ActiveBuilding 12+

Incredible. Update

Developer responded to review, appreciate the dedication to their user base. The previous lag issues seem to have been mitigated for now; some app buttons continue to be very slow to load. Example: After logging in, clicking the Messages button on the top right corner frequently takes at least 15 seconds to load; behavior persists across other app elements as well, such as the Make A Payment button on the left column (and generally most buttons within that column exhibit this same behavior as well).

Original review below:

iPhone 13 pro. The app was working fine before the unnecessary visual refresh. It was snappy, responsive, and logging in took less than a few seconds. With the most recent updates of the app it now takes at least 30 seconds to initialize, then scans Face ID, then at least another 30 seconds to log in. Continues to impress that you can intentionally make an update to something working well, then make a massive overhaul that breaks it. Your team definitely has their priorities straight. Fantastic.

Developer Response ,

Update: This type of review with specific examples is extremely helpful to us. Thank you! App responsiveness is very important to us because we know how frustrating it is to you to use. We will look into this further. Thank you!

Original Response: Thank you for your feedback. We experienced unexpected slowness in the application during this time. The issue is resolved and we are proactively working to prevent it in the future.

Hard to navigate, some minor bugs

This app mostly works, so I guess that’s a plus…but it’s pretty confusing to navigate. The design language and UI is really inconsistent/unclear, and it’s pretty obvious that most pages in the app are just web frames.

I’m guessing some of the confusing UX comes from allowing apartment managers to customize for their building, but if that’s the case, ActiveBuilding should put more guardrails on to make it more foolproof.

Also, there’s a bug when updating account info - it seems like phone numbers are auto-formatted from XXXXXXXXXX to (XXX) XXX-XXXX. However, if you try to update any other info on your account after the phone number has already been saved and auto-formatted, it shows an “invalid phone number” error. Reformatting the phone number back to XXXXXXXXXX allows the form to submit, so it seems like the phone number field validation doesn’t accept its own reformatting.

Potentially good app hampered by poor implementation

As the title says, this app proves important functionality and could have cool community features, but it’s held back by an awful user experience. I only open the app the pay rent, and it’s always something I approach with trepidation. For example: today is the first so I need to pay rent. Upon opening the app, I have to wait 30 seconds just to reach the main menu. Not a huge deal, but even apps loading much more data start up faster. When you tap any of the the menu options, you’re treated to several more seconds before you’re taken to a new page. Sometimes this won’t work at all. Today I’m unable to pay rent because every time I go to the payment portal, the app loads indefinitely. I’ll have to try again later.

Maybe this is the result of Active Building not having fierce competition, which also means my review doesn’t really matter. You pretty much have to use it if your landlord decides to. Still, it’s pretty annoying that something viral to my life works so poorly.