Online Portal by AppFolio
reviews and complaints

Used with the same management company for 2 out of 3 years in University.
Great idea and convenient design, but had login issues or app would crash frequently. I wanted to pay rent easily from my phone. Web version is a little better, but still need to fix some bugs.

Deleted the app. Ended up having to collect roommates rents by Venmo or Zelle. Then try web version, and sometimes with the dreaded check and physical drop off.

Moving to a new city soon and many companies there use AppFolio to pay online. PLEASE fix/maintain and it will be as GREAT as intended!

Unlike most payment setups that perform small transactions to confirm account authorization for a checking account, Appfolio attempts an all-or-nothing transaction. If your user enters one digit incorrectly they’ll be charged a $25 Non-sufficient funds fee.

To make matters worse, neither the app or email alert sent to users makes the error clear. Instead it states only that insufficient funds were available. Since the app removes the erroneous account data, despite using the option to save it, there’s no way to verify that account or routing numbers were entered incorrectly.

I signed up to receive documents from my HOA electronically. The are uploaded to AppFolio for viewing. If you use this App & open one document, there is no way within the App to close that document and open a second document. You cannot even get out of the document to close the App. All I found to do was force close the App and reopen it every time I changed documents. How stupid is this? What a waste of time! I am deleting App & I will just use regular browser. BTW - I am using IOS version on iPad & iPhone. Whoever developed this App must have been asleep at the wheel! Yikes!

I have had nothing but problems with this app. When I download documents from my property manager, there’s no way to close out, or print, or send the document. The only solution is to DELETE the app from my iPad, and reinstall it. BUT, this is IMPOSSIBLE because when I go to the AppStore it knows I have used this app and it only allows me to OPEN it. BUTTT, when I click on open, it DOESNT OPEN AND THE WHEEL JUST KEEPS SPINNING. WORST YET. WHEN I TRIED TO INSTALL THE APP ON my MacBook laptop, the App Store doesn’t even have this app. I think it’s very poorly designed with very little developer support.

The only things you can do is set up auto pay, make a payment with a VERY HIGH ADDITIONAL COST OF 3% or a minimum of $3.50 to pay your rent?! That's wild. How about accept my rent on time with no added cost?! That's if you use a credit card...if you use a debit card, even a lower cost to them yet that charges $10 per rent payment. Or allows you to request maintenance with just a plain old text box to describe the issue. I'd lile to see options to select an appointment time for the repair and maybe dialog boxes to select room or rooms involved in request. Could be 100% better app. I'm going to delete mine.

Prepare to give your tenants plenty of excuse why they can’t pay you or interact with management!

When it logs you out after you told it to remember you and forgets your login, then you can do a pw reset and it’ll send you an e-mail where you can hit a link to a page, and that page will purportedly allow you to enter your e-mail again and THAT e-mail will have a link or something to actually reset your password. But alas even the redundant e-mail that would allow you to reset your password never comes. Laughably stupid, slow, and unworkable. Guess the landlord’s not getting rent this month lolololololol.

My property management company is having us use the appfolio now. I made my first maintenance requests last week using it. I attached pictures of the items in question. I WAS SURPRISED & VERY CONCERNED THAT IT HAD IMMEDIATE ACCESS to my pictures. My phone did not ask permission like it does with other apps that ask permission for access to photos. I looked under settings /privacy/photos to see if it had asked to access my photos- it was not there! This needs to be FIXED. The next day the credit card that is used only on my App Store stuff & only one stored in my phone was hacked. My CC FRAUD department stopped over a $1000 in purchases. I would like to have some one from this app contact me.

There are several glitches in this app. One big one is that under make maintenance request- a tenant has "option " to select time periods for maintenance to respond BUT tenant is given choice of 3 time periods which span entire work day AND tenant must select all 3 in order to submit the maintenance request.

In other words there is no choice for time periods if tenant is required to select (all 3)
i e - the entire day.

Next problem with app is that setting up 2 factor authentication is confusing. In addition to that - I tried entering the authentication code it gave me but it wasn't a 6 digit code so it wouldn't accept it.

I don't want to download another app to make your app work. Please help!

Rose

So with my current moving situation this app was found very helpful. It was quick and efficient. I was quite surprised honestly. The app it’s self is nice and self explanatory. I find it pretty convent. Since I live with 3 other roommates, we can login into our own account and see what’s left to pay as a whole. (That’s is one of the main reasons why I like it.) Since I started using this app I wanted to explore what else they offered. The more I look the more I found. This app also provides insurance for you house if needed. Pretty good if your just starting off, I personally like it myself. Again this is my first time using this app. I don’t know if there’s a big bug but, we’ll see! (haha ComplaintsBoard.com) 5 stars for me!

