can’t bypass the ‘feed’ when I open, nor can I set it to open to a particular page, I have to click 3-4 times to open the forum I want. I’ve emailed many times, sent complaints to the ad developer and posted to the help forum and they never respond. Help email requests that I see here as responses to the recent bad reviews are a joke. No one ever answers.

by Barry X8B

Yet another update that has added nothing of value and retains all of the faults and shortcomings of previous versions:

The "reply" is now the "quote" button. Change for the sake of change.

Thread view is still centered on the iPad. Not only does this waste valuable screen real estate but it makes browsing more difficult by eliminating the split screen of earlier versions. Now you must repeatedly return to the previous screen just to view other topics rather than having them constantly present to the left of the current thread. And this was done without the benefit of a full screen view!

The continuous "page" in thread view introduced a couple updates ago was also a huge step backwards.

Ads continue to get more intrusive (who thought that was even possible?!?)

It repeatedly prompts me to log in to my most viewed forum even though I've never logged out — and then returns an error message when I try.

And this "modern" app still cannot do what could be done in any web browser 20 years ago!

Bottom line is, as easy as it is to browse forums in Tapatalk , it is still no match for a web browser. Inexcusably, even such a basic feature as text formatting (bold, italic, etc.) is not included so it's back to Safari for all but the simplest replies.

I'm seeing less and less reason to use this app. I will certainly NEVER pay for it!

by Spider-Borg

As far as I can tell, I can't just look at the unread posts on the ONE forum I use Tapatalk for. It was a pain to get to before but now I can't do it at all. That, coupled with the fact that I PAID FOR Tapatalk YEARS AGO AND THEY DISCONTINUED IT, THEN MADE A NEW, PAID VERSION means that I'm done with this piece of crap company. I'm done. I'm not coming back this time. I'll just use the website for the forum I visit. Screw this app!

EDIT: I found where they buried the one freaking feature that I use on Tapatalk. The "Unread" link is now hidden in the "Discussions" link. There was a time that I could set this as the default action when I opened this app. They ruined that years ago. But I dealt with it (even though I got screwed after paying for Tapatalk and then they changed it to a free app). I just want the option to set my home page to the Unread section of the one single forum I use Tapatalk for. Until I get that back, Tapatalk is 1-star to me.

by Bhook206

Was an early paid adopter of this app and feel like this version has several issues: ads even after the required wait time are not closable. Tapatalk on several situations will log out users randomly. Tapatalk also cannot seem to sync with feedback setups for forums and not can it edit some forum thread titles. It is a shame that they can take money from users, restructure their sales model for more $ and still not improve their product’s stability and have several detrimental issues. I asked if they could upgrade my account to at least get around the ads as I bought this app in 2012. Was told they closed their conversion window. Well that’s fine but I’m definitely not re investing in a sub satisfactory product. Good luck this app.

Update: since the auto canned response to my review, no follow up after contacting CS. They are definitely earning the one-star rating for Tapatalk and customer service.

by Eskerbillion

Paid for a lifetime subscription to Tapatalk years ago and now I get the following message requiring me to pay again if I want VIP status:

“Thank you! It’s been a good 10 years! this app started as a paid app 10 years ago, and transitioned to a free app 5 years ago, supported by subscriptions. You received this offer because our records show that you previously paid for Tapatalk . However, your special, grand-fathered VIP status will expire. To extend your status for 6 more months, please join our full VIP program today and support online forums together.”

New subscribers beware! If you are paying for a lifetime VIP status subscription they might just take it away in a few years!

by _KEM_

Not worth it. Tapatalk/Company has come up with new ways to charge you for the same benefits every few years. They should just use the Apple subscription if they need regular ongoing income to offer the service.

The worst problem is the support. They do actually respond in a reasonable time frame but the problem is the support representative always has to refer your question or issue to the developers. Then the developers answer is always that the issue can not be resolved. Even for the most basic requests like making a legitimate update to your profile.

It’s very sad really because I started out using Tapatalk when it was first released. At that time the support was good and they could resolve issues. Over time the level of support has just become worse and worse until now when they are completely useless.

by AlDaja

Too many hands involved in “tinkering” with the platform/app. If you are lucky and on a mobile phone (Apple specifically), you might get to log on. Often you get some message that your session has timed out, spontaneously crashing or that your “token has expired”. It then directs you to download Tapatalk instead, but it rarely works correctly on Apple mobile devices. When you attempt to log in you are greeted with: “your session has expired”. Essentially, this app only seems to work for desktop computer on Windows and even then its glitchy, especially when constant tinkering is being done to keep it going or as noted by others, developers attempting to find new ways to get members to purchase access. Don’t bother with Tapatalk or the this app platform. It has potential, but lacks stability.

