MasterClass: Become More You Reviews

by Itlphoenix

I signed up on my apple account only to find that I could not access the web content, which was significantly more features at the same price. On the website there is a screen to login and link an apple account but then I got an error. I contacted support and they basically explained that the web access for apple subscribers is limited and the account can’t be transferred. They advised to let my account lapse and renew on a new web account. This is was a lame and unhelpful answer so I chose not to renew. The content is excellent though.

Update: I was quite pleasantly surprised when I got a message from this app support many months after submitting my negative review saying they wanted to correct my my situation and offered some free subscription. But then they almost immediately closed the support ticket and never replied when I tried to reopen it. So, nothing has changed with this app horrible customer support. THANKS FOR NOTHING!!! Again, don’t sign up on iTunes!!

by Sneslage

Update! After the developer responded below, I opened a support ticket in hopes of resolving my issue. The support team told me again they couldn’t help. This is worse than terrible customer service but I can’t give a lower or negative rating. What a waste of time.

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I bought MasterClass form my wife and I for a Christmas gift on Black Friday sale. The memberships were started immediately without our confirmation. We didn’t want to use it until Christmas because that was the point of giving. When I found out we had lost a month of subscription, I called and was told there was no way possible we could start at Christmas instead of Black Friday. We lost a month of time when we didn’t use MasterClass . The horrible experience with customer service resolving this has left such a bad impression, I won’t even use it now that I have paid for it. Keep your stupid courses to yourself if you don’t understand customer service and how to make things right. Count me out.

by Listener_123

If you are considering giving this app as a gift - do NOT do that - this app will charge you and then will charge again the person to whom you are giving it as a gift. I fell in to this trap twice and this app support was really unpleasant.

My wife gave me an annual subscription as a gift. I activated the gift as soon as I got her email on my iPhone. Their email said nothing that I cannot activate my subscription on my iPhone. As a result, Apple charged me for a new subscription. When contacted this app, I was told that I am the one to blame. Apparently I had to active the gift via computer….Once again, their email said nothing about that.

Well, it took some time and effort to get my money back from Apple…I finally succeded. Then I followed the recommendation and activataed my gift subscription again by clicking Acitvate gift on my computer. this app immediately charged my card again....This is really upleasant expereince. On top of than their support is really really slow - take them at list a day to respond..and their first reposnse is that you are the one who is to blame.

by UberAppleGeek

My sister bought me a year membership last year for my birthday. To get started, I had to enter a debit card number. Fast forward to this past week, and suddenly when I went to renew my car tags, my car was declined. I had been charged for another full year even though I did not sign up for auto renewal. I tried to email their customer service and I still haven’t received any response from them. The “statement” on my account says it was due on May 9 (my birthday is on the 28th of April). However, they did not attempt to collect any money until June 1. Super suspicious. I’m working with my bank to try and get it resolved, but if I can’t, I’ll be forced to take them to court. I loved the content of their app, but their shady business practices have left nothing but a bad taste in my mouth for their product. Beware of their scam to charge you an exorbitant price each year and do nothing to rectify the situation. Hopefully I’m not the only one they’ve done this to, and a class action lawsuit will be brought against them.

by Bparker86

MasterClass is an injustice to the course I am taking. Maybe 2 stars is harsh, but 3 stars is almost too kind. MasterClass ’s most egregious fault is when you download lessons. Not only is downloading too slow, it is unreliable, and worse still, if you re-start your phone, you lose all previous downloads, forcing you to start the (slow, unreliable) download process all over again. In effect, MasterClass fills you with frustration and not learning. It distracts you from the serene beauty of the lessons it should deliver. Interface-wise, it looks good, and seemingly simple enough to navigate. What I don’t like is how it tries too hard to get you to look and see other classes. I just want to get to my class, and not be distracted by the other goodies. Last, but not least, it is a slow app. It lags behind my navigation choices. For example, nothing happens when I press download 3 times, and then too late after, 3 pop up options show up one after the other. Argh. Since I already paid for the class, I sure hope MasterClass gets better.