The app is clearly designed for ease of use on the management end.
I have two units I am renting both of which use the AppFolio system.
I can not switch between them on the app. I have to log out completely and find my emails with a working link to see each one individually.
The payment system works as expected if you only ever use one card. $10 per transaction seems a bit steep though when you realize if you try to change payment methods you will hit twice the amount of tech errors you expect if you are already annoyed.

There is zero ability to contact support via the app and if you do go through the hoops online good luck getting any answer other than “contact your property manager and see if they can figure it out” DUDE they are property managers not tech assistance.

Unfortunately you can NOT count on this app to make payments correctly. I had scheduled auto pay and for the first few months it was fine, then all of a sudden I had been out of town and come back home to see a notice on my door pay or get out. The app on its own decided not to pay my portion of the rent that month, I immediately paid it AND had to pay a late fee the property manager said she’d look into it but I never heard back. My recent problem with this app - I had my annual reexamination through section 8 and beginning of April I do not have a co pay, section 8 will pay the full amount. I went into the portal on my phone and canceled the auto pay however the app took out $303.50 from my bank account! I honestly do not trust this app at all and DO NOT want to use it

There are a number of issues with the way this app and platform work and the “help” button and website only contains tutorials no place to communicate issue reports. This is a shady practice to avoid dealing with users.

Many bugs are simple items that could have been resolved with simple user testing or allowing users to submit issues.

Some Bugs include:
- user interface makes it easy to inadvertently making double payments and company puts this burden on user and will not refund payments, only credit account
- if credit is used to make new payment, payment does not appear in “past payments”
- maintenance requests include a “next” button as the first option after completing a form that serves no purpose other than to delete the request
- app does not request permission to access photos before accessing them, I didn’t think Apple even allowed that anymore

They collect literally all the data possible… Financial, location, purchases, demographic, usage, etc., etc. At first I thought, well that prob just means the app itself uses that info so they are disclosing it because obviously you are entering, for example, financial data and such into an app where you pay your rent. However, I looked into it and they don’t have to disclose those items under the Privacy tab that you enter yourself or that are used for app functionality and NOT to track you across apps or show you ads. So, that means the stuff they listed IS for those purposes, and is NOT just for app functionality.

As soon as I figured this out, I deleted the app… I also wished there were a way I could pay my rent and make maintenance requests without using ANYTHING app folio related at all, but they make you. Also, there’s a $10 transaction fee every time you pay something, even your $39 water bill

Honestly, landlords (rather, “management companies”) using this app and app folio more generally are sketchy… Change my mind.

Every quarter my scheduled payment comes out later and later to the point where I’m being threatened with late fees. This time I figured that I would fix the problem and instead of making an early payment, I could fix my delayed automatic payment. I tried setting it to April 24 but for some reason, it would show up as May 24. I tried to fix this 3-4 times because I thought maybe I was being stupid or doing something wrong. I finally gave up and processed a manual payment. I figured that at least I can avoid the late fee. I could go back and fix the May 24th date to the correct future payment date. Instead, I was charged twice. Per their FAQs, I was to put a stop payment in to my bank which is going to take extremely long to process. All I want to do is send my money to where it’s owed. This app is a piece of garbage. I will be gladly paying by check from now on.

Update: They reached out to me asking me to reach out to them so that they may show me how to use autopay after I’ve been using it for months. Their customer service is non existent. Do not use this app.

I use the tenant portal for both my apartment and my business through separate property managers. But Appfolio won’t let you connect multiple accounts. The first problem is that they were both originally under the same email address so it gave me no way to access my business property manager’s account as it only let me connect my email to a single property manager and would only open my residential account. After having to deactivate and reactive with a new email, by which the only way is to contact the property management and have them do it, Then there’s the hassle of Appfolio not storing multiple accounts in Apple key chain. This is frustrating because every time I log in it will suggest the password for the other account and save it with the email I was trying to use, or if I typed in the correct password it would update that and save the password for the wrong email email that is in the keychain. So then I’d have to go back and reset the passwords. PLEASE MAKE IT EASIER TO SWICTH BETWEEN ACCOUNTS. Just make it like any other app that you can select which account you want from keychain when logging in. Every month I have to go through this awful process of switching accounts, resetting the passwords,etc. It’s time consuming, frustrating and I dread having to use this app every month.

