Review Insights · Google Play
Specialty Produce
Specialty Produce Productions · 910 ratings · ★ 3.5
3.5
★★★★★
910 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 47 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"free"
21 negative reviews mention this · 45% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Developers of the app are not very transparent. The app is free to download and install but when launched, immediately requires your info and $25/yr to use. There's no explanation what the user gets for the payment during enrollment making …" - S L
2
"subscription"
20 negative reviews mention this · 43% of all complaints
★★★★★ "You can't even use this app without first signing up for a paid subscription, totally useless. They completely lie about the 30 day free trial. I was charged as soon as I signed up for the $2.99/mo plan. Total ripoff." - Nicholas Sgherzi
3
"information"
12 negative reviews mention this · 26% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Subscribe Pay wall. Enough said. Used to a better app. Would not mind paying for it as a one time purchase but subscription is HUGE turn off. I will say there is a lot of information about things and that is great but the free version is a …" - Jake Stinson
4
"produce"
8 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "This app used to be the best way to I inform my customers about produce. Then they changed to a su description model and put everything behind a paywall. Terrible. Can't use and would not recommend to anyone. Dont even use their website, th…" - A Google user
5
"year"
8 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "I used this app years ago gave them big props for what this is, but to come back and see a pay to use and no free option with limits tells me greed took over very very disappointing to see this type of management." - Jeff M
6
"info"
7 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Developers of the app are not very transparent. The app is free to download and install but when launched, immediately requires your info and $25/yr to use. There's no explanation what the user gets for the payment during enrollment making …" - S L
7
"worth"
7 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "$25 yearly subscription!? You're out of your minds. I understand there is a free version, but it's extremely limited. To actually use the app, you need the full version and it is definitely NOT worth that price. Why not just Google things a…" - Aimless Wind
8
"google"
6 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Wow, this app is impressive. It's a shame that whenever I subscribe, the app doesn't seem to know that I have and Google play automatically cuts my subscription off because I'm "not using it" (even though I'm using it daily) but I never got…" - Hailey Christiansen
9
"website"
6 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Website is free and detailed. App costs $25/yr or else lacks detailed descriptions and depth." - Max Weisenfeld
10
"customers"
6 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "This app used to be the best way to I inform my customers about produce. Then they changed to a su description model and put everything behind a paywall. Terrible. Can't use and would not recommend to anyone. Dont even use their website, th…" - A Google user
11
"version"
5 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "I can understand charging for a premium version of an app, it's good business. However the free version should at least be usable. If not, just have a paid version only." - Christopher Purbaugh
12
"free version"
5 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "I can understand charging for a premium version of an app, it's good business. However the free version should at least be usable. If not, just have a paid version only." - Christopher Purbaugh
📋 All 47 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
This was a good app, but now they want a ton of money. Thanks but no thanks.
I'd have to pay JUST TO SEE if there's any food that I would like to buy. Doesn't make any sense.
It won't me let me sign up it keeps saying "Object reference not set to an instance of an object" when I attempt to sign up.
Developers of the app are not very transparent. The app is free to download and install but when launched, immediately requires your info and $25/yr to use. There's no explanation what the user gets for the payment during enrollment making the secrecy experience feel like a scam.
it was better when it was free... it won't even let me register!! This app totally sucks now.
Not even able to create a profile or sign up Error showing on screen
Won't let me create a profile and it can't do anything unless I do
Trying to get me to sign up and subscribe without even seeing what's available beforehand is a big nope from me.
You can't even use this app without first signing up for a paid subscription, totally useless. They completely lie about the 30 day free trial. I was charged as soon as I signed up for the $2.99/mo plan. Total ripoff.
I used this app years ago gave them big props for what this is, but to come back and see a pay to use and no free option with limits tells me greed took over very very disappointing to see this type of management.
I can understand charging for a premium version of an app, it's good business. However the free version should at least be usable. If not, just have a paid version only.
Subscription business model, ew 🤦♂️
Cannot find carissa carandas fruits on search box👎. I uninstalled immediately.
App is useless if you want to look up varieties. Pointless to have an app and charge the 25$ to do so when you can have it via browser from their website.
