Scientific American Reviews

by Really Done With It

It is very difficult to manage or synch up ones subscriptions with ScientificAmerican. Throughout the year I am inundated with offers for new subscriptions from Scientific American, The main magazine, Physics, Mind, combination bundles, etc... Managing the that is a nightmare. If I want to add I need to go to the website and it is not reflected in ScientificAmerican . If I had an earlier subscription to one mag it does not reflect in ScientificAmerican and I cant get to it without a laborious process of linking accounts. Is there anyone I can talk too?? Forget get it! Send off an email and get a response next day... the start over again. When I am able to get things working within two months something breaks and ScientificAmerican refuses to download,, again!! ScientificAmerican looks good and when it works it is great.. but the only thing it is really good at is trying to charge me full price for each issue of a magazine. You are more trouble than you are worth. I am letting my subscriptions lapse. If I can see your magazine through some bundling service like Apple, that will be the way it goes... At least their service doesn’t break every two months and is designed to be easy to manage!!

PS. I cant even post this without giving ScientificAmerican a stupid nickname!!!

by ScottH409

Wow. ScientificAmerican was designed in the year 2021? Let me share all the things wrong with it:

1) It repeatedly fails to recognize that you have a paid subscription. Footnote - why am I getting emails asking to subscribe when I already subscribed?

2) Issues must be downloaded, which takes forever. Who does this in today’s world? Go visit The Atlantic, The Economist or any other of a number of great apps.

3) Font size - for an aging demographic, your base font size is entirely too small. This is the only app with which I have issues. You also can’t scale the font size.

4) Speed - loading speed is horrible and navigation speed isn’t much better.

5) Navigation - Articles are listed by title, which often gives no hint of what it’s about. You need to include a brief summary and/or categorize better.

I was so excited to get this digital subscription - and I subscribe and read a lot of them out there - but this one needs to be completely redone.

by S In Austin

Once again I had to re-authorize which is not a smooth process. When I complained last time I was told they want you to reauthorize every thirty days. These people are really greedy, obnoxious idiots.

Review September 2019. Password lost again. Cannnot restore. These guys are true incompetent morons. They are able to charge my credit card but not actually able to deliver what I paid for.

They seem to have fixed the disappearing password problem. After a week or two and several tries I eas able to get back in. The interface still seems less smooth than it could be.
Even Newer Review

Restore does not work. They should change the name to “Incompetent American”

New review: They supposedly made it better. Not really. It worked for a few months and then lost my subscription. It still won’t hold the password and won’t restore. Some of the issues I can read and others want me to subscribe. The way you view the content when it does work is strange and irritating. They will not respond to requests for help. They have my $99 and I have an app that does not work. I do at least get the paper version.

Old review:
Irritating and unusable. If it was free it would be a waste of time.

Get the paper version. Hard to believe how bad it is.

by Drjefferson

The Scientific American app is great. But you should not subscribe through Apple. You should only subscribe through the Scientfic American we site. The reason is that subscribing through the web site gives you access to Sci Am on all platforms, including the IOS app, but not the other way around. If you subscribe through Apple, your subscription is not recognized on the web site, and you cannot access the huge amount of additional timely material that they provide there.

This restriction makes no sense, because both subscriptions are the same price. But you get so much more by subscribing on the web site. This is not made clear in ScientificAmerican store description. Very frustrating, and not something I would expect from Scientific American.

by Mbarnick

Been reading SA since around 1975. It was this magazine that inspired me to create and learn. Now, the publication is almost exclusively about global warming and how horrible western civilization is. This is constant and a large portion of EVERY issue
If I wanted confirmation bias on left wing politics, I would subscribe to Time magazine. Other tha pure science, the only way to solve global warming is through population reduction. This is a difficult task as all humans have rights. Pointing fingers a people like a bunch of snowflakes and support presidential candidates is not what the publication used to be about.
No one is going to inspired to be an engineer or scientist reading SA. Unless you think that taking an environmental studies class makes you a scientist.
Ahhh, the end of an era. My subscription will not be renewed.

by Jhub91

The magazine is full of good content, and that’s what you get with a mag subscription. It’s also what you get with ScientificAmerican - the magazines you’ve already gotten in the mail.

