GettingOut App Reviews

Zero Stars. Fix Your Bugs. Upgrade Features for AutoSave!. This APP is the Horrible. Other than the Benefits of Writing to Your Loves Ones who are Locked Up. Since technology has taken over everything I would EXPECT and DEMAND that an APP offer a lot especially since Inmates are Limited on the Time on one. This APP needs to fix the “Your Session has Expired and Logged Out”. After writing a Long Letter to my Boyfriend I Completely Lost Everything and Im usually good about Coping/Pasting my text because this isn't the first time but seeing as I had barely opened my APP and started writing and getting into the FLOW to have it all. & then don’t even get me started on the WHOLE aspect of someone LOSING all their Progress when someone tries to Video Chat an Inmate. It keeps them out and they LOSE everything. Like seriously. Is this a mentally that they are criminals and they don't deserve an APP that work cause that EXACTLY how I see. As a upstanding citizen you would think that the courtesy would be reciprocated to both sides! Now I must venture back to the APP and figure out if I can remember what I was witting in the beginning on my letter.

Process smooth. The process went pretty smoothly for me. Bugs must have been fixed since that May review. At least for messaging. There was one hiccup during set up when an error occurred and it said they would send me an email to confirm my email. It took awhile to get the email. It said there were duplicate accounts. I think because my brother without realizing it had created an account for me. Anyway got cleared up in about 30 minutes. I love that there is an app. I started out on the website. I love being able to message my brother as if I was texting him. For us and maybe others it was not instant of course messages have to be approved. At one point I stepped away for about 30 minutes and when I came back my messages were approved. My brother was able to let me know an issue he was having with iheart radio and I got to fix it that night! Normally he’d be trying to reach me by phone for days! At least for me I cannot send pictures electronically. I guess you could in the past or maybe other prisons can. I went to the app and the app said they would print my pictures and mail them and it was about $8 for two pictures. For messaging also there is a limit on length but it’s pretty long. But my first time I went one character over and it was deleted. But again overall I am very happy with this!!

The Worst App I've Ever Used. GettingOut is a wonderful way to stay in contact with your friends and loved ones while they are serving time. Both myself and those I care about on the other side are very grateful that this is an option. That being said, this app is horrible. It is very glitchy and difficult when trying to view the balance that you have - and you cannot see the balance of the inmates you are talking to from the app, however it is coincidentally very easy to add money to both. A message can not be more than 500 characters, however roughly 1/3rd of your messages will have the majority of the content deleted, leaving half of the first sentence and the last sentence to be sent. I would also love it if you could easily access photo albums and other services offered by GettingOut online. Their mobile website is plagued by very similar problems as their app, meaning that it is virtually unusable - but if you want to contact an inmate you don't have any other option. It is hard not to look at this company as anything other than predatory. They will take your money with ease, and then refuse to fix their service because they know that we have no other option! Overall I'm grateful for this service - but it appears that GettingOut takes advantage of the fact that people desperate for communication will continue to pour money into their bank accounts regardless of the quality of their service.

Crashes. This app itself is a blessing BUT it is so disappointing. It’s constantly crashing, majority of the time I can’t use it because I can’t even deposit money onto either of the accounts, I have to copy every message I send just in case it doesn’t save ( WHICH IT STILL TAKES YOUR MONEY) and it’s partner app ( go visit) is no better and you can’t even deposit money from there it’s more like a third party app that just opens up on a webpage anyways. As constantly problematic as this app is you’d think they’d atleast TRY to accommodate family and friends in some way but this is just poorly designed and a slap in the face. It’s like someone said here you go for complaining I appreciate the visits when needed to not travel to a facility but it’s so bad to the point it makes you want to drive to a facility atleast there, you’re not charged and it’s 30 minutes . I pray these reviews gets someone’s attention as much as the system ask of us, since family and friends seem to keep inmates sane (especially in this world) and we gladly spend our money the least they could do is make a decent app .

Bittersweet Feelings. I’m up and down over this app. It’s so amazing and helpful to be able to keep in contact with a loved one. And for some reason, my card doesn’t let me make a deposit over the app but I’ve called in to customer service multiple times and every time, the representative was able to make a deposit for me quick and easy! On the other hand, recently (or maybe just becoming more frequent), the messaging app is constantly giving error messages or no loading or just completely signing me out. I’ve quit and restarted the app, tried off wi-fi, tried on wi-fi, etc. it’s extremely annoying and sometimes by the time I finally can get back in and see the message, my loved one has signed off. However, that is the only issue I have experienced thus far with this company!

Absurdly Inadequate. Constant error messages, constant system outages, constant pending messages. GTL makes too much money to have a basic messaging application that does not work - doesn’t allow you to use emoji’s, let alone have consistent usage availability. Facebook messaging works. Instagram messaging works. WhatsApp works. How about use the money from the millions made to hire a team to make the app functional. This application is not reinventing the wheel - a Team needs to be put in place to sort out all of the ‘bugs’ and a customer service team that doesn’t simply say, ‘our computers are updating, Can you call back?’ That’s unacceptable. We understand you don’t actually care about the incarcerated people and their families, you care about money. MAKE the money by having a product we can use, instead of letting us continue to pay into something that does not work. Put out a product that allows us to USE it and for the incarcerated to use it and we will continue to pay for the in-app services.

Won’t work properly. I’ve been using “Getting Out” for a while now as I’ve had some loved ones incarcerated through out my life and depending on what state camp the individual is at is what app you use to contact them. “Getting Out” is one of the main apps that I have to use for my location and state I guess. Since I’ve had the app it has not worked properly. Either the inmate account won’t show on the screen or when trying to access the profile page it never wants to load. The only thing about this app that has worked like it’s suppose to is adding funds onto his/her account or I put the funds on my phone for them to call me. That part has worked really well but this app overall definitely needs to be updated! Especially the messages. I know the messages are approved through whatever prison they are at but the majority of my messages that I have sent out wouldn’t even go through. It would just say pending and waste my money per message! Please update this app as I have no other app to use when trying to contact the incarcerated individual!

Worst Service Ever. This has got to be the worst run business anywhere. You are put into a position where you have no choice but to use the outrageously expensive and horrible service so that you can communicate with your loved ones. So if you have no choice but to pay ridiculous amounts of money and suffer through the tremendous obstacles and barriers of service that only works 10% of the time the company could care less about improving their ratings because you have no other choice in order to communicate with your loved ones. Any other service business would no longer be in business. The profits keep adding up at the expense of those on the outside wanting contact with their loved ones during incarceration. If management GTL had any decency at all and fixed their issues call volume, email complaints and technical issues would all decrease making operating expenses less but again there is absolutely no incentive to do so because people like me that want communication with their loved ones continue to pay the cost which pads and increases the profit margins. Absolutely the poorest managed business in America and have no choice but to continue with them. I don’t expect any attention to this poor review because I’m still waiting 2 weeks later to response to email. SMH….

Unfortunately we have to use this app👎🏾. I have been using this app for quite sometime now. Unfortunately my husband and I have to use this system. My app hasn’t been working I can’t check my messages how I normally would I have to go to the website to actually see the message and respond. Upon opening in the app it states this app is experiencing technical difficulties! And I’ve been getting this message for over a month now. I tried deleting the app and restoring it but that didn’t work either. I called to speak with a service rep but didn’t get anywhere with that either. You can’t schedule a video visit either I can just receive them well use too. The system now wants you to verify yourself which I’ve been doing for the longest and now I can’t receive my video calls now either because I’m not verified. I have verified myself In the past and moving forward had no issues and now we’re back to verification 🙄 which is so annoying!

Suggestions that would make the app better.. I love this app. It does have its problems like it crashes a lot and it’s slow sometimes and it refreshes back to the beginning when I try to login and add money to an account. But with all that being said I am very grateful that an app like this exists. Yes like I said it has a lot of problems but this and the video app are a great way for me to keep up with my friend in jail in another state. I do have some suggestions though. I would love it if you guys would add a feature that would notify us when we have a new message from the person or people we message. Because it could be an urgent message that has a time limit and we miss it because we have to constantly keep checking back on the app to see if we have a new message. Also a feature if you could that shows when they have read our messages that way we know that they are getting them. Not everyone gets messages from the other side. We don’t always get messages from the person on the inside and it would just be nice to know they read the messages. Kind of like you have them pending and approved maybe you can make it to where the inmate can mark the message as read when they read it. The messages are cheap and affordable and other then those few things like I said I love the system. Thank you for creating this app.