by Ludo_Rock23

There are a lot of bugs in MasterClass and I hope updates will fix them. Obviously the content is what’s most important, but it is a very glitchy interface. I’ll name a few of the larger problems, but there are many smaller ones.
1) When Chromecasting, the next lesson will not play automatically, but it will be queued up on the phone not playing. To play the next video you need to start playing a different one (this will cause it to disconnect from the chrome device) and then go back to the video you want and reconnect to the chrome device.
2) If you pause a video and leave MasterClass open it will remain paused for 10-20 minutes and then begin paying again of its own accord on the phone in the background. This has happened twice and the first time it ran the entire night while I was asleep and marked all lessons played in that course.
3) If you want to browse through a course or simply add it to your list, the first video plays automatically and you have to pause it. So if you’re enrolling in many courses you have to start and pause a dozen times in a row just to add some courses to your list.
Overall the service is great, but MasterClass needs some work.

by The Real WizardDr

I’ve been using MasterClass daily for a couple of months and watched four sets of lessons.

Content: The classes have been underwhelming. Yes it’s interesting to listen to a celebrity talk about what they do. However, the insights have been few and far between. Admittedly, I have read a ton of leadership literature, so maybe it’s no surprise there is nothing new in most lessons. IMHO this subscription’s value does not justify the high price tag. The money would be better spent on a good conference or several books.

App: Despite the well-done graphics, MasterClass is terrible. Navigation requires multiple more taps then should be necessary. Many users have pointed out that MasterClass does not track your progress. Upon opening MasterClass I have to tap My List (cannot be set as default), tap the class, tap See All Lessons, scroll down to the lesson I’m on (which I track separately), tap that lesson, and then tap play. I pointed this out to Support. Their response was that they are a new company— not even that they recognized the issue and would work on it!

I will not be renewing after my year is up.

Edit: As of Feb 2020 they have finally addressed lesson tracking by having a “resume” link on the opening page. So far, it appears to accurately take me to where I left off. This helps and I’ve raised my rating from 2 to 3 stars. My other comments still stand.

by Tturtle3578621

I was super excited to sign up for an all-access pass. Bought, downloaded MasterClass , signed up and ready to learn. Then... super disappointed to find that the advertised classes- specifically Ron Howard’s, one of the top-rated and recommended classes on here- has been condensed down and does not include some of the key lessons I was excited to take. If you’re expecting to learn how to stage with camera crew and actors, you will be let down. Of the 32 classes with Ron Howard that were previously available, according to this app support, they have been “condensed” down to 13 classes that do not include important lessons in staging, casting, production design, working with cinematographers and several case studies. The condensed 13 lessons just touch on these so it’s like paying for a book and just getting to read the chapter summaries rather than getting to read the whole book. Thanks this app- it seems misleading to advertise this and get people to sign up, only to find the thing they were looking for most has been “condensed”.

by Tanya.Davis1975

The science section is so small, only 4 classes with four great teachers, but that doesn’t even scratch the surface of what interest this app could bring to the community of science enthusiasts. Someone (in marketing?) May have decided a wider audience would be more easily captured if this app catered to interest in writing and television subjects. What they failed to understand or act on is the importance of science in those things, too. I’ve decided this app is only getting the first year of my subscription money unless they can balance out the number of science classes with all the other classes offered.

On the flip side, the content and structure of the classes are rich and powerful for understanding topics at a level many people take for granted. I’m very satisfied with what I’ve learned and my application of knowledge because of these classes so far.

