Macworld Digital Magazine U.S. App Reviews

I rarely write reviews BUT have made an exception for Macworld. I receive the print edition and USED to be able to read the digital version on my iPad. Now I cant and all the copies in my Library have disappeared and no matter what I do they can not be retrieved. Am really irritated with publications that pro ice free digital than change their minds and pull every copy you have ever had. Then even their digital version is shaky. Know they want us to go digital but how can we with such volatile service!!!

Just wanted to read something in the last issue and found that I had to sign in again. Poor move by Macworld. I do not want to have to carry its sign in info around nor do I want to sign in each time like others note.

Although I am a longtime reader of the print version of Macworld, I understand why they need to change to a digital only format. Change or die, right? Further, I love most of the aesthetic changes in the most recent update although I do have a few suggestions. I am no longer able to continue my reading where I last left off. Every time I go back into the magazine, I am forced to pick the issue I want to read (again) and find my place in the magazine (again). A real pain. The log in/subscription portion of the app and interface looks and feels terribly outdated and cumbersome. Lastly, the upgrade process from the former version was very kludgy. My guess is that this is due to sticking with the outdated log in/subscription interface (see prior paragraph). Keep moving forward Macword Digital. The haters will come along… eventually!

I got an update notice the app would not update. I cannot get help, I have remove the app, sent email and nothing. For a Mac magazine to talk about other peoples apps, they are clueless about making their own app work.

As an avid reader/subscriber of Macworld for 20+ years this recent evolution to the digital sphere has been abominable. You would think that such a magazine discussing evolutionary Apple products would have perfected the transportation highway from print to digital. Gaining access to my paid subscription on an iPad is difficult if not a complete failure. Further, I would prefer reading the magazine that is stored on some other server rather than being forced to download onto my devise taking valuable memory space. I do not recommend those interested in subscribing to Macworld to undertake this arduous task at the moment. I hope you are listening Customer Relations and taking these numerous complaints NOT to your boss but to the OWNERS of this magazine for their needed actions. I would prefer returning to the print edition style and pay a bit more for an annual subscription than to go through all of this. Please fix these problems or simply go out of business and let some other company succeed where you have fallen down.

I dont need to repeat all the negative comments to which I must sadly concur. Ive been a long time reader of the magazine. Im stuck with the digital subscription and I dont know how to cancel it. Any advice? BTW - Want to see how good a digital magazine can be, take a look at The New Yorker.

I like many other who have written comments have terrible issues trying to find my magazines. My subscription always seems to disappear. I have to enter my account by trying to find an old print issue. Previous issues are not available for me to download. Very upset.

Zinio doesn’t let me save a page. It does’t let me decide which page to share. It doesn’t tell me how many pages are in the magazine. In the thumbnails view, it doesn’t let me select which pages to print. Long upsetting story short: The digital edition doesn’t work. For a brand that made its name with informed, smart critiques, it is tragically clear that you did not have a team on hand to test this foray into digital world. The good news is that you have us — your readers. Please fix the problems we have highlighted for you. Thanks.

All I want to do is keep reading Macworld until my subscription expires in the Fall. Then I can be rid of it forever. I can’t even do that now. There is a new issue out right now. I can preview it in the app, but they want me to pay again to get it. Knock knock Macworld. I have a S-U-B-S-C-R-I-P-T-I-O-N.

I have a paid subscription through April 2016. I have now lost access to all issues I had previously downloaded, AND the app tells me I am not a subscriber, yet when I try to subscribe it tells me I have an active subscription. Pitiful fail.

Long time subscriber cannot get magazines App to work, keeps telling me Im a current subscriber but will not let me download new issues

I have subscribed to Macworld for years, and the new digital version has worked for me since it came out. Until now. My subscription expires in 2016. When I open the app, it requires me to purchase the April version, even though I am a subscriber. All of my past issues are available for download. I have sent two help emails. One was answered by telling me to log in again. Still didnt work. The second help email hasnt been answered. What good is a subscription if you cant get the magazine? How can a publication which criticizes peoples products act this way? I wouldnt award them even one mouse.

