The CW Reviews

by $1K Master

TheCW is incomprehensibly bad, at least as far as how it displays when holding the iPad in different orientations. For starters, when you open TheCW , it only supports portrait orientation, with the home button at the bottom. Now let’s be clear about something. We are watching a video, the only way to watch it is in landscape orientation. And that is exactly how the videos will play, but before you can watch them, you have to browse the selection screen with iPad held upright in portrait orientation. That is incomprehensibly ridiculous. Why wouldn’t you want to browse the listings in the same orientation as you are going to watch them in? As it is, the iPad is often easier to hold in landscape orientation. And it’s not like there isn’t an existing CW app that is used exclusively in landscape orientation. Hello Apple TV!

But this gets better. Sometimes I have to have my iPad in landscape orientation with the home button on the left side, so I can have it plugged in while I’m watching something. And while the actual videos “can” play oriented correctly regardless of which side is up, when you pause a video, it will resume upside down if your iPad is held (or on a stand in my case) with the home button is on the left. And of course, when you exit a video, the home screen for TheCW is sideways.

You would think the developers of The CW app have not actually used it themselves. It’s just that incomprehensibly absurd in the way it works.

by So Done With Facebook

It’s wild that such a large wealthy company can have such a crappy app. The constant buffering brings me back to my 2002 dial up internet days. I guess I should be grateful TheCW doesn't include that screeching dial up noise. Oh, speaking of noise… the commercials are significantly louder than the show, so I have to mute them if I don’t want to play the up-down game every 5 minutes. If I try to leave the volume at a happy medium so the commercials are more bearable, I can barely hear the dialogue of the actual show. But wait, there’s more! The closed captioning is out of synch, sometimes by several minutes, so it’s no help at all in trying to catch what the characters are saying while keeping the volume low enough to avoid being startled by the extremely loud commercials or even the in-show music. Did I mention that the music in the actual show is also super loud? So I’ll have it turned up high so I can hear the dialog, then it cuts to a scene in a nightclub and I have to scramble to grab the remote to turn it back down to a reasonable level, but then the next scene is dialog so I have to turn it back up again. The whole point of watching tv shows is to relax and chill, but trying to watch anything on CW is just exhausting and frustrating. Sigh. At least it’s free.

by JAF

When casting from TheCW to a Google device, I’ve tried with two different models, every commercial break audio comes in early and the last minute of each scene is playing without sound while audio from a commercial plays and then the show audio comes back in during the out-of-sync commercial, and then the show starts again but a minute after the audio and it’s not rewindable because TheCW says it’s still an ad and it’s counting down and it says there’s 2 or 3 minutes left in what TheCW thinks is an ad. You have to close the video and start it over to fix it because even when you hit resume it goes back to the beginning and then fast forward to where you were because it doesn’t register where you were in the video when you were casting it and if you miss you have to watch the ads again and there’s a chance the audio from the show is going to come in early even when the commercials are in sync when you restart the video. Good content. Terrible app

by HijadeDios_yg

I enjoy being able to watch my favorite shows even without having Cable TV but it’s truly a pain when I constantly have to exit and enter TheCW in order for an episode to continue playing because in the transition from ads to episode it just completely freezes. Sometimes there’s discombobulated audio in the background and sometimes even when the visual seems to be working (including not in transition from as to show) the audio just cuts out randomly- with or without headphones. Whenever I stop watching something and go back to TheCW later, it starts me way earlier in the episode than I was and I have to watch a bunch of ads (that I already watched) in order to get to where I was. I understand that commercials are like TV- but if you’re going to have commercials like TV please have them transition smoothly into the rest of the show. Sometimes my play and skip buttons won’t work at all and I’ll have to completely exit TheCW and start the episode all over. TheCW could be great but it just malfunctions constantly.

by VanHeath

There are several shows on The CW I like to follow (Arrow, Flash, 100). I recently learned a another CW show that I’m really enjoying, Penn & Teller’s Fool Us. It’s a great show. I found that TheCW has Season 2-5 available. Problem is, the new App layout starts you on the most recently aired episode and to go back to older episodes you have to scroll to the right one episode at a time until you reach the one you want. Then after watching the episode, 80% of the time it does not take you to the next episode but requires you to choose the show from the home menu and then scroll through the episodes again.

