Funeral/Obits is a directory app for tracking obituary notices across U.S. cities on iOS.
The App DNA
What makes this app unique?
It removes the friction of searching multiple funeral home websites or print newspapers to stay informed about community deaths.
For Individuals seeking to stay informed about deaths in their current or former communities, including family members and friends of the deceased.
What does it look like?
Key features
Push notifications for new obituaries in user-selected cities, driving retention.
Search and view obituaries across any U.S. city, facilitating acquisition.
Deep links to external funeral home websites, facilitating B2B partnerships.
How much does it cost?
The service operates as a free utility with no visible monetization, relying on funeral home participation for content.
Velocity
Dormant developmentShow more...
The app has been inactive for over nine years, with no feature updates or maintenance releases recorded in the provided history. The latest release occurred in March 2017, and the development momentum is non-existent. There is no evidence of ongoing support or operational activity for this application.
Who built it?
User Sentiment
What do users think recently?
Fresh user feedback skews mixed. Users appreciate the ability to track obituaries across multiple cities without needing physical newspapers.
How are ratings & reviews evolving?
What users say, by theme
- Users appreciate the ability to track obituaries across multiple cities without needing physical newspapers
- The mobile interface provides a convenient way to stay informed about distant friends and family
- The search functionality fails to locate specific individuals even when users provide exact name details
21 of 21 recent reviews analyzed · moderate confidence · Mixed overall
Read the full review analysisUnlock 2 more frustration themes and 1 user request, each backed by review evidence.
Access the full report for freeCompetition
Competitive landscape for Funeral/Obits
How's the Business market?
Funeral/Obits operates as a niche utility with a 2.5-star rating across 12 store ratings. The lack of updates since 2017 signals a maintenance-only posture that fails to address core search reliability issues.
The rivals identified
The Analyst's Read
Key takeaways for Funeral/Obits
Where is it heading?
The obituary aggregation market is consolidating around platforms that offer integrated social sharing and real-time updates. Funeral/Obits remains in a maintenance-only state that leaves it exposed to more agile, web-based competitors, which will continue to erode its user base until core functionality is restored.
- The nine-year development gap prevents the app from addressing basic search failures, which compounds user frustration and accelerates churn.
- Persistent usability regressions, such as the loss of saved city preferences, make the app feel abandoned to the current user base.
The SWOT
- City-based alert mechanism automates community tracking
- Deep-links to funeral home websites drive B2B traffic
- Implement name-based search to resolve primary user frustration
- Restore persistent storage for city lists to improve retention
Next best moves
Rebuild search index because users report it fails to find known obituaries → improve retention
+ 1 more prioritized moveThe counter-intuitive read
The app's lack of updates is not just a maintenance issue…
Read the full takeSince the last report: Funeral/Obits remains in a maintenance-only state with no functional changes, though the competitive outlook now explicitly acknowledges the threat of social media platforms displacing dedicated obituary aggregators.
Bottom line
The lack of search reliability and persistent storage renders Funeral/Obits ineffective for its primary purpose. Addressing these functional gaps would unlock the utility of the city-based alert mechanism, which currently remains trapped behind broken core features.
Unlock 3 critical frictions, 2 market threats, 1 more prioritized move and the analyst’s take.
Access the full report for freeFAQ
Is Funeral/Obits free to use?
Can I search for a specific person by name?
Does the app save my selected cities?
Sources
- [1] App Store, source
Report last updated