I NEVER KNOW WHEN I HAVE A MESSAGE. Every App that I have EVER used has an option of allowing notifications. It only makes sense that an app designed exclusively for inmates to communicate with their loved ones, would have this issue fixed already. I am not one to have my phone Velcroed to my side, so it becomes extremely frustrating when 30 mins later I pick up my phone just to find 3-4 text messages that have a “GTL GETTING OUT” banner across my screen, BUT MY PHONE DID NOT MAKE A SOUND! This is SO IMPORTANT to every user! I’ve changed my handset device 4 times thinking it was the phone I had just to get the same result! Now I keep getting an “Error message” that’s telling me I’m using invalid characters “please remove them and resend your message”, and on top of that I LOSE THE ENTIRE TEXT MESSAGE which makes it IMPOSSIBLE TO RESEND! On the somewhat positive side, other things with the app have been improved, hence the two stars . PLEASE FIX THIS ASAP! Our loved ones depend on us to be there when they reach out to us. We are all they have and when they get the impression that we are ignoring them, it can do a number on their emotional and mental state. We as a community depend on YOU for these services. So on behalf of everyone utilizing your services, please look into all of this. Thank you

Needs serious help!!!. This app is HORRIBLE!!!! It’s an app that doesn’t have any issues taking people’s money and not giving them what they paid for. My son doesn’t get any of my messages whatsoever. My most recent messages are my messages from weeks ago. It’s all out of order. I don’t get any of my son’s messages to me. I would NEVER recommend this app to anyone. Customer Service, I don’t even want to get into that but I will say IGNORANT ALL OF THEM ARE SO IGNORANT. Something needs to be done about this app and everything about this company. They have no problem with excepting my money. I don’t even give them 1 star. Junk!!!! I keep getting a message saying that GTL has been hacked and every bit of my info is now stolen. They require info to make the account yet nothing is protected. And this is the only app they are using to talk to our loved one’s. Should’ve stayed with the other company. A lot better than this junk. There should be consequences this company has to face since it wasn’t me who chose to use this app.

Works Great When it Works - It’s HORRID When It Doesn’t. It is Mother’s Day and I somehow ran out of money to respond in full to my son. I tried to put money on my text account (it is 0.25 per text) but I kept getting error after error and was unable to finish texting my son. I then noticed there is another inmate’s name under MY contacts. It is a name I had never heard of and it absolutely should NOT be under MY contacts. The good news is that person is “Released”, but did they help me get my funds down so low? How did they get on my account? Then, desperate to finish texts with my son, I call the phone number from the app. WHAT A FREAKING NIGHTMARE!!! “Enter the amount” Me: 10 That will be $4 something on your card. If incorrect, press 1. I did this multiple times. Twice the phone cut me off mid transaction. I don’t know why 10 kept registering as 1 dollar so I entered 1000 and that was read as “one thousand” so I said no to that. I finally got it to do my last amount as a last resort, and just before I could enter my card, the call dropped. Half the calls had terrible reception with nearly impossible to hear or decipher speech. Some had crackling paper sound. The app AND the phone support really let me down when I needed it on this holiday. UPDATE: An hour later and still having issues. Phone tree asks if I want to use last amount deposited of $20, if so, press 1. I press 1. It then tells me I chose 1 dollar. I hate this app

Functionality THIS bad has to be intentional. I struggle to find words to describe just how bad this app really is. It HAS to be intentional. Nothing could be this terrible accidentally. Total absence of functionality for days on end. Messages that I’m charged for that contain the most boring of ordinary language and zero scandalous tone. They apparently randomly trigger some unknown set of rules and sit in purgatory for days, even weeks, never leaving the “pending” status. But I am out the money for sending them while they sit and grow moss. Naturally, we have zero access to anything resembling taboo words and phrases. And naturally when you click on “contact us” in the app, the only thing that pops up is a message stating that the page cannot load at this time. The hideous so-called function paired with ZERO accountability on the part of the app designers leads me to believe we’ll be seeing a class action lawsuit before long. You cannot take a person’s money, fail (epically) to provide the promised service, and not be held accountable for it.

Always Glitches. This app is always crashing and it doesn’t save messages so when you write out your message & it crashes, you loose everything and have to rewrite. I’m constantly having to copy before I send just to make sure I don’t loose my writing. I do have to say that I like the new interface, but I don’t like that you can’t see how many characters you have written anymore. Now I don’t know how many words I have left that I can type until it just stops writing... There are minor positive changes such that you can copy the messages now, and your messaging,deposite, and video buttons are right at hand. But... Getting Out needs to make video calls available for iPhone seeing as it’s one of the largest carriers out there. I have to use a computer anytime I want to video chat and that makes it difficult because I have to be near a computer with internet to do that. Baby steps, but you still have A LOT to work on GTL. Hoping you will listen to the feedback from your customers. 👍🏼

Works Perfectly as Designed. I have to give this app five stars and stand back and gaze in awe at its perfection. NOTHING could be this truly bad by accident. Thus, this app must be designed to be ineffective, slow, random, and frustrating. Sometimes when I need a bit of comic relief, I pretend I’m watching a meeting in which someone says, “Hey, you know what would be fun? Let’s take a group of people who are already struggling to turn their lives around and do better. A group of people lonely for their loved ones and in desperate need of connection with kindly hardworking good people who care about them. And let’s tell them we are going to provide the means for that connection and then do a really, really BAD job at it! Not so bad that it flat doesn’t work - jusssst bad enough so that they are like lab rats scrabbling for a crumb of cheese on the other side of a grate and they rip their paws off trying to get just that taste.” Yeah, that’s what this app is like. But as many people are saying, it’s the only app available. Isn’t THAT interesting?

Better than nothing, but needs improvement. I noticed others having the same issue with creating account, adding money, then being told there wasn’t enough money for a basic email. After wasting hours with their 1(800) number, I finally called their complaint number. (Found on their website). They couldn’t help with the issue, but we’re able to connect me to a live person that could. That person fixed the issue in a matter of seconds. For those familiar with JPay, this system does NOT have an option to send a reply stamp along with your email. Therefore, the recipient must have money on their books, in order to reply. This is the extent of my personal experience with this service. Perhaps I’ll learn more and update my review. As for now, they get a single ⭐️ for the app. However, I did bump that up to two ⭐️ ⭐️, for such a quick fix. I would’ve possibly gone as far as ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️, if it wasn’t so difficult to get ahold of someone to correct the issue. No reply stamp option prevents this service from ever getting ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!!!

Great concept, horrible development and follow through. This is a great concept to help inmates stay connected with family and friends. There are also other positive factors to the idea of giving inmates tablets such as they are able to take classes, listen to music, watch movies, and play games offline which I think helps at least with the mental health part of being locked behind a cage. They are also able to send messages and have video visits with whomever is registered and verified through the system and here lies the problem. While my family member can send me messages, I can’t seem to get passed the verification part to respond. My request has been pending with TCCC (Travis County Correctional Complex) for a week now and I’ve received no notification, email, or anything indicating why. It’s just sitting. When I log off the app and log back in, it sends me through the verification process again only for it to just sit their “pending review”. Not sure if this app has been fully thought-out and developed, but it would could be really a positive tool if operating as intended. Hopefully in the future someone will see the benefit of it and do better. In the meantime I am grateful that my relative is able to take classes, listen to music, and watch movies which helps keeps their mind off the obvious, if for a little bit.

Updated needed. This doesn’t give notification that a message has been received, the platform is simplified and easy to navigate; except when I want to view my profile info it glitches the app and keeps sending me an error message that my information cannot be accessed right now inhitnok it comes right back I try to click on another tab to get away from the error message it won’t let me click out of it or navigate from the page so I have to force close the app. Works fine until I want to view my profile info didn’t want to look any further in the issue but please fix the no notifications feature. Yes my phone is updated, I’ve cleared the cashe, uninstalled the app and reinstalled checked for updates and here I am writing a review. I guess this is really no way of trying another form of communication it’s not like our love ones get much of a choice in the matter.

Each “bug fix” makes the app worse. I hate that Ohio contracted with Via Path/GTL for this terrible app. However it’s what we are forced to use for fast communication. With every update and “bug fix” it makes the app worse than it was. These last updates not only makes it so we can only see the last 25 pics/videos that were exchanged but now when trying to scroll to previous messages it does this stutter skip and the loading bar at the top acts as if the page is being refreshed also if I’m in the middle of typing a message and I get a call or stop to switch apps for a second, when I come back there is a pop up alert with a message from 2020 about a data breach. The pop up can’t be dismissed because the keypad is in the way and can’t be moved so the whole message is then lost because the has to be closed and reopened. Why are we even getting a nuisance notification about something happening almost 5 years ago that when we hit dismiss the 1st time it should not pop back up randomly or at all? The time to show us the notification is when we open the app not when we are in the middle of a message that doesn’t auto save to not be lost or erased.

The worst. This app and the company behind it are the worst. As a application developer myself I can tell this was written very poorly. The navigation is poor, you often have to use browser back button to go to a page because the app or website doesn’t have have links to go back to certain places. The server that hosts the website and app crashes all the time throwing 500 errors. Basically, the app was designed poorly, the infrastructure for the website and app cannot handle the load and we have no choice because this is what the prison decided they would partner with. Their customer service is also terrible. They just try and get off the phone with you as soon as possible. I couldn’t change my primary number and had to call in. The website had already marked my number as the primary but I guess it was not really set as my primary. This prevented me from doing anything because the money I had added was tied to my number (marked primary) and not the other number. The company probably does not care to improve anything as we have no choice on providers.