BUT WE NEED MORE SCIENCE SPECIFIC COURSES. Four classes is not worth more than a year of subscription $$$.

by JRB Guy

I really have no desire to be an award winning adventure photographer, yet I love the outdoors and the philosophies of those who do. My son gave me this Master Class inspired by your two-for-one special. Imagine getting the opportunity to give a gift with a “kicker”? So I first entered the world of Jimmy Chin. I admire his work and have for some years. I found a highly reflective fellow who is passionate for life and has an interesting perspective. He shares it with me with his passion for his craft. So much content these days is “life destroying”. This material is challenging on so many levels. I love to read autobiographies. This Master Class is in some ways cheating. Folks who are known and successful in their respective fields teaching little ‘ol me how. What could be better?

by Pip Kipling

The content and the aesthetic makes one think this will all work flawlessly, but MasterClass fails at utterly basic functions. Even simply navigating MasterClass and adding classes to my list is a tedious game of workarounds. Honestly, don’t buy a this app pass until they fix MasterClass; the frustrations made me wish I hadn’t activated it. Someone needs to teach a this app on the basics of app development so the this app team can watch it. The current app execution unfortunately fails those who put in time and effort to provide the content, and is a waste of time for those who attempt to view it.

App devs, I beg you to embrace the challenge before you and make this at least more functional. Ask several people of differing age groups to try to use this and just watch them. Don’t help them; merely observe what they do and you’ll understand the most immediate missteps to correct, whether it be a bug or user experience (I suspect you’ll find both).

by Urgilez

MasterClass is very educational. Yes it may be pricy with a $172 ALL ACCESS pass to 52 incredible creditable artists in their craft. But it’s such a reminder of college. There is a saying that it doesn’t matter what ivy name college you go to, what matters is the education and professors. That’s exactly what it is like, it is a well designed thought out way to dive into passionate people and understand what true dedication and effective tips and tricks that are normally taught but it comes from successful people. This all happens in one simple app that has about 15-20 videos per person. The video lengths are VERY reasonable and the topics “lessons” are very deep. I really hope MasterClass does well, so more mentors and people can share their experiences. Thank you for making me love art and the beauty that lives inside of individuals....see what I did there ;)

by Aidan Martinez

Honestly this was the best investment I’ve ever made. I have interest in a lot of things. I love exploring new topics and hobbies. I’m an actor so I’ve watched all of the film and tv classes. Behind the scenes in front it’s super helpful to my craft and gives me some refreshing advice that may have slipped away since my conservatory days. I also love cooking being from south Texas and Mexican. So the cooking ones are super helpful. I also LOVE photography and having classes aimed towards that is phenomenal. Right now I’m watching the art of negotiation for the second time so I can get an agent lol ugh as you can see I have a lot of interest and if you do too this service is definitely for you! I’m so thankful and grateful to have the opportunity to learn from such amazing people. Thank you this app ♥️

by Z.P.H PDX

From the moment I saw the first commercial for Master Class I said that is compelling. A year later my wife gifted me an unlimited subscription and I have been absorbing some of the greatest content from true experts that I have ever found. Master Classes are each independent and different in their own ways because the producers let the experts dictate the pace and the topics that are most important to the instructor and therefore the audience. Over the last 6months I have watched at least 25 full classes and parts and pieces of close to 25 more. There is so much amazing content. I devour the marketing/ business and off beat topics. I have learned skateboarding from Tony Hawk, Magic from Penn and Teller, and the inside story as to how Disney purchased Pixar directly from the man who orchestrated it. I see different topics that I think, that doesn’t interest me, but when I watch the opener I am usually hooked, and later find so many things that are applicable to me in my personal and professional life. I am always recommending Master Class to others. Where else can you get inside the thought process of a writer, composer, chef, skater, magician, designer, photographer, negotiator and so many more. It’s amazing. Thank you for all the time that has been dedicated to making these classes so engaging, educational, and entertaining.

by Phontaine

I have a subscription to Great Courses which I also enjoy. However Great Courses is more about academic subjects such as history, science, and math. Great Courses emphasizes more hands on careers that require skill and art. I love how they recruit some of the most talented and successful people to teach these classes. Best teachers ever with great insights and plenty of stories and experiences to back up their points.

