Pocketmags Digital Newsstand Reviews

The Pocketmags Plus app has stopped working. I’ve been a subscriber for years, with no serious problems. But when I tried to go on yesterday, it announced I had no magazines available. I think I have 30 “favorite”d

Thinking maybe it was an internet glitch, I let it be and tried again today. Had the same problem on all my devices (although everything works on my computer - shame thats not at all portable!).

I reinstalled PocketmagsDigitalNewsstand , and that seems to have made things worse. - the Plus page been stuck on a “loading” screen for hours. Plus, before I could at least access the magazine I was in the middle of reading. Now that’s gone as well.

I emailed customer service but received what was clearly an old automatic reply saying replies were delayed by “the holiday period.” Labor Day was days ago… I wonder which one they mean? 72 hours seems to be the minimum wait for assistance - so that’s at least three days out of the latest month I paid for.

I loved PocketmagsDigitalNewsstand but now I’m just frustrated. I downloaded PocketmagsDigitalNewsstand and created an account on my iPhone. The username/password were saved on my phone and I’ve successfully purchased/subscribed to several magazines without an issue. Now, when I want to buy a magazine through their website vs. PocketmagsDigitalNewsstand (because it’s cheaper), I’m told I don’t have an account with Pocketmags. I created an account through the website .. but now it doesn’t sync with my Pocketmags app. I’ve gone round and round via email trying to get this figured out and gotten no where. I don’t understand why there isn’t a phone number to call and speak with someone in person instead of waiting a day for each response.

Sincerely,
Frustrated.

OK, so parts of PocketmagsDigitalNewsstand ’s features are fine but it definitely needs some tweaking. For example, when in page view mode I can’t turn 1 page at a time by swiping regardless of whether my iPad is in landscape or portrait mode. That means I have to rely on viewing 2 pages at a time in landscape mode and then enlarging the second page of the article with my fingers in order to make the size reasonable for reading.

Also, getting to the home menu after reading an article is awkward and the help section is worthless. Otherwise, it’s OK. Just OK.

The reading experience is good, but the front end is terrible. No matter what issue I tap in my “My Latest Issues” it takes me a folder for the publication with the west on top instead of the actual magazine I tapped. Nearly every time I open a magazine PocketmagsDigitalNewsstand crashes. There’s no way to download more than one issue at a time, the only way to trigger a download is to open a magazine and each time you return to the folder containing the magazines it takes you back to the top so you are constantly scrolling down to get older editions.

A feature I do like is Article View which allows you to read the articles without any formatting. There’s also an option for PocketmagsDigitalNewsstand to read the article aloud but it uses the most robotic voice imaginable.

PocketmagsDigitalNewsstand needs some professional help.

I seem to be able to read my magazine, so that is nice.

I really think that I should also be able to print a page and cannot. If I had a paper magazine, I could make a photocopy. That would be fair use, and legal. Likewise, I should have the ability to copy text and cannot. Again that would not only be fair use and legal, but is expected behavior for all apps. Finally, some of the pages seem to be out of order.

Oh, also, even after I have paid for a subscription, if I want to have PocketmagsDigitalNewsstand notify me of new issues, the developer requires me to give them an email address. My other apps are able to notify me without collecting an email address.

I wish they could add in a search feature for key words. If I know what story and not sure where it is if I run a search it would make it easier to use.

Overall PocketmagsDigitalNewsstand is very good. Easy to navigate and works well. I do find that it crashes mid magazine more often then before. I have archived my mags but it doesn’t seem to make a difference. When I reopen PocketmagsDigitalNewsstand it goes back to where it crashed, it’s just annoying to have to restart it often. If this were fixed I would give it five stars.

What appeals to me personally about Pocketmags is having one location to go to check on any new editions available for download on my subscriptions. It’s nice to have individual apps that support their individual magazine as well. It’s nice having an interface that allows me to see all my favorite subscriptions at a glance, observe any new editions I may have somehow missed the notification of their coming available, then immediately download it into my personal library. Later, it can be accessed by my Pocketmags app, or by the particular magazines app. seamlessly. Navigation and search is intuitive in nature which enriched my experience as a subscriber. Navigation, utilizing the digital version of my magazines is nicely interactive as well. This allows a more immersive reading experience. All around it’s a decent app. I hope you find it as useful and dare I say as entertaining as I do! Happy reading!
- Danny Kunz - Kunz Kustoms -

I haven’t seen this feature anywhere else. If there are multiple articles on a page PocketmagsDigitalNewsstand allows you to isolate and share a specific article without having to send the full page. Ingenious

There are several British magazines that I really love but cannot easily buy in the US. “Olive” is my favorite cooking magazine and I love that I can read it here. There are several other magazines I can only get here. I subscribe to a few and a few others I buy issue by issue, depending on content.

The last series of updates, fixed the crashing issue that I had for ages, and finally a bulk download feature is available. Cannot ask for more.

Well done Pocketmags. I really enjoy using PocketmagsDigitalNewsstand again.

I love PocketmagsDigitalNewsstand. I read several mags regularly with this and love the way I can get around. One thing that would be nice would be a way of bookmarking an article and storing the bookmarks in a separate file so I could search for selected articles from a series of mags, not just the one I have open.

Having my mags online is a game changer when I need to learn a song first my band! Before Pocketmags I had to search thru endless crates of magazines to find the tabs and music - now I can just scroll covers and find it. Printing is now improved and makes a huge difference to my work flow.

The article view feature deserves five stars. It allows you too click on each article which takes you to a zoomed-in readable and scrollable view of each article rather than having to pinch zoom on each page. Very helpful!

I really like the magazine about wood turning I used to get the other magazine before they went out of business now this the only one I get the digital copy about 2 months before the paper copy is at the news stand there is so much information and a lot of projects I like to try

There’s not really more that I would want out PocketmagsDigitalNewsstand. You can read your magazine as formatted by the publisher, or in a special mobile friendly article view; these views are easy to switch between. It makes the magazines easily accessible in a mobile format.

I love PocketmagsDigitalNewsstand to maintain and read my magazines subscriptions. I have never had a single issue with PocketmagsDigitalNewsstand in any of my four monthly magazines subscriptions. I like the fact that you can see one or two pages at the same time. Easy to zoom on the pages when you need it.

Love PocketmagsDigitalNewsstand as it allows access to magazines that are hard to find on other electronic readers. One photo magazine from the UK I became a big fan of on another platform, was discontinued on that platform. I was able to find it on PocketmagsDigitalNewsstand and at a cheaper rate. With the subscription I purchased, I also gain access to other publications that are hard to find, at the price of the single subscription I was paying on my other reader.

This is an amazing app. Especially for someone like me who uses PocketmagsDigitalNewsstand on a daily basis to keep myself up to date on the prices of and latest information about one of my great passions, sports cards and collectibles. PocketmagsDigitalNewsstand allows me to check on pricing for my baseball card purchases before I make the purchase with the peace of mind I am paying a fair price by using the prices in Beckett Baseball Card Monthly. I love PocketmagsDigitalNewsstand and would recommend it to anyone with a sports card collection if only to see what a fair market value could be on one’s entire collection.

I thought I would dislike reading magazines online; however, I really enjoy it. Not having to store a hard copy which takes up room. Pocket mags offers a great selection of magazines. I have not had any problems with the application. Excellent service.