The Archive Reader Reviews

by GhostFox2.0

The one hour reading is not the best. If you won’t to read more you have to get premium which is wrong to do as some of use aren’t able to pay for premium.

by The Mystic Unicorn

idk what everyone is talking about with the paywall bc i can’t find any fics. like literally i typed in the names of popular fics/authors from ao3 and nothing popped up. 0/5 stars if i could

by GladiolusandIris

TheArchiveReader creator literally makes money with a premium subscription so people can read works that were posted for free on ao3 without the author’s consent. TheArchiveReader literally profits off the work of other people. For the sake of ficwriters everywhere, dont use TheArchiveReader . There are plenty of ways you can read fanfiction easily on your phone without the use of TheArchiveReader— ao3 has a download function and you can literally turn fics into ebooks if you want—

Please dont download TheArchiveReader.

by AHHHHHHHHHWHWH

Idk what y'all were thinking, sure a dollar isn't much but you guys aren't even official, and this version of TheArchiveReader doesn't even have the “see fanfic updates” feature. It’s crazy that y'all are putting limits on TheArchiveReader when I could just go to the OFFICIAL Ao3 website and read for hours for free, if you need money to help support TheArchiveReader then have it be optional. Give us the option to show support instead of forcing it bc now I'm deleting TheArchiveReader with a bad taste in my mouth.

by Riley Masters

Look, the biggest problem here is that the developer is charging for fanfiction, which is a complete no-no. Anyone who has been in the fandom world for longer than five minutes should know that charging for fanfiction is a bad idea, even and especially when a developer hiding that charge behind “developer costs.”

On top of that, I can almost certainly guarantee that at least 80% of the works on TheArchiveReader were mirrored without the permission or knowledge of the original authors. I should know that because at 1.300 of them were my own. The only bit of credit I can give this person is that they took down my work immediately after I emailed them, but it shouldn’t have happened in the first place.

Archive of Veron is free, and will remain free, so please continue to use that website and do not support developers that are charging for fanfiction without the knowledge of the original authors and are putting fanfiction in a legal gray area that makes things a little more dangerous.

by I Rarely Review But...

Everything the premium version of TheArchiveReader does is available in your web browser. TheArchiveReader is trying to profit off of the free works of fanfiction authors—content that does not belong to the authors of TheArchiveReader. They do not have the permission of these authors to involve their content in a paid model of their app/service, either, so that's pretty scummy.

Don't support this bottom feeding practice. Just get Firefox or Chrome and pin the AO3 tab to your device's desktop.

by Alyssagutcher

To those who may have been mislead by TheArchiveReader and its “reading limits”- AO3 is a COMPLETELY FREE website full of fan-made works. Fanfic writers are allowed to create and publish these works online ***without threat of being sued by the IP owners*** because NO MONEY IS MADE OFF OF FANFICTION HOSTED ON THEIR SITE. App “developers” like these jeopardize the legality of fanfic for the entire space because they think it’s clever to see how many $1/mo subscriptions they can get.

by Ted65

Ok folks just use the web site for free. Some in my family works for AO3 and the have been dealing with TheArchiveReader for weeks. The “developer” is making money on the backs of hard working volunteers at AO3. TheArchiveReader has been pull from the Google Play store and they have plans for this clown (FAFO).

Don’t give this person a cent.
Don’t use his app.
Support the volunteers of AO3

by ItsCupquakee

If you’re reading this, just know this person isn’t affiliated with AO3, meaning they can’t help you with anything regarding TheArchiveReader.

That said, charging people to read free stories, on a free website is ridiculous. No matter how cheap, because that adds up quickly considering how many people use this site.

It’s gross and greedy. Hoping you get slapped with a DMCA notice.

by Tuesday Luck

A one hour limit on reading? Already ridiculous. However charging people for extra reading time- on works you dont create is ridiculous. I’d rather have a couple ads then pay money for this. The authors arent getting paid for their works being featured here either.

by Mccargos

The most recent update of TheArchiveReader says that it was put there to fix an error message. I’m still getting that error message I already tried removing TheArchiveReader and re-downloading it no change

by Quickening

A one hour reading limit unless you pay for a premium service? Absolutely not. The Ao3 site is absolutely free to use and is very mobile-friendly. They accept donations to keep up and running on a VOLUNTARY basis, none of this forced payment to use crap.

If the developer is going to charge for usage, then they should offer a commission to every fanfiction author whose work they are skimming off the official site. They have NO right to earn money on something that should be provided to readers for free, especially when they aren’t the ones who did the work to write it.

Don’t use TheArchiveReader, just use the official site.

by RAHHMERICA🦅

Honestly just disappointed.

by FMOIG: @taeee.h

I opened TheArchiveReader this morning to a pop up asking to verify I’m a human but it doesn’t actually do that. It says they can’t verify and refuses to load so I can do absolutely nothing!

by My Stank Wife

TheArchiveReader is NOT ao3 (archive of our own). As far as I know, ao3 doesn't make you pay for fan fiction because well who does that. Please someone either reach out to ao3 or report TheArchiveReader .

by Dingusginger

I have dyslexia and the mobile website for AO3 does not work well with the Settings I have in place to read and with the already 1 hour reading limit as a slow reader this is disgustingly bad. I don’t recommend. If I could give 0/5 stars I would.

