Nebula. Reviews

by XenoWolf

I’d held out for a while to try out this app and decided to take the plunge this weekend - I’m glad they offer a trial because from what I have seen so far, Nebula both here on iOS as well as on Roku are far from usable.

Trying to scrub forward or backward in a video is hilariously broken, and that’s an unfortunately required feature when it seems that the videos love to crash or hang during playback, meaning you have to start over and try to scrub to your last time stamp frequently.

I really want to support the creators that are using this app to distribute content but Nebula itself is making this really hard.

by SkyCaptain18

I really enjoy the content and app when connected to Internet, but I’ve run into multiple frustrating issues with downloads. I travel a lot, and try to download content before getting on a plane. Sadly the first time I attempted this, Nebula signed me out in flight and wouldn’t let me get back in because I had no WiFi. And then two other times, I downloaded videos, and when I opened Nebula while in the air, it showed I had no content downloaded. Very frustrating. I did double check the videos were playable both times beforehand, but once in airplane mode a mere few hours later, they were gone.

by P0rterb3an

The layout of the system so far is fairly straightforward and easy to manage. I love the idea of being able to support my favorite creators in a way that allows them to make the content THEY want to make rather than them trying to demonetization. However. As far as I can see there are no subtitles, nor a way for the creator to leave them without embedding it directly in the video. Which does admittedly stand by the apparent goal of not making things easy to watch. I was honestly more than willing to pay the 3$ a month subscription but immediately cancelled because of the subtitle issue. Hard of hearing and deaf people aren’t wanted here I suppose.

by SteepInKline

So I heard about this service from several YouTubers, and while it’s definitely a great idea, I do find Nebula ’s interface rather frustrating.

This seems nitpicky, but the thing that struck me immediately was the sheer amount of wasted screen real estate that’s taken up by titles and covers. It feels like there’s at least a 50-50 (or perhaps even 70-30) split between titles and content. Ideally, that should be weighed more heavily in favor of the content, but it’s not, and that’s more than a little irritating.

I’m still very much interested in seeing how far this develops as a service, but for now, Nebula needs work.

by Mroach

* I’ve been a subscriber for a few weeks and have had to login five times. Every time I launch Nebula I cross my fingers hoping I don’t have to login again.
* Nebula itself doesn’t always work. Several times I’ve opened it up and got a blank white screen. Nothing. Killing and restarting Nebula did nothing. No way to watch anything.
* Playback errors. A few times I’ve tried to play videos and I get some error about a playback failure.

I see a lot of potential for the platform but Nebula needs improvement to be a real daily driver of content.

by Taurus123

this app the service is quite nice but Nebula is trash. Takes forever to load the main page you are just staring at white for minutes. At least on iOS you can switch to other tabs which seem to load faster but no such option on TVOS. Other than this, you can’t pinch to go full screen or out of full screen. This has been supported by iOS since the beginning. Playback controls over laid on the video is a scourge on Nebula Store and sadly Nebula does it too. Every category page the creator view is sorted alphabetically which is useless.

by No Background Play:(

You have to have not only this app open but also have the current video in the foreground in order to watch anything. This is even if you are airplaying it to the tv. This is not conducive to how I consume content (I go back and forth between browsing other videos and also would like to lock my phone when watching it on my tv) and so I’m considering not continuing after my trial ends. Love the shows though so please implement background play!

by Sally3733

The idea of a streaming service where the money has a much better chance of going straight to the creators with no ads is fantastic. There are many good things about this service. The UI is very fluid and easy to use. The videos keep playing outside of Nebula , allowing a more flexible user experience. Videos from your favorite creators are pushed forward in a reliable way. There are, unfortunately, many minor issues present. You cannot choose how you sort video listing from a channel. It is only listed in reverse sequential order, beginning with the most recent upload. There is no mini player, so you cannot look for videos while watching a different video. You cannot filter your search in any way, instead you get an erratic list of creators and videos seemingly at random. This service is a great next step in the scene of individual content creation, but it needs to catch up just a little bit on the smaller, yet still very important factors.

by No Longer Safe

I’ve read a few other reviews that reflect my thoughts as well: so happy to more directly support some of my favorite creators, and discover new ones I now love, but I wish Nebula did XYZ... My struggle with Nebula is it has about a 40% chance of loading the Home Screen. I can tap to My Shows and browse though that, but it’s not displayed in quite the way the Home Screen. And it usually just won’t load.

I also wish it would pay more attention to my preferences for what I’m selecting and following. If I follow a show or creator, I shouldn’t have to manually search to continue a series I was in the middle of.

Ultimately, again, love the content. Wish Nebula was up to the creators’ quality level. Will definitely change to 5 stars if an update fixes these gripes.

by PlaSmaK1ng

Nebula is one of the best places to find unaltered, unfiltered videos from some of the best educational YouTubers around ! The price and what is offered here is Phenomenal and I highly suggest anyone who follows channels like Real life lore, second thought, Wendover Productions, or TL;DR news to absolutely check this out ! They offer many more channels but that gives you a gist of what’s on here. Only real issue is Nebula has a few functionality issues that could(and I’m sure will) be fixed. Things such your video closing out when swiping the scroll bar of a video, videos themselves closing out when trying it minimizing them, and overall UI could definitely be better. Nothing too serious but can be annoying enough to not get 5 stars.

by Lmichaela94

I like being able to support creators more directly and the partnership with CuriosityStream is really cool! I've already followed a couple creators on Nebula and it seems like the player has basically what you'd need (+bg listening!).
However, it appears to be missing a few key things for accessibility and my own personal habits.