They’re Too Rich for This Layer of Struggle. My biggest complaint is that there are no clear photo guidelines on the app itself but my photos including nature and baby pictures were constantly denied. I called waited over 1hr 30 min to be told the photo guidelines were where they weren’t. It only said contact support lol. I called, waited, explained and eventually requested a partial credit at the least-totaling no more than $6 and was denied. It feels almost petty to deny Me that. People on this app are spending their last to speak to loved ones and see them if possible on an app that barely works half the time on iPads that also don’t perform well. It doesn’t refresh messages, and it’s almost impossible to load funds You usually have to call in instead and hope it doesn’t hang up on U. But it’s all we have…And That’s why I say they make too much money on this app to be that fickle with a customer who has a fair point. The least this company could do is even pretend to care about their customers. That’s all I’m saying

Unacceptable - I’d say 0-Stars if I could This App is TRASH. This app is absolutely awful!! I cannot stress it enough how terrible this app works. You pay $4.50 for video visits and can’t see the person half of the visit because the app glitches so much, blurs the person out, ect.. The texting part wouldn’t be so bad if the texts would actually send, all text that have been sent in the last 24 hrs are still pending because the app is down yet again (app is continuously down due to one issue or another). Photos are rejected for no good reason at all then try to resend and the same photo will be approved (they charge you for all denied photos - even the photos that don’t “sync”). With the amount of money “Getting Out” is making from the app (my guy and I spend hundreds a week in this app alone) there is absolutely No reason the app should be this awful! If I didn’t love him, I would never support “Getting Out” by giving them my money. THIS APP IS TRASH!!!

Terrible customer service. Terrible customer service they take your money and when you call to find out what is going on they will tell you if you dispute it that you can’t use any credit cards period again to put money to talk to your loved one who is incarcerated or if you want a refund for $5 they will suspend your account so you can’t talk to your loved one for a month that’s crazy like are they making this up because even though it’s not that much money of course you’re not going to make it so you can’t communicate with your loved ones so basically they can steal take whatever and if you want your money back then you’re punished by not being able to put money on their account or talk to them over 5-10$ so they really get over on you because of course you want to be able to talk to your loved ones so i feel like a lot of people just let it go this is crazy a scam these people are breaking laws

GTL. Between constantly having to have my account reverified with GTL, the calls constantly dropping or glitching out, video calls it’s none existent at this point. Half of the time you can’t hear what’s being said, calls dropped, calls not loading or breaking up. It’s so frustrating and annoying to say the least. Sending pictures used to be simple now it’s a process in itself due to formatting of the pictures, file size, and how long it takes for them to be processed or reviewed. It’s bad enough having to wait and work around the system being down due to its own technology overload and issues mix that in with prison rules and times where loved ones can’t use the phone it’s a straight nightmare. One minute the app works the next it’s saying to log back in and verify account, reads contacts who were already a contact and added. It’s very frustrating to have to keep repeating the same steps that we’re taken to create the account on a daily basis.

Horrible App/Customer service. This app by far is the worst I’ve ever used. Customer service IF you’re able to ever reach anyone are rude, interrupt and pay no attention to what you hav to say. They do not note the account when I call. I know this to be true given the fact that I call multiple times and they have no information on the details of my prior calls to them. I have sent them my ID and photo verification multiple times to get my last name updated. They change it and then the next time I go online it’s back to the maiden name. The App itself for four days now just loads and loads. I cannot send a message or receive one on the app. When I tried to send messages through their website the funds we’re deducted from my account but did not show on the website. I spent a half of a day on the phone with several people who had no idea what was going on and merely stated possibly service is out in your area. They are contracted to do a service. Provide this service to inmates and their loved ones. It’s quite clear the company and it’s employees have never had to be in a situation like this. Any one of us on the other side of that gate would ensure to the best of their ability that loved ones could communicate utilizing the services that the company claims to offer.

Spy ware. This app tracks your every move. They can see all your purchases from the credit card that you are forced to use and agree there terms to talk to your friends or family. They also track your location, they track web sites you have visited fur a life time of consent. Then they give your information to the police and anyone else who wants it. You’re entire life is opened up for this one call you make or text you send. The required consent is out of control and should be against the law. It’s in American to say the least. You should read the privacy policies. They say you don’t have to agree to it but if you check the NO box, the app freezes on you and you can’t continue to visit. Another point is the money that they screw you out of. Try getting a refund even if you prove you account has been double charged. They will bounce you around talking to every person they can find, after hours of getting nowhere you give up the fight. Sickening. I found out if you delete the app after each use, it voids the permission they have to tract you. I keep the app deleted until I’m ready to call.

Developers Need to Start Listening. I downloaded this app a month ago, and at first it was okay there was definetly some serious lagging but at least my friend and I could communicate. I have spent A LOT of money on this app and the past week it has been crashing, not working and no way to reach customer service. If the app is down, this company should at least let people know so they don't worry about their loved ones. I just went through and read reviews on google, yelp and here and found out how many people this app has stolen money from or not helped the customers at all. I get that people in prison have a lot of rights taken away, but robbing people on the inside AND OUTSIDE is totally wrong. They probably get away with it because many people don't have the money or time to sue, but I feel like it is just a matter of time. Watch out Gettingout, if you don't fix your services I'll just make a better one and put you out of business!!!!!

It works for us... The only problems we had with it. Is when I was first getting my laptop which is new. I could see him he could see me but we could not hear each other. I finally got my laptop audio to work. But they charged us for the full call. When we Close the call within a minute and a half because we knew it wasn't gonna work they did not refund him so he's out at least $12 which is an a lot but it is while you're incarcerated however I do love being able to just text him when I want I haven't had a problem with him not getting my text and I always get mine. Some days it buffers allot. All in all I love the fact that I can see his face every day. I'm sure Telmate will work out the kinks. It's a new program. Not sure why people always have to leave horrible comments. Thank you telmate for making today technology work. Doing time is hard. And this does make it a little easier.

Zero Accountability. Terrible Support Team! Between them and the prisons you’ll never win. They point fingers at each other and no one has a resolution to solve ANY problem. Actually THEY don’t care about your problems especially after they’ve already collected your money! “No refunds” regardless if there’s a technical error. No refunds regardless of a photo was denied as inappropriate when they later revealed it WAS APPROPRIATE. You still don’t get your money back. I will be filing complaint reports with every business connected who allowed this contract with Getting Out and the Prisons to be executed. This is ridiculous and not owning up to any company technical malfunction or the swayed perception of a prison staff member to decide when and what photos they accept or deny especially when they are APPROPRIATE should be against the policies you have in place and consumers funds should be reimbursed when this is investigated and proven to be true! I Have Facts and Proof of the inconsistencies…

PLEASE FIX. This app is "ok" because it serves its purpose, but there are a few issues that really need to be fixed. One of the most important issues is..... I've been trying to make a deposit for 2 days now so I can message my son, and I keep getting the loading circle or it says an error has occurred. Next, there should be a "delete inmate" option for removing an inmate from your account. Not ONLY a blocking option. The option to put your message in a draft when there aren't enough funds to cover the message for insufficient funds. There should be a "message deposit" icon for depositing funds to the users account. The last couple ideas are merely suggestions to make life easier when dealing with the getting out app, but the first suggestion should be made priority! I am trying to send a very important message to my son and I can't because the app isn't working.... and won't allow me to add funds for writing out! PLLLEASE fix.... other than Whats stated, I've not had any issues and appreciate the app abs developers! Thank you

So frustrating. I set up the app on my iPhone for my grandchildren to be able to video chat with their father occasionally. The typed messages come in fine, and the photos I send him he also gets just fine as this works on my cell phone. The frustration comes from when I need to have my phone with me, if he calls to talk to them they need a speaker and my phone, they cannot just answer it in the laptop at a preset time. (Yes he will call on a landline first and ask for a video meet. But again, it comes thru on my cell and the screen is small.) He complains about the speaker. I’m guessing it’s an issue on his end because even the secondary speaker can have issues. I cannot seem to get an answer as to what setting on this app allows me to be able to answer on the laptop. I’m not thrilled about the situation, but this is the only way I have to fulfill my obligations to allow visitation.

Needs improvement. This app works when it want and half the time it doesn’t the bugs needs to be fix how do you expect us to keep in touch with our love ones if this app isn’t working properly adding money to funds but unable to use the funds because there are days it will work and there are days when it completely doesn’t want to work at all make it seems as if you don’t have contact listed in your profile always receiving an error message like this app could be a Great app if the problems with the system shutting down or catching bugs and making it unable to reach out to your loved ones that depends on this app to stay in contact with their Family very disturbing to not be able to pick up and text you loved ones in the system so I rate this app a One Star until it’s completely fixed without the bugs and the error readings that’s keeping me from sending messages to my Child who is incarceration at the moment. Again it would be a great app without the bugs and errors and kick outs like the contacts don’t exist.

