What users complain about in smart home and security apps
1,108 English-language one-star reviews of 12 App Store and Google Play listings in this sector, posted between 2025-10-25 and 2026-10-24. Part of the Revunda study of 29,785 one-star app reviews.
Key findings
- Broke after an update is the top complaint: 10.3% of one-star reviews (all apps: 3.3%), then charges, fees & refunds (9.2%) and notifications & alerts (9.2%).
- 38.8% of all reviews of these apps in the period are one-star (all apps: 41.3%), rank 11 of 15 sectors.
- Biggest gap vs all apps: notifications & alerts, 9.2% vs 2.0%.
- Highest one-star share among listings with ≥30 one-star reviews: Google Home (iOS), 57.3% of its reviews; lowest: Tile (iOS), 19.3%.
- Most broke after an update complaints: Blink Home Monitor (iOS), 34.3% of its one-star reviews.
Complaint themes
Share of 1,108 one-star reviews mentioning each theme. A review can match several themes; 53.5% match none.
| Theme | This sector, % | All apps, % | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broke after an update | 10.3 | 3.3 | 114 |
| Charges, fees & refunds | 9.2 | 8.4 | 102 |
| Notifications & alerts | 9.2 | 2.0 | 102 |
| Slow, loading & lag | 8.2 | 4.9 | 91 |
| Customer service | 5.8 | 9.1 | 64 |
| Crashes & won’t open | 5.5 | 4.6 | 61 |
| Redesign & confusing UI | 4.9 | 3.2 | 54 |
| Login & account access | 4.8 | 9.5 | 53 |
| Ads | 2.4 | 3.6 | 27 |
| Payment or checkout fails | 0.2 | 1.0 | 2 |
By app
10 listings with at least 30 one-star reviews in the period, sorted by one-star share of all their reviews. Top theme = the theme most of that app’s one-star reviews mention.
| App | Store | 1★ reviews (EN) | 1★ share, all reviews | Top theme |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Home | iOS | 138 | 57.3% | Slow, loading & lag (9.4%) |
| Amazon Alexa | iOS | 114 | 56.3% | Redesign & confusing UI (7.0%) |
| SimpliSafe Home Security App | iOS | 92 | 55.8% | Customer service (20.7%) |
| Ring | iOS | 145 | 53.0% | Crashes & won’t open (19.3%) |
| Arlo Secure | iOS | 103 | 51.7% | Charges, fees & refunds (22.3%) |
| Blink Home Monitor | iOS | 140 | 51.7% | Broke after an update (34.3%) |
| The Official Wyze App | iOS | 135 | 46.0% | Charges, fees & refunds (13.3%) |
| Ring | Google Play | 80 | 30.3% | Notifications & alerts (13.8%) |
| ADT+ | iOS | 61 | 28.6% | Login & account access (27.9%) |
| Tile | iOS | 53 | 19.3% | Customer service (9.4%) |
Not ranked (fewer than 30 one-star reviews): Life360, Life360.
Most similar complaint mix: Shopping apps · Travel apps · Banking apps.
Method
Newest ~300 public reviews per listing from Apple’s customer-reviews RSS feed and Google Play, fetched 2026-10-24. Theme shares use one-star reviews from English-language storefronts, matched by one keyword pattern per theme (patterns and limitations on the study page). Keyword matching misses paraphrases, so treat shares as lower bounds; public reviews over-represent unhappy users.
Download the data
smart-home-app-complaints-2026.csv (CSV): the sector row, the all-apps row and every listing above, with counts and shares per theme. Licence: CC BY 4.0; please credit Revunda with a link to this page.
The free app check shows the top complaint themes in your latest reviews in a minute. The full report (€19 (launch price, €49 from 1 Dec 2026)) groups up to 300 reviews into issues with quotes and 10 ranked fixes.
Related
- Full study: all sectors, countries and apps
- Shopping & grocery app complaints
- Banking app complaints
- Telecom & TV provider app complaints
- Streaming & ticket app complaints
- Airline & travel app complaints
- Food delivery app complaints
- Taxi & transit app complaints
- Parcel & postal app complaints
- News & weather app complaints
FAQ
What do users complain about most in smart home and security apps?
In 1,108 one-star reviews (2025-10-25 – 2026-10-24), the top themes are broke after an update (10.3%), charges, fees & refunds (9.2%) and notifications & alerts (9.2%).
Which smart home app has the highest share of one-star reviews?
Google Home (iOS): 57.3% of its reviews in the period were one-star, among 10 listings with at least 30 one-star reviews.