Scientific American App Reviews

As a long time reader of the paper edition, I have looked forward to this app for some time. Access to individual articles is excellent and exploits the abilities of the iPad perfectly. The option to scroll through thumbnails of each article with a horizontal swipe is particularly well done. Integrated videos are a great enhancement as are interactive graphics. Linkage to web-only articles is an enhancement that goes beyond the material available in the print edition. Having made the switch I would never want to read the magazine any other way. Some reviewers have questioned the cost versus the print edition (about 75% more than print): this is a legitimate issue, and was particularly so when digital meant access to downloadable PDFs that exactly reproduced the paper edition. For me, the new iPad edition offers me significantly more than the print edition and this partly justifies the price differential; as time passes and the number of monthly editions that are available for iPad increases, the value will be more compelling. The subscription cost gives access to the back catalogue, something that print subscribers do not enjoy. As of now digital subscribers can access back to July 2012 in iPad format and as far back as 1993 via PDF: this has been an excellent resource for my kids. I have an older iPad and do not see the quality degradation that has been mentioned by owners of retina iPads. Hopefully an update will address that issue.

It is nice to get the download automatically, but the application is a memory hog and you dont see everything that you see in the PDF version. I was only through part of my first issue before I got rid of it. IBooks works much better and is much more comfortable to read. Sorry, SA, your iPad version needs work.

I subscribe to the print magazine and was happy to learn that the digital version is available for free to subscribers. This digital adaptation of the print magazine is fantastic. There are interactive features (e.g., sizeable images, links to videos, online content accessible in-app) that really enhance the experience. Reading is also a pleasure, as the content is laid out in columns just like in the print magazine. I actually read SA on my iPad over the print version, and may forgo the print subscription for a digital one. If there was one feature I wish to be incorporated, itd be selectable text for definitions using the built-in dictionary. However, this may be more on Apples end than SAs. I highly recommend SA to anyone who enjoys in-depth science and research.

I tell ya, Scientific American is doing the whole digital thing right! For the $40 you pay at their site you get access to PDFs of EVERY issue back to 1994 with no restrictions on downloading, and access to every ipad version released as well. No one else is doing this! Honestly an amazing value, especially since articles very often cite past articles with similar content. Makes it very easy to go back when you have access to every issue. Plus, they are doing a great job on their ipad version, very well put together!

The digital only subscription costs basically the same as the print plus digital subscription. I must be missing something. I was hoping to stop the dead tree snail mailed version, but they refuse to charge me less. Shouldnt SciAm be progressive? Disappointing...

Very inflexible - no option to change type from very small font. Unable to access promised content of older issues, gave up on customer support.

Since I installed iOS8 on my ipad mini, SciAm app crashes when I try to download an issue. Please fix. Thanks.

All of my previous issues were lost after upgrade to iOS 8! Tried to redownload but the app doesnt allow. Please fix asap!

App will not allow issues to be downloaded, then crashes.

As a loyal subscriber to SA for at least 40 years I am very disappointed that they havent yet updated the iPad app to be compatible with iOS 8.

Dont buy this app! Purchases made on this app are not honored! After 3 months of use the year subscription that I made would only permit me to download the cover page of new months volumes. Any time I went past the cover, the app crashed, giving me a message to restart the app or log in to the scientific American web site. If scientific American wants me to buy the magazine from their website, then they should at least honor the subscription we take through the App Store till the subscription runs out. Buying this app is a rip off!

Having trouble scrolling up on articles. I can scroll up and get it to bounce down a bit. Sometimes I have to hold my finger on the screen to prevent it from popping back to the top. Most of the time instead of scrolling down it changes to the previous or next article instead. I have to drag my finger exactly vertical or it changes article. Very frustrating. It went from unusable to barely useable.

My problem with downloading (see other reviews) has disappeared. I am delighted. Sci.Am. And Nat.Geog. are wonderful.

The new update is garbage. The fantastic quality is gone. This used to be the best magazine in tablet format. Now it is no better than reading it on the web. Not worth the money for the subscription anymore.

This update is much more stable with intuitive navigation.

As the title says. Every cool feature of the app is gone, every picture and info box is crappy, and the newly added features are honestly not very helpful, maybe except the text size control. In conclusion, the new version makes it seem like this is some very low quality magazine where the readers are wondering if the papers are solid. Have no I dea why they posted this update...

As some of the other reviewers have said, this app captured the essence of the experience of reading the magazine. The integration of graphics and text worked wonderfully. The current experience is that of reading a Word file with a couple of .jpg images attached. Was this version test marketed with long-time readers? Please give back to us the experience you have faithfully provided!

Thank you for the text resizing. This is very important for older readers, making the app superior to the printed magazine at last.

I understand that you want to build a universal app for phone and tablet. But this solution is just not right. Bring back the tablet app please.

Since the last upgrade Ive lost access to my subscription. There is no way to restore purchased issues, and its asking me to log in, I never set up a user profile before the upgrade. I dont even see an option to cancel my subscription. This is sad, such great content ruined by a crap app.