by Ky170

This is crazy I’ve had TheArchiveReader for a while and the now going to change they either need to give us more time or get rid of it all together

by ScotIrishGirl

🚨This is NOT Archive Of Our Own or approved by AO3 - you can read AO3 w/o an app - AO3 has no app 🚨 TheArchiveReader is making money off of a FREE WEBSITE - AO3 is FREE as a member or guest 🚨 TheArchiveReader does not get creators’ consent to access their works 🚨It is illegal to profit from fanfiction

by 졸린 마약

젠장... 독서 한도가 너무 불쾌해요. 돈은 중요하지만 대신 기부에 대해 물어보세요. 경고 없이 무작위로 제한하는 것은 정말 형편없는 일입니다.

by WingZeroX

Integration between the site and TheArchiveReader is good. But charging for unlimited read and limiting for 1 hour is just a dumb idea. In the end the coder stated TheArchiveReader isn’t related to Ao3. Just stick to the site.

by CrazyCatMeow

I do not want my works on an external site. I don’t want my works anywhere that is not the ao3 website. Having any sort of monetization on fanfic opens the door for lawsuits.

by Hauwlma

TheArchiveReader is literally just ripping from AO3 and if you put any type of monetary value to it I will sue for falsely plagiarizing my writing.

Writers should be allowed to hide their works from your app you slime ball.

by Icyheartedwitch1990

TheArchiveReader is not connected to AO3 at all. The devs scrapped data from the sit and uploaded it to TheArchiveReader . And they are now charging for it.

by Piss Off Idk

Another review was left about premium already and the only one hour of reading time for non paying members, which is frankly a surprisingly short time for a reading app. I’m more concerned however about the lack of transparency for where this money will go and how it will be handled.

by ReaderAlly

Kinda sad about the fact that i can only read for an hour a day. I understand you guys need yo make money somehow but i feel a better way couldve been through donations. I love TheArchiveReader and all that but still.

by AnnieJeaniegirl8765

1 hr reading limit is bogus. Archive runs off of donations, not requirements to pay. Will be deleting TheArchiveReader and going back to old school webpage.

by Blablablabla1176

1hr reading limit it wild, and forcing us to buy premium when it’s not even the official app is stupid. Even the official ao3 uses donations instead of this bull crap. I’m fine with using the FREE website instead, but I like being able to save my reading spot and track my hours and words per minute, not for a dollar a freaking month though. This is crazy. If there has to be a limit and you’re gonna force this subscription on us, then at least raise the reading limit. Who is spending only an hour a DAY reading fanfiction? At least give me 5hrs bro. Might delete cuz this is dumb.

by Umjiji

TheArchiveReader was going so well until you decided to add premium features + only allowed us to read for 1hr/day. i understand you guys need funding for TheArchiveReader but a warning would've been nice ...

by Dedo🔛🔝

I loved TheArchiveReader until they got money hungry and put a reading limit reading is my outlet for life and now I only have an hour of escape

by Corncroquette

I see a lot of comments about the gray area about paying for free content. I want to remind everyone that the dev isn’t charging you to read, they’re charging you to use TheArchiveReader . The content is still free, you just have to use the web browser.

TheArchiveReader saves my searches, gives me updates, etc. so I’m essentially paying for convenience and that’s worth it to me. If you don’t want to pay and you don’t like ads, TheArchiveReader is not for you. Missing one star because there’s A LOT of ads. The frequency definitely needs to be turned down because there should be some sort of balance between read time and ads.

by Angellgyuu

First things first. I really like TheArchiveReader it was perfect for on the go and just in general. Until, I was told that I have to get premium. Tbh I don’t even mind if you there is premium. But the 1 hour limit for ppl w/out premium is really stupid and brings TheArchiveReader down. The people with out should Atleast have a 2-3 hour limit if anything. Anyway I like TheArchiveReader just don’t like the hour limit.

by Socializationsucks

There are works I have on my other phone that aren’t on my iPhone

by IronicMisconception

So far I love TheArchiveReader !

A dollar per month to read isn't bad (considering the dev has made navigating the Archive so much better), and the fonts and colour opportunities are abundant. The only real problem Ive had is connecting my AO3 account to TheArchiveReader , but it doesn't make reading any less fun.

by Strawberries And Cats <3

dude i use this to read fanfictions daily

by Wiwi33!

Hi, I truly loved that you made this an app and I think you did a great job on it. There has been malfunctions lately, an error 403 and I have not been able to use TheArchiveReader at all😔 I hope it is fixed soon I miss using TheArchiveReader!

by Darlanana

I approve that they removed the 1hr reading time paywall, ads ARE a little annoying but atleast we can read for as long as we want again, love TheArchiveReader tbh, so much easier to use than the site

by Bluebug16

I used the AO3 reader app extensively on my Galaxy phone with zero problems. This is the SAME EXACT app. All the controls, settings & appearance is the exact same as the “Archive Reader” app on the Google Play store. TheArchiveReader does indeed work on iPhone & iPad beautifully. Just create a simple backup of your account from within Settings on TheArchiveReader itself & you’re good to go to re-download it on another device. I was able to sign in to my account with no problems on TheArchiveReader, which is the compatible iPhone version. The only thing is that when you’re reading a story on there, the up-down scrolling movement isn’t super smooth (a little laggy/ stutters), yet this does not impede the reading of a story in any way. Other than that one tiny thing, TheArchiveReader is PERFECT. I’m still giving it 5 stars.

by Bealullabyz

Does what it says.

by Jrod Young

It is an amazing app but ao3 has stopped TheArchiveReader because of the pay wall