We analyzed this app across 3 independent signals and corroborated nothing unfair. That is a signal, not an audit.
This analysis describes version 5.29.1 of the app, analyzed 2026-10-06 . The app may have changed since.
The store currently lists version 5.29.1, updated 2026-10-02.
What the analysis found
One source only — shown, not confirmed 3
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.
What reviewers said
Verbatim excerpts from public store reviews, shown as corroborating user reports. They are not Appworthy audit evidence, and a quotation is not proof of the finding it sits under.
Aggressive ad load
Disappointed With Recent Updates — I’ve been using this app for years and had always enjoyed it. Even when I wasn’t using it regularly, I would recommend it to others. With these most recent updates—the focus tasks glitching, the new…
Now with noisy, endless ads — Used to love this app but in the past week they turned on super noisy, lpng, violent video game ads at the end of focus sessions which defeats the entire point of the app. giving it a couple more days but if…
I love Forest — It’s a really awesome app, but it does annoy me how many pop up ads there are, but overall, great app. Would recommend
Paywall blocks the basics
basic features should stay basic — deleted immediately when I found out I'd have to pay to listen to a podcast while in focus mode
just put your phone away. — Pretty lame that they make you pay for the app and then disable 90% of it behind a subscription-based paywall.
Ensh*ttification has ruined it — When I originally downloaded Forest, it was a one time purchase, but now they have switched to a subscription model and screwed the original payers, we basically absolutely nothing as it’s now paywalled…
States a price, or offers a one-time purchase
I brought this app many years ago when it was a paid app and I still love using this app !! — As a pro user (due to retaining the benefits from buying it from the AppStore with a one-time payment), I can confidently say that I absolutely…
Not as good as before — One of the reasons I bought this app was cause it was a one time purchase, but now they’ve come out with their plus subscription and keep pushing it, which is annoying. Really disappointed, feels like they’re just…
How the automated analysis works
This assessment is produced automatically. Three independent signals are read — user reviews, the store listing and the store privacy disclosure — and each candidate finding is filed under the sources that support it.
No charge stands on one kind of evidence — with one published exception. A finding is either a measured fact that anyone can reproduce (an ad SDK is in the package; every subscription bills weekly; the privacy label omits a tracker we can see), or it is an interpretation — and an interpretation needs independent sources to agree before it reaches the catch list. The exception is a harm only users can see: a charge may publish from reviews alone, as “Reported by N users”, once enough reviewers raise it to clear that charge’s own published bar. That agreement rule is what replaced the human reviewer, not a model’s confidence.
There is no overall score, on purpose. A 0–99 number was published here until 2026-09-15. It was withdrawn because it discriminated too weakly to be the instrument — 44.7% of every pair of apps tied — and because a single number is a verdict where a count is an observation. What publishes instead is a row of measurements, each of which says what was counted and, where we could not look, says that instead.
Findings under One source only are real reports we do not stand behind as findings. They are shown because withholding them entirely would hide a genuine complaint, and labelled because publishing them as charges would be an accusation off a single source.
Several measurements above say “Not assessed” because no artefact we hold can answer them. A human review is what resolves those — and it can remove a favourable band as easily as add one.
Hands-on inspections are not yet open.