Review Insights · App Store
Sole Retriever - Sneakers
Sole Retriever · 5,119 ratings · ★ 4.8
4.8
★★★★★
5,119 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 26 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
"subscription"
8 negative reviews mention this · 31% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Can’t log in. Paying for a subscription and now I can’t log into with my phone number or email. Seeing multiple people having issues with this online but no one is addressing the issue." - DJCwells
2
"raffles"
6 negative reviews mention this · 23% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Stagnant with Inflated resale numbers. First I should say that I am a big-time sneaker head and use this app dozens of times throughout the day. It has the potential to be incredible and extremely user-friendly but unfortunately it feels like it was built a few years ago and has…" - Nerfhearder99
3
"been"
5 negative reviews mention this · 19% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Stagnant with Inflated resale numbers. First I should say that I am a big-time sneaker head and use this app dozens of times throughout the day. It has the potential to be incredible and extremely user-friendly but unfortunately it feels like it was built a few years ago and has…" - Nerfhearder99
4
"know"
5 negative reviews mention this · 19% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Stagnant with Inflated resale numbers. First I should say that I am a big-time sneaker head and use this app dozens of times throughout the day. It has the potential to be incredible and extremely user-friendly but unfortunately it feels like it was built a few years ago and has…" - Nerfhearder99
5
"worth"
5 negative reviews mention this · 19% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Stagnant with Inflated resale numbers. First I should say that I am a big-time sneaker head and use this app dozens of times throughout the day. It has the potential to be incredible and extremely user-friendly but unfortunately it feels like it was built a few years ago and has…" - Nerfhearder99
6
"paid"
5 negative reviews mention this · 19% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Stagnant with Inflated resale numbers. First I should say that I am a big-time sneaker head and use this app dozens of times throughout the day. It has the potential to be incredible and extremely user-friendly but unfortunately it feels like it was built a few years ago and has…" - Nerfhearder99
7
"notifications"
5 negative reviews mention this · 19% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Stagnant with Inflated resale numbers. First I should say that I am a big-time sneaker head and use this app dozens of times throughout the day. It has the potential to be incredible and extremely user-friendly but unfortunately it feels like it was built a few years ago and has…" - Nerfhearder99
8
"paying"
4 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Stagnant with Inflated resale numbers. First I should say that I am a big-time sneaker head and use this app dozens of times throughout the day. It has the potential to be incredible and extremely user-friendly but unfortunately it feels like it was built a few years ago and has…" - Nerfhearder99
9
"into"
4 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Stagnant with Inflated resale numbers. First I should say that I am a big-time sneaker head and use this app dozens of times throughout the day. It has the potential to be incredible and extremely user-friendly but unfortunately it feels like it was built a few years ago and has…" - Nerfhearder99
10
"restocks"
4 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Current build is broken. Like the app, been a member for a long time-current build is broken though, restocks won’t load can’t stay logged in, can’t launch pages from the app." - Rhall1210
11
"drop"
4 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Paywall. It would be a good app. But it’s super behind a paywall to enter any raffles or look at to see what stores drop them." - Itsfiascoyo
12
"basic"
4 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "NOT WORTH A PENNY. DONT DOWNLOAD AND DEFINITELY DONT PAY MONEY FOR THIS APP!!! Whoever decided to drop alerts from the basic plan has zero business sense. This move will kill an app that was already on life support." - tsaintc76
📋 All 26 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").
Current build is broken
Like the app, been a member for a long time-current build is broken though, restocks won’t load can’t stay logged in, can’t launch pages from the app.
Paywall
It would be a good app. But it’s super behind a paywall to enter any raffles or look at to see what stores drop them.
Can’t log in
Paying for a subscription and now I can’t log into with my phone number or email. Seeing multiple people having issues with this online but no one is addressing the issue.
Not work paying for
This app is trash won’t win any raffles and the only thing you can buy is things that don’t sell out . Half the pages don’t even give you access
Hey gang,
Hey gang.
Terrible
You can’t even view the app without committing your CC. So, if you want to know what you’re getting into for $15/month, you can’t! Most of these apps just parse info from sources you’re probably already using. If they had a good product they would let you use it and then sign up. Otherwise, set up a google alert and you’ll save yourself the money.