First of all, I pride myself on making on time payments and having an impeccable credit score. That being said, before my rent was due I added my new bank account ( for I had closed the old bank account ) and I was able to easily add it through this app. Then, come September 1st, I was charged twice. Once to the active account that I added to my auto pay and second to an account that no longer existed. Then, my property management company charged me a no-payment fee and an additional hundred dollars for not receiving payment. After much back-and-forth I was able to prove they did in fact receive payment and this sorry excuse for an app has no place whatsoever to remove the old bank account. You might think that when adding a new account for auto pay a message might pop up that says “would you like to remove the old bank account?” or that it would automatically replace it with the new one… but, no. Since September 7th I have been calling AppFolio, emailing AppFolio, chatting into AppFolio all with zero response other than a generic “contact your property management company”. I’m not sure how my property management company is supposed to fix your app but hopefully this review helps or at the very least offers some insight. I’d say this is a pretty important feature you might consider fixing or adding in the future. Now, I owe an additional hundred dollars for something that isn’t my fault and I can’t get a hold of anyone to resolve this issue. Worst customer support I’ve ever encountered.

Installed this app because landlord asked to use this app to ease their management.

Unsecured:

No security code, Face ID or any credential used to open and sign in the app.
Since it includes banking information to pay rent, personal data, rental insurance documents and other sensitive information, this is unacceptable. It should be secured as any bank app.

Major flaws:

No option available to amend lease and rental agreement in the app.
Any app managing contracts, agreements and legal document should allow any amendment by each party before be to be electronically agreed and signed.
This needs to be improved.

Shared Documents: No option to upload any document from tenants.
This needs to be added so tenants can share and submit documents to landlords and property managers.

Fees: Unclear fees for paying rent from the app.

Payment: No option to schedule rent payment in advance. Only pay now or Set Up Autopay.
Usually scheduled my bills payments in advance from my online bank account at once every month, and I would like to have the same option available in the app.
Really don’t have the time to do it several times a month for each payment.

Rental Insurance: No option to record rental insurance information without providing a proof of insurance. Only available by photo.
Most insurers mail copy of insurance contracts and tenants should be able to provide only insurer company names and policy information.

Plus, since there is no secured sign in option to this app, don’t feel safe to save banking or payment information or any personal data in this app.

Request Maintenance: No option to upload a document listing all needed repairs.
Same as required by law for tenants, the app should allow an option to submit documents to landlords and property managers instead of mailing letters and documents by registered mail. Also, once submitted it should send an email acknowledging the receipt of such document.

This app should offer an option to email documents, such as lease, agreements, contracts, and shared documents, submitted in the app by landlords and property managers so they can be printed when needed.

Also, when information typed by landlords and property managers are incorrect, tenants/users should be able to update this I formation.

Navigation through menu options is slow and not smooth. Definitely not user friendly.

Given this app is intended to contain sensitive information (i.e. banking) and documents (i.e. contracts), above mentioned flaws are unacceptable.
In addition, there is no legal mention about privacy and the use of personal data under current privacy laws.
Hope the new Apple AppTrackibgTransparency is going to force app developers to address this lack.

Going to give a chance to AppFolio company to address and correct these major issues quickly before to delete my personal data and stop using this app.

Thank you,

S.

AppFolio changes terms in the middle of contract periods, refuses to honor its contracts, and is not ethical. We used AppFolio from 2019 to 2023. From using our data as a marketing database to changes in the middle of the contract term I recommend you try anywhere else. AppFolio contacted our tenants, owners, and vendors solicitating services to them directly. Some of these directly competed with our service offerings. We notified AppFolio in July that we were terminating our contract instead of renewing due to their unethical behavior and violations of the contract for service. Even after providing, email, certified letter, and getting confirmation it was received they are continuing to withdraw payments. In summation, I have yet to find a worse company to partner with!

I rent and there are literally no places to move that is cheaper for me and my landlord uses AppFolio to process payments. Through banks, it's free, now this fee?

Last year, I had to get ANOTHER job (this makes 3 in total) just to keep up with rent, debt/loans, bills, gas, and inflation.

Adding a transaction fee to the customer/renter (cuz the landlord will not pay it) is RIDICULOUS!

People are already struggling as it is. It's unconscionable to pass along fees that will only hurt and financially bury people further.

SHAME ON YOU YOU GREEDY [censored].

Unable to add additional information for a separate property management company that is using the app; work around is using the app for one and website for the other.

This is needed for someone that may need to travel between cities you work and live (2-6 hr drive) and needing to pay two separate property management companies...

I never had a problem with it until recently. This most recent update took my option on paying online away completely. I have tried reaching out to both the website the app gives you if there was ever a problem and my landlord who recommended the app to me and have not heard back from either of them. I will never deal with this app again.

