ChatGPT is seeing an unusual wave of negative reviews in August 2026. Users are reporting widespread performance issues, including frequent freezing, slow loading times, and crashes. Many also complain about excessive battery and data usage, as well as features not working as promised. Some express frustration with intrusive ads and lack of support response.
What is happening
In the last 48 hours we counted 457 new 1-3 star reviews for ChatGPT on the Google Play, roughly 6x its normal pace of about 38 negative reviews per day. A jump this sharp usually points to a recent app update, an outage, or a change that frustrated a lot of users at once.
What users are reporting
- App freezes or crashes (High frequency)
- Slow loading or endless spinner (High frequency)
- Excessive battery/data usage (Medium frequency)
In their words
A few representative reviews from the current wave:
"Tried everything, reinstall included, but it is slower than doing the same thing by hand. No reply from support. One star."
"Gave it another chance after the update, there are too many ads to make it usable. The reviews here do not match my experience at all. Save yourself the trouble."
"It does not do the one thing it promises. Save yourself the trouble."
Is ChatGPT down or just buggy?
A surge in 1-star reviews is not the same as a confirmed outage, but it is an early signal that something changed. If you are hitting the same problem, you are not alone. Checking the most recent reviews is the fastest way to tell whether it is a widespread issue or specific to your device, and whether the developer has acknowledged it yet.
See the latest reviews
Read the most recent 1-3 star reviews for ChatGPT, filtered by date, on its app page. The freshest reviews show whether the problem is still active and what users are saying right now.
This page tracks a specific spike in August 2026. Review volume rises and falls, so the issues above reflect what users reported during this wave.