The old layout made it much easier to get to older episodes. A drop down menu fit selecting episodes would be great and having a more consistent “Up Next” episode after the one you watch finishes is desperately needed.

Finally the Continue menu to continue episodes had many episode listed that I’ve already completed and I can not remove episodes from the list.

by Techfreak23

I love the Arrowverse shows. That’s the only reason I watch CW shows. I’m glad I was able to watch the Crisis on Infinite Earths series without having to resort to a less than reputable streaming site, but TheCW makes me really want to again. The iPad version of TheCW only allows you to browse in portrait, but goes to landscape when playing a video. It does not, however, let you switch landscape orientations.

The ads are also extremely annoying. I get they need ad revenue to continue making money and the shows, but play some different ads. Don’t play the same set of 3-5 ads for the whole episode. It’s also very buggy when it comes to resuming an episode. I already watched your annoying ads. Don’t force me to watch them again to get back to the point I was at. Sometimes it will even start me back to the previous part of the video I already watched before the ads. Then I have to skip back to the point I was at only to be shown the exact same ads! People want to watch the content legally, but the lengthy repetitive ads and bugs make you want to go find it elsewhere for free with no ads. Fix your app!

by Travis Jarrod Smith

It’s all the little things that drag TheCW down. There’s no way to make it full screen on the newer iPhones, the CC button seems unfunctional half the time, there isn’t a way to pick the quality of the video, you cannot see a timer to tell you how much time is left for the ads, you can only fast forward or rewind in 10 second increments, the overlay with the pause symbol is way too big, the video takes an eternity to load compared to other streaming apps (try to skip forward or backwards and have fun waiting at least those 10 seconds in real time), you cannot view all the episodes at once and pick from them, and the video will sometimes just turn to an all grey screen (fixable only by reloading the video altogether) if it is interrupted in certain ways. While it still technically lets you watch the shows (which is why I go 2 stars instead of 1), it is shoddy and amateurish in how it does that. Quality control must have been nonexistent in the process of developing TheCW.

by Bob Vans Vans Refrigeration

I came to TheCW because The CW isn’t streaming the previous episodes of season 4 of Riverdale on tv, so I watched episode one of season 4 but since they don’t have a lot of the episodes I had to search the web for episode 2 and I couldn’t find it anywhere for free so now I have to wait for it to come onto Netflix and since I live in the US I probably won’t be able to watch it for a while. Also there are a ton of ads, I get that you have to have ads in order to have a free app but seriously six ads every 10-20 minutes that’s pretty unfair. I really just want to watch my favorite show but since The CW isn’t showing the previous episodes of Riverdale and it won’t come to Netflix for a while AND TheCW is missing episodes I only got to watch episode one of season 4 and now I get to wait for it to come onto the US Netflix. Overall I feel they should include all the episodes of the series on TheCW and add the next one when it comes onto The CW on tv and that they should lower the amount of ads.

by B:

The first thing is there are way too many ads. Ok so I get you have to have ads to have a free app, but can’t you make it so if I was at a part after an ad I don’t have to go through all the ads. I mean every 6-12 minutes there is a series of 6 ads and not even different ones. Usually they are almost exactly the same as the last series of ads I watched. It’s soooo annoying. Second thing is that they app only has the last 5 episodes of the tv series. So if I want to watch a new series that has 10 episodes I have to find the first 5 episodes on other apps or websites and it’s quite annoying. I usually end up using other apps/websites instead of this one for these reasons. I know you can’t get rid of all ads and maybe you can’t even make every episode of a show available but it would be nice to not have sooo many ads and at least AT LEAST the 10 latest episodes of a tv series. I suggest to only use TheCW if you have patience for ads and you are on the lasted 5 episodes of a show. So honestly only download this if you don’t have another app that has your favorite shows.

