Review Insights · App Store
PayByPhone Parking
PayByPhone Technologies Inc. · 723,352 ratings · ★ 4.8
4.8
★★★★★
723,352 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 38 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
"parking"
16 negative reviews mention this · 42% of all complaints
★★★★★ "One of the most confusing apps I’ve ever used.. Maybe one of the problems is that I was looking for parking in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and then I had to download the app because I realized there was no other paid parking around. I didn’t need free parking. I just wanted some convenient…" - deblwood
2
"park"
8 negative reviews mention this · 21% of all complaints
★★★★★ "One of the most confusing apps I’ve ever used.. Maybe one of the problems is that I was looking for parking in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and then I had to download the app because I realized there was no other paid parking around. I didn’t need free parking. I just wanted some convenient…" - deblwood
3
"apple"
7 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Apple Pay not supported. Apple Pay not supported" - jgwa9999
4
"card"
6 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Doesn’t take ApplyPay or PayPal. Outdated to have to enter a credit card" - SlyOneLo
5
"doesn"
5 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Doesn’t take ApplyPay or PayPal. Outdated to have to enter a credit card" - SlyOneLo
6
"money"
5 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "One of the most confusing apps I’ve ever used.. Maybe one of the problems is that I was looking for parking in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and then I had to download the app because I realized there was no other paid parking around. I didn’t need free parking. I just wanted some convenient…" - deblwood
7
"service"
5 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Let me down when I needed it. Parked in a garage right in the middle of Seattle. Cell service was bad, so I tried to do payment outside. App put me in a loop of identifying the facility, then the car. Round and round. Walked to my destination, sat down and tried again. …" - Michael Carnes
8
"other"
4 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "One of the most confusing apps I’ve ever used.. Maybe one of the problems is that I was looking for parking in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and then I had to download the app because I realized there was no other paid parking around. I didn’t need free parking. I just wanted some convenient…" - deblwood
9
"paid"
4 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "One of the most confusing apps I’ve ever used.. Maybe one of the problems is that I was looking for parking in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and then I had to download the app because I realized there was no other paid parking around. I didn’t need free parking. I just wanted some convenient…" - deblwood
10
"didn"
4 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "One of the most confusing apps I’ve ever used.. Maybe one of the problems is that I was looking for parking in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and then I had to download the app because I realized there was no other paid parking around. I didn’t need free parking. I just wanted some convenient…" - deblwood
11
"trying"
4 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "One of the most confusing apps I’ve ever used.. Maybe one of the problems is that I was looking for parking in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and then I had to download the app because I realized there was no other paid parking around. I didn’t need free parking. I just wanted some convenient…" - deblwood
12
"payment"
4 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Let me down when I needed it. Parked in a garage right in the middle of Seattle. Cell service was bad, so I tried to do payment outside. App put me in a loop of identifying the facility, then the car. Round and round. Walked to my destination, sat down and tried again. …" - Michael Carnes
📋 All 38 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").
Hard to use
Not user friendly
Doesn’t take ApplyPay or PayPal
Outdated to have to enter a credit card
Bloated app
Not easy
One of the most confusing apps I’ve ever used.
Maybe one of the problems is that I was looking for parking in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and then I had to download the app because I realized there was no other paid parking around. I didn’t need free parking. I just wanted some convenient paid parking in Lowe and twice because I didn’t I got confused. It was confusing and granted I may be easily confused, but I was very put out with it. It should be more user-friendly and I thought it was a scam. Just trying to get as much money as they could from these poor poor idiots trying to just find a safe place to park and not violate the law heaven help me!
Apple Pay not supported
Apple Pay not supported
Horrible Company
Very greedy company that charges way too much for basic parking and then if you don’t renew before the time, you start over.
App consistently getting worse.
Over time
Let me down when I needed it
Parked in a garage right in the middle of Seattle. Cell service was bad, so I tried to do payment outside. App put me in a loop of identifying the facility, then the car. Round and round. Walked to my destination, sat down and tried again. Got a little farther, but the app told me it couldn’t use Apple Pay. I tried that a few times with the same result. So I entered another card. Same result. I finally found a kiosk where I could easily pay with a card. That’s what I’ll do from here on. The app is off my phone and my account is now deleted. They had their chance.
Cloned Data
I've had a problem for two years now-my card and phone number are still linked to a charge. It seems the data isn't secure. Some data can be cloned. You have to be careful when using it.
Bad app
The app contains scam ads.
Why does a parking app need ads?
Don’t the they collect enough money from fees?
Awful user experience
App says takes Amex. It didn’t. App says it takes Apple Pay. It didn’t.
The system shows different times
Terrible experience. I paid for parking using this app and have the receipt to prove it, but I still received a ticket. When I contacted them, they said I hadn’t paid, which is completely incorrect. The system is unreliable and customer support is not helpful. I would not recommend this app.
Doesn’t work without Apple Pay
I am trying to pay for my parking spot and the only payment option I’m being given is Apple Pay. I’m not setting up Apple Pay just to park. Absurd and arguably illegal practice.
Horrible
Doesnt have any autocomplete for credit cards (password manager integration). Also it lets you add an amex card no problem and after you waste 5 mins of your life doing thatbit lets you know the town doesnt take amex.