I love watching these with my kids. My only complaint is that some of the teachers regularly use crude language to express their points. I wish there was an option to bleep foul language. As it is I don’t feel comfortable watching all the classes, especially with my kids. Hopefully this app will offer a bleep feature in the future. It wouldn’t be hard to do. Anyhow, that is my ONLY complaint.

by Cookie Meister

I received this as a Father’s Day gift. After watching the previews for these classes, I was thrilled to get started. The classes I have tried so far have been very informative and enjoyable. Very high production values. The classes are able to do things visually that a regular class would struggle to deliver. The lecturers are top notch. The lesson lengths make it possible to squeeze in a class segment and enjoy MasterClass even if you have busy schedule. It would be nice if the discussion groups and related class materials were accessible through MasterClass . As as a life long student of life, I think the price is very reasonable for all you can access. I would like to see some classes dealing with arts such as painting as well as more in the areas of the nature, gardening, astronomy, fishing and life sciences. Thanks for a great experience.

by Jvjgudhhgæ

I love this app I just think the idea behind it is perfect like you getting to learn from greats it tons of different categories. I am watching the Ron Finly this app on gardening and I love it I have learned so much and specifically Ron Finly is funny and really makes me energetic and engaged in it (I’m saying please have him do another one). There are lots of good ones and some that are less good I really believe that it’s more on the person rather than what there teaching you because some of them are more showing you what to do and less talky while some talk a lot and show a little less, you just have to find who works for you and what way you learn. But overall if your thinking of getting it maybe do the trial and try the things and if you like it and your debating I would say definitely get it. PLEASE GIVE ME ANOTHER RON FINLY this app

by Cuterloseer

This is one of the best subscriptions that I have ever purchased. It is one of those purchases where the subscription is absolutely worth it because of all the knowledge that you’re gaining. This is master class, not just cooking. This is truly about an experience and if you wanna know something you’re not gonna get this knowledge from some YouTuber or off of Google. These are masters in their craft! They have spent their entire lives on this and are sharing with you the hours and hours and hours and hours and hours of knowledge like gift to you with this subscription! It’s absolutely worthwhile and there’s so many classes on here that it’s a little overwhelming to try and choose one and go forth with it, but at the same time, when your interest change you can find some thing on here to make it worth your while

by Dench Henchman

A year ago, I signed up for this app and today MasterClass subscription automatically renewed. I had originally signed up to simply watch one or two master class sessions, and then I stopped using it. Since it automatically renewed today it became clear that I needed to cancel my subscription and get a refund because I stopped using this service. I sent an email to their app support team, kindly asking them to cancel my subscription, close my account, and refund my money. Within 20 minutes I received about five emails detailing the refund and cancellation processes of my account. This was the most pain free refund process I’ve ever encountered, and I’m so refreshed in knowing that good customer service is still possible. Because of this I will definitely consider using master class services again in the future. Thank you very much!

by Hdjdvsjwbdvjsbdbdj

MasterClass in my opinion is awesome and although most of the reviews say that it is glitchy and laggy, it’s mainly because they are using this app on chrome or safari, which is one exact reason to download MasterClass for the best experience instead of having to log in every time you want to watch it. Another reason to get MasterClass is because you can download classes or lessons and watch them on the road, travel by plane, or really anywhere. But another thing to be aware of is that it’s 12+ and I totally agree, if you’re a parent or simply a person that doesn’t like swearing, its language is very mild, so you won’t be hearing bleep bleep all the time. But overall I think MasterClass is a must have since you can learn so much from it, I totally recommend MasterClass and I promise you won’t regret it.
Thank you for your time, have an awesome day.😀

by Ninjasavant

I bought the Annie Liebowitz class where she “teaches photography.” I was really hoping to get her perspective on the technical aspects of photography. Lighting, lenses, studio setup, you know, a class. Instead what you get is not much more than an evening with Annie Liebowitz. This could have been edited down and played on PBS or maybe a TED talk.

The class on lighting can be summed up as “I like natural light.” The class on studio photography can be summed up as “I don’t like working in a studio.” The “assignments” for the classes were about as good. Cut out a picture you like and hang it up somewhere. Take a picture of someone at three different times throughout the day. Those were literally two of the assignments.