I hate apps who make you commit before you even see the product…. And no, cancelling your sub in 30 days is not the same. The consumer should have to opt-in, not have to opt- out of being charged. Companies like rocket money have created whole businesses on this scam.
I hate apps who make you commit before you even see the product…. And no, cancelling your sub in 30 days is not the same. The consumer should have to opt-in, not have to opt- out of being charged. Companies like rocket money have created whole businesses on this scam.
Pay wall
I only downloaded this to know about restocks but that feature is behind paywall smh
Subscription Keeps Resetting
Though the app/service provides a lot of features for a subscription, it doesn’t matter when my subscription keeps resetting after I close the app. This means I don’t get any notifications for drops and restocks until I open up the app again and choose “Restore Purchase” in the settings. Unless this gets fixed, there is no point in paying for a subscription.
NOT WORTH A PENNY
DONT DOWNLOAD AND DEFINITELY DONT PAY MONEY FOR THIS APP!!! Whoever decided to drop alerts from the basic plan has zero business sense. This move will kill an app that was already on life support.
Never Won
This app is A SCAM. Every time he gives a notification. The product is never there. If it’s an EXCLUSIVE. YOU’LL NEVER WIN…
Good, but having issues
Anytime I attempt to get notifications for certain drops it's not allowing me to do it. The whole point of the app is to wanna know when shock drops occur, but not allowing it.
Trash app/ subscriptions
The app is pointless. Gives you basic info on drops that any social media page can give you. Not worth any subscription
Gotta pay
Brain rot app I just want Kobe’s I’m not a reselling liberal
Couldn’t get ahold of customer service
I had a question regarding the kicksmas giveaway because one of the winners was my name but i didn’t get any notification about it, so i reached out to the to the support team at least 4 different times asking about it and still never got anything back from them. I think it’s a bit disappointing because i pay a monthly subscription to use the app and I can’t even get good customer support
Not really what I expected
Not really worth it they don’t help you with super hype releases just the general release stuff I rather stick to j23 app way better and I cop more on that app
App unusable
Ive been trying to use this app for a couple of weeks now and I cant even get past the login screen. I have a paid subscription and everything!!
Unable to cancel
Unable to cancel 15 a month
Do not purchase
Do not purchase
Information Only
Got the app thinking it would improve my odds of winning some of these raffles having more entries. No luck yet. Been a source of information to this point and don’t feel that warrants a fee.
Paid??
See look I like the idea of this or whatever, but the only way to use this is by a PAID membership. There isn’t even some type of free basic package, and on top of that the memberships are expensive. Stop advertising this as free if it isn’t.
Cool but way too expensive
This monthly subscription thing is horrendous, I understand you get what you pay for but I’d be more inclined to pay $3-$4 a month for the basic and $8 for the “PRO”. I’ve tried it out for a month in the past and I truly wasn’t impressed for what the pro membership had to offer. Hopefully they do better and start actually looking out for the community and just up charge the people that select the “reseller” tab.
Stopped receiving notifications
After my trial period ended i went for the Pro subscription and after the first payment it suddenly stopped receiving notifications for all things offered by the app
Waste of time
Don’t get waste of storage
Quality app and very noob friendly
I’m late getting into sneakers at 30, so I needed a user friendly but effective app to show me what’s out there and help me keep up with things I like.
I stumbled on to sole retriever by complete accident but it serves all my needs. I can jump in and see what’s dropping today or this week, l can get updates about raffles or restocks, and I can look at where a shoe is in stock inc sites stock X, Finish line, GOAT, and see prices all in the app.
I copped my first pair of dunks last week thanks to a notification from the app letting me know it was about to drop. My first W!
My only criticism is although it’s easy to bypass the waitlist/ referral system (I just didn’t do anything) it initially turned me off thinking the app was going to be a waste of time unless I paid into it but happen to report I haven’t paid a dime. If I hadn’t been set , I’d likely deleted before I even tried it.
I stumbled on to sole retriever by complete accident but it serves all my needs. I can jump in and see what’s dropping today or this week, l can get updates about raffles or restocks, and I can look at where a shoe is in stock inc sites stock X, Finish line, GOAT, and see prices all in the app.