What you don’t get in ScientificAmerican is all the other published material on the Scientific American website. For that- you have to go to the website on your phone, and sign in.

So, if you have to go to the website and sign in anyway, isn’t it redundant to even have ScientificAmerican ? The answer is yes.

Isn’t it also redundant to have an app that ONLY shows you what’s in the magazines you’ve already received? The answer is, once again, yes.

A good app should negate the need for users to go to a different app- their browser- and log in to your website. And just think of all that valuable user data you’re leaving on the table by making them go to Chrome instead of your app!

Abominable. Back to the drawing board dudes. Or if you outsourced, time to get a new development agency.

by Mororrorom

ScientificAmerican used to work well for me. But their updated toolbar clearly didn’t get tested, as the item names are clearly variable names: “tab_storefront”, “tab_document”, etc. Much much worse is that it no longer saves your place. Used to be that I could leave ScientificAmerican for weeks, open it again, and keep reading the same article. Now ScientificAmerican takes you back to the main page if you leave it for a few minutes instead of staying at the article. There is no “continue where you left off” option either. You have to remember the issue yourself.

by Good App1211

I used to instruct Skeptic Magazine that they should copy the method that SA uses to keep tract of what I’m currently reading. It seems SA in the latest update has devolved. I now have to wind my way from the top level menu each time I return to ScientificAmerican . I gotta ask, do the developers/testers actually use ScientificAmerican or do they just read the paper version? The paper version does remember were I left off when I set it down.

by DavidIra

Over the decades this magazine has gradually dumbed down its content and become a lot glitzier. 30 years ago the articles were written by the researchers. They were long and often impenetrable. Today many articles are written by journalists and the ones by researchers have clearly been heavily edited. Some are excellent while others are very superficial.
Still it’s far and away the best general circulation science magazine in America.
As for ScientificAmerican , I have the same subscription problem as everybody else. People have been complaining about this for years. But Scientific American seems uninterested in trying to do anything about it.

by Astronomy Gregg

This is one of the most confusing apps to use. It routinely locks you out, and then you end up in a loop when you try to log back in to your account. Also, I tried to add a subscription, and when I reached the checkout page there were no active options on the screen to actually complete the checkout. I’m no computer genius, but there is nothing intuitive at all about managing ScientificAmerican. I will end up adding a Kindle subscription to Astronomy Magazine as I apparently can not add “Space and Physics” to my current subscription. Very disappointing.

by Profmiket

Below is a review I wrote about 2 years ago. I still have problems with ScientificAmerican not retaining my subscription information.
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Seems like both the website and the iPad app have had problems for a couple of years that have not been addressed. I got an e-mail verifying my renewal today that contained a link to my subscription. Using that link, I got a page that said, "We have moved," and gave another link to get to the magazine. Since SciAm just sent me that link, why haven't they updated it to take me to the address that they've move to? Additionally, on the iPad app, I have to re-registered my subscription if I have accessed it for a few weeks. After I do that, I have access to the digital issues, but I don't understand why I have to keep re-registering. This annoying problem has been true for previous versions of the iPad app. Despite these problems, I think the SciAm content is great and it has kept me as a long-term subscriber.

by Rich49

I won't rehash what review after review has said. Something is wrong in the way ScientificAmerican logs people in and keeps track of subscriptions. I read all of my publications on an iPad and with SA I spend most of my time trying to access the magazine rather than reading it. This has been an ongoing problem for a couple of years in various forms. I have subscribed since 1965 and I love the articles but I don't have the time to deal with ScientificAmerican - so I'm done at the end of my current subscription.

by JohnnySchad

When you read this magazine, you come to a place where fact and assertion are not interchangeable. In science, the status of “fact” is earned, then earned again and again.

In a world of fake news, Flat Earthers, denial, and open antagonism towards learning and the learned, what a refreshing refuge.