Utter waste. Removed at 1st attempt to use.
$25 yearly subscription!? You're out of your minds. I understand there is a free version, but it's extremely limited. To actually use the app, you need the full version and it is definitely NOT worth that price. Why not just Google things at that point? The creators of this app do not realize what an awful pricing model this is- and the reviews confirm that. They all echo exactly what I'm writing and if you look back at the older reviews, you'll see they've had their head in the sand for years!
I am unable to unsubscribe and they have charged me for a yearly subscription 😡....scoundrels..and Now i am unable to Install their app.
Total rubbish and canr uninstall
This app used to be the best way to I inform my customers about produce. Then they changed to a su description model and put everything behind a paywall. Terrible. Can't use and would not recommend to anyone. Dont even use their website, they need to be taught a lesson.
My original review (deleted) from Sept. 2019: I had been using the free version of this app and loved it, most especially the ability to add my own notes to products we carried. I spent a lot of time gathering & noting info like PLU#s, suppliers, where in the world it was actually grown, etc... Took some time off and now find that while I can still open the app, all of that precious info I had compiled in it is gone! IF I were to pay the $25 subscription, will my notes (and Favorites) reappear? I understand that what boils down to about $2 a month isn't all that much for such a useful app, but, I am VERY upset that the info I had added to the free version has been removed/locked/blocked from access. So again I ask - is my information gone for good or will it be there if I update to the paid version? Current review after having tried the free trial of the paid subscription version: They've utterly ruined what used to be a very helpful app. The ability to add your own notes to an item is not an intuitive process and is tied to marking an item as a Favorite which itself is no longer a user-friendly feature. When viewing an item there is a heart icon in the upper right. Tapping it gets you a prompt to enter text though it doesn't tell you what for. Enter some text, click OK and the heart icon changes from an outline to solid green. But now what? No Favorites category appears in the main list and the item you hearted isn't flagged in the category's list of items. It takes a lot of digging to discover that you have to tap More from the main menu then scroll down to the sixth! section ("Additional Produce Info") and then tap "Favorites" to see a list of things you hearted. The text you entered when you tapped on the heart is shown here, in the list view, but is not shown when you click the item to view its details. The text sizing is a mess. There is a setting to adjust text size but no way to adjust the list view and item details independantly so if you make the list a decent size for scrolling, the details when you click an item are absolutely tiny and if you adjust the text so that the details are large enough to read without a magnifier then the list headers are enormous. They have added a Recipe/Personal Cookbook section which IMO is unnecessary fluff: if I want a recipe I can Google-up thousands of them; if I want a recipe-storage app there are dozens... I originally downloaded this app because it offered very thorough and specific product information WITHOUT also trying to be a cookbook. I didn't want a cookbook, I wanted a database of product info. SP is trying to be both now as well as adding the "Share Market" (another useless-to-me "feature" that seems like nothing more than retailers advertising for free) and in trying to be all things to everyone instead of doing just what it used to do best has lost it's footing as a useful app. Absolutely not worth $25 a year, will be canceling and uninstalling today.
Pretty much a scam. One of those things that hooks you into a subscription service. Run far away.
Wow...very money grabbing and stupid move!! It sucks that we have to pay a subscription fee to view free information. SHAME ON YOU!!!!
What was once a fantastic app with so much knowledge, is now a cash grab. A one time purchase is understandable however it is now a yearly subscription. VERY disappointed in an app I had downloaded since at least 2014
No Longer Free-- I work in produce and used this app all the time so i could better inform my customers about different fruits and vegetables, but an outrageous subscription is now required to get info i could easily pull from Google myself. I liked this app because I could easily search in one convenient location for the information I wanted, but niw that there is a charge to use any of the useful features, i have no more use for this app. Such a shame.
used to be a great free resource for finding information about different types of fruits and vegetables. now the app is changing a fee to obtain this info. i would not recommend anymore
I used your app for the info on new items at my job. a paid subscription wasn't the right thing to do in my opinion. best of luck
Ruined it for consumers. App used to be perfect when shopping to answer "what is this new fruit" questions. With it, I've discovered new favorite apples, etc. Worked offline (e.g. in stores with poor signal). Now, it requires an expensive subscription. There are also links to a free but limited and non-mobile-optimized website. No thanks.