by Aria Riopolos

TheCW frequents issues with your Ads. Sometimes the Ads will run over the show, and I will miss 5 minute increments at a time because the ads play simultaneously and do not pause and start the show. This is a technical problem, but I also have a problem with the ads themselves. I have no control over the ads I see, and your ads often make me uncomfortable and even am often repulsed, as they deal with many thing completely irrelevant to me or expose me to topics that gross me out. It ruins the interest in your shows and the amount of time I am willing to commit and the more it occurs, the less I feel secure in your app.
This can and should be remedied by allowing users to elect content of sponsors, or choose from a list of preselected topics at the very least. I honestly wouldn’t even mind seeing the same previews on repeat, so long as I do not have to see the rest of it at all. This allows you to better improve your demographic information as well, so I don’t see why it isn’t already an option, at the very least when you set up the account.

by Jdkdhruepwsbdge

There’s definitely issues but it’s a free streaming service so we can’t complain that much. Sometimes it’s becomes very blurry , commercials are very long, there’s no resume button so if you stop streaming and then go back you have to remember where you stopped or just rewatch the whole thing. Which is sometimes easier because otherwise you’ll watch like 6 minutes of commercials before you get back to your spot. All that I can deal with. most recently I’ve been having a new problem that’s never occurred before. I stream to my tv thru my chrome cast but now as soon as my phone screen locks, it completely kicks me off. Which is like two minutes. I can’t minimize TheCW because the same thing happens. I have to reconnect and start all over. Not an issue with the internet or chrome cast because Netflix/Hulu work just fine. This maybe started last week. I like a lot of the shows but trying to keep my phone screen active on the cw app screen for 50 minutes is a lot of effort for no reason really, even for a free app.

by Cargamesmith

I like watching the CW but there are way to many adds. If you click the skip button more than 3 times it fast forwards until it hits an add which is so irritating because you have to watch the adds and can’t even go back while the adds are playing. Now there are a lot of good shows on the CW but you can’t watch them all for example with The Flash and DC Legends of Tomorrow series you can only watch whatever is in that season but I don’t know if it’s just me. Also at the very beginning there is an add it would be great if you can move that into later in the video. I know since you don’t have to pay for TheCW you rely on adds to make money but can you make it to where you don’t watch the same exact add 14 times in less than 30 minutes please. There is also a problem with the timing of a show because it dose not account for the adds it has. Otherwise this is a great app I am not trying to downgrade your app these are just suggestions. Thank you for your time and for reading this comment if you do.

by Fallonmaiha

I think TheCW is great when you can’t watch it on TV and it works wonders if you have the time to watch them before they expire. But, if you don’t then you have to wait for them to come out on Netflix and especially with shows that conjoin such as The Flash, The Arrow, DC Legends of Tomorrow, and Supergirl you can’t watch the episodes in order because they’re gone. Or watch the episodes in general, really. Another thing is that if you miss a period of time because you got busy then you may have watched episodes 1, 2, 3, and 4 but now it’s on 8, 9, and 10 and you can’t go back. I just wish that The episode season expires so that way you could watch them all and not have to worry about a time constraint. I have times where I get so busy that I can’t watch them so I have to just wait for them to come on Netflix which could be months and it’s functional but I just wish that for better access and convenience the episodes wouldn’t expire.

by Ggdchgbh

I do like having the opportunity to see my shows whenever and wherever I want but I wish TheCW would be better at keeping track of where I am in a show, for example I watched a episode of arrow and watched almost all the way through then had to do something eles so I stopped and got back to watching it a couple of hours later and the show thought I was only 6 mins in instead of 40 and I had to watch 4 commercial breaks in a row and the exact same commercials I already watched and then there was a time I did the same thing (watched a show stopped and went back to it a couple hours later) and it kept Where I was but when I got to the commercials I watched them and then I was 7 mins behind instead of right after the commercial break I just watched so I had to watch the exact same commercials again that I just watched

by Liaxe

I am fine with ads, if I wanted no ads I would have just gone and purchased what I want to watch. However the ads need to be quicker maybe 3 min max, and change it up, the same ad 10 times in one 40 minute episode (I’m exaggerating) is hell, and makes it seem even longer.