Grateful for this app!. I have read many reviews & am glad I read them after using this app! Because I can honestly say that I haven’t had but maybe two small glitches in using it for about three weeks now! It’s amazing to me I can send & receive messages and get video calls from my loved one! It just takes a little bit of time to set up roughly 20 min maybe more, but take your time in doing so cause it may run slower than what we’re used to. Then that’s when start accidentally hitting buttons n then …you know. There’s an option to deposit $10! That’s 40 messages! Each one at only $.25 cents! Again impressed & extremely grateful! Maybe I don’t expect much & that’s why I can’t complain like a lot of other people using it, but I am human & have to say from my experience I think it’s great!! And I don’t have a single complaint! Pictures of the kids keep him sane & daily check-ins keep us connected! Don’t lose focus on the importance of keeping families connected, I truly believe this app is going to help keep inmates more focused & connected and help keep sane to say the least! So stay strong for them, mentally & spiritually! Again I’m so appreciative for this app even being a possibility & am grateful to use it! Thanks for your time!

No help. I never write reviews but these people are not helpful. I called multiple times for assistance. The app would not load in a way it seemed it was frozen. I can see the messages being sent to me from my boyfriend but I can’t send anything back, sign out and log back in or access anything in the app. I called for assistance and she was very clear the app was not malfunctioning and it was my fault. So I did verification like she said even though it’s been working fine for a month… and according to her it should have worked. Not the case so I call back, once again I’m told it’s not the app but this time I am told it must be my wifi. I am having no issues with any other app or function in my phone. I understand there can me lags in apps but it has been all day and they haven’t been very helpful with getting my account fixed for example logging me out since I can’t access that function. I don’t want to risk deleting all the data and my money in the account by deleting the app and re downloading it. So hopefully they fix it or it sorts itself out.

Unsatisfied Poor App. This is ridiculous for family & friends of an inmate, we already dealing with a lot with our loved one being incarcerated. We spend a fortune to make sure they have what they need while in there & where we can communicate with them! This is important not only to the inmates but to family/friends as well. It’s sad we spend money to send and receive messages but have of the messages fail to be posted and are never received. With that being said I understand the policy, but if the message clear just states “Call me it’s important!” that’s not against policy, and when u send a screenshot of a text wishing a birthday wish and want the father/mother to see so they feel like they were apart of it, cause they already down by not being present for special occasions. Not only the messages, photos, or videos chat are horrible! Every time I try to go send a message for the last couple of days all it does is pop up an update is required, it will not allow an update nor is there away u can do a manual update! This is just frustrating, heartbreaking, and ridiculous! Get it together so we have guaranteed communication with our loved one, and not just wasting money that some individuals can’t afford already!

Horrendous App. Would give 0 stars if I could.. This is an evil and embarrassing excuse for a messaging app. It’s obviously a shameless cash grab that makes it harder for impoverished people to talk to their loved ones but to add insult to injury, it’s just horribly designed for no reason. It constantly freezes, scrolling through old messages is a complete pain, it gets constant errors, images take anywhere from 24 hours to a whole week just to send, the UI is terrible and it constantly crashes or gives error messages when you’re trying to send a text. The fact that GTL employees or those who used the app had all of their personal data and financial information stolen in 2020 just seems like par for the course. A company that nickels and dimes you to such an insane degree should have more than enough cash on hand to hire competent app developers but it seems in character that they would cut corners like this since profiting off the misfortunes of others is GTL’s only priority. Terrible app. Evil company.

Terribly Disheartening. From the initial download, this app has done nothing but cause frustration. It continuously is “unable to load your profile at this time”. I deposited money, which was taken from my account immediately, but not available immediately. Then, now it finally shows I have a balance, yet I don’t have sufficient funds to send a message? Surely one message isn’t more than $10. Also, no where can I find how much it costs to send messages, pictures, etc. While I’m sure the rating is not of much concern to the creator (as our loved ones don’t have the ability to choose which app their facility contracts with), it’s very sad to see the lack of updates to this app. Reviews from well over a year ago voice similar concerns and clearly nothing has been done to make any improvements. I would love to think that if anyone responsible for maintaining the upgrades, bug fixes, and general user complaints had any empathy for our loved ones and their families, they’d make the necessary changes. However, that just doesn’t seem to be the case. For some of us, this is the only way to correspond with our incarcerated family members and by failing to listen and take appropriate actions to the many issues with this app, we are also being punished. I hope this doesn’t fall on deaf ears (blind eyes?), but I hope someone can finally make some updates to this terrible app. If I had a choice, I would NEVER choose this means of communication.

Inconvenient and inconsistent. I said inconsistent, but in actuality, the app consistently does not work correctly. It fails to load contacts, it fails to load messages, and call quality is horrendous. There is no way to search within the app (for a previous text or bit of information), you have to scroll backwards, and you have to do it extremely slowly or the app glitches and just starts repeating the same texts over and over. It wouldn't be difficult to put a search function in the app like iMessaging. Also, the little green light that indicates when an inmate is online is nothing but trouble. I know people that have ended relationships because of that stupid green light. It's not necessary. My biggest complaint is that there's no accountability with this company whatsoever. Many people with loved ones on the inside would like to have an itemized statement that shows exactly where our funds go. I would like to see a statement that reflects every phone call and every text on MY OWN Friends and Family account. I realize that they can't show us the inmate account details, but there is no reason that I shouldn't be able to see where my own money is going, yet GTL refuses. This is absolutely one of the worst communication apps I've ever used.

Terrible service. Only giving this place a 1 rating because I can’t give them a 0! Setting up an account online was a hassle and was not able to log into them from the website or the app, I could only log in from an email from them. Funds were deposited and I had a few messages that were sent back and forth without all of the content and pictures were also not sent. I also tried to get a refund of my finds when the inmate was released as they will only refund you on a calling card if your balance is under $50 AND you can’t get YOUR money refunded from an inmates account unless you have their booking number or pin which makes no sense as they can find the inmates not problem on the site or even when I was on multiple calls that exceeded the time they told you you would be on hold and also being hung up on after being on hold 15 min another time. This is a complete waste of time and money and it’s sad when all people want to do it talk to their loved ones.

Very frustrating. The good: you’re able to communicate via text with your loved ones. It’s nice to be able to do that!! If you can get it to work for you. So much more convenient than sending snail mail, in theory it’s a great service. The bad: don’t try to send pictures because it will take your money but the majority of photos get denied. Innocent neck up selfie? Denied. Child’s cute smiling face? Denied. Picture of a rock? MAYBE approved if you’re lucky. It’s extremely costly. Sure, 25 cents a message doesn’t sound like it will break the bank but when you’re depositing on your end and their end it adds up fast! Not to mention the fees they take just for making a deposit, you can eat through 50 bucks a week easily. I feel terrible for inmates and family’s that have minimal funds, this is a very unsustainable way to communicate. The app lets you type 1500 characters but realistically you can only type about 700 because the “send” button moves up with the message and if it goes out of view, you are not able to scroll up to click it. This is an easy problem to fix on their end and I believe they deliberately don’t fix the issue because it makes them more money if people have to break their message into two parts. Bottom line: download and use as a last resort, don’t rely on this app for communication. I know it sounds great but it’s costly and buggy.

Pretty Decentish :). Been using this app for a few weeks now. And I’m so glad something like this exists. I get to see my loved one whenever I want, so long as the app doesn’t crash. Which it does :/ a lot. Wouldn’t be such a big deal but it’s uber expensive and sometimes charges you for the crash. I mean for one month (with no crashes hypothetically) you need at least 200 on the inmates end and 300 on your end. That’s not even being lavish with the visits or texts. I actually just started my third job in hopes of keeping it up. I know everyone needs to make money, it just seems awfully excessive. Ya know? The 25 cents per text and minute of vidchat. And then the service charges. Kind of like being punished hardcore for wanting to talk to your loved one 😅 I mean I’m gonna do it and hope for the best. I just hope y’all might come around and make it a little more affordable. Got me quitting soda and stuff to save money. Thank you if you took the time to read haha I dunno 🤷‍♀️

Worst app. My experience is awful! I set up my account at a kiosk. Came home to login on my laptop and for six hours it would not let me login. It kept telling me my email or password was invalid. I would click forgot password. Sometimes I received a link and sometimes I didn’t. When I did receive one I would create a new password. It said success. I go to login and the process would start all over. I was provided with a customer service phone number with an option to press. I tried over twenty times. Each time it placed me on hold with music and then just like that I am disconnected. It finally let me login after about six hours. I had to call GTL Connect Network, ask them to connect me to customer service, the exact phone number I had been dialing, and I got put on hold for almost an hour when finally I got to talk to someone in person. And then they acted like they could care less about my complaint. Now my soon to be daughter-in-law is having the exact same issue. This is not okay! If you are going to be a provider for government institutions, you have a responsibility to make sure that all the technical functions work smoothly. Loved ones have enough emotional challenges, they do not need something like this to add to them. A service provider like this needs to have as a mission to make sure they do everything they can to care and provide the best service possible. This company is far from this!!