by Dcbahr1

Tapatalk, which seems to have a strangle hold on forum subscription, is not usable to us blind IPhone Voiceover users. I am a usability consultant, and advanced Voiceover user. I could write out a very, very long list of improvements that would need to be made for Tapatalk to work properly. Just two of them are: the inability to read the names of subforums, and the very difficult way that posts are written out in which the post has to be read in full instead of line by line. This makes it extremely strenuous to read long posts. Think of it as eye strain tenfold. So I will be looking for another app of this kind, unless the developer would care to reach out and have me test beta versions and is interested in making more money by making Tapatalk usable to the blind.

by StarryNightin

I bought Tapatalk long before this new ad driven model, but apparently that counts for nothing and ads appear all over the place. I'm not about to pay again when I was one of the early supporters. The recent update (7.0?) is confusing and is pushing Tapatalk more towards their new buisness model hiding the actual forums you want to use in order to eventually keep you in their "social network" and cut out all of the outside forums. Pretty scummy move and makes Tapatalk useless for people looking to browse their favorite forums. The venture capitalists who I'm sure are pushing this agenda simply don't have a clue. They just see all of the money to be made with social apps such as instagram, facebook, snapchat, etc., and want a piece of that pie. Their solution was to turn this app into an abortion of what it once was.

by ¡papí Chulo!

Used to use Tapatalk about 5 years ago, but after redownloading it the other day I now realize why I stopped. Tapatalk hasn’t had a cosmetic update in those many years and still looks like utter trash. Every time I turn off notifications from threads I’m subscribed to in Tapatalk settings, I get another annoying notification within 5 minutes and when I reopen Tapatalk the notifications that I turned off are back on. Had to turn off notifications for Tapatalk in my system to keep this hot garbage from blowing up my phone with completely irrelevant notifications from threads I haven’t participated in. Deleting this cancerous software from my device and never looking back.

by Dom DXecutioner

So I purchased - yes, purchased! - Tapatalk a couple of years back and was ad free; a few updates later Tapatalk was filled with ads. I contacted the dev based on a message that stated that if you had previously purchased it to contact them and it would be taken care of; they NEVER responded.

Move forward to today, I’ve noticed a new forceful ad tactic. Whilst this annoying ads have been around for sometime, even to PAID customers, you used to simple scroll and continue about your business.

Now it seems that when you wish to Axtell and “touch” an ad to scroll, Tapatalk will forcefully open the ad that you touched to “SCROLL” up/down. This is NOT a standard behavior of any app I’ve seen, it certainly was not the behavior of Tapatalk either.

by Seats Taken Cant Sit Here

Just updated my app a few days ago...what a mistake that was. New version has more/larger ads (if you aren’t “pro”), runs slower, has more glitches, and added a bunch of features that I’ll never use like the “kan” or whatever they call their new points scheme. (Maybe that’s why it’s slower, because they added all this useless crap?)

Worst of all, after updating, when I like someone’s post it has a pop up asking you to “gift a free month of pro” to the person who’s post you like. The LAST thing I’m going to do is annoy someone online I’ve probably never met by being used as a marketing pawn for this app.

by JollyR0gers

I have used this app since available on iphone and watched it “grow” and been very tolerable of the process. It has been a great way to monitor and browse multiple forums of interest.

However, since version 7.2.x this app freezes randomly. I always hope that with each update it will get fixed, but it still hasn’t. Currently IOS 13.1.2 and latest this app as of November. To add, now it is killing my battery, to the point that Tapatalk is not usable. Unfortunately there is not an alternative to Tapatalk that I have found yet.

Update: ios14.4 on iPhone12 now and whatever latest version of this app is. Still cannot leave it open in background. It kills the battery. Have to force quit Tapatalk or put iphone into low power mode. I guess it continues to cycle adds in the background. This is why I have never purchased it, well that and all the crashing. I’ve actually stopped using it for the most part because of these issues. It at least doesn’t crash on my new iphone.

by BigFoot's A Jerk

Great app in theory. Day to day, it works ok for browsing forums and interacting. Where it breaks down completely is uploading photos. Older version I never had a problem with. Then a couple of years back, I’d get periodic error messages with some images. Now, it takes on average 12 tries before a photo upload from my iPhone. Once the first one “takes”, the rest are usually good to go. But 12 or more tries, each time getting an error message is ridiculous. I gave up submitting reports too because the bit that tries to work out what’s wrong is totally useless and a waste of time. Why can’t you just go back to making it easy to upload photos the FIRST time?!

by Horitexan

This newest version of Tapatalk is not good on the iPhone X/iOS 11! Upgraded to an iPhone X and now this app is randomly freezing, requiring Tapatalk to be closed and restarted. Pretty annoying when your in the middle of writing a lengthy post. Plus, Tapatalk doesn’t utilize the full screen on the iPhone X. Other apps have already updated to make use of the full screen but this app is lagging. C’mon guys, FIX THIS THING!!!

