“DISAPPOINTING. This has recently gone from my favorite app to do medication checks to unusable. I don't know what you did in the recent update, but the ads are insatiable, ridiculous, and have ruined a brilliant app that I've used for…”
Independent automated assessment · 3 signal sources · 955 reviews scanned · analyzed 2026-10-04.
3.1 ★33,435 ratings
1M+Downloads
12+Age rating
238 MBApp size
Free · In-app purchasesIn-app purchases
About this app
Make safer, faster clinical decisions – anywhere you practice.
epocrates is the trusted clinical reference app for U.S. physicians (MDs/DOs), nurse practitioners (NPs), physician associates (PAs), pharmacists, and medical students – helping you confidently prescribe, stay up to date, calculate dosages, and save time.
Top tools for busy clinicians:…
Preview
Real screenshots from the store listing.
Independent evidence report
Evidence and review signals
This is where the page changes from an app-store listing into an evidence report: findings, important reviews, pricing and a dated history.
Which version this describes
When we ran this analysis, and what the store lists now.
App Store
This analysis describes version 26.9.1 of the app, analyzed 2026-10-04 . The app may have changed since.
The store currently lists version 26.9.1, updated 2026-09-24.
Google Play
This analysis describes version 26.9.1 of the app, analyzed 2026-10-04 . The app may have changed since.
The store currently lists version 26.9.1, updated 2026-09-23.
What we measured
Each line is a measurement published as a measurement, never a verdict.
Each line is a measurement, published as a measurement. Where we have not looked, the line says so rather than reading as a zero.
Developer replies to reviews
Replies to at least 1 review in 20
Price in the store description
States no price and billing period
Cancelling, in the store description
Says how to cancel
Themes reported by reviewers
2 themes reported
Counted from the reviews we have read for this app. "No theme reported" means no theme reached our reporting threshold — it is not a finding that nothing is wrong with this app, and we do not say it is.
Five-star share of ratings
Under 65% five-star
Arithmetic on the stores' own published rating counts. It says nothing about why the ratings fall where they do.
In the package we scanned
No package has been scanned for this app, so nothing is published about what it ships. That is an absence of evidence about the app, not a finding about it.
Graded bands · predicate set 1.4 · how these are measured
What the analysis found
App-specific findings, grouped by what each one rests on. How they are graded lives on its own page.
Positive evidence 1
Things this app does right, published at the same strengths as the catch list.
Developer says data deletion can be requested
The developer's data-safety disclosure on the store states that users can request deletion of their data, or the app's own text offers a way to delete the account. This restates what the developer declares; it is not a test of whether deletion works. Apple publishes no equivalent disclosure, so on an Apple-only listing only the app's own text can support it.
What we saw: The developer's store data-safety disclosure states that data deletion can be requested; we have not seen a deletion control in the app's own text
One source only — shown, not confirmed 2
A single kind of evidence. We publish these because withholding them would be the bigger distortion, and we do not treat any of them as a finding we stand behind.
Reported by users: Aggressive ad load
Advertising volume or placement that interrupts normal use: ads between every action, unskippable or forced full-screen ads.
What we saw: Aggressive ad load: raised by 9 distinct reviewers (1.6% of 549 reviews scanned)
Reported by users: Paywall blocks the basics
The core of the app — not extras — sits behind payment, or previously-free function moved behind a paywall.
What we saw: Paywall blocks the basics: raised by 9 distinct reviewers (1.6% of 549 reviews scanned)
Highlighted reviews
Representative public review excerpts shown as user reports, not Appworthy audit evidence.
“It was great but I don't know why I'm paying money to get spammed with fullscreen ads every time I open the app.”
“Excellent content but too many ads — Epocrates has excellent content for medications, interactionsl, supplements, etc. but the ads can be really annoying particularly after paying $180 per year for the app.”
Assessment & version history
App changes and Appworthy events in one timeline.
Store listing updated to version 26.9.1.
What this app sells
Useful store-disclosed pricing, kept below the app listing.
Items shown10
Lowest$21.99
Highest$224.99
Epocrates Plus Monthly$21.99
epocrates+ Monthly$24.99
epocrates+ Annual$179.99
Epocrates Plus Annual$179.99
Epocrates Plus$21.99
Show 5 more purchases
epocrates Plus$24.99
Essentials$179.99
Epocrates Plus$179.99
epocrates+$179.99
epocrates Plus$224.99
Google Play does not publish per-purchase prices.