Please fix programming or whatever, I am never sent back to where I was watching when I hit continue, sometimes it won’t let me hit play when I answer a text. It’s obnoxious and I have to restart TheCW .

⚡️Overall, I like the shows they are great, for me the quality of viewing is great. I think that considering that this is a free app, with free streaming of the most recent episodes of shows, that others should cut The CW some slack. Yes there are issues that can be fixed/improved, but over all very good for free. For other viewers I recommend watching shows in one sitting, or remembering the time you stopped watching. For The CW I recommend fixing some of the glitches of your app, but great job, on the shows concepts, I love the plots.

by Pinaden

I don’t know which version the bug occurred, but there is an option to skip the credits and roll into the next episode, as watching several in consecutive order, and it seems the audio track continues to play, while the video bumps to the next episode. Once the previous episode ends the track, the next episode begins, along with the audio track for the new episode, so ends up with a fairly garbled track, although there are two distinct tracks playing on top of the other. Otherwise, as we have a busy life, this is a great alternative to watching my DC shows live-play, as I can catch the last few weeks’ worth, as time allows. This occurred a couple of months ago, and was just figured out to be what the issue is that is occurring. I have not, as yet, tried to reinstall TheCW , but it has been occurring on both of our Apple TV modules, so not sure if it was a glitch that just hadn’t gotten bumped out by a bug fix or if it’s just never been noticed by anyone else.

by HLC7560

I literally just started using TheCW 10 minutes ago. There’s a new series called Dead Pixels that I recorded on DirecTV but that version bleeps out cussing. I was really hoping that TheCW wouldn’t or at least provide a setting that would allow me to toggle it. No luck that I can see. I’m giving TheCW the benefit of the doubt by starting at 5 stars and removing 1 for the above issue. I’ve heard there are too many commercials. Like I said, I just started so I don’t have an opinion yet. While I completely understand the need for them (especially for a free app), the frequency and quantity of them should be reasonable or I’ll lower the stars further. IMHO a viewer that doesn’t have to pay to watch should have to endure commercials but no more than 10 min for every 30 min of entertainment content. You spread it out how you see fit but more than 5 commercials in a break is way too much.

by Ablest Gabble

I REALLY LOVE TheCW!!! If I miss the CW tv shows I want to watch the night before, I can watch them in TheCW for quite a while after they air on tv before they expire from TheCW . And it being free just for the normal commercial breaks that the regular shows have is AWESOME!!!!!! I can totally watch commercials if it means a free experience to be able to watch my shows if I miss them when they air!!!!
I’m currently addicted to Supernatural and have been since it began airing. Sometimes it’s changing schedule from season to season makes me miss an episode here or there. TheCW allows me to watch or rewatch an aired episode from the night before to keep up with the story arcs with my favorite CW show! It usually allows a week to 3 weeks or so to watch an episode after it airs. Then it will expire from TheCW .
And since I don’t have much money to pay for a service AND my cell phone, I REALLY appreciate that it’s free, just for the trade off of having commercial breaks build into the show! I can totally live with that!!!!!
THANK YOU CW APP!!! 💖

by MamaSnowflake

First, I would like to say that the new update is great and I am not having nearly as many stall outs as I was. So, Thank you.

Second, I am one of those that won't pay for more than one streaming service at a time. Well, I only carry one, Netflix, consistently. Which has hither to carried CW shows, but I read that is changing. Every once in a while I will pay for a second for as long as I am watching the series. Then I dump it. However, if I could get access to all of a show's seasons and episodes via the CW app, I would be willing to pay for it and carry it regularly. It is the only channel in which I watch nearly every show available, and I have a schedule where it is difficult to keep up with even the five episodes available to me considering I geek out on so many. Anyways, thanks for listening ad have a great day.

by XaaM3

TheCW is great. I don’t really have time to watch my shows on The CW, always working. So I come to this free app to watch all my CW shows. I’ve been watch channel 56 all my life, since the mid 80,s. And it is my favorite channel. It used to have all the good cartoons in the early times for kids and in the evening times, the dramas. Gilmore Girls, Smallville, Dawson’s Creek, Buffy, Angel, Supernatural, Fresh Prince, Tiny Toons, Anamaniacs, VR Troopers, Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, Marvels Shield, Constantine, Charmed (old version), and so, so much more.