If this were an episode of fresh air with Terry Gross I’d have given it 4 stars. It wasn’t not interesting. It was not, however, a class worth $90.

by Veyron606

I would like to start of by saying, that I really love the content this app provides. It’s well made, interesting, intelligent, and thoughtful.

The fantastic product is let down by a miserable app. MasterClass is buggy, loses place constantly, kicks you out of one class and randomly into another. It will shut itself down for no apparent reason, and when you open it back up it will have no functionality until you close MasterClass a few (20) more times. It’s also very exciting because once in a while, you won’t know when, you’ll get a call while you’re watching a class segment. If you have the audacity to answer said call, your segment may (probably will) lock up your app and send you into the the reset loop game. This assumes of course that you’re still interested in Thomas Keller explaining the finer points of glazed carrots like I was, damned quality content.

To sum up, a product of unimpeachable quality let down by its app.

by Dailite

I paid for the full year, was really excited about the content for sometime and have given it a lot of thought on whether or not to sign up, so today I did. However I’m not impressed with MasterClass , for a moment I thought it was my WFI, nope. Then I turned my IPad on and off, nope not that either. After trying to figure out what was the problem, it came down to the fact MasterClass is not able to live up the quality of the classes that are offered, sad really. I gave MasterClass two stars, the content I love, I will just use the internet to view it on, it’s just sad MasterClass is not cable to live up the potential that it offers. Let me know when the problems you having with MasterClass are corrected and I would be happy to change my “Star Ratting” to what it should be a 5.

by Authordrsilva

Was told you get a 7 day trial offer, but there’s already a draw on my account for the second day. I was planning a year-long subscription anyway (less than the price of 2 classes, which is a great deal), so I’m not too upset, but for anyone else looking into the trial, just be aware that it might charge you. Maybe the dev can clear up anything I’m missing. Other than that, great app, great content, and offline use! Nothing too complain about!

15 Minutes Later: There’s a bunch of lessons that aren’t available offline, such as Sam Jackson’s acting class. And I’m not sure if it’s worse that there’s a 10 video download limit anyway. Why? What if I’m going to be somewhere that doesn’t have internet for a few days and I won’t be able to download more videos once I’m finished watching the first 10?

by JLD1011val

By all means, get the all lesson option. But be prepared for difficulty with MasterClass . Navigating through MasterClass is difficult. Example: I am watching lesson four. Suddenly my video jumps to lesson five and just as suddenly it’s on lesson six. I get stuff stopped. Now I want to go back to lesson four. But on MasterClass I have no option to go back. So I’ve given up on MasterClass and gone to the web browser which is somewhat easier to navigate. The developers have put a lot of work into creating content. Now it’s time for them to sit down with their customers and discover what difficulties users are having. Also, their tech support responds quickly and is a plus. But communicating by email is not the most satisfactory way to solve app negotiating issues.

by Rob3333

[5/6/18] Love the little video snippets you’ve added, especially for those of us who have “taken the plunge” and gotten the all-access pass. However, some crucial elements are still missing which I hope you will add soon:
- off-line playback (this, again, is still the most obvious and needed feature IMHO for a mobile app)
- shuffle forward/back by a fixed amount ( such as 6s): where are these controls? For classes, these are critical to make learning more efficient (both to immediately hear again something for added emphasis, and to skip ahead slightly forward for something I already know)
- playback speeds? Again: this is one of the most useful features with the web version - please add!

[original review]: (For $180/year)? Please add this immediately. I love many of the classes and have already subscribed to the yearly membership, but this is a serious oversight for any App version (especially for those of us who don’t have unlimited data plans and are out and about – which is the point of using mobile in the first place, is it not?) If Netflix, Showtime, and others can do it – surely you can as well for that price. Please let me know if this is coming soon with thanks.

by Fox7rot

Each of these instructors are unique in that they were and are successful at what they do, at the cost of everything else.