The topics are widely varied, so if you read an issue, you will learn something.

by Joe2011m

What started off as a wonderful intuitive app that allowed you to zoom in to view figures and insights and bookmark articles has morphed into an app that is barely useful. To views figures now you have to use a tiny zoom window (what genius came up with that) photos can no longer be zoomed. Going back to paper here

by Dr Pe

App has improved. Finally remembers me. Still has some problems keeping track of my multiple devices (2 iPhones, three iPads, one MacBook) but works great if I restrict to one device.
Broad breadth of topics. Reliable. Great graphics. Prefer to read the physical magazine but I’ve usually read everything on ScientificAmerican before paper arrives.

by Ugyguyfrgfirgviuefi

I am always amazed at the wealth of knowledge this magazine has to offer and their app lives up to that same quality. If you’re on the fence about buying a subscription, do it. It’s got information on just about everything from dark matter to weight loss (which at times can seem like a dark matter). Anyway, I commonly read these magazines and ScientificAmerican only makes my addiction portable and easy! Thank you Scientific American!

by Capt SteveB

This is my go to magazine for all things current in general scientific thinking. While I don't always agree with the editors opinions entirely they are well written and balanced, presenting facts for consideration. Content articles are well chosen with appropriate and relevant topics. In today's environment of fake news and misinformation, cultural and group bias, it is very refreshing to read articles and opinions based on truth and facts determined by observation. SA not only stipulates ones curiosity, it promotes logical fact based thinking.

by Kaybeeh

The main problem I have with ScientificAmerican is that it arbitrarily and often removes all my downloads regardless of available space. Believe me, I have lots of space, but is is frustrating that I have to keep on downloading all the magazines over and over again. I also have to constantly re-login. I have the largest tablets cause I like to keep my books magazines etc. ZINIO, Kindle, they work like a charm. Please fix this ASAP. Otherwise ScientificAmerican could be fine.

by ASN13

Review of reviews reveals that most of the time ScientificAmerican does not recognize your subscription and tries to charge for issues. Even when you "successfully" restore subscription ( where did it go to néed to be "restored" ) it tries to charge anew. Thank goodness I kept print issue active as well as these do show up.

The log in conundrum just completely destroys the joy of reading SA. by making it impossible to do so without wasting hours fighting to get what you paid for.

S.A. Clearly not versed in computer science

by ZakZQ

Love the content in general. However ScientificAmerican is problematic: recurrent problem over several iOS and different iPhones, I have to delete ScientificAmerican every month for my account to recognize my subscription. “Restore subscription” never works. Otherwise love the content and will keep the subscription despite the monthly hassle!
Update:
Looks like above issue was fixed. Also, ScientificAmerican stays at the exact page where I left it when I come back to ScientificAmerican after closing it (used to take me to the home page). 5 stars!
Thanks

by Jdawgnickname

I always enjoy the content of SA, and I liked the features of being able to download issues for offline use. I had about 60 hours of flying ahead so I said, hey why not subscribe and download some backlogs. So I downloaded 8 or so issues, ready to kill some time. I get on the plane and get on ScientificAmerican and my issues are gone.. I’m told they were automatically deleted to save space. I check my storage, had 9 or so GB of space left. Feel like a chump that wasted his money big time.

by SOU812

Excellent app.

Updating my review to point out a major bug with ScientificAmerican. As others have stated, there is a serious problem with having to log back in after not using the Scientific American app for a while. ScientificAmerican is also supposed to support Family Sharing, but in my experience it does not. Scientific American is an excellent publication, I only wish their app was equal to the standards of the magazine. Taking away one star for that.

by Proto Loco

I have been subscribing Scientific American for the last 52 years. I read ever, recently some articles have been slanted to the left of the political spectrum. I would the magazine to publish various points of view. Seas have been rising for centuries and 250 million years ago the Georgia Coast was at Macon GA. Why can the magazine publish articles which describes those events, instead of blaming CO2 from fossil fuels as the culprit.

by Komboholmes

No matter how great you think your education is, SA brings you back to reality with each issue. The last one with the article on life is awesome.
I still have a problem getting around and 90 does not help. I have been trying to get the issue published on my birth month February 1928.
Thanks for helping us stay up to date.

Paul

by Eternal Sophomore

Not just the headlines of science but also the laboratories and long-term thinking that will pay off in ten years.

Incredible graphics that speak to the lessons of the articles.

Each issue leaves me wanting more, just in time for the next issue.