I found the website today and was thrilled to see there was a mobile app. Then I discovered there was a $25/yr subscription to use the app?! The same info already exists for free on the website, so it being "research and photography" costs is BS. And we know the "technology" for mobile apps is NOT expensive enough to require that kind of price. You may have a 30 day free trial, but we already know it's not worth a $25/yr convenience fee just so you can pocket some cash.
what a joke. you decide to charge for information that you attained from places like wikipedia and the sort. bad move on your part.
I downloaded this when it was not a subscription service. I use it for work to help customers, but it isn't worth a yearly fee in my eyes. I can find all information, free, online or through other apps.
Thanks for making a subscription, not worth $50 a year 😵👎
$32.99/year??? 😂 😂 😂
As a produce manager, this was the best app to get information. Now that there's a fee per year, not worth it at all.
As an employee in the Produce department at a grocery store, this was an invaluable app. It was useful for informing customers of different seasons and uses of each item, now with the subscription I'm uninstalling this. Such a let down, Google is my new friend for Produce information (plus it's free still.)
this app was free to use, now 24.99 well not using or recommending any more!
used to be free now they want 25 bucks a year not impressed, app while useful definitely not work 25 bucks, i used to use it to help customers with questions regarding my more unusual produce items....
I'd have to give it an F rating, because it requires a person to report spotting while at the store or market. People are busy shopping then. After getting home or while burning time while somewhere else, is ideal to update the spotting. But then the app reports the place you are at, not the local store which is dumb. A pointless app until this is corrected. They also do not have snapdragon listed, which is the best apple cultivar I've ever eaten & should be in all grocery stores.
Wow, this app is impressive. It's a shame that whenever I subscribe, the app doesn't seem to know that I have and Google play automatically cuts my subscription off because I'm "not using it" (even though I'm using it daily) but I never got refunded and the app won't restore my purchases. I don't want to have to file some claim with Google play, I like the app and want you all to have my piddly $2/mo.
Subscribe Pay wall. Enough said. Used to a better app. Would not mind paying for it as a one time purchase but subscription is HUGE turn off. I will say there is a lot of information about things and that is great but the free version is a joke. Only a pic of the item and name no other information
Website is free and detailed. App costs $25/yr or else lacks detailed descriptions and depth.
Very sad can get prices or any information unless you pay for it. Sad
I really dislike the subscription model of either a full year's license up front or a 30 day trial. There is no monthly fee. I bet more people would be giving them money if there was one. Unfortunately you have to have enough in your Google account to pay to access the trial. I had a more informative version on my phone that I liked very much, but my phone was wiped while trying to fix a problem. If all I wanted was the pictures and the names the current free version would be enough.
Not worth the cost to me.
Don't use this often and apparently it has changed. You no longer have access to a description, recipes or anything else other than the picture unless you pay. To bad I liked the app when I used it.
been using this for over 7 years to make better choices. ive recommended this to many people. now you charge a fee for the app, and made the app worse not better. your response is the mobile website is still free, but you seem to know that most used your app and using a website on,mobile is a pain. id love to see if there is a way to track how much less its used now due to the high fee. youve had over 100000 downloads...charge maybe 6 bucks a year and youd make more n piss off less
Changing to a subscription model was not the move. Although I can appreciate the work involved in app development and compiling information on produce, I can't justify another subscription. Having to access the mobile site essentially means the app is just taking up space on my device.
Now requires subscription, user interface looks worse. I used to recommend this app for my produce employees to further assist customers with product assistance. While I appreciate everything that you guys have done, $25 a year to view product information in app was not the right way to do it. The extra steps to jump to the site to view is a bit too inefficient, and doesn't help in you guys asking for monetary support anyway. Make the info free at least and lock the other features behind a fee.
Sentiment summary
60%
Positive (4-5★)
1%
Neutral (3★)
39%
Negative (1-2★)