I love this app and I've used it daily for years; but this new version is terrible! My favorite boredom-killer is now ruined by the lack of proper updates. Now I'm stuck waiting yet another update to (hopefully) get it working again!
DON'T DO IT!!!

by Totallyfrozen

I access several forums with Tapatalk and it does alright. It could use a little more powerful user interface.
I'd like to see the ability to start a new thread rather than being limited to only posting responses in existing threads. I'd like to see a Feedback button in the Settings of Tapatalk so that we can offer suggestions or requests from Tapatalk rather than hoping this app reads through hundreds of reviews here to find our lone review with suggestions. I'd like to see a more intuitive interface for posting photos to threads.
Overall, it's decent but it seems like a work in progress. I hope they update it again soon.

UPDATE: 2017 - Still plenty of bugs! If you make a custom Signature for a forum, it won't Save it. It reverts back to a generic "Sent my my iPhone using this app". It's pretty annoying.

by Matt10187

BUT my question is whether the designers have actually used the features themselves? Using the URL & Image tags are an exercise in patience and stamina as you have to paste the link, then when you click Tapatalk to add the HTML it never places it where it should. I’ve tried all different ways of pasting (tags before link/link before tags/paste link then highlight) but it never gets it right so you always end up maneuvering your finger just so to highlight some of the link, erase, paste, and then usually ultimately screw up your post.

by PKpilot

I am not happy with the most recent update. First, the previous settings were lost, and that required a surprising effort to reconfigure Tapatalk the way it was. Second, I HATE apps that decide for you what you want. I do not want to start in "Feed". I want to start in "Groups." Tapatalk forces you into feed. Third, when I want to mark things as "read", I do not want Tapatalk to repeatedly ask me if I meant it. This function apparently cannot be turned off.

UPDATE... The newest update has corrected my complaints. Much better now.

by Anon876667

After the latest iPhone update, I didn’t have permission to post on any of my forums. I was given several permission errors. After reviewing Tapatalk with a negative review, I was immediately contacted via email by the this app Support Team.

Although it took a week or so, I woke up today and Tapatalk is fully operational again.

I appreciate the attentiveness of Tapatalk ’s support staff as I assume they found a fix for the error caused by the iOS update.

by Frball

You know, there is this content you want. It exists online and there are definitely other ways to access it, but here is an app that promises to put all of it nicely organized and accessible in one convenient spot... Too bad it just doesn't work. All promises and no delivery- do the people who make Tapatalk actually use it?!? Subscribe to threads do you? Want notification of what you subscribed to? Cool, well don't come looking for them here because you never know if you'll get them or not........ And if you can't depend on Tapatalk to even keep you up to date with what you've subscribed to then what's the point? It used to work, maybe one day it will again

by What Be All This Noise

Once you download the latest update, you’ll start getting pop up notifications about “Kin points” you’ve earned EVERY SINGLE time you write something, reply to something, “like” something, follow something - basically every single time you make ANY MOVE at all. And each time you get one of these notifications, the only way to dismiss it is to exit the page you are on and go to your settings to view your “Kin points” to learn how many you just earned. As far as I can tell, the only way to disable these this app “Kin” popups and notifications and being forced to leave the page you are on to visit your “Kin points” is to delete Tapatalk and never use it again.

by RisingSunSailor

I’ve using this app for a number of years now, mostly because the forum I’m on will constantly try to push me to it if I access it through Safari on my iOS device. That said, it’s an immensely frustrating app.

Half the time, imbedded pictures won’t load and darn near every thread I read won’t render the last post (or later few posts). In order to overcome these, I have to load that page in Safari anyway just to see what I should have been able to read in the first place. Coupled with the obnoxious ads if you don’t pay and this is an app I’d happily dump if there was a good alternative.

by HDylM87

Tapatalk is very well laid out. It’s simple and easy to navigate for anyone. There’s tons of technical forums that have details on all kinds of d.i.y. Automotive and motorcycle projects. That’s just what I spend most my time browsing. But there is a ton of stuff on almost every topic. It seems like summer 2017 Tapatalk was having a real surge in users and traffic. Seems like every forum I look at there’s a ton of activity, posts, chats, etc. from June- August 2017. Thad’s also usually the most recent post in a lot of the forums I’ve found. Maybe it’s just what I’m looking at. But seems like any social app could benefit from some publicity and few million more users. If it weren’t for that 5*. Top notch. New favorite app.