Forest Reviews: Is It Legit?

Customer Experience

Positive experience58.2% of reviews
Neutral6.9% of reviews
Negative experience34.9% of reviews

~ Based on 2,297 written reviews from the US App Store.

What users say about Forest

Is Forest Safe?

Forest: Focus for Productivity appears safe based on user ratings. AppsHunter Safety Score for Forest is 96/100.

This assessment is based on 49,558 user ratings, with an App Store average of 4.8/5.

Safety Analysis

96.1% of ratings point to a safe experience
1.4% of ratings suggest some concerns
2.5% of ratings point to a risky experience

~ Based on 49,540 App Store ratings for Forest.

Is Forest Legit?

Forest: Focus for Productivity appears to be a legitimate app. AppsHunter Legitimacy Score for Forest is 100/100.

Based on 100 of 100 points across 7 verification signals from App Store and developer data.

Top reviews

Ruined by new update

I have used this app since 2021. It has countless of hours of study data from almost every single day since then, and I used to recommend it to so many people.
The new update makes it genuinely unusable. It is slow and clunky, and requires way more tapping and scrolling to achieve the same simple timer function as before. Despite having already paid for the app, there are reminders on every page to pay more to upgrade again.
Removing the option to return to the old UI was the final straw, and I’m deleting this app in place of a different one. So so sad.
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Please add another function to change layout

Please add a function to change layout so we can choose not to have the animation and everything. The new UI causes more friction when using the app meaning I use it way less and it means there’s more friction in me being PRODUCTIVE which is the sole purpose of this app. Give us the ability to choose what UI we want since I want to go back to the old efficient UI.
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devs ignore feedback and prioritize changes for profit

disappointing. Even after breaking trust in users by implementing the subscription service, the app continues to degrade further with updates introducing more ui clutter and features to further inconvienence app users. feedback is met with copy paste text responses filled with empty promises to deliver in the future while refusing any acknowledgement to criticism towards the PLUS feature, just deflecting with "the pro users still keep prior unlocked trees so the app purchase wasn't deception".
the only reason pro users still keep giving this app a chance is because otherwise it would be a wasted purchase. yet the ui updates with constant prompts required to complete a finished plant has become the worst change thus far. i doubt this feedback will recieve any actual changes so im just leaving this to advise any future users who see this review to steer clear from apps by this developer.
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Dislike new interface

I absolutely love this app and have been using it for years to help with my studies. However, there has been an update for which we have to click twice to confirm our focused hours after each session (really annoying - takes time and no added value) and we no longer see the total daily hours on the screen directly, we have to navigate to another one.

Please revert back, it’s annoying to have to click so much. It was much more convenient before. Thank you!
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Bought and forgotten

I bought this app couple years ago, told other people about it, helped with focusing and was a cool concept. New version got rid of all my different tree types and now they want me to pay again for a plus version? Ridiculous scam.

Where is the section to buy the music??

I updated the app and cannot buy the music from my coins!!!Dont tell me we have to upgrade to forest plus to even get music!!!!

Thank you for fixing my biggest complaints

The Ui is a bit more simplified, the backgrounds are beautiful, we now have more tree options rolling through (three would NOT have been enough but the refresh fixed that issue and incentivizes me to check daily), the land masses are finally part of the store instead of being weirdly tucked in settings. Good job, team! Wish we’d had a cute fall themed event, but I’m sure cleaning up this mess took up all their time lol
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New design

I’ve been a user of forest for years and absolutely loved it. The new design of the app is awful and has completely changed the user experience.

If it ain’t broke don’t fix it

Released a horrid update. Clunky UI, three taps to finish a timer when it used to take one, too many animations to collect bs.

Just make the app actually work as a study timer instead of doing too much: one click to plant, one to stop, total time spent on the Home Screen. Submitted this as a request in-app but hoping a review will actually get them moving.
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I’ve paid. Stop trying to upsell me some premium version

Too many pop ups and upsell attempts

Bad now

Update version sucks

GREAT APP

GREAT APP! Forest helped me reduce my screen time and help me study for prolong periods

Ruined

Originally brilliant focus app turning into its own distraction land

Getting worse

Unnecessary animation wasting my time.

Hate the 2026 changes

I used to value the app a lot, but the recent changes have made it much worse. Now whenever I’ve finished a period, the screen requires me to tap it to “ claim my reward” and then click two more screens before allowing me to go back to focus. They’ve removed icons from the screen so I can no longer tap to see the forest I’ve grown. And rather than a dial around the tree icon allowing one to adjust the focus time, there’s a separate ruler beneath that makes seeing and adjusting times much more difficult. I’d like to go back to the old version, and if I can’t I’ll look for other productivity apps.
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Please bring back the old forest :(

The current UI/UX is so tedious and confusing, and I don’t want the sounds during my break. I’ve used forest for almost 10 years, and I strongly prefer the product before this big change.

Too much flair

I love the new designs of trees being added, but everything about setting a focus timer and ending it is now bogged down by transition animations that are completely unnecessary. It shouldn’t take me ten extra seconds to end the previous timer and start a new one. Just setting a timer has an added step of opening a menu to do it instead of prior iterations where it was built into the screen itself. I’m finding I don’t want to use it anymore which is sad because I’ve been here for years and years.
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Used to be great

The app used to be easy to use but now is really cumbersome. It takes longer to plant a tree and multiple clicks to plant another. I really miss the the little clock like interface where you could select
Time and see how the tree would grow with more time. Now you have to select a tree then go to the slider. The slider is cumbersome and you can’t see what your tree will look like after a certain amount of time. At least if they
Brought back that as an option the muscle memory I’ve developed by planting so many trees over the years could be of use again. While some of the changes are ok it’s like they forgot their core purpose.
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Really Works

Helps me stay on task.

New visual appearance

I loved this app for studying but the new visual appearance looks AI-generated (some of the developers other apps are AI based). So disappointing considering that Forest is partially about planting *real life* trees, yet the technology used to produce these apps are actively killing them. So do you care about money or the environment?
Many people I know who used forest have stopped due to the new interface, it’s so off-putting.
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