DISCOVER Magazine Reviews

by DelveN2

I have an active digital subscription that ends August of 2021. For some reason I cannot access any issue, nor can I **Restore Purchases** as per the disclaimer here. I contacted Apple Support and they referred me to the “App Support” link that is found on DISCOVERMagazine review page. I did that and the link is either broken or inactive because it does not provide a means of asking for assistance. So I drilled down to the *Contact Us* link in the customer service section of the magazine’s web site and sent an email request. This was 4 business days ago and no response. So, I contacted Apple Support and requested a refund, which was not provided. So, this makes me upset at both Discover Magazine and Apple itself because I am not the only customer who seems to have to recourse to this problem. If services and products are not rendered AFTER payment has been provided, there is a problem. I don’t care if it’s over $30 or $3 or $300. Lousy Customer Service all around here. Keep this in mind if you are considering subscribing.

by Dominikavinyasa

The new app is useless as others pointed out. I have been a digital only subscriber for several years now to help the planet by omitting the print copy. Now I can’t even access the magazine on my phone. Until it’s fixed, I am deleting it from my phone and suspending my subscription. It’s a bummer.

by Please Stop This

Been reading this magazine for as long as I can remember. I just dont have time any move.

by Mlblack52804

Obviously the software supplier is just stealing the discription money. No access to anything. I phone says I have my subscription but no help . Could no be more disappointed October 2021😐

by Skyhawk363ma

I have had the same issue that many have had here. I have paid for the subscription through my iTunes account and have no access to the content. Inquiry to both Apple and Kalmbach publishing, resulting only in incredible frustration. This seems to have been a known issue for the past year or more, and Apple has done nothing to help its devoted customers from being ripped off by paying money, albeit, be at to a third-party, but not receiving content that was promised and paid for. To me, this is equivalent to theft. After a discussion with Apple, my only recourse was to cancel my subscription and ask for a full refund. This experience diminishes my trust in Apple and will think about this the next time faced with paying their higher prices, which is only justified by higher quality of products, services, and customer service, all of which were seriously lacking in this experience. The publisher, Kalmbach publishing, should be in someway, held accountable for this!

by Mlr027

App freezes on the opening screen on my IPad, but sometimes works on my IPhone. Also agree with all negative comments made since DISCOVERMagazine was last updated.

by Sunshinegirl1962

I have a subscription to Discover magazine and can login just fine on the website but not DISCOVERMagazine . I keep getting “Failed to log in”. Sad.

by Drcox3

I have subscribed to Discover for years. That is now ending due to the fact that the new version of the iOS app does not work. It freezes each time I try to restore purchases. This is extremely disappointing.

by BaZooKa Joe 79

I cancelled my digital subscription 2 years .... I just came cause I got a new iPad Pro and thought maybe I’d try it out again cause it was horrible last time .... after reading the reviews I’ll wait ... it’s a shame they can’t do this right

by Kohanmike

I'm an advanced computer user and I can not understand DISCOVERMagazine. It's slow as can be even with 400mb internet service I have. The icon shows a notification of 2 and I have no idea why. Scrolling through the archive list does not clarify which issues are loaded and which are not. Terrble.

by 282523

Just to echo the other comments here. App lost my subscription, doesn’t recognize my Apple ID, App support link goes nowhere. Been a subscriber for 10 plus years. No more.

by Pixel Orb

I paid for a year in oct 2020 but cannot access anything after December. No obvious way to contact them, but they didn’t have trouble taking my money. Restore purchases function freezes. So frustrating.

by ISamNC

I’ve read Discover for decades. But I’m canceling my subscription. DISCOVERMagazine is horrible. I’ve seen other reviews with the same complaints. On-line requirement, doesn’t remember where you were in an issue, requires you to accept cookies EVERY time you open it. They should be embarrassed by DISCOVERMagazine. I guess if enough people cancel their subscription maybe they’ll notice.

by Kffdjcjdcckjcck

DISCOVERMagazine has failed to work for years. I can't access my issues; I get asked to buy the current issue instead. Reinstalled DISCOVERMagazine and no change. Called customer service and they were absolutely useless! Really pathetic that a publication dedicated to science can't figure out how to fix their technology problems. Do not buy this magazine!!!!!

by GScnce

I have read Discover for over 30 years, the last 5-10 digitally. I can’t even read at all with DISCOVERMagazine. I can’t login with my Apple ID. The Discover website won’t let me send email to complain unless I have a paper subscription. DISCOVERMagazine Support link here goes to NO active page. This is the 2nd app update I have had problems with. Kalmbach doesn’t seem to care about Apple digital subscribers. Don’t think I will renew.

by Pascha

New updated app is awful. I’ve been a subscriber to Discover Magazine for over 20 years and DISCOVERMagazine update is seriously disappointing. There is no dashboard menu to speak of, so can’t figure out if I can remove downloaded issues once I’m finished. When reading an issue DISCOVERMagazine loses your place and starts back at page 1 if you leave and come back later. The last app worked really well and I can’t figure out why is replaced with this!

by 112233##@@4455

Worst app I have come across. For a number of years every time my subscription renews I have had to delete DISCOVERMagazine and reload DISCOVERMagazine and tell it to restore purchases. Now that doesn’t happen. After my latest renewal I can’t open any issues. Apple tells me to contact the magazine. The magazine tells me they don’t know who I am and to contact the people who designed DISCOVERMagazine . DISCOVERMagazine doesnt reply. So now I spent $20 for a magazine I can’t read. Obviously the publishers of Discover don’t care about their app. They just take the money. Laughing all the way to the bank. DO NOT BUY DISCOVERMagazine! Waste of money.

by Unhappy Customer31415

ETA: the updated app also requires you to have an active internet connection to read the magazine, making it even more useless. DISCOVERMagazine deserves 0 stars, and the developers should all be fired.

