Scientific American App Reviews

Just started using the app today and was able to download the three most recent issues in under a minute. Easy navigation and I like that clicking on an article in the contents links directly to the article, no need to flip through pages. Zoom and integrated movies would be nice additions for the future.

I have the written subscription for the last 20 years with a digital tablet version instructions that never worked in the past or currently. They are only interested in new digital accounts with same (?) price structure as print. They are not interested in current print customers having digital access. The setup is so convoluted its like AT&Ts past billing practices and the subscription is renewed "automatically" - god forbid you opt out. What a disgrace and disservice to current subscribers. It makes me sick. Erik

Im echoing the guy who mentioned the font size issue. Why read anything on an ipad if you cant enlarge the font? And you cant zoom in? Please add both to the app. At least Discover lets you zoom in. Also landscape orientation would be helpful.

If it wasnt for the content, I would give only 1 star. Hoping this is rewritten from scratch.

Contrary to most of the reviews here, the app works great on my iPad. The content, however, has a definite political left-lean to it, so more conservative readers may not be too happy. This is in spite of the fact that the magazine is based on, and exists to disseminate knowledge about, hard science.

I recently upgraded to an iPad 3 running iOS 8. Since that time, I have had nothing but trouble with this app. One of my all-time favorite magazines is slowly becoming my least favorite iPad experience. I just spent another 34.99 for an annual subscription, and I cannot access a single issue. I tried re-installing the app...no change. Downloading begins, but cannot finish (the same issue numerous other reviewers have shared). I am very close to canceling my subscription and moving on to other science publications for which I have considered subscriptions in the past. Whats most upsetting is that there is no apparent attempt to deal with this issue! I imagine the software developers and the writers/editors for SA are not under the same roof. I strongly urge those at the magazine to reconsider the partnership. The association is harming the magazines reputation. There are a number of other options that offer pleasant iPad experiences (my recent subscription to Science News works wonderfully). Please respond to the numerous pleas for action!

*UPDATE* October 2015: Still have NEVER received a refund after I was promised one and the app STILL DOES NOT DOWNLOAD. This has been the absolute worst customer service experience I have ever had. I spent a total of 4 hrs calling and emailing this company for help & refund. They promise and the dont deliver. Dont waste your money. *UPDATE* July 2015: SciAm has still done absolutely NOTHING concerning the app and its inability to download issues. The same message still comes up, "unable to contact server". *ORIGINAL REVIEW* I was excited to try out the great content of Scientific American and how awesome the content of this publication is. That is where the positive STOPS. I have been having problems downloading a full issue since I paid. I have still not received ONE full magazine to read. I always get the same error message that the server cannot be contacted. Furthermore, after spending allot of time on the phone with customer service ... Who did and offered nothing ... I am In the same place as I was before. Finally they promised a refund which WAS NEVER PEOCESSED! BUYER BEWARE. You will not receive your product, they will not give you a refund and the service is horrible.

The App pauses in the middle of loading and then when it resumes the progress bar goes back to where it was before it started loading.

The 1.5 star rating is warrented. Not only is SA to cheap to give me access on all my devices and my browswer, but the iPad app does not work! I was thinking to signing up for all access on their web site after they offerred a discount but no more. Since they cannot provide a workable "technilogically advanced" digital edition Ill not likely renew even the print edition since the ineptitude they show in this app may be a sign of the quality of their publication.

I voice the same frustrations with others - the app doesnt download issues properly. In particular, it stalls at downloading the on,ins section so the whole magazine is not saved. I do like the animations when I can access the other articles, which gives it the advantage over downloading the PDFs on my laptop but I dont always have online access to be able to read the magazine on my tablet. This has been a problem for a long time so I hope they fix it soon.

...the app wont let me download. Very frustrating. It keeps stalling out

I found this app impossible to really use since, despite many attempts, I have not been able to establish an account that works on my iPad as a print subscriber. Ive even sent Scientific American but have yet to get a response. Ive tried to reset my password with no luck and the information they give you for entering the information on the mailing label is terrible. So I dont advise anyone to use this app.

Frustrating to see this version of the app fail to download the magazine. It never progresses beyond 50% before losing connection to the server. When it is asked to resume, it regresses to 25% and then times out before the 50% mark. I cancelled iPad subscription and went back to digital. The tech support did no help except blaming my internet connection which works well for all other apps.

Nothing has changed! Still the worst reading App on my iPad. Taking a star away. So Im assuming SA realized it was way behind the curve and produced the current App, quickly, to quell a digital product gap. OK, its time for the upgrade. If you need an example of a nice interface please see the Kindle App for iPad. I use it to view Science News and have few complaints. Note that it also has a dictionary!

You cant pinch and zoom on the article text. You can only zoom in on the ads. A PDF version would be better than this application because you could at least zoom in and read the text. Why anyone would disable zoom in deliberately is beyond me. Do you average age in the USA is rising with a greying of America. Only the developers of this app are young enough to read the font size that it displays on most tablets. Age related presbyopia sets in at about 44 years old, youve eliminated anyone over at that age from potentially using your application. Just publish a PDF so we can zoom in.

Sincerely and seriously, if I were to pay 99 dollars for reading the article on Scientific American, I expect to read those articles with comfort and pleasure on my iPad, not awfulness. In fact, Id really like to subscribe for scientific American, but I am so disappointed after seeing all of that--the layout is disastrous, and I will not subscribe scientific American if that is what I get.

This version is much improved from the last one in functionality. The integration of interactive graphics and additional content is quite nice and this is an enjoyable way to read SA. But, I dont understand why you cant pinch and zoom articles or text to a personalized size or why there is no support for instant definitions or searching interesting terms on the web by highlighting. Maybe they are going for a bit of PDF feel.

I have always considered this app as the best implementation of a magazine on the iPad. Today, I updated to the new version and all the design elements are gone. Were left with just another run of the mill translation of a magazine to an app. The table of contents drop-down menu is no longer divided into sections. It seems that all the extras in articles have been removed. The app doesnt clean up the space used by the previous version.

The app is flaky at best and losses your purchases. I stopped subscribing and it now eont let me load issues I had when I was subscribing. Wrote them an email a week ago and still no response. Dont subscribe through this app

THANK YOU Scientific American for listening to feedback on the old app. This new app is simpler, faster, the downloads are MUCH smaller, and finally the font size can be adjusted. Also it now allows clicking on images to enlarge them. It eliminates a lot of the interactive features, but in my opinion most of these looked really nice but did not add to the content. This is a true victory of usability and content over form and gratuitous interactivity. And the content of Sci Am is what has kept me a reader for 30 years.