Needs to be repaired, BADLY!. I would give 0 stars, but if I didn’t have this, I would have nothing. The only portion of this I have any success with is the messaging. Calls are a nightmare. If they are in a facility with Covid lockdown, there is no video and they need earbuds to hear at all. I guess there is no funding so they share the headphones. He never seems to get them, even if I ask ahead of the call. Making the calls are super sketchy and take forever to load, if they load at all. I constantly have to refresh to get the call to re-up. I have been charged for multiple calls where he and I tried to connect and he could not hear me. If the time is ticking you get charged no matter the ability or lack of talking to them. Putting funds on the system is a whole other thing. The app crashes constantly and putting money on accounts takes just as much work as everything else. My first day with this, I spent a total of twelve hours between struggling with the app, calling the getting out help center twice, calling the jail multiple times, and trying to get connected on a call. I thought I would have a stroke by the time the day was over. I know it is not just me, because my daughter has yet to get her account activated with money accepted, and she is pretty tech savvy. It has left me even more depressed than I was to begin with, to think this is all I have. Get it together! This should be a class action law suit for the amount of money you get and don’t refund for NOTHING!

Disappointing, frustrating, problematic.. Look I don’t give reviews, I never have, but this app has compelled me to write one! This app allows us to see loved ones faces over the phone while incarcerated, something that used to not be available! You’d think an app as revolutionary as this and as widely used as the Getting Out app would be efficient! Unfortunately there is always an issue with this app - from crashes, to failed video calls, to the app hanging up on your call, not being able to deposit money, or every once in a while when the app randomly loses all of your conversations and contacts! It is so frustrating. Today for instance I tried to video call a friend, the video started and his face came on screen, we talked for 2 minutes, then the call hung up and a message popped up reading “Sorry, there was an issue with your visit. Video failed to start”. The app did this for three more video calls, each time. As much money as I put into this app so I’m able talk to the person I love, it’s really unfortunate how inefficient and problematic this app is. It’s almost like, yeah we’ll accept your money and in exchange you may or may not be able to use our app. 👎🏽

NEGATIVE ZERO STARS SHOULD BE AN OPTION!!. I ABSOLUTELY HATE THIS APP! Constant problems since March and it just gets worse and worse. I don't get notifcations for video visits even after I change the settings on my phone to allow notifications. For the last week, the app constantly freezes up and takes forever to send messages. Today has been the worst, I sent one message to my boyfriend this morning around 9 am and since then, the app has crashed. I just get error messages saying the app isn't working (duh), it just spins nonstop and I have no way now of video visiting my boyfriend or send him message. What the h*** are we paying for??!! Telmate needs to do better because this app is ABSOLUTE GARBAGE!!!! UPDATE AUGUST 11, 2024 The app just keeps getting worse! If it's not freezing up, it's not sending messages through because of constant emoji error messages when I haven't used any emojis in any of my messages. For as much money as we spend, I would expect to at least have a working app and customer service doesn't do anything to help!

This app is DISGRACEFUL!. In case being separated from your loved one wasn’t hard enough, this app gives you a glimmer of hope and relief and then completely takes it away! It’s horrible ! It doesn’t load, says my account isn’t available at this time (ALL the time!), verified my phone number multiple times only to be told I’m STILL not verified, constantly crashes, I added $25 to my account and sent ONE message am told I have insufficient funds to send another???? Surely one message isn’t $25!?!? But no where are the prices of ANY of their alleged “services” listed on their app or website. These people should be ashamed !!!!! They’re preying on people who are just trying to stay connected! Why is this the only app available and yet it is so terrible!? All the reviews complain about the same thing now just now, but back to 5 years ago!! Clearly these people only care about getting paid- THROW THEM IN JAIL! This is unethical and down right deplorable! Someone needs to be held accountable!!!!!

It’s just ok… but could be great.. This app is pretty easy to use most of the time… but it could use some “modern conveniences” so to speak. It would be nice if it was compatible with auto fill passwords, instead of having to manually enter your user name and password EVERY TIME. And, almost EVERY TIME I have written a message longer than two or three sentences, when I hit the send button I get a pop up telling me I don’t have sufficient funds to send the message (like $35+ is not enough to send a .05 message). Then there’s the issue of timeliness - why does it often take up to two days for a simple message to be approved? You can’t even send a simple “Happy Birthday” and have it received on time. And we won’t even talk about how long it takes for a photo! And, for video visits you have to have a whole other app, but you have to sign into BOTH for it to work! GTL/ViaPath needs to hire some REAL app developers to create a single app that actually works, rather than whatever fools they’re currently paying that develop this garbage!

Doesn’t work!! THE WORST!! Just TERRIBLE!!. This is absolutely the worst app and the customer service center is absolutely terrible. The app ALWAYS HAS ISSUES!!! It tells me I don’t have contacts. Then it tells me UNABLE TO SEND MESSAGE even tho I have money on my app. The employees can’t even assist in telling me why the system isn’t responding to my phone number. The system won’t even let me verify my information. When you talk to the customer service rep, they ask for your name, phone number, email address, social security number, DOB, love one name, facility location and the proceed to say I have to validate my account. Then he says he’s sending an email for me to validate my account and it never comes! Then I call back 3 more times to let the automated system verify my number. The automated system never even called me back for me to verify. So I called customer center back for a refund and it takes up to 10 weeks for them to put my money back on my card. Such a headache for real. Deserves 0 stars

Horrible app. I have used this several times over the last couple years when loved ones go to jail. I have NEVER had the problems like I do now. The app always freezes tells me I have no contacts can’t load messages etc.. most of the time it tells me I have no money on it when I clearly do as I have the receipts. This is a very important issue you guys need to fix. I have been charged for messages that apparently never got sent. I spend ALOT of money with this app on my side and my loved one that is locked up! There should be no reason why I have to wait hours to respond to a message and then half the time they don’t even get sent. Video calls well that’s a whole mother issue as well. Have to wait sometimes 20 minutes for it to load and most of the time I get kicked off of it and not to mention the verification I have to do EVERY single time I attempt a video call even though I am verified! I feel as if you guys are just ripping off the incarnated people and family! This is something we look forward to and can’t even enjoy it even though I put a lot of money into it almost daily! I am very disappointed and will likely hire someone to get help as you guys won’t talk to me when you have one time the woman was very rude and very unprofessional. It’s really a shame that after all the money you guys are making you can’t design and or update a decent app! This is by far the worst app I have ever had to use! I will be in touch!!

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So many bugs. This app is so over due for a update please there has been so many issues the last 6 months with calls not connecting and error messages when trying to send messages and now days on end when it comes up messages and contacts can’t sync. Please fix this issue it’s not fair not working most days of the week. Used to an amazing app now it’s gone down hill so much. I’m praying these issues get fixed soon it really needs a update to fix these so many issues.

Notifications. It would be a lot better if we were notified when we receive a message on iPhones.

Partially works. I've had this app for a couple of years and for the last 7 months (approximately) it will not display messages. Keeps logging me out. Conveniently, adding funds to my account is no problem at all. I loved it when I could read messages from here whilst on the go, and that's it's very purpose, but lately it's just terrible. Surely a bug fix update is well overdue

Scammers. Happy to take $60+ from me without loading a cent of it onto my account. Then when I try contacting them, they send the same automated replies. Reporting to my bank as fraud. Such a joke, give me my money back

Pathetic System!!. Anyone that reads this you’re better off sending snail mail in the post!! Will probably arrive quicker than a message being sent on this app!! Keeps crashing daily!! Money is being taken on messages that never arrive!! This is ridiculous CDCR should’ve gone with another system for messaging one that actually works!! Wouldn’t even give it a 1 star!! Maybe you need to recruit someone that knows how to fix the problem!!

Worst app!. If I could give this app 0 stars I would. It lags out, censors words that have no business in being censored and constantly crashes. Sometimes the messages disappear entirely and error messages constantly display. They need to fix these bugs or hire someone who actually knows what they are doing. I hope I never have to use this app again.

New app is poo.. As out dated as the old app was this new app is POO! It keeps crashing, logging me out, not letting me open all messages and taking literally over a minute to open a message! I have gone back to using my browser on my iPhone for this reason. Messaged the company with the issues and have had no response. THIS APP NEEDS FIXING.