This has been a frustrating experience after being a subscriber for years. I cannot get logged on to get my magazine since they dropped the print edition in November. Ill write again. ... But they must not like me. Bah. Humbug.

I’m at the end of my MacWorld subscription and Im giving up. The app is so-so, but not at all the convenience of the old-fashioned print format, which I used to look forward to and savor: turning pages, browsing, digesting, reflecting... We have TOO MUCH STUFF on our devices so there’s information OVERLOAD. There’s just no motivation to make any one thing a priority like I used to do. I’ve hardly used the digital version. If there were an inexpensive version I’d probably continue, but WHY PAY THE SAME PRICE FOR A DIGITAL edition as for the print? I’m SO sorry to say goodbye to MacWorld. I loved it for two decades and will miss it, but it’s just not the same experience, and not worth a print price.

After struggling with the Zinio version unsuccessfully and downloading the Macworld app I would have to say that this is even worse, however difficult that achievement was to reach. I am unable to read previous issues and have to re enter data each time. After 20 years of subscribing, I really wish Id never extended my subscription. Pitiful effort and lesson learned. Sad.

Really getting worse since the latest version released some months ago......shame.

Update: Macworld continues to crash in the background approximate 20 times a day. This means that if you are reading Macworld on the iPad, and then you put down the iPad for 30 minutes, if you pick up the iPad again, you’re back at the iPad home screen. To get back to where you were, you have to go through the 8 steps below to get back to where you were. I’m all for electronic copies where it’s done well, but this app is done EXTREMELY poorly, and this COLOSSALLY bad bug has been around for 4 months without a fix. This is inexcusable. IT CANNOT SAVE YOUR PLACE. IT IS A MAGAZINE APP! Every time you restart the app, i.e. every time you want to read a magazine, you are back at the cover, with its stupid animation. Then you have to swipe to the first page, and go to bookmarks (be sure to bookmark a page when you’re done!) and then go to your place. Which, of course, isn’t your place, because each article is a set of vertical pages. And the bookmark only records the top page of each article. So, when I want to read an article where I was the previous day, here’s what I do. 1) Tap newsstand icon 2) Tap Macworld magazine inside icon 3) Tap latest issue 4) Swipe cover to first page 5) Wait a second or two for first page to display - you need to do this for the bookmarks menu to be available 6) Tap bookmarks icon 7) Select your most recent bookmark 8) From that page, manually swipe down 3 or 4 pages (I forget, I was falling asleep when I put the iPad down), and try and resume reading where I left off. But this is better than paper I guess. So glad they canned their entire staff and came up with this gem of an implementation. FWIW, the previous update was better; it at least saved your place, saving about 4 steps and 20 seconds of startup time over this version.

Exactly as bad as the others say.

It’s tough to assign a star rating to Macworld. On the one hand, it’s, well, Macworld. The content, writing, and editing ranges from above average to excellent. But the implementation of the iPad app that delivers that content is a disaster. Every page contains a popup ad at the bottom right that covers text of the article, and there is no way to get rid of it. So, if you want to read an article, just know that you will never see the final paragraph. Navigation between articles, and even pages of articles, is so difficult that it’s often easier to close the app and reopen it to move to another article. C’mob Macworld, you’re better than this. For a publication that pulls no punches (e.g., as I write this, there is a current article saying, “iTunes 12.2 is a disaster”), it would be nice to see you getting your own house in order before asking users to believe you criticism of someone elses.

Hello, I looked at all other reviews here, looks a bit strange that I don’t have the problems at all described by everyone else. E.g. I logged in once, and now when I go to ‘Newsstand -> Macworld’ I come directly to my account, no need to login again. Regarding @Battguy’s comment that the login site is a little harder to find than a unicorn: I go to ‘Help -> Access Account -> there is the link, right there, takes two clicks from them starting page of the app. just my $0.02 … Regards Roland