Spok Reviews

We switched from physical pagers to this app when I started residency in 2017. Fast forward to now, Spok has remained essentially unchanged, getting updates to make sure it remains functional with iOS updates, but nothing more. It feels like an app that was designed before the original iPhone even came out. It is clunky, has a terrible UI, and seems to function worse now than when I first had to use it (e.g., you are supposed to be able to tap phone numbers within a page to easily call, but this either doesn’t work now or you have to tap multiple times for the call prompt to come up). It’s just an embarrassment and they likely have no real incentive to improve it because huge healthcare systems often don’t want to switch to a new system.

Reliable paging app but could definitely use a mute button that syncs with system mute settings. Also when page is received it interrupts phone call and rings loud in the ear which is very annoying. Please fix the bugs!

Spok is trash. Seems to be stuck in the past with absolutely no updates. Interface is horrible, it doesn’t work if you’re connected to CarPlay… to mention a few of its problems. I would never use it if I have another option. it has absolutely no advantages over a physical PAGER.

Everyone I work with are required to use Spok. Unfortunately, all of those same people experience bugs on a consistent basis. One person has delayed page reception, another won’t receive any pages whatsoever, some will be notified of a page and aren’t able to see it due Spok crashing immediately upon opening. Sometimes Spok will even update when you open a page and there’s nothing you can do. It takes up to 10-20 minutes for it to “update”. Closing Spok doesn’t work. Uninstalling and reinstalling is more trouble than it’s worth. Any organization looking to use Spok should reconsider.

Poor integration with iOS and Focus mode.

I should be able to use Focus mode and prevent notifications, regardless of Spok settings.

I wish I could only give 0 stars. What’s the purpose of a pager that doesn’t ring? It only rings when I open Spok . Other than that my phone just vibrates!? What a pathetic excuse for a paging app.

The pages have stopped pushing, so I only receive them when I open Spok , and sometimes not even then. This is unacceptable for a medical paging system.

It is so hard to click phone numbers when paged as of the last update. Myself and coworkers have spent so much time clicking rapidly trying to get it to trigger.

My hospital uses this for on call physicians- it barely works for the most important messages. App glitches when you try to open it. It’s a patient safety issue. No one ever seems to know how to fix it. Do not buy buy for any real use.

I registered my email/device and receive an email confirming this registration, but when I login with the same email address and the password emailed to me, I get a “Registration Error: The registration cannot be completed at this time. Please try again.”

App is totally unusable - crashes every time I try to open it despite updating Spok , deleting and re-downloading app, updating phone, etc. I have not been able to open Spok for over a month

Once a week it seems it won’t log in. Spins over and over saying it’s attempting to sign in but never actually completes. Currently have two pages that I haven’t been able to see all day. There has to be a bug fix that can be done but there’s never any updates??
Current error/sign in issue has had my locked out of Spok for a week now. Cmon. We need an app update to fix this

What’s the point of a paging app that you have to open Spok to actually get the page? I’m on call at my job for a week at a time and have to set reminders on my phone to check Spok to see if I received any pages because otherwise you don’t get notified

Missing basic functionality - receive a message with a phone number, I should be able to either 1. Tap on the number and choose whether to call or text message the number on my native phone app, or copy and paste any number or text in the message.

Have had issues getting notifications on my iPhone for any pages, forcing me to have to carry my physical pager around and making Spok functionally useless. Have verified that the notifications from this app are set to critical in my phone settings and still getting absolutely nothing until I open Spok

Current facility uses this. Reliably unreliable. “Oh if you are in house, you need to be OFF wifi in order for it to work”. Ah. But I have no network connectivity at all then.

Luckily coworkers alerted me by sms text that I was about to be paged- I saw it flash and disappear on screen. Only sounds off if you MANUALLY open app. So be prepared to have your phone open in front of your face at all times for the 24 hours you are on call.

It’s nice to not carry a pager around but man Spok is poorly made. My biggest complaint is that the notifications do not repeat. In that regard it’s actually worse than the pager my hospital uses that’s from the 1980s.

Started using Spok as our HIPPA compliance for paging.
Works well in general bit for an app used continuously throughout a busy day it has some issues:
• Limited/odd pager tones-please allow use of system tones or custom tones. Only the "pager" tone is a pager type tone.
• No vibrate alert options
• Alert tone sounds AGAIN upon opening app, Often louder than original tone-why do I need Spok to alert again more loudly when I'm opening app to see page
• PIN login should have option for number pad entry for ease of entering digit only pins.
• HIPPA fail. When resuming app or if switching apps via multitasking, Spok (or the preview) displays current pages without requiring pin momentarily before requiring pin. In fact if you are using the multitasking menu you can view pages indefinitely w/o pin.

It would be nice to have notifications AND the message itself sent to the Apple Watch. That would vastly increase functionality.

Since my phone’s IOS update, Spok won’t let me change my status or view messages now. Does Spok need an update?

Spok works, but it would be nice if I could delete the message within the message. Really makes no sense at all that I have to come out of the message to delete the message. Oh yeah and a delete all messages button. I am beginning to think my pager is better.

Overall Spok is useful and has allowed me to stop carrying an additional physical pager.
Few suggestions:
1. On/off button, currently no way to “power off” your pager, thus I have had to uninstall Spok when I’m not on service.
2. No way to view who is on call for a service, would be much more useful to start pages if it had built in on call directory functionality

All in all though dependable app to replace your pager, which is great!

I would love to see Apple Watch support for this. It would be great when my hands are busy at work but I want to quickly read the page on my watch screen instead of having to stop and pull out my phone