This app charged me a $100 late fee on a payment made a week early (10/23). Second major flaw. I’ll be giving my notice and leaving as a result. I’m an excellent tenant paying $1300/month. The landlord relies on this defective app way too much and there is no personnel to fix such errors. god knows how long this will take to fix and I’m furious

This company is terrible. The tenant portal constantly states that your payments are past due, that you have a balance, and shows previous months. This has been like this for over a year and has never been addressed. It's seriously one of the main functions of this property manager, I'm baffled that it's unnecessarily confusing and incorrect all the time.

It was great in the beginning it has everything we need but later when I need to request maintenance it not there anymore. I struggle cuz I have to go website and call and not knowing when exactly what time or date they will come. It frustrates to do that. It was easy in the app but now no more. I need it to have in the app so it can keep of track like before but again no more.

We had automatic payment set up. It was working for a while. One month we noticed it didn’t go through, so we did a one time payment option. Saw the pending charge in our account and everything. The next day the charges disappears (like it was rejected by the app) and property management blames us and charges a 200$ late fee. If at all possible don’t use this app and just mail your check in

Paid rent, account updated, then we were notified that we had a late fee, 4 days too early. Going back into the portal, it still says account paid in full? Contacted landlord and tried to repay.. the amount came up with the late fee added on... long story short, this mess cost $75 in late fees even BEFORE the late fee date, and no one is taking any responsibility for this. Extremely unhappy.

I’ve been using this app for well over a year now but just recently it has been refusing to take my card and insists I have the wrong banking info. Even when I reset the card multiple times the answer would always be the same. That you address information doesn’t match my bank records, yet when I called my bank they said the app withdrew my money?.? I’m so confused and tired of my rent being late because of it

So I’ve been using this app for almost a year now and 6 days ago, an update was applied. Now I can’t log into my account not create a new account to setup. I keep getting an error message that says sorry we can’t log you in right now. Sorry we can’t reset your password right now. Sorry we can’t sign you up right now. Clearly there’s something wrong with the app, which is disappointing considering the 1st is in two days. FIX IT PLEASE

Because of this app, I became a defaulter for the first time in my life. The autopay option doesn’t work as expected. The accounts doesn’t show the details clearly. I trusted the auto pay option in this app which didn’t work and didn’t notify me as well. I will never use this app anymore. I would suggest using the web version or make a visit every month to property office to use check for making the payment.

I don’t recommend this app.

So when enabling two factor authorization on my account, I have successfully set up the Authenticator in another app. Then when I try to log in, instead of using the Authenticator generated code, the app prompts me to enter a phone number to get an SMS code to log it. I never receive a code even though and this code is 5 digits where Authenticator app is a 6 digit code. Also two factor authorization never prompts through a web browser. PLEASE FIX YOUR TWO FACTOR AUTHORIZATION!

I mistakenly had this app pay my rent through a credit card. DON’T do this. The charge is OUTRAGIOUS and trying to switch to a debit card is almost impossible. Now the app tells me that I will be charged through both accounts. Trying to deal with the local management company is no help. Been told I have to go through my portal account which does not let me do this. Will dispute payment through credit card company and hope for the best. My advise-send your own payment by check to local management company.

I had no issues with the app until this month. For some reason it decided not to work and I received a 3-day notice for nonpayment of rent. The app is not working, I cannot access my account. I contacted customer service which referred me to my management company which referred me back to AppFolio. The only messages I’ve received from AppFolio refer to changing my email not addressing my issues logging into my account and why all of a sudden my rent was not paid! Desperately anxious to have this issue resolved.

This “app” provides zero benefits over using the corresponding website. It has exactly the same design and features—essentially a web view embedded within an app wrapper. In fact, it’s even worse than the website because it takes longer to load and loses any information you enter if you switch over to another app before saving/submitting, forcing you to restart the process.

It’s apparent that minimal effort was put into “developing” this app and that its sole objective was to claim that they offer an app at all.

I have had to set up my auto pay with my new checking account multiple times and my old, closed checking account is still being charged automatically which rejects the payment obviously. I have no idea why it is still even able to access my closed account that I have replaced with the new account multiple times. This is deeply unsettling and causing so many problems.
The overall tech and usability of this app is garbage. Seriously, the fact that these developers were able to fool any management into using it is shocking.

This app does not work as it should and doesn’t have any management. It doesn’t store the correct account information. I’ve put in my account for ACH 2 different times and once it said it wasn’t an actual account and the other it came back as NSF when the funds were indeed in the account which resulted into late fees and if it does it pulls out the payment later than the day it was scheduled to resulting into late fees. I had emailed the contact email on multiple occasions from 2 different emails and haven’t received a response back.