I recently had the playback error and it made me stop watching for a bit, but I did write to the CW Support team and after a couple of days they fixed the problem. Haven’t been on to check to see if it works yet but I am confident that the problem has been solved.

Many other apps would have you jump through hoops just to fix some problems and sometimes they never get fixed at all. But CW, in a timely manner, they went ahead and listened to the people who downloaded this fine app and fixed the problem.

In conclusion, The CW app will always be my #1 app, my go to app, the best.

To The CW Team, great work and keep it up. Not many support teams are great like you. I do appreciate all that you do. I don’t usually write review that much but I will express my love for The CW any way that I can.

Thank You, X

by Amazing Girl 7

•I downloaded TheCW like a few months ago and it was GREAT, now whenever you watch a tv show and adds are going on you can’t even pause the show so you can take a break, you have to sit through the adds and then pause it when the show comes back on because if you close out of TheCW while commercials are going on you can’t resume where you ended you would have to start the show all over again.
•Another thing that is bothering me is when you close TheCW and the continue or restart but comes up it just takes you to the same exact place and when you just try to scroll all the way to the beginning it plays the show for 5 seconds and then says “Error: Playback has stalled out” and it kicks you out and it keeps doing it whenever I try watching a show.
•If you want to watch a show without getting interrupted with stupid stuff like this I would NOT recommend TheCW, but I don’t know if it’s just a bug or what but it’s so annoying.

by Rose Kingsbury

I’m rating the functionality of TheCW , which in my opinion is inconvenient and a downgrade. I prefer TheCW before they fixed it. My main issue is the inability to have it function in horizontal mode (except when actually watching the episode). I, and I know many others, watch this on their iPad therefore it makes it super difficult and inconvenient to scroll and see what you want to watch without having to constantly flip your iPad. I also don’t like the layout under each show. It makes finding episodes hard especially the most recent ones that you haven’t watched. It doesn’t even give me a function to see if I’ve watched that episode or not. I also don’t like that I’ve got to hunt for the trailer for the next episode either. I liked when I could see everything on one horizontal page. Overall, TheCW has made a huge downgrade in its improvements and the CW should be thankful that I love their shows to put up with such a crappy app.

by Realistic.4

I think TheCW is great when you can’t watch it on TV and it works wonders if you have the time to watch them before they expire. But, if you don’t then you have to wait for them to come out on Netflix and especially with shows that conjoin such as The Flash, The Arrow, DC Legends of Tomorrow, and Supergirl you can’t watch the episodes in order because they’re gone. Or watch the episodes in general, really. Another thing is that if you miss a period of time because you got busy then you may have watched episodes 1, 2, 3, and 4 but now it’s on 8, 9, and 10 and you can’t go back. I just wish that The episode season expires so that way you could watch them all and not have to worry about a time constraint. I have times where I get so busy that I can’t watch them so I have to just wait for them to come on Netflix which could be months and it’s functional but I just wish that for better access and convenience the episodes wouldn’t expire.

by Rachel.Luvs.Cookies

I just got TheCW . I was so excited until I found out about the expiration dates. I’m confused, like why do we need them? I have Netflix but let’s be real, they take forever to upload a new season from any show, really. So I downloaded TheCW to find the seasons that weren’t yet on Netflix. I was looking for the first episode of season 13 on Supernatural, which in my opinion, is the best TV show I’ve ever watched, but I didn’t find it. So now I don’t have a choice but to wait on Netflix. Because if I watch the episodes ahead of time, I wouldn’t have any clue on what’s happening. Also, you guys should really keep on the seasons and episodes of the shows. What if somebody is about to binge watch the seasons of a show. They can’t because the CW only has the recent episodes. Please think about this, I really want to watch my favorite shows. I love TheCW, if you just added some more improvements, it’d be perfect 👌