Pathic and useless. Stay away from this app this company I have had nothing but problems I email and email they keep saying the same thing they will NOT HELP YOU AT ALL the people on the phone just as bad THEY DONT LISTEN AND WONT LISTEN IM ALWAYS TRYING TO GET HELP AS IT KEEPS SAYING MY EMAIL AND PASSWORD IS INVALID YET it’s the same one I signed up with I get no help at all it’s pointless to have a customer service yet they don’t know there job or how to help me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Slow. App is painfully slow oh my god. Constant connection errors

Can’t load funds. After being approved I can’t load funds onto the accounts. Been told bro wait 1 hour 2 hours 24 hours and still unable to load. There should be an easier way for international family and friends to load money, not oh well try again in another 24 hours. Asked to speak to tech department sorry can’t help you. So much for bringing families together

Adequate, but …. Remembering first that this is not a commercial app with competitors, it is generally adequate for keeping in touch with family and friends who are compulsory guests of the government Yes, it can be a bit unstable more often than is ideal, but better than snail mail especially for those who need to stay in touch from overseas

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Why doesn’t anyone care about the prisoners?. Why won’t anyone fix this app? It only has very basic functions that constantly crash. I’m always having to reinstall, change my password or waste money on pictures that never get sent. They need the communication as they are isolated away from the world and their loved ones. Can someone please fix the bugs on this app so we can have a chance at being able to continue relationships and life with them (PEOPLE “prisoners”)

Worst. You can’t send money on the app you have to call then they charge you a lot extra fee. They are a scam asked for the manager the man in Mexico left me on hold. Get people that know English

Horrible app. App doesn’t load since the update

Garbage. Plz fix this app, always crashing .. this the only platform i have to communicate with my love one and it is not suitable for me ….

Need fix. This is ridiculous. Hire somebody to fix it.

Annoying. The app is so annoying. It’s always crashing. It completely disappeared off of the App Store for 24 hours once. It kept telling me to update it even though I already had. This is the only way we can communicate with our loved ones most times so please try and fix these issues.

Eh?. No option for Canada.

Stupid. Stupid app doesn’t work messages don’t load. Ridiculous fix your stupid app so we can communicate with our loved ones

Not made for Canada side. Doesn’t work for the .ca account. The other getting out app offers to Alberta only. Don’t waste time downloading

Useless and staff are incompetent and rude. this app is garbage, I can’t get any assistance from Remand staff or Synergy. I sent pictures, but are still sitting in Pending status a month later, and one just says ‘denied:other’. I’ve reviewed the rules around pictures and there is absolutely NO reason it should have been denied. Staff at Remand and Synergy insist the other party is responsible for approving pictures, was even lied to by remand staff advising an algorithm approving pic’s. I have called security at remand so many times, they just don’t answer anymore when they see my number and do not return msg’s. One employee stated ‘txt and pic’s’ are not a human right and stated he hates the program and has no interest in using it. he refused to give me his name when I asked for it. Typical remand POS staff.

Can’t send messages. This app is so frustrating. Not user friendly at all. After much hassle over multiple days I’ve managed to load money onto my account and the inmates. However, every time I go to send a message the app keeps glitching out and won’t let me type or view messages. I’m beyond frustrated. And when I try and call customer service it’s an automated service that goes in loops and eventually hangs up on me. 🤯😡🤯

Update done. I update the new version and now it won’t let me go on the app keeps saying update available and I did it 😡

This app is useless. Seriously, the amount of bugs in this app is crazy! Also just the thought of have to pay money just to speak to a loved one who is already behind incarcerated is disgusting! Imagine benefiting off of peoples hurt!

Sucks!!!. Ever since they updated a month ago the app stopped working, and with the new update , it just crashes , fix this! It’s not fair to the inmates to not be able to contact their loved ones ....

Unreliable and too many glitches. I’ve been using this app for a little over a year and have been experiencing the same frustrations as many of the other users who have written poor reviews for this app. Seems like just another money grab in a for profit prison system giving people the illusion of easily connecting inmates to loved ones. There are constantly glitches and error messages making it impossible to get messages through. Sometimes short messages I’ve sent have been approved for weeks after sending the initial message. It would be nice if they could be fixed and if there could be transparency with read receipts so you know if the person you’re trying to connect with even got the message.

Worst App. Literally the worst app ever. Please fix it as it’s the only way of communication to loved ones in jail.

Thanks for Sharing your thoughts on this app.. I downloaded the app as I thought it would be easier to connect, send money and set up visits etc. But I’ll find all of that information out as I learn more about the app. As I have just downloaded it and I am only reading the comments Yes absolutely I agree with you we should be able to see photographs of each other. Find me this is my sibling, my little brother! And if it is possible to send messages back-and-forth....(which I don’t believe that possible). But if it is possible that I can actually send my brother a message! Wow🙌 so with that being said , When I send my brother a letter I would absolutely likef it time stamped with the date and time that it was sent. I hope you guys are working on the glitch now? Could you please post when It’s fix it?

Worst app I’ve ever used $$$$ too. For weeks this app has been working intermittently. Customer service people don’t follow up on issues… many are working from foreign countries and don’t know how to troubleshoot. Video quality is poor and extremely costly.

Getting out app. TRASH!!!!!

New update not cool. I can’t see my messages. The app doesn’t seem to want to load ever. And it’s slow. Not a fan of the update.

App won’t update. Why won’t the app update

Not Working. Can’t access or use any part of the app since the most recent update.

Terrible. NOW I see why the ratings are so low!!! I’ve been trying to deposit money into my account without success for two weeks now.

I would like my credit back. Before the last update I never had a problem with the app. ever since the new update credits have been taken dramatically in size, normal approval pictures, don’t get approved, but I get paid tax for them like somethings gotta change her because you guys are taking and not sending my pictures and taking my money for calls like that I don’t even make. reimburse my credit. And I will change my review to five stars. Because I really do enjoy the app

The app with the most issues. Ever since this app came out there’s been nothing but problems, at one point I was forced go use the desktop version which now doesn’t even load the whole msg. I updated the app when it prompted me to do so, & I haven’t been able to use it since. This is crazy! How can an app have so many problems & how do the updates mess the app up! A lot of use NEED this app to communicate with our loved ones, & it never works EVER. & when you call synergy they just say IT is working on it, really? For weeks?

What is this?. I updated the app and it still won’t let me open it and keeps telling me to update -_-

Getting Out. The damn app rarely works.

I’m very disappointed. Although I am happy that the prison system has improved the way we can communicate with our loved ones, i’m very disappointed in they way this app has been designed and built. It crashes, it freezes, it doesn’t hint you if you’re missing information and that’s the reason why you can’t use it. There needs to be an experienced front and back end developer running the show here along with extensive testing. It seems like most features were designed as after thoughts. Please create a committee to help through these challenges. Real people, lives depend on this. It shouldn’t be designed like any other app, it’s meant for people to be able to speak and see their love ones. Customer service isn’t that helpful when it comes to trying to work through these challenges either. It’s always hit and miss with this app.

Canada eh. Can’t find Canada as an option.

Not working. Every time I try to msg him it takes long to load and doesn’t let me msg him

Abuse of Control. I get this is an app for incarcerated people. However, we are all human and communication with family or support systems is important to help people. Therefore, I can see those who made or control this app are part of the problem & are part of making humans feel inhuman the way they are treated. Yes those who ensure this app is insufficient & a crappy app contributes to the dehumanization. I have never seen such a poorly developed considering all the money families, friends, support systems, and inmates pay for this app. I can guarantee someone is getting rich off those incarcerated & their families…this is total corporate abuse & profiting off people’s trauma. Someone defiantly, who has the know how, should report this Telamate Corporation or what ever it is & review their policies & abuse of power & control.

How do I keep the non updated version. I have 3 friends that done the update, all of them say they can’t use the app anymore. This is a zero star review! I’ve been lucky so far to not been prompted to get it, till today. So I write this review on behalf of my friends that can no longer communicate via this app. And have money sitting in their accounts that they can’t access. We don’t know what you done with this update but it doesn’t work. So you really need to fix it again and return the peoples money and for god sake, make the calls cheaper, don’t you realize the people using them don’t have jobs and have money coming in! Their families may not be able to afford it! Do something good. This is a 0 star review for the new update they make you put one star or you can’t send

Thankful for the app regardless. The app, although comes with a lot of glitches and isn’t super reliable as a well working app, is still better than receiving a few phone calls a month. This app has allowed my husband and I to talk daily and I am so grateful for the opportunity to hear his voice every day. The hardship of having a loved one in prison is indescribable, however the reality for my husband is much more grim. This app has brought back some of his feelings of being human, allowing him to participate virtually in my day to day world. He has gone 7 years with little to no outside contact at different times during his sentence, this has been a life changing experience for us. I am truly grateful for the decision that led to this opportunity.

Garbage App. Garbage APP! Don’t use it

Update is not working. Cannot use app. Keeps telling me update but it’s already been updated.

Glitching!. Can’t even accept the terms and agreements, it disappears and then tells me that I have insufficient funds. I have deposited twice now and still not able to chat with my loved one!

Buggy. EDIT: This is consistently the buggiest app on my phone. Works 5%of time. As soon as I log in it instantly freezes and stays on a rotating circle loading symbol. Can’t do anything. App is completely useless.

disappointing. it was workin well until the new update crashed & now I can’t view any of the messages except mine. Nor can I see the status.

Bugs bugs and bugs. This app have SO MANY BUGS that’s not even normal especially with all the money we pay for messages and everything I have messages pending for weeks or pictures… you should fix those issues or stop charging us for it

doesnt even let me login. it stopped loading my contacts & just stopped working & now its saying i dont have an account? i tried to reset my password thinking it was that but nope. i didnt even get the email. fix ur app its whack.

