False Promises and Delayed Professional Care: ADHD Apps on the Rise Since Pandemic

Tina Sally always suspected that she had ADHD. She struggles with attention deficit throughout her life. She loses her personal belongings all the time, never stops making careless mistakes at work, and during the pandemic, she failed in her online education in Accounting & Payroll even though she works in accounting.

“I just felt completely defeated. I contacted my provider to talk with a doctor who ended up putting me on some meds for depression,” said Sally, 56. “This morning I found a site that can maybe help me. It is a bit pricey but I believe I can make it work.“

She found a website called Done ADHD and read the articles stating how difficult it is for women to get diagnosed with ADHD.

“I have my appointment tomorrow,” she said. What she didn’t know was that Done ADHD has been referred to as a “scam” by thousands of customers on TikTok, Reddit, and review websites like Trustpilot.

More than a few hundred said that they subscribed to the plan in the hope of a quick first appointment and prescription, while the next appointment and refill of medication became extremely difficult to get. The customer support became unresponsive. Meanwhile, patients keep getting charged a $79 monthly fee.

Changes in Telehealth Law During the Pandemic Gave Rise to Startups Targeting ADHDers

During the pandemic, the United States witnessed a surge in new ADHD patients since people realized they had trouble regulating themselves working from home. According to a research study in 2021, an estimated 8.7 million adults in the U.S. have ADHD. The U.S. ADHD drug market size reached $12.4 billion USD in 2022, and is growing at a 3.9% rate yearly.

However, it is challenging to get diagnosed with ADHD.

“Because the symptoms are typically multifactorial, and most of the diagnoses are based on symptoms,” said Dr. Paul Yellin, Director of The Yellin Center for Mind, Brain, and Education.

It usually takes many months to complete a comprehensive assessment process.

“There isn't, like, a blood test for it, right?” said Dr. Yellin.

Diagnoses for adults are particularly complicated, and in particular for women, because they tend to internalize the struggle and display fewer symptoms than boys do.

“Girls with ADHD are not hyperactive. I think another misconception is that people expect that you're going to be hyperactive, and they can just be inattentive,” said Many online ADHD support services have emerged, targeting those in distress, taking thousands of dollars from people who struggle with productivity and suspect that they have undiagnosed ADHD by promising them a timely diagnosis and prescription or even the result of getting rid of ADHD in a few weeks.

Done ADHD was one of them.

“Nobody will get back to you,” said Krista Barlow, a former customer who received no response when she needed their service the most. “They’re risking patient endangerment, patient abandonment, and patient neglect.“

The difficulty in getting in touch with the company was noted by Lena Suarez-Angelino, a clinical therapist who wrote a thorough review of Done ADHD on Choosing Therapy. She gave Done 2.5 stars out of five.

She suggested that a 3.5/4 out of 5-star rating would be considered a trustworthy service. Suarez-Angelino mentioned that she also made attempts to contact Done via multiple ways for her reviewing process but to no avail.

“It definitely makes me wary at how often I was seeing online ads for them with little-to-no human support behind the scenes,” she said.

Suarez-Angelino said, “Done seems like a great idea in theory. However, their lack of customer support outweighs any benefits they could provide.”

Prescriptions through telehealth providers became available during the pandemic when in-person appointments were dangerous, and according to Barlow, Done took advantage of the opportunity. Traditionally, at least one in-person appointment is required to receive controlled medications for ADHD.

“When multiple companies launched at the height of the pandemic, they didn’t take into consideration the availability of resources of prescription medications to help manage and treat ADHD,” said Suarez-Angelino.

“It overwhelms the user, the company, and the pharmacies. It becomes a major supply and demand issue,” she said.

Suarez-Angelino agreed that “there is a risk in overprescribing medication, questionable hiring and vetting practices.”

“It's problematic because you want somebody who doesn't have a vested interest,” said Dr. Yellin, “Essentially, they look at the diagnosis as a way to sell you something as opposed to being people that have an obligation to act in your best interests.”

Shortage of ADHD Medication Since the Pandemic

The biggest shortage in ADHD medication is Adderall in America for more than a year and a half since 2022.

At about the same time, Done, particularly, was put under a DEA (U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration) investigation, suspecting it oversubscribed controlled drugs.

Pharmacies like Walmart and CVS started to turn down prescriptions coming from Done in May 2022. Soon, other pharmacies followed. According to Barlow, “No pharmacy will fill their prescriptions.”

“Was scammed too!” “This just happened to me!” People with the same experience are all over the comment section of an exposé video Barlow posted on TikTok.

Sally couldn’t see all these, because she does not have a TikTok account. She already made her payments.

Learning that her new hope turned out to be the scam in thousands of customers’ mouths, Sally felt upset and hopeless.

“I have been a victim of a few (ADHD services) now,” said Sally. “Why is it so hard to get help?“

On Trustpilot, a business review website, 1,372 reviews gave Done ADHD a 1-star, most of which claimed to be scammed by the company, largely attributing to the same pattern of quick service at the beginning and the almost non-existent follow-up appointment availability and customer support.

Reviews referring to Done as a “scam” mention that unresponsive customer support has not stopped since 2020.

In response to the ongoing customer dissatisfaction, the public relations of Done ADHD stated that “Though the provider’s availability may not be perfectly aligned with the patient’s schedule, the platform ensures that patients can book appointments with the providers upon their request.”

“Our customer satisfaction NPS score is 84.89. The Done. Care team is committed to providing responses as soon as the team can, the average response time is 11 hours,” Joanne Dai, the public relations spokesperson at Done, responded via email on Done ADHD’s behalf.

Productivity Apps Claiming to Help “Get Rid of ADHD”

Another app claiming to serve ADHDers called “Wisey” got 73% of 1-star reviews. According to the reviews, plans could not be canceled before free trials ended. Unauthorized payments got auto-renewed, and there was no response from customer support. Requests for refunds were denied.

Customers see the products they provide as a load of self-help videos and articles. On their YouTube channel, all videos were made with stock clips, and no real people could be seen in production. Lots of validations. No focus on ADHD.

“They referred to their terms and conditions and kept my much-needed money,” said Lisa Oppes, a former user of Wisey who asked for a refund for her mischarged free trial to no avail.

Arianna Bradford, an ADHD coach who tried to manage her ADHD with the apps, noticed the problems with these productivity apps.

“You’ll be told that you’re a super mega horrible procrastinator, but never fear, there is a personalized plan that they can give you that will help to fix it,” she wrote in a blog post, trying to warn others on the Internet. “Then you either wind up sending them money and getting very little, or sending them money and then getting charged more money,” she said.”

Shady Terms and Conditions of Use

Looking at Wisey’s terms and conditions, terms alluding to not delivering the results the advertisements promised and avoiding all possible responsibilities and refunds were written.

“WE MAKE NO GUARANTEES THAT (I) THE SERVICE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, (II) THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE, (III) THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF THE SERVICE WILL BE ACCURATE OR RELIABLE, OR (IV) THE QUALITY OF ANY PRODUCTS, SERVICES, INFORMATION, OR OTHER MATERIAL PURCHASED OR OBTAINED BY YOU THROUGH THE SERVICE WILL MEET YOUR EXPECTATIONS OR WILL PROVIDE ANY BENEFIT,” is written in Wisey’s terms and conditions of use.

“The Company has no obligation to provide you with customer support of any kind. However, the Company may provide you with customer support from time to time, at the Company's sole discretion,” according to its service section.

“Unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the trial, you will be automatically charged a price indicated on the payment screen for a chosen subscription period,” stated in its subscription terms. Many users were not aware that the deadline was not on the last day of trial, but before that.

“As a user of the Service, you agree not to: …disparage, tarnish, or otherwise harm, in our opinion, us and/or the Service.”

“These are definitely not enforceable,” said TKTK at Columbia Law School. “They can’t just waive any responsibility. Who writes T&C (Terms & Conditions) like that?” he said, alluding that this is far from a legit business entity.

Maximum of Marketing Expenses, Minimum of Services

Done ADHD invested a lot in their marketing campaigns, even until now, after their prescriptions are no longer accepted by most grocery pharmacies. Tons of influencers were hired to speak in favor of them, and high-cost videos are everywhere to be seen in the target audiences’ ads on social media.

“How do you have over 300,000 views with that hashtag and only 12 videos?” asked Barlow.

Speaking of the vetting practices, Suarez-Angelino pointed out that they are specifically evident for companies that seem to take social media by storm overnight and have a really strong advertising and marketing campaign.

Wisey, registered in Cyprus, apparently invested a lot of money in advertising. A Facebook page called “Productivity Knowhow” advertised the app with a lot of misleading language and irrelevant visuals. The page used to be managed from Poland, and it recently changed to Ukraine.

Lines like “ADHD is not laziness. It is a depression response,” “What’s your ADHD type?” accompanied by pretty but random illustrations like those in a psychology quiz game claiming to reveal “Who will you fall in love with in 2024?”

The “TAKE QUIZ” button takes you to a quiz age hosted on a page wisey.app, asking you dozens of questions, including assessment-like questions and information irrelevant to ADHD symptoms like gender, “What distracts you the most?” with options like social media, TV or videos, and phone notifications. They are not even mutually exclusive.

The small-font-size lines on the quiz page tricked website visitors into agreeing their terms and conditions upfront, even before any transaction can be considered.

Incorrect grammar and weird typos make it even more suspicious. “Your Plan will be crafted by group of cognitive psychologists.”

“Hypersexuality is not infidelity. It’s an ADHD reponce” is written in all capitalization in their ads. The misspelling was left unchecked as the post turned into an invested ad.

“That is entirely inaccurate,” said Jannie Cole, a mental health therapist. “Oh and they misspelled response.”

“Also, the language used in the ad leads the viewer to think they will be getting treatment,” she said.

Some of the reviews suggest that the companies promised more than they could deliver. When customers were disappointed with the outcome, they were left hanging without customer support while the bills kept coming in. According to many reviews, Done is allegedly actively deleting negative comments and posting fake positive reviews online.

Is There Really an App for ADHD?

Research has suggested that the apps may not be suitable in meeting the complex needs associated with this condition.

Essentially, if one has ADHD, it is unlikely to work. Yet this exact group of people is targeted.

According to Statista, there are more than 70,000 productivity apps available on the App Store worldwide. Utility and productivity apps in Q3 2023 had only a 3.16% retention rate on day 30 since installation. Oftentimes, they are not proven to be effective.

Cole has seen an increase in neurodivergent awareness, such as ADHD and autism. “ADHD is widely overdiagnosed though,” she said. “Inattention can be caused by many different things. Like anxiety, trauma, and depression.”

“This company preys on a vulnerable group of people who are forgetful and impulsive,” said Emma Paton, a user who claimed to be scammed by Wisey.

“It’s unbelievable that their business thrives on the weakness of their patients, exhibiting ADHD symptoms such as impulsivity,” said Kendelle Cragun, a former Done ADHD user.

“Is there any hope for people like us?” said Sally. “I have not found a darn thing that will help.”

Sally said she always thinks of the lyrics of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, "Sometimes I wish I’ve never been born at all," she said.