XKCD: What If? Reader Reviews

by 123engineer

When I click on an article in the list it goes to a loading page and loads for several minutes before I give up and force close XKCD . All buttons are disabled within XKCD during this loading purgatory. App is useless for me as a result.

iOS 8.4.1
iPhone 5S

by Abarnert

The basic design is great. The ads aren't obtrusive or too frequently. If XKCD were consistently good enough that I could read the articles in it, instead of having to go to the website, I'd give it 5 stars. But it's not. Footnotes with non-ASCII text, footnotes with footnotes in them, and footnotes with math formatting in them are broken. Links inside footnotes don't work right. Image alt-text is often truncated instead of wrapped. Sometimes the footnotes are out of order. Sometimes links are broken. At least one article is missing half a paragraph and an image. Some of this may sound like nit-picky stuff, but we're talking about Randall Munroe here--without the jokes hidden in alt-text, math, silliness about accent marks, etc., what's the point in reading him?

XKCD is still good enough to read the majority of the articles. But, since it won't show me the article number or give me a link--in fact, it even disables the normal context menu so I can't copy text or links from the middle of an article--there's no way for me to read most of the articles here but switch to Safari when it falls down. Which makes XKCD pretty much useless.

by Revengeanceful

Images in the articles currently do not show up, but otherwise I appreciate the ability to read these articles while offline.

by Kokerphone

The chronological order of articles is not immediately apparent. A simple list sorted by date would probably be more intuitive.
Multicolums is fine, but having clear column separators and some visual hints about how articles are ordered (top to bottom, then left to right) would help.
If not that at least adding the date the article was published should suffice.

by GIGObug

I love the reasoning and exploration of the many topics. I understand there is a new topic every week. Could XKCD be updated more frequently to include currently posted content. Perhaps during the same week? Keep up the great work.

by The Falvonator

All the questions you always wondered about but didn't know how to ask them or who to ask that would know the answer!

by Echtze1t

... This is an easy app to recommend. The "What if?" articles are both fun to read and provide a lot of unnecessary information.

by Allling290

XKCD has a very wide selection of articles! It's never ending, and I can read however much I want not worrying about it ending . My only problem is that it freezes from time to time not allowing to me to read further. Other than that, great app!

by Alakażard

Formulas are not fixed on my 4S, and sometimes the text is very unnecessarily spaced apart. Other than that good app, would fix these issues though

by MrMessy.

Great little app discovery this. The layout is nice a simple and shows the articles well. Of course the content of XKCD is what really makes it, interesting articles on here from this app which I never knew existed until now.

by KYTague

XKCD contains hours of interesting content. Starting off with the repercussions of a baseball traveling near the speed of light, Mr. Munroe comes out of the gate swinging with absurd scenarios that no one realized they wanted to know until they hear them. He does excellent research to in order to best answer these ludicrous questions, and often will take each one a step further, turning some possibly boring answers into fascinating and humorous thought experiments. It's a solid purchase that you won't regret, and with updates every Tuesday theres always more to read!

by Leedk15

XKCD is no-nonsense and straight to the articles. It's incredibly easy to navigate and there are some great articles in it. There was one about ink molecules that was a good one. I plan on keeping XKCD for when I want a lesson on a subject and I want it fast. There is nothing to click except what you want to read. Again, great app!

by Khdwyoggr

This is an excellent app! I really like the new update and it really helps me read. this app articles on the go.

by Bananatreephoto

This is easily in my top 5 apps, just behind this app, but it no longer updates. I've been stuck on "Spiders bs. The Sun" for 5 weeks now and XKCD doesn't have a refresh option. Please update, I have so many random questions that need overly scientific, definitive answers.

by StudierLady

Really nice app for reading the this app what-if blog. I particularly appreciate the offline reading mode that allows me to what-if while in-flight or overseas. This latest version also shows footnotes. I also use the iPad version quite frequently.

by Occisor Kakon

Love the breakdown and the illustrations

by Schoboat

I have the official book and this gets updated so it is awesome but someone needs to add the "weird and worrying questions from the what if inbox" cause those were really funny

by Hooooot13

The only this I think could be better is the formatting on tablets isn't as good as I could be but it still works.

by Jeanio16

I love the cartoons, adding humor to all the facts!

by Someone467326779

Let's you read What If with very limited advertising, which you can pay to remove.