I hate this app. As editor of a prison newsletter, I contact inmates on all sorts of platforms. They are all different, and they all have their upsides and downsides. This is the worst, most frustrating experience I’ve ever had. I’ve put money in a GTL account (and received email and in-app receipts) but when I go to send an e-message I get a pop up that says I don’t have any money in my account. The phone help line is useless. Don’t expect any help if you have trouble negotiating this site - and there’s nothing your incarcerated person can do but sit and wait for you to figure it out. Horrible.

New update sucks. This app is constantly glitching and not loading, sometimes from a few minutes to a few days. Today it just had my download an update and now nothings working I can’t see any of my messages and everything’s blank. I’ve deleted and redownloaded the app multiple times. Wish I never updated it !!! What kind of update makes an app stop working. Stupid. Plus it’s so costly to be sending messages on it to begin with.

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No Audio Alerts. I miss out on incoming texts and calls because there is no ringtone or alert sound for incoming communications. That means in order for me to catch every incoming communication in real time, I’d have to be staring at my phone to see the banner pop up. Very disappointing since the whole purpose of the app is to help us communicate with incarcerated loved ones. I wish it would make sounds. I have sound enabled in my notification settings so I don’t understand why so silent?

Too many issues. This App needs some serious attention! If you don’t finish up your message fast enough, you will have to start over. A random message that already appears when you log into the App will appear on the message your writing & you can’t dismiss it and you’ll have to get out of the App & when you return, your entire message disappears. It is beyond frustrating! I hear the inmates are currently loosing a lot of Apps they have on their tablets & makes me wonder if GTL texting will be one of them?

Awful.. Scroll down and look at the copyright date for the app. As of 2025, it says 2017. That should give you an idea of how poorly this app is maintained. Every design frustration or dark pattern you can think of is featured here. It will ask for money without saying what it’s for. It will link to web views that are broken. It will give you cryptic error messages at every turn. If you are a UX or design teacher, this app should provide enough examples to last at least one or two semesters.

Way too many glitches, very costly. This app crashes more times than not. It randomly deletes contacts and messages, has repeated errors when adding money and doesn’t alert in real time when there’s a notification. This system is far too expensive for the headache caused. 25 cents per text message adds up very quickly. Video calls are about $4 for 15 minutes of poor video quality and audio. Pictures constantly being denied. Don’t recommend.

Trash. I was verified on this account then I was unverified the next day. Why? Nobody knows. Customer service is not help as to why it became unverified. Very frustrating. Furthermore, you can't evenpress the "back (<) button because it over laps other words at the top of the screen. I really am not having a good experience with this app. AND the video quality, let's talk about it. It like you are looking through a plastic bag to seen your family member. Horrible!!!! Just horrible. I wish there were other options to communicate with your family member.

Poorly Written App. There are numerous problems with the app. As another review points out, if you're typing a message and get interrupted, when you return there is a pop up that you cannot clear. You must close the app and lose the message you've typed. On iOS, when in portrait mode there are back and photo options at the top left and right, but neither can be chosen. You have to go into landscape mode before they become active.

Good but not great. The app is good for what it is meant for. You are able to communicate with loved ones who are incarcerated. What I do not like is the money grab. You are charged a fee on top of the money that’s added to be able to keep in touch with your loved one. Sometimes the app does not accept payment. But hey some might say that the person shouldn’t be incarcerated anyway.

BEWARE USE IT AND LOSE IT. I have been trying to contact these people via email and their customer support phone number to request my refund but to no avail. They have yet to respond to my emails and their customer service number is fraudulent. They don't answer it so any money left on your account will not be refunded. Reporting these guys to the appropriate agencies. It's unfortunate because they are the only ones available to speak to your people inside and they take advantage of you.

Notifications. I have checked every single setting,button, option on my device and the app. I’ve deleted, redownloaded, updated to latest version. This app doesn’t send notifications. Not just occasionally when the company is having network issues. No, it NEVER sends notifications. It’s only Getting Out messages and GO video app. No other app, it’s not the notification or volume or mode settings and it’s not the device.

I hope update helps!. The app worked great until it came time to deposit money and then it would have the spaces to fill in but I never had an okay or send button! I tried over and over turned my phone differently, tried on pc and I don’t know why but I ended having to call customer service and add it over the phone. We will see…

Horrible. This app is a good idea and would be awesome if it worked right. I have $33 on my account and I go to message my juvenile son it says I don’t have funds. I called customer service and they told me it was fixed so I messaged my child again and it most definitely was not fixed. Everyone else is able to text him except me, his guardian! Needless to say I am on the phone with them and currently on hold! I’m the wrong mom to keep from communicating with her 15 year old son!

Horrible. They charge your account even if the message or photo did not send. Then their customer service representative did not help and wouldn’t send me to a supervisor probably because they don’t have one. Absolutely ridiculous service, no wonder the prison/jail systems use it because it is trash and want to make it hard for families to connect with their loved ones. I do not recommend this service, but I am forced to use it because this is the only one they provide. So frustrating.

Needs work 💯. i’m appreciative of this app so I can send quicker messages to love ones but it can take up to 24 hours for a message to be approved and then they deny pictures that are not even inappropriate. On top of that the app itself has a lot of bugs work, huh? Klucis, my payments don’t go through even though everything is put incorrectly. And then sometimes the app is crashes.

Terrible set up 🤬. This app is extremely confusing When trying to set up and not clear on what or where the money is going at first, which can lead to people putting a larger amount of money on the wrong account and then still having to put money on the inmate account. And having to deal with requesting a refund. This should have been tested better before releasing it. I hope they do an update soon because this is infuriating.

HORRIBLE. This app is absolutely absurd and terribly put together. I’ve been trying for 3 days to add funds and it just takes me back to the loading screen and won’t let me do anything. You’d think y’all would fix this to make money and with the charges you would but considering nothing on this absolutely horrible app actually works. And judging by the reviews you’re well aware of the problem. This is actually cruel to inmates and their families. Terrible . Zero stars is more than deserved for this trash.

Off and On. App is not the best. I’ve had an error msg after logging in and the big red box won’t disappear. I’ve logged out and back in and have even powered my phone off and on, hoping the msg would disappear and the error msg is still there. It’s covering the option to click on msgs, so I can’t open or send msgs. Can’t call to speak to anyone and don’t want to delete and reinstall the app in fear of losing data outside or inside on my loved ones tablet. NOT GOOD!

Every time you update the app, you have to get re-verified through your drivers license and call. This app every time you updated it makes me have to re-verify my drivers license and then I have to call Customer Service. I just did this last week and now a week went by and I have to do it again. It’s getting ridiculous. I’m waiting on hold waiting for Customer Service every single time. I’m literally going to stop updating the app. This is ridiculous.

App froze in loading mode. I have been using this app for over a year, it was great at first but for the last month and a half it has been frozen in loading mode whenever I try to add funds. I have uninstalled and reinstall the app at least 10 times and I get the same results…. frozen in loading mode. I have attempted to reach customer service multiple times, all I get is a recording and there’s no option to speak with a customer service rep.

Not able to upload pictures stored on my phone. I have not been able to upload any pictures saved on my phone for over 6 months now. It is an extreme pain in the rear for things that are prudent to a case which the recipient needs. There is also a glitch where if you take long to message, you will have a pop up of a message regarding the possible hack that occurred and you will lose all of your typed message and will have to close out of the whole app and start again.

So frustrating. I have called several times to figure out why my app is unusable and I get the runaround. The customer service is demeaning and then to get me off the phone they told me it would be fixed within 24-72 hours. They also assured me my issue was recorded and being sent to the supervisor so that it was “priority”! It’s been about two weeks and I have not been able to use this app. Ever since It was updated, it now freezes everytime I open it on my iPhone. Trying to message on the website is extremely difficult!!! HELP!

Bad App. Well, I thought I could sign up for this app, as an advocate to communicate with those I fight for, and was met with delays. The app has a technical issue and won’t update past my conforming account via email that I did several times. Called customer service, they can only help with basics and when I deposited money, it kept saying declined but actually went through. Feels like this app is created by the same people who lock folks up and make it difficult to connect to support your loved ones. Can’t even use the app….

Needs fixed. The app barely works they say there always doing updates nothing ever changes there is still no alert notification it makes no sound if you have a message so if your not looking at your screen you would never know someone is trying to contact you,sending pictures and videos never works it always says there’s a technical issue try again weeks later still doesn’t work like the least you can do is have a solid way to communicate with loved ones it’s 2026 not dialup

Expensive and glitchy. You would think the amount of money we have in this app the people would be able to get it some upgrades it’s the slowest most frustrating app out there and it’s soooo expensive and not user friendly!! Do better get some bug fixes and upgrades ANYTHING to make it more efficient for the users it’s the only form of communication for some people so it’s very important treat it as such please!!!!

