GettingOut

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

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!!

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 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 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!!!

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!

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.

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!!

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!!

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!

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….

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.

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.

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?

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!

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.

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. 👎🏽

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 .

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.

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

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!

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. 👍🏼

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!

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.

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 🤷‍♀️

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.

So, is difficult to know why some pictures are denied and loosing the money for it makes you not want to send anything at all. I send to my brother some superhero posters because he likes to draw and that keeps him busy and pass time being there. They were denied and the posters did not look like it was dangerous or had any threatening messages because I also send a gospel message and my brother do enjoy reading the bible that was denied too. I don't know if it is that they do things like this to make the family members and their love ones who already are doing the time more miserable. I say this because i send out the visiting application and I was approved but when i try to send him money to his books they say i am not allowed to. I asked why and they said that theres to many people on his list. But I was the first one to send out the application and was approved. So, I cant send him money or make video chat. C'mon, He is doing the time. I would love to see these people that are not being fair to the inmates and the family member spend time in jail.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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! In the 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.

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.

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!!!!!

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Like another use stated, if I didn’t have this, I wouldn’t have anything, & that’s the only reason I use it. I had an iPhone 11 that was up to date with iOS, confirmed notifications were on with sound, not in “do not disturb” or “silent” mode. All of my other apps come through with sound just fine. I just switched to an iPhone 15 Pro & had to redownload the app, so I know the app is up to date & my phone on the most recent iOS. I do all of the same trouble shooting & I still experience this issue so I have to be glued to my phone so I don’t miss a message. Half the time it says it cannot access my messages or I have no contacts. It will glitch & go back to a conversation we had weeks ago & won’t allow me to get to our most recent message & just have to hope the app fixes itself.

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!!!!!

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 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

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!

While this app is helpful for keeping in touch with loved ones it’s garbage. Pros: 1. Texting and sending photos and videos to loved ones. 2. Free to download, not free to use. Cons: 1. The app lags horribly. 2. Using the camera roll is a horrific experience because you can only go back so far until the app lags and then starts at the beginning again. Sometimes the picture and video thumbnails won’t load either. 3. Notifications are seen perhaps 30% of the times. Sometimes those notifications are ones you’ve seen / tapped on. 4. Media approval is very slow. It took 3 months for some pictures to be approved. The pictures were decent (think Rated-G) images and video. 3 months for them to get approved. 5. Text messages take from a few hours to a few days. 6. Signing in often glitches cause you to have to keep trying to sign in. Even to the point of turning off your phone and then turning it in again. It’s a hot or miss when that happens. 7. Customer service is poor at best. It seems they don’t know what’s going on yet we’re supposed to seek them for assistance. 8. No other options to use but these apps. Absent of any viable assistance with any of the main issues. The entire purpose of the app is often defeated by the app itself. If I could give minus stars ⭐️ it would be -10 ⭐️.

In the last week I spent over $200 in order to talk to my significant other. The majority of the time I cannot see what he is texting me because it says that it is having issues and to try again later. During video chat it ends and says that it was having trouble starting the video chat while I was visiting my significant other. I’ve called customer service and tech-support and they just say it’s a glitch. I’m sick and tired of you guys blaming it on a glitch when you have a lot that needs to be done with these apps. I spend lots of money in order to talk to my other half and you guys are making it extremely difficult in order to do so. I highly suggest you take care of the issue before you lose me as a customer. I am quite frankly really tired of tech-support blaming it it was a glitch when we all know it’s not. Do your job and fix the app before you lose me as a customer

I have been waiting over a month for a refund they keep telling me will be returned I call several times a day about not being able to have a video visit for over a month now my account says verified and isn’t my name it is someone else’s name on it with my email my picture my phone and I can’t get a video visit they say the same thing daily when I call that it will be fixed in 24 hours and never is fixed and still never can have a video visit they take my money I put in there and say ten cents a message but when I add my messages up there no where near what I add to my account and the money is gone in a day every single time but what can I do but add it because I want to contact my boyfriend than the app is always saying no contacts can’t load messages won’t send them it is something every single day and they do nothing to fix the issues but say 24 hours every time u call

First off my loved one was not found on the app but was found when I called. I have been charged and yet the deposit has not gone through and when I call customer service there is no way of speaking to a human, only automated messages. I have emailed twice and heard nothing back! Updated: I called the number on Gettingout’s website which clearly states “to make a complaint call” I called and the customer service rep was beyond aggressive and rude. He immediately told me to call the number I had already tried that led to an endless loop of automated prompts that have no option to speak with someone. His yelling was honestly the worst I’ve ever experienced with customer service, obviously Telmate and Touchpay know we who use these services are in a desperate situation to speak with our loved one and they don’t care if it works for us. At this point I have paid and the money has still not reached my loved ones account.

I cannot believe how awful this app is. I understand there are budgetary restrictions for stuff like this but OMG…I cannot believe that a company would be this cruel and treat users the way it has thus far. You make it impossible to do anything. My app is constantly glitching, saying no contacts, can’t send messages, saying I have no money when I clearly do. I should report you to the BBB for probably stealing money. You make it difficult to connect with loved ones that desperately need the love and connection. You have pages on your website that redirect you to pages that are not what they said they were. Your payment pages glitch. Your login pages are constantly “not recognizing” user names, but you took our money the day before under that user name. I am going to submit a lawsuit soon if you don’t fix this. I have a feeling you’ve taken a lot of money from user and inmates unlawfully.