What users hate. Clustered.

1- and 2-star reviews grouped into themes with verbatim examples. Each cluster is a wedge a competitor could exploit.

13 reviews·5 themes

Inaccurate step counting compared to Apple Watch/Health
Users report significant discrepancies between step counts in Charlie and their Apple Watch or Health app, with Charlie consistently undercounting by thousands of steps.
8
reviews
- “Inaccurate counting — My steps will literally be off by 1000’s”
- “Not accurate, always underestimating, makes it not fun — It is very cute, and I like the customizations ! I found it very motivating at first to get my steps in .. until I realized it doesn’t accurately count it.”
- “Inaccurate step count — It’s off by at least 2000 steps, I track with my apple watch and my apple health app and they don’t align with Charlie.”
Poor or failed sync with Apple Health
Multiple users report that steps are not syncing correctly from Apple Health to Charlie, resulting in missing or incorrect step data.
5
reviews
- “Apple health not synced properly :/ -great app idea — it’s been mentioned multiple times by other users that the app doesn’t sync correctly with apple health.”
- “Steps do not sync to health app — This app is such a cute idea. I really want to love it however, the steps do not sync properly to the iPhone health app.”
- “Step count wrong — I want to love it but the steps are not transferring in from apple health correctly. I’m showing thousands less.”
Frequent maintenance periods disrupting access
Users are frustrated by repeated, prolonged maintenance windows that prevent them from using the app, with no clear timeline for resolution.
2
reviews
- “whats up with 3 day maintenance — had this app for a couple of weeks, its cute and its a fun way to track steps, but all of a sudden the app is under maintenance for the 3rd time in a row this week, unable to open app and unknown when maintenance will finish and now i belie”
- “I want to love it but.. — I’m in a group chat with girls that are loving this app and sending their progress everyday! I think the idea is very cute and I want to be in on it but unfortunately the app does not count my steps.”
Issues with house and donut functionality
Users report being unable to create houses, retrieve stored donuts, or recover donuts after deleting a house, breaking core gameplay features.
2
reviews
- “Houses and Donuts — Does not let you create a house also does not let you get your stored donuts out of your house as well as getting your stored donuts after deleting a house”
- “Does not let you create a house also does not let you get your stored donuts out of your house as well as getting your stored donuts after deleting a house”
Forced two-factor authentication requirement
Users express strong dissatisfaction with the mandatory two-factor authentication setup, viewing it as an unnecessary security barrier for a step-tracking app.
1
reviews
- “requires 2fa — why does a step app need to force me to upgrade my entire iphone security? love the concept but literally nothing could make me enable two factor authentication… please make another way to have an account”

First load takes ~60–120s. Cached after.