The Seven Biggest Negative-Review Turnarounds Appeye Tracked
Sourced from 1,329 real App Store and Google Play reviews in Appeye's catalogue.
Figures as of 17 September 2026.
- BitePal's negative-review swing, the largest tracked
- -39.6pp
- SimCity BuildIt's improvement
- -24.2pp
- Nebula: Spiritual Guidance's improvement
- -22.3pp
- in this movers list, as of 17 Sept 2026
- 7 apps
Key takeaways
- BitePal: Food Calorie Tracker posted the largest improvement tracked as of 17 September 2026, a 39.6 percentage point drop in negative review share.
- All seven apps still carried negative review shares between 14.8% and 29.4% even after improving.
- Sample sizes behind these swings ranged from 329 reviews (CAVA) to 1,329 (Flo Cycle & Period Tracker).
- Only one app in the list, Royal Kingdom, carried a category tag (Games) in this dataset.
Negative review share doesn't always creep in the same direction. As of 17 September 2026, Appeye tracked seven apps whose negative review share fell the most over a six-month window - the three months before compared with the three months leading up to that date.
The range is wide. BitePal: Food Calorie Tracker's negative share dropped from 66.7% to 27.0%, a 39.6 percentage point swing, the largest of the seven. SimCity BuildIt moved from 53.6% to 29.4%, a 24.2pp drop, and Nebula: Spiritual Guidance went from 37.1% to 14.8%, a fall of 22.3pp.
Movers
- BitePal: Food Calorie Tracker-39.7%
66.7% → 27%
- SimCity BuildIt-24.2%
53.6% → 29.4%
- Nebula: Spiritual Guidance-22.3%
37.1% → 14.8%
- CAVA | Order Online-22%
46.5% → 24.5%
- HARNA: Workout & Fitness-21.5%
48.1% → 26.6%
- Royal Kingdom-20.8%
49.8% → 29%
BeforeAfter
The smallest of the seven swings, Flo Cycle & Period Tracker's 18.4pp drop from 40.6% to 22.3%, was measured across 1,329 reviews - the largest sample in the list - while CAVA's 21.9pp move rested on a much smaller base of 329 reviews.
Even Flo Cycle & Period Tracker's smallest swing in this list, an 18.4 percentage point drop, was measured across 1,329 reviews - the largest sample of the seven.
None of these apps ended up with a clean sheet. Every one still carried a negative share between 14.8% and 29.4% as of 17 September 2026, but each moved meaningfully in the same direction over the same six months, which is a pattern worth watching rather than a verdict.
18.4ppsmallest swing in the list, still meaningful
What exactly did Appeye measure here?
Appeye compared each app's negative review share across two three-month windows ending 17 September 2026 - the trailing three months against the three months before that. The ranking lists the seven apps whose negative share fell furthest between those two windows.
Which app improved the most, and by how much?
BitePal: Food Calorie Tracker, whose negative review share dropped from 66.7% to 27.0% - a 39.6 percentage point fall, the largest in the 17 September 2026 dataset. SimCity BuildIt was next at 24.2pp, moving from 53.6% to 29.4%.
Does a falling negative-review share prove the app got better, or could it just be dilution from a wave of new reviews?
The data shows share, not cause - a burst of positive reviews after a marketing push can dilute negative share just as effectively as fixing bugs would. Review volumes here (329 to 1,329) aren't unusually high for any of the seven, so pure dilution from a sudden spike looks less likely, but the dataset alone can't separate 'fixed' from 'diluted.'
Is this pattern specific to one category of app?
No reliable pattern can be drawn - only one app in the list, Royal Kingdom, carries a category tag in this dataset (Games), and the rest are uncategorized in this particular pull.
How much should the smaller review counts worry us?
CAVA's 21.9pp swing rests on just 329 reviews, versus 1,231 to 1,329 for SimCity BuildIt and Flo Cycle & Period Tracker, so the smaller-sample swings carry more noise per percentage point. A large move on a small base is worth watching again next quarter before treating it as settled.
Does this mean these apps are now in good shape overall?
Not necessarily - even after the improvement, negative share in this list still ranges from 14.8% to 29.4% as of 17 September 2026. These are apps trending better, not apps that have resolved their review problems.
What this means for you
- Marketer
- A 39.6pp drop like BitePal's can follow a product fix rather than a campaign - check release notes before crediting recent marketing spend for a swing this size.
- App owner
- Even after the biggest improvements in this list, negative share still sat between 14.8% and 29.4% as of 17 September 2026, so a large swing in six months doesn't mean the work is done.
- Agency
- When citing a turnaround like this to a client, note the sample size behind it - CAVA's 21.9pp move rested on just 329 reviews, versus 1,231 to 1,329 for the larger movers.
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