Growl App Reviews

Growl does not perform as it claims – the new update won’t open. REALLY diasppointing!!!!!!!

In fact, there’s not even a version for Yosemite. I got an alert to update 2.1.1, along with an installer from their website. So I uninstalled Growl only to find there was no new version available for Yosemite. Not sure it’s needed w Yosemite’s notifications (Notifications are more clutter IMHO).

Growl is a weird kind of app. It doesnt do anything by itself, it enables other apps to send notifications to the user. That means that, in order to be worth downloading, it needs to have a sizeable library of applications that use it. But fewer and fewer apps seem to be using it because the developers cannot assume that users will have Growl installed on their machines. I would recommend purchasing Growl only if one of the following conditions apply: 1) You are a software developer and want to include optional Growl support in your application, or 2) You are using software that specifically requires Growl to enable important features. QUICK HISTORY LESSON: When Growl was first released, there was no Notification Center on the Mac. Growl filled that gap, and other app developers were happy to build in support, or at least enable Growl plugins, because it was the best and most widely used notification handler out there. It was also free, so it was a small thing for an app developer to tell their customers "You can enable useful notification features by installing Growl for free!" Then two things changed. First (not necessarily chronologically), Apple built notifications into the operating system. Some people still preferred Growl because it had features that Apples built-in notifications lacked, but a majority of Mac users had never used Growl to begin with. Apples implementation was certainly "good enough" for most users and developers to display simple alerts. Second, Growl version 2 was released as a paid upgrade. Users were free to continue using Growl 1 for as long as it continued to work, but future support and updated features required money. Customers now had to decide: are the extra features that Growl has and Apple notifications do not worth the price? As more developers included native notification support and fewer required Growl, that price became harder and harder to justify. I personally purchased Growl because I used another application that required it. I dont remember which application that was, and I dont use it any more in any case. TL;DR: If youre not sure if you need Growl, you probably dont. If you do need Growl, you wont have to wonder.

As others have said, many apps don’t use growl, so it’s not exactly an easily justifiable endeavor. I somehow inhereted Growl with Adobe, if I remember right. After a year or twos worth of notifications that Growl, which I didn’t install in the first place, was out of date, (and Apple implementing it’s OWN notification system in that time) I finally decided to get it because my spam filter and some adobe programs use it, and I was tired of the old notification goofiness, so I thought maybe an update would make my life easier. I guess not, though. I buy it and download it like I do everything else on the app store and the first thing I see is that my install was corrupt. 4 mintues after I bought this. Sorry guys, Growl’s old notifications were already not great. I’ve got a screencap of 25 notifications going off at once and covering my entire screen and I had to individually X each one. Now I have to download their UNinstaller to REinstall the thing I just bought from the app store. Trying to update has officially become a serious pain, and all for an app that, again, I never bought.

This app will not install on El Capitan. If it wasn’t required for my ShoreTel phone system I wouldn’t have purchased based on other review. I want my money back!

Bought this for our new phone system to get the notifications. I cannot get this to install without “corrupt install” and they call out the Mac Store saying the mac store left a corrupt install. I follow thier instructions on their website using their RECOMMENDED uninstaller and doing it manually. Both way do NOT fix the problem. Good luck getting support from Growl too. They lead you on a goose chase to some google discussions page instead of providing quick access to direct support. Horrible…. and 3.99!?! really? wouldn’t be as bad for a 99cent app but 3.99 you’d think they’d have everything together.

This app has become awful. I instaled it long ago. I deleted it per instructions. It still sends notifications asking me to buy an upgrade. I’ve deleted every Growl file on my computer. Still sends annoying popups to my desktop asking to buy an upgrade. Can’t delete it from my App Store purchase history. It’s like the computer version of an incurable disease one gets via indiscriminate romantic relations. Frustrating to say the least.

Beware, beware, beware. Never could get it working. “Support” group is littered with “doesn’t work” posts. Save your money.