If you have the mindset and desire to pursue what you want to that degree, then you don’t need instructors.

Just go do it. And: Never. Stop. Doing. Forever.

If you find yourself constantly ‘plagued’ with hurdles, relationships and/or responsibilities, then be honest with yourself. Are you in a position or truly ready and willing to sacrifice life, your life and your relationships forever?

Do you think that any of these talented, successful individuals can teach you how to realize your own vision, better than you?

If you do, please stop. Ask yourself why you think you need them/this to succeed.

It may be that you aren’t willing or ready to pay with your life and all potential relationships for something as-of-yet unseen.
It may be that ‘it’ isn’t unseen and in that case you are the one who knows how to best pursue.

Bravery is a momentary twitch or accidental save.

Courage is belief in the face of adversity, for all time.

You don’t need these wonderful folks to tell you that if you already know it.

If you don’t already know it, now you do.

Between you and me: sometimes great advice IS free.

by Sage Lady

This was worth the money if nothing else than to see and hear a great documentary. It’s really a story of Annie’s life and the evolving relationship she has had to her photography. So very well done from beginner nag to end. I watched it twice. Im a seasoned photo artist, but I both learned a lot and felt affirmed because photography is an art for her as it is for me. Inspiring. After this course, I have come to appreciate her work even more because I understand her more as a person. She is an amazing and delightful being.

If you are into the technical aspects of photography, perhaps it will change a perspective for you, and if you are a photojournalist, maybe there is something longing in you to go past the reporting and into the artful composition of photography.

by Curtiswiklund

I don’t write reviews often (ever). But I can’t believe what I have access to. The people you’ve gotten on here... it blows my mind. It blows my mind. How am I allowed to sit on my couch and glean from my heroes for chump change compared to the value that they are? I never imagined someone would be able to get these celebrity level professionals to share so candidly with me and others interested. Thank you for all the hard work on this. The video quality is beautiful too, excellent directing and helping even non actors comfortable stare into a camera lens. It’s a joy to watch and MasterClass has absolutely brought my All-Access Pass to life. Thank you - Curtis Wiklund (from my wife’s phone b/c I don’t have an iPhone 😂)

by Sleighofhand

I really love the patchwork dresses Marc designed with his team and some of the images from his grunge collection.

My favorite was a beautiful black dress made from pieces of different fabrics and textures all stitched together beautifully.

I also really liked how he speaks. It is really cool that when he describes a design he refers to it like so, “We found antique books for inspiration” etc. I just find it refreshing that he gives credit to his team almost every time he explains his process. I am always impressed by collaborators.

My only real complaint is that this class, which I am not finished with, only leaves me wanting to see more. I would like to meet his team in the class and see them work and watch a sketch go to their pattern maker and see the toile or muslin and then the finished garment and to see more of his process. I would like to see all of his collections and shows and inspiration.

I really think it would be worth it to take the class for the full year to really learn all there is to know.

by Ejazuck

I bought this for my husband who loves wines and I thought we could learn a bit about wines tasting from James Suckling. It turns out that his course is the least instructive and we are skipping around to find a lesson that actually teaches something.
That being said, we moved on to Gordon Ramsey and couldn’t be more thrilled! I’m a serious home cook and I find his lessons fantastic and Ramsey, a great and inspiring teacher. Alice Waters is good but not that instructive.
Is see their adding more Chefs and I’m pleased.
Checking out Anne Leibovitz and other areas of interest. Not enough time in a day.
this app is beautifully done and a fantastic way to explore interests.

by Michael A Summers

The process of teaching through such a medium and be difficult. As I’ve observed dead mau5 and hanz Zimmer explain their respective crafts and their individual styles it takes me back to a day in high school listening or watching these creations for the first time. I’ve always enjoyed the arts and watching these people perform is inspiring to say the least. From film to cooking each name brings a new perspective to the chopping block. My only interest now is weather you will be able to contact a hip hop artist with the same insight. Keep up the great work guys, I look forward to watching this evolve.