• 1 • No variable speed. Sometimes I don't have enough time to watch/listen to a full length video so I kick it up to 1.25x or 1.5x to help me get through it quicker. this app doesn't seem to have this functionality. I don't want to have to start, stop, start again and hope I remember what was said before, etc. :(
• 2 • No captions. I have ADHD. Captions help keep me focused on what's being said when the words are accompanied by a visual medium. A lot of these creators have manual captions on their YT videos so I'm not sure why they're not an option here.
• 3 • No ChromeCast option. There's AirPlay, but I can't throw to my Google Chromecast if I'm in my living room.

Nebula functions fine, and I'm glad to have it, but I'd love to see improvements like these :)

by Milk Buddies

So I got this app with the CuriosityStream bundle, and I have to say that Nebula feels great, the ui is good, the content presentation is awesome. But what really annoys me is in full screen mode, the status bar does not hide, it’s always there. I think that this really degrades the immersive experience of full screen mode. If I need to see the status bar I can: exit full screen mode, or swipe down from the top right corner of the screen to bring up control center.

If you make this simple little ui fix, then I will change my rating to five stars.

by Assassinscreedivblackflag

Let me start off by saying I absolutely love this service. I feel like I’m directly supporting everyone on here more effectively than YT, and the content is right up my alley. The only problem I’ve had (and the ONLY reason I’m not giving 5 stars right away) is that whenever I turn on notifications for a creator, it automatically turns back off any time I close Nebula or even leave Nebula to go somewhere else. What usually ends up happening is I’ll see an upload notification for one of the creators on YT and then I’ll go watch it on this app, but with many creators putting out their content on this app days before it’s on YT, I wish I got this app notifications so I could know. I check Nebula every couple days but sometimes I just miss an upload by even a few hours or I go a few days without looking and all of a sudden everyone I follow has put out a new vid.

If the notification bug gets fixed, I’ll change my review to 5 stars in a heartbeat. Like I said, fantastic app, love everyone and everything on it, just the one tiny problem.

by Witheredmind

I watch so much more this app now that they offer an version for the Apple TV. I’m so glad they made the effort to get that done!

One annoying issue though is that Nebula keeps “forgetting” who I am and makes me log back in, sometimes even in the middle of a video. I know I could just make my password easier/weaker but it would be nice if this bug just got fixed.

A small ask is that I miss having a way to like/star/favorite a video would be a nice feature. That isn’t a big deal but just a thought.

by RubberBop

I exclusively follow a number of creators only on this app rather than YT now because I really want the platform to succeed. But there are some issues: 1) Apple tvOS: Maybe a bit of an overstatement, but I can just about fix dinner in the time it can take to load Nebula . I mean minutes pass before it comes up. 2) For those creators whose content is more newsy (i.e. needs to be timely), I cannot seem to find out what is the publishing process schedule on this app v. YT. This is causing me to have to rely on YT while these creators are actively promoting this app. Yes, I have reached out to a couple of such creators and trying to see if it is on their end, but this is something that should be considered and part of the ToS to the creators. It needs to be as close and hopefully better than on YT. Sorry, if anyone thinks these criticisms are unfair, but it is the competitive environment Nebula faces. Again, the content creators I have moved from YT and found since being on this app is wonderful and now numbers in excess of 30 and still building. Hooray for this app for bringing this together!

by OliCherries

There's no watch later list. Literally the only problem I have with this app is there's no "watch later" list. I often go on to watch a particular video or person, and on the way, I see 6 other deeply interesting titles that I'd love to watch too.

this app's only problem is that it's so interesting, I can't remember everything I want to watch, and I'd love to save each one to come back to.

by #YOLOSWAQ97

After spending way too many hours and days of my life doing whatever the YT algorithm told me to do, I’ve switched to this app and won’t look back. The content is watched on my own terms and I feel so happy supporting so many amazing creators. I almost feel like the service was made specially for me (and you might feel this way too!)

Looking forward to continued updates in Nebula and onboarding of new creators. Keep creating!!

by JC_Gtrz

I have to say I’m impressed by Nebula and it’s content. I wasn’t expecting much but all the content creators I follow are on here and thats a win. It’s missing a few features that would be nice to have but not a deal breaker. One feature that would be nice is a queue or an auto play feature. But maybe they will do it sometime in the future.

by Prep2121

this app is awesome and I LOVE supporting independent creators. I wrote a review yesterday asking for two things: an Apple TV app and a continuous play feature. The developers got back to me in less than 24 hours with news that both of those features have been added and they work great! I have nothing but great things to say about this app and I wish every company would follow their example. Thanks this app!

by HoleMonkey

I really like this platform and I mainly got it to watch Joe Scott and Poly Matter. I think this platform is extremely good for the price, especially since you can listen while your phone’s screen is off. I would like to listen to it at night but it doesn’t have an auto play feature and the recommended videos could use some work.

by Mrbreadwater

I wish there was some sort of recommendation engine, at the moment you can only really scroll through content chronologically, but this makes it difficult to find videos to watch.

Also, Picture in Picture support for iOS 14 would be nice.

Overall though, best streaming service I’ve ever had!

by Conticreative

I am hoping this app will give YT a run for its money. In the meantime I have subscribed hoping to see more creators (the ones already there are excellent).

Two things:
1. Please open (or make more visible) a way for subscribers to talk to you guys. Discord, a forum, anything.
2. Make a Roku app (and likely other platforms) without one, YT will remain at the top of my list.
3. I hope more creators are on the way, especially musicians. 12 tones is already there, but we need more. History guy would be great too.
Find a way to tell out favorite Youtuber about you. Some of us are willing to work harder at it, but most of your revenue will come from other people.