Easier to pay via carrier pidgeon
Apple pay should always be enabled so that it takes one second to pay
Easier to pay via carrier pidgeon
Apple pay should always be enabled so that it takes one second to pay
App is not reliable
The app always loose My configuration, many times a day
Never worked
EDIT: It’s possible that it’s just the city of Oceanside, CA that has chosen to only accept certain payments and not due to the app itself.
Terrible.
Added my card and. says it takes Apple Pay and neither works.
Terrible.
Added my card and. says it takes Apple Pay and neither works.
Excessive fees
You keep changing additional fees without consequences
65% more expensive to park
If you put your credit card in the machine, it’s one price. If you want to use your phone in this app, they add a texting fee and a convenience fee. Absolute rip off put money in the machine or a better yet put the credit card in the machine.
Zero customer service
Signs at lot said 24hr parking. Only after I paid I app said I could only park 2 hours 19 min. I needed a full day to testify at the state capitol. I had to move to another lot after paying $18.89. I have spent multiple hours try to call, chat on FB, chat with their insufferable AI chat bot. No response.
All government contracts with this app should be revoked
Terrible app experience when trying to park in Glendale. Constantly to opt you into SMS messages that cost extra money. Not a lot but shady and annoying. Also I’ve never encountered an app that even charges for SMS messages.
Typically parking apps don’t take more than a couple minutes to find the location and pay. I tried to use the site first, but it seemed almost intentionally terrible, which drove me to download the app which is probably what they want. Then the app kept pushing me to create an account rather than check out as guest. Kept asking for way more details than other apps ask for. Overall it took over 10 minutes to simply pay for parking, which was about half the time I needed to park and run into a store to grab something. Terrible vendor for Glendale to use
Typically parking apps don’t take more than a couple minutes to find the location and pay. I tried to use the site first, but it seemed almost intentionally terrible, which drove me to download the app which is probably what they want. Then the app kept pushing me to create an account rather than check out as guest. Kept asking for way more details than other apps ask for. Overall it took over 10 minutes to simply pay for parking, which was about half the time I needed to park and run into a store to grab something. Terrible vendor for Glendale to use
Signed out and had to re-add all my info
When I’m paying for parking it should take 2 seconds and have all my info saved. I went to pay today and my google account was signed out, my car wasn’t saved, it said it doesn’t take Apple Pay or American Express anymore… HORRIBLE. Whatever changed Eng made to this app should embarrass them.
Please fix it
The app constantly logs out. I have to login almost everytime I use it. So frustrating.
Updating
This app jammed me up. Went to pay for parking and the app decided that was a good time to update. Took forever. Had to pay by machine instead as the update never finished. Not convenient at all
SMS
Quit charging sms fees and simply push notifications. Who pays for sms messages today? Or make it optional.
Frustrating
App signs me out every other time I use it. Doesn’t save information which wastes time. Fix it
Not helpful
Customer service doesn’t try to help with a situation with a parking ban, and will not help extend the session by one day. Hope me and my car will survive the night
awful
this app sucks. wouldn’t take my payment and i now have a $45 parking ticket because none of my payment methods went through and everything was so frustrating with this worthless app. also, $3.50 for an hour to park? tf is wrong with this company?
Wrong Parking Hours = No Parking at All
I was at a parking lot serviced by PayByPhone, and the app told me the hours weren’t available to park. It said to look at the placards, which definitely said the lot was open. But nope: I could not override or pay, so I had to drive elsewhere.
Takes for ever to open
waited for good 2mins for the app to open
Non-intuitive
This app does not have the presets for time laid out in a logical manner.
They took the money and I got the $100 Ticket
Use this service at your own RISK.
I recently got a $100 ticket after paying via the app. The city claims they never received $ from PayByPhone & proof of paying them didn't matter!
There's 3 Big Red Flags
1) their app failed to submit payment to city which led to a $100 ticket
2) If the meter cost is $3/hr, this app can be charged $4/hr or even $5/hr. They charge a big premium for it using the app.
3) They Pocket the $$$: of you pay for parking during Free hours, they don't warn you, they take the money and refuse to refund you.
I recently got a $100 ticket after paying via the app. The city claims they never received $ from PayByPhone & proof of paying them didn't matter!
There's 3 Big Red Flags
1) their app failed to submit payment to city which led to a $100 ticket
2) If the meter cost is $3/hr, this app can be charged $4/hr or even $5/hr. They charge a big premium for it using the app.
3) They Pocket the $$$: of you pay for parking during Free hours, they don't warn you, they take the money and refuse to refund you.
Absurd SMS fee
The app functions fine, no better or worse than any other parking app I’ve used. But it they’re charging a fee to enable SMS alerts. -3 for that, on principle. It’s 2026, what are we doing here?
Beware where you park using this app
I was in Nuremberg and used the app to park where the map showed was a parking area. So I paid and parked in the area. When I returned, I had a ticket from the city because I was parked outside of the park zone. But the app showed the shadow area that it was in their parking zone.
Needs work
Trying to download this from website it did not bring me to App Store and charged me $2
Wouldn’t take meter by me!
Should work smoothly but didn’t
Poor customer service
The app works well enough to pay and extend parking, but the quality of the location data is poor. Multiple instances of standing at the location of a zone but the search for nearby zones failing. Entering the zone's code shows distance to the zone as >3miles despite me standing at it. I have tried contacting customer support but this is apparently not something they're equiped to receive as feedback.
high price
nice app but spencil price
Sentiment summary
97%
Positive (4-5★)
1%
Neutral (3★)
2%
Negative (1-2★)