I copped my first pair of dunks last week thanks to a notification from the app letting me know it was about to drop. My first W!
My only criticism is although it’s easy to bypass the waitlist/ referral system (I just didn’t do anything) it initially turned me off thinking the app was going to be a waste of time unless I paid into it but happen to report I haven’t paid a dime. If I hadn’t been set , I’d likely deleted before I even tried it.
Stagnant with Inflated resale numbers
First I should say that I am a big-time sneaker head and use this app dozens of times throughout the day. It has the potential to be incredible and extremely user-friendly but unfortunately it feels like it was built a few years ago and has been left to stagnate.
The single biggest issue is the secondary market value shown for shoes. The values are not based on what people are actually paying. The values shown are based on what the resellers are asking. That is a very big difference. As a result almost every shoe ends up with an inflated value attached to it. This makes it impossible to know what a shoe could potentially be worth.
You will see shoes that show a resale value over $1000 the day before release, which then crash below retail after. When you look into the numbers you can see that in those cases no one actually paid the listed resale value. Yet the app will show that this is what it's worth. Something's value is only established after someone pays for it.
I have been a pro plan member for quite a while. In the entire time I have been a member I do not believe I've seen any new features rolled out.
The features they do have could be very helpful except there are issues with almost every single main feature. For example the restocked notifications could be very helpful but more often than not there will be different titles displayed for the same shoe. That leaves you guessing as to what shoe is actually being restocked. It would be so much better if the app used the product codes in addition to the name since those are standardized across all retailers.
The built-in browser is also very buggy. Sometimes it freezes so badly that I need to restart the app multiple times to get it to work again.
Finally, the raffles are nice to see but the filtering of raffles is incredibly difficult. I find that no matter how many times I set my filters, after a couple of days they just seem to turn themselves off and I am shown every raffle from the Philippines to Japan to Czechoslovakia.
Overall this app could be incredible but as I said at the beginning, it appears to have been developed once and left stagnant
The single biggest issue is the secondary market value shown for shoes. The values are not based on what people are actually paying. The values shown are based on what the resellers are asking. That is a very big difference. As a result almost every shoe ends up with an inflated value attached to it. This makes it impossible to know what a shoe could potentially be worth.
You will see shoes that show a resale value over $1000 the day before release, which then crash below retail after. When you look into the numbers you can see that in those cases no one actually paid the listed resale value. Yet the app will show that this is what it's worth. Something's value is only established after someone pays for it.
I have been a pro plan member for quite a while. In the entire time I have been a member I do not believe I've seen any new features rolled out.
The features they do have could be very helpful except there are issues with almost every single main feature. For example the restocked notifications could be very helpful but more often than not there will be different titles displayed for the same shoe. That leaves you guessing as to what shoe is actually being restocked. It would be so much better if the app used the product codes in addition to the name since those are standardized across all retailers.
The built-in browser is also very buggy. Sometimes it freezes so badly that I need to restart the app multiple times to get it to work again.
Finally, the raffles are nice to see but the filtering of raffles is incredibly difficult. I find that no matter how many times I set my filters, after a couple of days they just seem to turn themselves off and I am shown every raffle from the Philippines to Japan to Czechoslovakia.
Overall this app could be incredible but as I said at the beginning, it appears to have been developed once and left stagnant
Not worth cost
Just cannot find any value outside release dates and raffle info. The restock notifications are more annoying than helpful. The ability to only mute 60 words is not near enough for my interests. Very slow restock notifications or completely missing them. For general restock info, it does have value; but don’t bank on it for very hard to get items. Shouldn’t have SoleLinks giving me Metallic 5’s notifications and none from SR. This app has value but not near the current monthly asking price. I’ll just scroll Twitter and save some capital.
Glorified drop calendar
Literally the only reliable use for this app is the drop calendar. The stock count is always incorrect, showing shoes as in stock when they actually aren’t. The raffle feature is rather useless as it only shows you which raffles are available it does NOT fill them out for you. This would all be fine if this were a free app, but with this being a paid SUBSCRIPTION based service!? It’s borderline a scam.
Sentiment summary
94%
Positive (4-5★)
1%
Neutral (3★)
4%
Negative (1-2★)