I am a longtime subscriber to Discover magazine, first in print but for the last 4 or so years through DISCOVERMagazine . The updated app is useless - you can't tell which issues you have downloaded, and even worse DISCOVERMagazine does not remember what page you are on, so if you don't finish the issue in a single sitting, it brings you back to page 1 the next time you use it. Don't waste your money on a digital subscription until they fix this worthless app.

by Scifi Fangirl

It is impossible to read Discover magazine with DISCOVERMagazine. It constantly forgets my subscription and locks me out of issues I’ve subscribed to. When I try to restore purchases, it won’t recognize my Apple ID or it freezes up. I finally just canceled my subscription, which is too bad, because I like the magazine content. I’m considering subscribing to the print magazine, which seems like an insane thing to do in this day and age, but I’m at my wits’ end. I see lots of other reviewers here who’ve had the same experience as me, and I find it shocking that Discover has done nothing to fix the problem. They’re losing customers and readers.

by JAConar

With this current update DISCOVERMagazine locked up once I did a Restore of my purchases. It now is impossible to read my magazines. Beware! Kalmbach could care less about their customers. It’s very obvious that once they have your money, that’s it. There has been no attempt on their end to rectify the problem. Apple and customers should do a class action lawsuit against them. Disgusting!

by R3mdh

DISCOVERMagazine crashes every time I open it on iOS 7.0.2. Only way to fix is to uninstall DISCOVERMagazine , reinstall DISCOVERMagazine , restore purchases, then redownload every purchase. Needless to say, this is time-consuming. Then, DISCOVERMagazine works fine ... for a few days. Inevitably, the crash problem comes back, and I have to redo the ridiculous reinstall procedure just to get a few more days of reading before it goes into constant crashing. As such, DISCOVERMagazine is unusable. And if I'm going to pay full retail prices for a digital copy (I must be crazy!), then this business model is a failure. I might as well just buy it off the shelf at the store - at least the print copy doesn't crash! Please fix, or lose another customer. (FYI, also happens with Astronomy Magazine.)

by Nothappycustumer

This is the worst customer service ever!

Downloaded DISCOVERMagazine . Bought a year subscription. I was super happy and could not wait to start reading the current issue. But I could not access it. I tried the "restore purchase" as suggested, but it said "failed to restore 1 purchase, try to download it individually, you will not be charged for it". Wrong! Less than five minutes later they had charged my CC. I called their customer service to see if we could work things out, but the lady could not care less. She kept saying that I needed to contact Apple to have them cancel the charges. Fine, but I wanted also to make sure that everything would be in order for the upcoming year. She just did not want to help me in any way and told me to call Apple and have them cancel all the charges. I did contact Apple and they were able to reverse both charges. Sadly I won't be reading this magazine but if they don't care to have customer then I will never recommend this magazine!

by Rocky241

App just sits on opening screenshot, never proceeds. I have an App Store subscription for last 4 years. App used to be functional. iOS version is 13.3.

Please hurry fix. Love magazine.

by Birch 73

As many others have commented, this was a terrible update. What the hell were you thinking?

by Ginobean

I only took a look at the preview content, but it looks like you basically reproduce the printed pages verbatim, page by page.

This doesn't well on my mini ipad, as I keep on having to scroll around to read even one printed page. Basically this is a deal breaker because it's such a clumsy way to navigate around a page.

Take a look at the wikipanion app for a better to handle it. you're better off dynamically reformatting the content based the device screen size. again, take a look at wikipanion as an example.

by Fortepianist

I've been a reader of the magazine since the 1980's (when it was called Science 84, Science 85, etc.) and there is none better for the lay reader that contains solid science reporting in an attractive and entertaining format. DISCOVERMagazine exactly replicates the magazine layout, a design choice that has its pluses and minuses, but it looks good at the expense, somewhat, of ease of navigation and intuitive interface. I'd give it five stars for content and three stars for interface. Still, I like DISCOVERMagazine version enough that I haven't gone back to the paper format.

by Langanlee

I think this magazine is an excellent source of scientific news presented in layman's terms. I read it cover to cover, mostly when I'm traveling. I was going to send my 2-year print subscription renewal in the mail today but it occurred to me that I should check into getting the online version instead...would be convenient to read it on my iPad. I'm also a bit disappointed that print subscribers aren't given complimentary access to the online version as well. So now I'm going to hold off on renewing my print subscription...will consider ordering the online version though. The annual price for the online version is the same as two years for the print version so at least there's somewhat of a price break.

by Curriden

I have read Discover, since I was an elementary school student, through the adult I am today. It is at once better that some other, more populist magazines, which while fun, don't present or give access to the hard sciences, and other more academic magazines, which while giving the access, can fail in accessibility. From saving money as a kid for the next issue to now, I, and now my daughters, can't wait for each issue, and use it for our own literature surveys when we get that first taste from Discover.

A real tradition to this day!