Harris Central Appraisal Dist User Reviews

What users say

Top reviews

Worthless

Can’t even get past scan driver license

Camera does not work and sucks

Seriously it’s 2026 - and in the age of AI HCAD can’t have a decent camera for their app?

It’s impossible to scan the back of your license and get your I file number, and there’s no tap to focus the camera. This is a basic iPhone function.

Do better

New Exemption is unusable

The tap-to-focus feature does not work when taking pictures of DL, making it impossible to take a clear picture

Exemption

I experienced issues scanning the back of my license. Someone advised to use the magnifying feature, and it worked after I tried it. It’s a small button located on the corner of the screen.

Back of driver license

The back of driver license won’t scan no matter how clear it is

Barcode scanner for back of license does not work

You can take a picture of the front of the license, but it needs to scan the back of the license and in the app if you try to get the barcode inside the red box, it gets blurry and cannot scan it

Homestead application

For those who are unable to scan the driver license barcode you need to click on the magnifier button at top left. I was finally able to submit for homestead afterwards, I plan on calling them to confirm.

Poorly written, poorly tested

Does not configure camera correctly so I cannot focus the pictures

This could have just been a function on the website

Why is this function not just part of the HCAD website? Are you that desperate to waste tax payer money to pay some software engineer to make a barebones app that could have been just a built in function on the website?

This is the biggest waste of iPhone storage space ever and just shows how incompetent and bad decision makers the people at HCAD are.
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Trash app

This app is absolute garbage. Don’t waste your time. My camera on my phone is working just fine, but the app can’t scan anything. Total waste of time.

I Love it

I love just staring at the white screen for hours

Exemption Disallowed

Camera feature worked fine, but I was unable to click on Ownership Percentage, meaning I had to leave the cell blank, which resulted in three “disallowed” applications in a row. The app has one function, does not actually serve the purpose it was built to provide, and there is no way to apply for a homestead exemption in Harris county without the app. 1 star as it is functionally useless and there is no alternative provided.
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Don’t waste your time

I had filled out a tax exemption form for general homestead with this app and it will never get looked at.

I called the Harris County Appraisal District a couple of weeks later asking if there was an update on my application. They asked me when I submitted it and I told them that I did it using this app. They recommended that I would NOT use this app and simply fill out the PDF form that is on their website. I did that and they approved it within a few days.

This app is broken.
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Drivers license capture doesn’t work

Absolute fail on taking the barcode on the driver’s license. I downloaded it literally for that reason so it is pretty pointless

Submission not working

When you click submission it crashes app

Won’t scan a license

Come on guys. Come on.

For Homestead Exemptions Only

It’s a one trick pony that does what it claims. I filed for homestead exemption and it said disallowed and offered the phone number of HCAD to call. It does not explain why it was disallowed. You have to call HCAD to get an explanation. The HCAD phone representative was helpful. It turns out the paper form was already accepted and I already had the exemptions on my property.
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Fast process

This app made filing the exemption a breeze. I didn’t know how much this helped until I was helping someone else in another county and their process was absurd.

Can’t view submission and no confirmation

When clicked on view submission, it crashes. No confirmation email received for submission either.

Won’t let me complete form

The ‘Ownership Percent’ field does not work. Textbox does not appear when tapping on it to enter that data. Had an application rejected because I was not able to fill this out.