Fire you technicians now !!. This application is garbage . But the website doesn’t work because you force us to use the app . Can’t even do the simplest things like deposit money onto an account with the app being buggy or simply not loading at all . This is unacceptable it’s 2025 a 13 year old can make a more functional website/app . It’s like you do this on purpose so we struggle to to talk to our incarcerated loved ones. You already collect bank from all of our pockets why not provide us with a functional app ?

Fix the app asap. This app is great to connect with loved ones but terrible with the service it moves slow to send pics while trying to find the pic it cuts the whole app off making you have to go through the whole process again which is a repeat thing. It glitches a lot love the app to talk to family but please fix the glitching and cutting off while on the app looking for items to send

Easier to write a letter!. This app was working great at first after a few weeks the app would not allow me to log into my own account after putting in all my info correctly, which is crazy when I go to the browser I would be able to log in perfectly. But now I’m locked out and cannot get in either way, wish there was another way or better yet a more reliable app so ppl don’t have to deal with this.

Issues. There is a lot to be done to the app, pictures have to be check and approved but 9/10 it’ll deny them, following all guidelines and still no success. I have money on my end and it always asks the other person to pay. And when my family calls and clicks the option for me to pay it says i have no funds. A lot of work to do. Don’t waste your money on putting on your end, send directly to your family.

Eh. This app is okay but I would have preferred to continue using the past one the jail was using. This one if you write more than a paragraph then you have to wait for the message to be approved before sent. In return not making the back and forth instant. You also have to wait days sometimes bed for pictures and videos are approved. The last communication app wasn’t like that. I don’t have really anything I like about this app honestly.

Grateful for it!. The app is a great tool to communicate and stay connected to your loved ones incarcerated. My only hope is updates would be afforded often there has been an error for several weeks hanging out ever the message area. Otherwise it’s a great resource. Thanks for creating!!

Latest update doesn’t work. The latest update to make deposits doesn’t work. The screen freezes and is just blank. I logged out a dozen times, tried to login through safari on iPhone but it was impossible to get through to deposits. I eventually had to log in to my account on my laptop in order to make a deposit. Not sure who the genius was with this update, but they need to go back and fix it.

Cannot get a hold of anyone. This is the WORST app ever. I have been stuck unverified with the red bubble with an X and have sent in my ID and selfie all of it and still doesn't get any of my messages. I have tried to call the customer service number and it doesn't connect you to anyone. & I've emailed numerous times and no answer or response. Stick to USPS letters, Corrlinks, in person visits, and only time you should pay gtl is for phone calls. Do not waste your money on this app! It's awful!!!! Horrible horrendous customer service because no one even exists on their platform.

Trash. I’ve had loved ones in jail for some time now, and unfortunately this is the only app there is out there. You would think all the money they make off inmates and their families that they could atleast have a half decent working app to connect with our loved ones. I’ve had this account for years and it still messes up on me everyday. Can’t video on it now, only message. It’s trash honestly.

Terrible all. Who built this trash app. I know high schoolers who could built a better app. Says I can’t even use it until I verify my phone number, which I did, but it’s still saying I haven’t confirmed my number. Then I thought I was adding money to my account, but was actually sending it to my relative, which is fine, but that’s not what I was trying to do. Also, how many times do I have to reject the cookies. What a mess. They’ve paid tons of class action lawsuits as GTL and now changed their name. Why not just fix this garbage?

Shouldn’t need multiple apps to contact. Shouldn’t need 4 different apps that don’t even work together. Got some McDonald’s quality IT workers. Our taxpayer money I bet goes to this too. Plus the money they require us to pay just to talk to our loved ones. And when they’re in there for something they didn’t even commit. Bunch of bull. Wish I could rate zero stars. Oh yeah and customer service is rude as hell acting like COs and should probably reevaluate your employees. I’m a former corrections sergeant…

Terrible service, even worse content. Everything about this app is a struggle, but the e-cards are the worst. They are the same cheesy, romantic templates from ten years ago. Mothers are the ones using this service consistently to stay connected to their children, yet there is zero professional content for a parent-child relationship. You have a monopoly and you still can’t manage to provide a decent product. It’s bad business and it’s disrespectful to families.

Captive audience!. This is a terrible app. The only reason I use it is because there is no other option. Very confusing with the GTL Connect Network bounces in and out and back and forth. And i can’t find a way to get family (with different phones) onto the same account for texting). Literally dumbed about $400 and still wouldn’t let me return texts until I called the GTL number first. Didn’t tell me what was going on, and even representative didn’t know how.

no notifications!. i had to make a new account and when i did i stopped getting notifications! and even before they were silent notifications even after making sure all my settings were on they were silent and now that i made a new account i don’t get anything at all!! and this is a new phone so it doesn’t make sense AND it’s ridiculous that i always have to remember to check to see if i get a message. there needs to be a lot of little things fixed smh

Sometimes annoyed. I use this app everyday I love being able to keep in contact with my husband I get annoyed because I frequently have to delete it and reinstall t would be nice if we could FaceTime while in his cell yeah right but I do agree we should be able to send a video longer than 30 seconds there's not much to see in 30 seconds that should be changed

Notifications. Messaging App has generally been working well since last update, how ever notification sounds have disappeared. Also have to constantly close and open the app to read new messages. Annoying that this is the only communication method and messages go unnoticed.

Help. While I was typing message a message popped up and I was unable to get to the bottom of it to cancel it . Also I was unable to send the message I was trying. Everything was blocked. What can I do to fix this? Thanks

User Interface Revamp. Why is it show me amount deposited. Take my ID submission. Show message is connected. Allow me to type message to 1260 characters. Only to then say insufficient funds, to send message, and then zero balance. No customer service contact info. No proof of anything up to that point after all that setup. Like the people who made this never once even went through it from outside of work. How about quality control like everything else provided to the public?

Iffy. The GettingOut app is good app for staying in contact with loved ones & I appreciate that inmates can message, watch movies, & listen to music. But the payment system makes no sense. Having to add money separately for each person to just message them is frustrating, especially with all extra fees & taxes. & how are inmates able to message, watch movies, listen to music all through the app.. BUT CANT USE THE TABLET MONEY FOR COMMISSARY? That part honestly makes zero sense!

Account Verification Issues w/ No Support. This app has been horrible to deal with! I am unable to send messages or do anything because the system will not allow me to verify my account! Which is a requirement before you can do anything! Customer service is useless and just don't care! It's sad because I actually need this app to communicate with my loved one and I can't get any help! I had added money and every time I try to send a message it's tells me I need to deposit funds! Everything is wrong with this app! If anyone has any suggestions please help

Frustrated. It’s amazing that we can community our loved ones so quickly! For that I am grateful but this app doesn’t even give notifications when we get a message from our loved ones! I used to get them but ever since the update NOTHING!!! You know how many ARGUMENTS I’ve had since then… can we please please please get notifications back !? I tried finding an 800 number to call no luck

Useless inconvenience. Please take this app down and revamp it! It is not user friendly at all! A typo cannot be updated and customer service is just as pointless not because of the people but because of the little to no info they’re given to assist callers. Then before you add a payment we are warned how information confidential information was stolen and now I’m supposed to be comfortable sending screenshots of my ID , a utility bill because of a finger error??? When I should be able to update that info on my own on the profile I made on this app! #zerostars

Frustrated. Frustrated that you can never make deposits through app because you receive an error. If you login through website it will unverified your account and you have trouble getting reverified. I am thankful the app allows me to talk to my husband but for the amount we pay we have to jump through hoops to talk to our love ones. Messages delay up to hour or two hours. To reach someone in support you stay on hold 30 or more minutes with no real help.

App is a nightmare. APP is useless!! I’ve been fighting this for days sitting on phone with people that can’t answer except tell me their having problems with it!! He can text me but when I try to answer it tells me I don’t have funds. So I hit deposit sends back to beginning entering state ,facility it just sits there and does nothing!! I wouldn't even give it one star but you can’t send review without giving something. And many persons have said the same the App is awful. Sad that they can’t come up with something to help make things easier.

Needs improved. I’ve had so much troubles with this app. I end up calling to get help. I stay on hold for hours to get help and the app won’t accept what the facilities have helped me fix. It’s very frustrating. In today’s modern world you’d think something this important would be better addressed and worked on. .Thank you

Family and friends deposit. At times when I deposit money into my friends and family account, it won’t directly show, but I will get a notification in my email that it was paid for. And so I have to wait until it’s shown on my account for me to text. and that sometimes takes over 20 minutes. it’s bogus that we gotta pay for the messages to pend as well.

Notice across screen-Failure. Every time I open the app, the “Opt-in Feature” notice pops up, and I can’t get rid of, that renders the app UNUSABLE. I can’t push any buttons or anything. It’s just this big notice across the screen, about purchases & 180 days, blah blah. I have money on that account, and I can’t even use it. It needs to be fixed so that the notice has an X. I can’t even X out of the notice, because the notice is long, and there is no X on the screen. It needs to be fixed, in order to use it. 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤬