JustAnswer: Ask for help, 24/7

Review by eFreeware

JustAnswer is a free app from JustAnswer, LLC that puts you in a chat with a vetted professional when you have a question you cannot answer yourself. The company says it has connected people with experts since 2003, and the app carries that service onto a phone. You describe your situation, the service matches you with someone in the relevant field, and you talk through the problem until you have an answer.

The reason to consider it is the breadth of the catalog. Questions are handled across more than 700 professional specialties, covering law, health, pets, computers, cars, home repair and several smaller categories. That range is unusual for a single app, and it is the main thing that separates it from booking one specialist directly.

The app itself is free to download and carries no advertising. The service runs on a monthly membership, which is where the real cost sits. I would treat JustAnswer as a subscription you buy for access to people, not as a piece of software you evaluate on its features.

Legal questions without a formal consultation

The legal side is the broadest part of what the developer describes. Lawyers on the service cover immigration, family, employment, real estate, criminal, landlord-tenant, education, intellectual property, estate, personal injury and traffic law, among others. That list covers a lot of the situations where people want a quick read on their position before deciding whether to hire someone.

The realistic use is orientation rather than representation. If you have received a notice, are weighing a lease dispute, or want to understand what a clause in a contract means, a chat with someone who works in that area can tell you what questions to ask next. A chat cannot replace a lawyer who files documents on your behalf.

What appeals to me about this setup is the ability to ask a follow-up. The membership includes unlimited conversations, so the exchange does not end after a single reply. For someone working through a problem in stages, that matters more than the initial answer.

Health, pet and household problems in one place

Health questions are handled by doctors and specialists across areas such as OB-GYN, dermatology, neurology, urology, pediatrics, dental and eye health, cardiology, oncology, mental health counseling and general wellness. Pet owners can reach veterinary help for dogs, cats, birds, reptiles, horses, rabbits, fish, rodents, exotic pets and farm animals, which is a wider range than most pet apps attempt.

The household categories round this out. There is support for computers, laptops, phones, email, Office, printers, WiFi and consumer electronics, plus car questions covering most domestic and foreign brands as well as motorcycles, trucks, RVs, heavy equipment and boats. Home improvement spans appliances, heating and air conditioning, plumbing, electrical, pools and spas, landscaping, renovation and general maintenance.

Using one app for a sick cat, a printer that will not connect and a question about a lease is the practical argument here. The alternative is finding a different service for each problem, and the membership covers all of them together. Whether that is good value depends on how often you actually have questions worth asking.

The smaller categories worth knowing about

Beyond the major fields, the developer lists appraisals, small business help, tax advisory, relationship counseling, job counseling, firearms and dream interpretation. These are narrower and less predictable in demand, but they show how far the service stretches beyond the obvious professional categories.

Appraisals and tax questions are the two I would flag as genuinely useful for occasional needs. If you want a sense of what an item might be worth, or you are unsure how a tax rule applies to your situation, a chat is a low-commitment way to get a professional's view. The appraisers include people from Christie's, a background detail that suggests the service is aiming at more than casual questions.

The rest are a mixed bag. Relationship and job counseling sit awkwardly beside plumbing and printer support, but they fit the underlying model of connecting a person with a specialist for a conversation. If you have a question that falls into one of these areas, the app may well be able to route you to someone.

How the service works and what it requires

The flow is straightforward. You describe your situation, the service connects you with an expert in minutes, and you continue by talk, text or chat until you have your answer. Members get unlimited conversations, and the service is described as available around the clock, which is the part that makes it useful outside business hours.

Each month you get two free calls with an expert, a benefit the developer puts at over $50. That is the company's own figure, not an independent assessment, and I would treat it as a marketing number rather than a price you can count on. It does at least indicate that voice calls are part of the service alongside written chat.

The app also lets you save favorite experts, so a person you have dealt with before can be contacted again for a related question. Notifications arrive when an expert replies, which matters in a chat format where you may be waiting on someone else's schedule.

What vetting means in practice

Experts pass a multi-step quality check that covers license verification and peer review. That is the claim on which the whole service rests, and it is the one I would weigh most carefully. Anyone can build a chat app; the value is in who is on the other end of it.

Some of the experts come from Harvard, UCLA, Microsoft, Christie's and UC Davis. These are institutional credentials rather than guarantees about any individual conversation. They do suggest a deliberate effort to recruit from recognized sources.

For a service covering medical and legal questions, this matters more than interface polish. I would expect the vetting process to be the deciding factor for most people considering a membership, and the developer treats it as a selling point rather than a footnote.

Where the membership model shows its edges

The app is free to download, has no ads and offers no in-app purchases. Everything runs through the monthly membership, which is what gives you access to the experts and the unlimited conversations. If you only have one question and never expect another, the model is a harder sell than for someone who regularly runs into problems across several areas.

The rating sits at 3.7 from more than 10,800 ratings, which is respectable for a service app but not exceptional. The install count has passed a million, so the app has a substantial user base. I would not read too much into either figure, since satisfaction with a service like this depends heavily on the individual expert you happen to reach.

For a service that depends on live people rather than software features, the rating and install count are less concerning than they would be for a tool where the app itself is the product.

Who gets the most from JustAnswer

This suits people who want a professional's opinion quickly and are comfortable paying a monthly fee for ongoing access. If you have questions that cross categories, or you expect to need several conversations over a period of months, the membership structure works in your favor. The two free phone calls a month add another channel for anyone who would rather talk than type.

It also fits people who value choosing their expert. Saving favorites means you can return to someone whose advice you trusted, which is closer to a continuing relationship than a one-off consultation. Pet owners with unusual animals, drivers with older or imported vehicles, and homeowners facing a run of repairs are all plausible regular users.

The app is rated for Everyone and released in March 2018, so it has been available for years. It is a service app rather than a tool you master, and the value comes from the people behind it. I would suggest starting with the free calls and a single question before committing to a longer membership.

A reasonable subscription for people with recurring questions

JustAnswer is worth considering if you want on-demand access to lawyers, doctors, vets, technicians and other specialists through one app, and you expect to use that access more than once. The breadth of the specialties and the ability to keep a conversation going are the strongest parts of the offer, and the vetting process is the claim that holds it together.

The monthly membership is the main obstacle. It is a recurring cost for a service whose value depends on how often you have something worth asking, and the 3.7 rating suggests that experience varies. Anyone who wants a single answer and nothing more will find the model heavier than the need.

My suggestion is to treat the free phone calls as a trial of the service itself. If the expert you reach is helpful and the format suits how you like to get advice, the membership makes sense. If the conversation leaves you cold, no amount of catalog breadth will change that.

What's new in version 2.3.18

Bug fix and improvements