Wondrium - Learning & Courses App Negative ReviewsThe Great Courses

Wondrium - Learning & Courses Negative Reviews

4.8
4.80076 star

Total 79 Negative Reviews

Wondrium - Learning & Courses App Complaints & User Negative Comments 2023

Wondrium - Learning & Courses app received 79 complaints, negative comments and reviews by users. Have you ever had a bad experience using Wondrium - Learning & Courses? Can you share your negative thoughts about wondrium - learning & courses?

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Wondrium - Learning & Courses for Negative User Reviews

Content is good but the app needs serious workContent is good but the app needs serious work.Version: 3.3

Great content, not at all user friendly.First off, I want to say that I enjoy the content and love that the lecturers are knowledgeable and passionate about the subjects they teach. However, I am about ready to delete the app because of the difficulties with the interface. When I first open the app, I have 0.5 seconds before my continue watching options disappear in favor of a large “banner ad” for a recommended course. The only way I get them back is by selecting another tab and then going back to the home tab. The browse/search functions are also hard to navigate unless you know exactly what course you’re looking for. I would love to see more options to narrow down my searches. Second, the last several times I’ve tried viewing a course, I have to back out and try again every 5-10 minutes because the audio glitches and no longer syncs with the video and subtitles. Also there have been times where I have needed to stop in the middle of a lecture and when I go back to it, something glitches in the loading process and I have to start the lecture over. For a $20/month subscription the least y’all could do is give us an app that works. I love the content but I’m almost ready to cancel my subscription because of the problems within the app..Version: 6.0.5

Content good but app truly terribleThe courses I have downloaded are great, but the iPad app is a very poor experience. Firstly, there is no way to quickly get back to where you were when you closed the app. No way of just going straight to where you left off, you have to search through the courses you’ve downloaded and try and remember what file you were watching. Secondly, the video control buttons will often completely disappear with no way of pausing or stopping the feed without closing the app. Even if you try and pause it in the iPad notification slide-down it instantly starts playing again - and even if you decide you don’t need to pause anything there is a big Apple QuickTime logo in the middle of the screen that says it’s broken. The developers of this app clearly didn’t bother testing it. If you want to consume the material you really need to do so on another device.Version: 2.3

Response to developerUpdate: Firstly, my apologies for being rude in my previous message. I was just frustrated that I couldn’t cancel the subscription before I got charged. I called your support and they asked me to change the login URL to greatcoursesplus.com/home and then the password worked. Please have this fixed. However, once I was in the account, I tried to access the My Account section and all I could see was a blank page. I tried this on 3 different browsers with the same result. The support person on the phone confirmed this on their end as well. This really comes across as scammy even though that might not be your intention. Please have this fixed for your customers. Thanks!.Version: 5.2.2

ShockedBrowsed under 'Literature' and really quite shocked at the very small number of courses. Can't see this app will do much for me..Version: 6.0.7

Good videos but terrible appI really like the video lectures and love that I can download them to my phone and watch later but I’m quite disappointed with the app. It’s very buggy, when casting video to chromecast the audio plays from the phone and the menu to select a video to play seems to take multiple taps before it responds. For the subscription (which is more than Netflix) I’d expect a better app. When I contacted the developer I was told to change my phone settings so my phone would never go to sleep!.Version: 5.4.9

Can’t sign inI can sign in via the website on my laptop but cannot sign in on the app as apparently I have an invalid sign in despite it working perfect fine on the browser. Super frustrating as I can’t access any downloads.Version: 5.2.2

The courses are fantastic but the app...Needs a huge amount of work. You can download a video, but you always have to be watching the video. I only want to download audio so I can listen on the train but there appears to be no option. I don’t really want to watch the videos on the train.. and just because it downloads the video does not automatically download the audio..Version: 2.9

Love the lectures, hate the app.I use this app on Apple TV. It is insufferably slow. Sometimes sit for 10 minutes to update the subjects list. Frequently required to sign out and sign back in to access content. If the lecture content is so smart, why can’t the app writers be?.Version: 6.0.16

I have tested software for 30 years and this is really poor quality.I’m an early adopter of this app and have watched it go downhill. I don’t have this issue with any other of my many streaming services. They need a better datacenter and to fix bugs. While the catalogue is great, using the app on an iPad or AppleTV is often miserable. The sound track gets out of sync and restarting the app doesn’t help. Over a year ago, tech support told me to uninstall and reinstall which is a major pain when using an AppleTV as it will work for a month or so. Sometimes after an update or reinstall the app shows icons for content but when clicked on, there is an error message that it cannot be found. The only fix seems to be to use a web browser to add it to one’s watchlist. Lately I have resorted to downloading lectures on an iPad to watch but they is slow and defeats the purpose of streaming on a TV. I have had this issue with tvOS 14 and 15 and using iPadOS 15 on the latest iPad Mini Gen 6 and even Chrome on an MacBook Pro with 32 gb of ram..Version: 6.0.11

Non existent customer servicesThe app and the courses is very good, but when I had a problem regarding my subscription and the fee I contact them immediately. I haven't got any answer but I was charge very quick my next payment. As much as I like the app, I cancel my subscription straight after, so I end app paying around a 1/3 more than I should. At the end, it is my fault for believing that someone is going to even check my issue, when the smartest thing to do would have been canceled straight before next payment..Version: 5.4.1

Couldn’t find the lecturesWas looking for a series of lectures on English history. Found some lectures that looked like what I wanted, but couldn’t find the others in the series. Cancelled free trial and deleted app..Version: 3.1

App is bad; Catalog is goodTo be clear upfront, this low rating does not relate to the content library. If you want academic and instructional content, the catalog is good. My problem is with video playback in the app, which is terrible. I’ve unsubscribed multiple times because it’s such a pain trying to watch video in this app. For some reason, the video plays smoothly but the audio occasionally skips back a couple of seconds such that the audio and video are out of sync. I have to then exit the video and resume it. And I’ve tested to make sure it’s not the videos themselves—I’ve rewound over the bit that skips and it doesn’t skip again in the same place the second time around. It’s also happened in multiple different video series, both on my phone and on my Apple TV despite having deleted and redos loading the app. The only reason I didn’t give the app a one star review is because I suppose it could be worse, but honestly it’s enough to ruin the service for me..Version: 6.0.10

Informational, But The App Is InfuriatingAfter multiple attempts, app constantly says that I have to be a member when I’m already subscribed as one, thus, not allowing me to play any any video. What’s the point of being one one of the best sources of information when the app is is glitchy and therefore can’t access the content?.Version: 6.0.3

Unable to AirPlayApp freezes when you try to AirPlay. Please fix this bug, I have emailed GCP but had no reply!.Version: 5.4.9

Constantly getting stuck on home screenFor some reason it is getting stuck at home screen and the only solution seems to force a full reboot of the cellphone.Version: 5.3.0

App glitch ended up destroying my data overages!I got this app for a road trip and proceeded to download a bunch of lectures (on wifi) for the drive. I then made sure that I turned off the ability of the app to use cellular data and to warn me if it was using cellular data. The app nicely has two options to do that in their settings. About six hours in to the drive, I noticed I had six text messages from Verizon notifying me that I had gone over my data for the month, repeatedly. Despite those settings, the app continued to download content over my cellular network and cost me nearly $70 in data overage fees. I contacted their tech support and they were extremely helpful at first, before going completely silent. They have no longer responded to any of my emails after responding promptly to the first few. I have screenshots and emails of all the exchanges saved on my computer and nobody will help me out. Plus the lectures that I did get weren't that good anyway. Certainly not worth the $70 I ended up paying..Version: 2.8

Great Content, Bad AppI LOVE the content of this app. However, the app has two glaring deficiencies. One, when you’re listening via Bluetooth and someone calls or you call someone, the app DOES NOT PAUSE. Even if you pause BEFORE you answer, it will start playing AFTER you answer. Every time. When you’re driving, this is distracting at best and dangerous at worse. Two, and this is intermittent, but when you open the app, sometimes the Continue Watching area does not show up on the Home Screen of the app and the only way you can listen to your last episode is to either search for the series again or have it added to your Watchlist. Other podcast apps don’t have these problems, so I’m assuming it would be an easy fix, yet these deficiencies still exist. Please fix these issues in an update soon!.Version: 6.0.7

ConfusedGreat content. Naming conventions off. ie ‘Great for audio” has video only content Not user friendly. Audio book like function would go a long way.Version: 2.8

Great courses, Not so great AppWonderful range of course material, subscription model is great for knowledge hungry individuals. However the app has several notable short coming I do hope they address sooner rather than later. Browsing courses is very clunky, generally and even when save to downloads or watch list there is no practical option for sorting the courses. Streaming is terrible and I rely heavily on downloading lectures. And there is no course material available, which is annoying when it is referred to in the lecture. Otherwise, I’m happy to see this content available and would like to see it continue to be updated..Version: 2.3

CAREFUL! No access despite paying for a yearly subscriptionI bought a yearly subscription through Apple subscriptions and I’m still unable to access any content three weeks later. The account is set to the same email address as my apple account and the payment has cleared both Apple and my financial institution. The app just keeps offering me a free trial despite my having already paid and then fails to let me use the trial, saying I’ve already bought a subscription and then throwing up an error. If I don’t have access in a week, I’ll contact the App Store to report this so others don’t get nailed by the same problem..Version: 5.4.6

I have a subscription through apple store but i cant access contentI have a subscription through apple store and it keeps logging me out and when i try to restore purchases it doesnt work. I give up, rubbish app. Never again.Version: 5.2.2

No support!Do not download this app. I paid for a months subscription via iTunes and verified it with bank. However, no access to the service. Keeps asking me to sign up for the free trial (I am not entitled to this as I have been a member of the Great Courses a few years ago). Contacted them via the support page twice. No reply Have cancelled my subscription. I have lost £17.99 in a months subscription. Very poor company.Version: 6.0.12

Great content and features, despite usability impairmentsI love this app and service. I like that new content is being added and I particularly like the audio-only mode. I will be a subscriber for long time, but have three more (necessary) usability requests and two suggestions. (1) allow users to browse the app while audio programs are playing. Right now, the only way to browse for other content within the app is to stop the program. This does not follow the iOS HIG. Also, please change the player to the native iOS media players. (2) performance improvements, particularly background battery drain. I’m unsure why this app is such a battery hog, even when content is downloaded in the background. (3) for browsing, a better system is needed. I’d suggest filtering options (including one for “percent seen.” The current “Netflix” style of browsing is painful and slow. These are just ideas, but I think they would be awesome to add after the usability problems have been addressed! (4) note-taking during content and live closed captioning should be added and integrated for future reference, given the service’s educational focus, this would be a boon for studying or looking back on past materials. (5) ratings and reviews for content, simple thumbs up, thumbs down. Would help in finding quality content when there is overlap in available programming..Version: 6.0.5

Update locks you out,no help from customer supportThe update promised long awaited features, so I foolishly updated. Without warning, the update requires a password reset. It says that an email will be sent with instructions and a link. The email says it is in response to my request to reset my password. It has no instructions, but does have a link to reset password. Unfortunately, when you click that it just takes you to the login screen with no option to reset. Using either your old password or a new one just gets an identical email. Hitting “contact customer service” gets an auto reply that they are experiencing high volume (I bet) and will try to get back to me in 72 hours. Weekends don’t count, so I guess I can kiss one of the 4 weeks I have already paid for goodbye. At best. Great. I have put up with literally years of lags, crashes and delays in adding content from the legacy app. But for twice the price of my next most expensive streaming app, I think it should, you know, work..Version: 5.0

Terrible updateLast update was supposed to change the interface. All downloads were lost and I can’t re-download any content. One year payment to be able to see offline and now, cannot see a thing. Very disapointed. Needs to be corrected asap..Version: 5.0.2

Buggy App - Poor UI and designThe app is really slow and clunky on Apple. It also doesn’t work over mobile data, just a blank screen. The only time it ever works is over WiFi, which is not appropriate for my needs of wanting to listen on the move. Which defeats the point, I want to listen whilst driving to work and/or download low quality audios to playback offline, don’t care for videos at all - why force me to download a video? The app should learn something from Spotify, as it takes me 3 seconds whilst out and about to start playing a playlist. It needs to be simple - watchlist, hit play and instant response - off I go. Not going to subscribe unless they fix it. I can’t mess around fiddling with the app whilst driving... I don’t have time for buggy apps....Version: 3.3

GarbageGreat program, terrible app. Forgets where it left off after pausing, and then kicks you out of that program altogether. Stops recognizing network connection. Took 20 minutes to get it playing again. Somebody fix this please..Version: 6.0.10

Out of DateIn a time when Netflix has such initiative user interfaces it amazes me that companies such as this can’t seem to figure out how this works..Version: 5.2.1

Incomplete Courses and Terrible ServiceI’ve contacted these folks about materials their courses refer which are not available anywhere on their site on multiple occasions with zero response. Considering the monthly cost you would think they’d be more responsive. Courses are useless if you can’t access materials a lecturer refers to..Version: 2.3

New update constantly crashesThere is a major glitch on the new Great Courses Plus app. When trying to access the Course Guidebook for the Essentials of Strength Training guide, the app completely crashes within one second. When trying to reopen the app, it will consistently crash before making it past the opening screen. The only way to regain access to the courses is to delete and re-download it again (this will also cause you to lose your place in all of the lectures you’ve previously been watching)..Version: 5.0.3

Not transparent aboutFor this reason I am out.Version: 2.9

The App is very buggy. When will you fix it?I’m impressed with all of courses available but the app itself is terrible as others have said. When I cast from the app to Chromecast, there is no good way to pause and resume because opening the app while casting causes it to lose its place and even try to play a different lecture. Once I wasn’t even touching my phone and the lecture casting was on but the phone started simultaneously playing a different lecture. It also never seems to know what I have already listened to. I have to manually forward to the where I was since it doesn’t hold my place. Surely with the number of good podcast type apps out there these developers could come up with something better than this. I probably will cancel my account at the end of the paid period because of the app. Please update us on when you plan to fix all of the problems..Version: 5.4.9

Paid a subscription for this?App hasn't been updated for over 12 months. Videos skip to next lecture on iPad Pro iOS 10. Thought I'd try the app since website doesn't seem to work on the iPad either. Please fix either one of these. Removing subscription until this happens..Version: 1.0

User experience is terribleAfter buying TGC from audible for so long I was excited to subscribe to THC+ and binge on as much content as possible. Unfortunately this app is a terrible user experience for all the reasons all of the other reviewers have already mentioned. It's obviously not a native app on iOS. Fuzzy and improper resolution on my iPhone 6, video cuts out when you multitask or lock phone, no audio download. Coming back to the app doesn't bring you back to where you where. Multiple course downloads starts playing a different course after completing a lecture instead of streaming the next lecture in a series (frustrating). The list goes on... so bad in fact that I feel like asking for a partial refund since I paid for multiple months in advance. Didn't think a bad app would have caused me to wish I hadn't subscribed at all but here we are....Version: 2.5

Poor App, Excellent contentApp leaves inexplicably large gaps between tracks. App will not allow change from a downloaded video into audio only mode without internet..Version: 3.3

Good Content, Slow to StreamContent is great, but it’s slow to stream. The first lecture I start streams fine but when it comes to streaming the next part of the lecture automatically, there’s often a 5-10 minute delay before it will start. Often times, when it doesn’t finally start, it will have skipped over 3 or 4 parts of the lecture. So, lecture 1 completes and lecture 5 starts streaming after 10 minutes of silence. I don’t see a particular reason for the slow transition, especially with full bars of LTE coverage. Anything else seems to stream fine; Apple Music, Pandora, 3 hour podcasts, but Great Courses Plus has issues and delays constantly. That would be my primary concern and a reason I may no continue. After all, the TED talks app is free, streams more readily and has similar, if not more expanded, content. I’m still in the air, but expect a more fluid experience for what I pay..Version: 3.1

You have to payDo not download u have to pay monthly subscription.Version: 2.7

Free Trial FailSubscribed to do a free trial because i was excited to play some videos, but it always says “subscription failed”. Can you help me fix these?.Version: 5.2.0

The service is great; the app upgrade is a botchThe upgraded app requires you to reset your password. A robot sends a reset link in an email, which is already expired immediately upon arrival - a matter of seconds. I went through this exercise four times before giving up. That’s true if you try to reset your password through the app or through the website using Safari. I finally got the job done by finding a desktop, and doing it there. When you try to reveal the password on the input form, it helpfully shows you a bunch of dots, not the characters you’ve input. There is no chat support, and I am many time zones away from the US, at the moment. I am sure that all of this will prove to be transitory, but what a pain! The sequence is supposed to be test first, then release, people..Version: 5.0.1

Great service, terrible appThe iTunes subscription was not applied until a full week after purchase, the GC finally applied it after messaging with them over a few days. So that’s 7 days I paid for that I received no service... otherwise the selection and quality of videos is good..Version: 5.2.2

Great courses, app is the worst thoughThe app interface looks clunky and very dated. Constantly freezes, then crashes and starts the course from 0:00, am unable to skip forward at all. Very unstable connection to Chromecast Ultra. Have very fast broadband connection, so that’s not the issue here. How such an expensive subscription service can release such a crappy app is beyond me. Invest some money in better engineers and coders, this is really not worth spending the money on when the app is so unreliable! Running latest iOS 13.4.1 on iPhone 7 Plus and iPad Air 2. Casting to TV via Chromecast Ultra. 2 stars for now until I see a major overhaul of the app..Version: 5.2.1

Absolutely terrible user experience! The frusteration is not worth the costThis site functions as though it has not been updated since the early 2000’s. Load times crawl, to the point you wonder if anything is happening at all. Nothing is convenient or intuitive; the Autoplay Switch, rather than being attached to the video player, where it would be useful and logical, is instead hidden at the bottom of the Personal Account Information. Not sure who had this idea but they should be fired immediately! But they are not the only ones. This entire interface is riddled with glitches and bugs. Considering the heavy monthly charge is $20 it doesn’t seem like too much to ask that the platforms function at least adequately, this is just embarrassing I attempted to contact customer service before reviewing... have been waiting ten days... Pathetic.Version: 5.4.3

MissCould have been good but missed the Mark not enough information on some topics and some not in list $180 for year way to much.Version: 3.1

Lectures are great, app could use some workApp doesn’t work properly a lot of times. Can’t play audio offline if I downloaded video, which should be fixed..Version: 2.8

App sorely needs improvementThe service is great (but please add more of the old tape content that was more seriously educational than a lot of the modern stuff that’s a bit lightweight - more serious educational content please and less fluff). HOWEVER the app is really poor and that’s pretty unacceptable for such an expensive service. It doesn’t remember where you got to and often puts you back to the beginning of the lecture *before* the one you were on when you last stopped listening. This bug needs to be fixed, it’s really not even close to good enough..Version: 5.4.1

Okay but needs improvementGenerally, the app functions okay. But there are details that reflect some absence of thought by designers on the actual user experience. My biggest gripe: the app jumps to new course offerings every time I close out and later restart it. I have to go digging for the course I’m currently studying. And the only—or at least most efficient—way to find it is to go find my watchlist and search for the course in there. If I happen to start a course before or without adding it to my watchlist, I find it difficult to get back in to my course after closing out the app. It seems this is a simple, obvious issue that would have been glaringly apparent to anybody that thinks of the design with the user in mind. Fix this problem, at least, and my thoughts of the app would probably improve..Version: 2.3

Buggy app and streamingContent looks great, hobbled by glitchy app, particularly when trying to stream to a TV. Get it together..Version: 5.4.6

Fix the audio sync issues!I have used GCP/Wondrium for years and love it! But for the past 6 to 8 months a VERY annoying issue has arisen with the Apple TV app. I can usually watch 8 to 10 minutes of a video then the audio does a brief repeat of prior seconds then stays out of sync with the video thereafter. The only way to fix it is stop and resume the video and hope it doesn’t do it again 8 to 10 minutes later. This has been going on for 6 to 8 months at least. FIX IT! I would hate to have to cancel my membership after many years .. but this is annoying enough a problem to make it necessary..Version: 6.0.10

Unable to view downloaded contentWhy am I still unable to view downloaded material?!? It's obviously a problem because so many people are complaining about it. You need to fix it as soon as possible! You are taking our money for subscriptions every single month, but you are NOT delivering what you promised to deliver; specifically, the ability to view downloaded content when not connected to the Internet. Are you going to provide partial refunds to all of your subscribers because we are unable to view downloaded content? That's what I'm paying for; however, that's not what I'm getting. You are not giving me what I am paying for. Please let me know at your earliest convenience, as I've contacted an attorney regarding this breach of contract and he's eager to get moving if there isn't a resolution soon. Thanks for advance for your cooperation. Looking forward to hearing from you soon. Regards, Here we go again. Another subscription app forces paying subscribers to use a faulty "update" that doesn't work and wastes our time. Newsflash: TGC- You're now in breach of your contract with every single one of your subscribers. Nice job. Hurry up and fix the app before someone gets frustrated enough to litigate. Going forward, if you're going to force an update, maybe roll something out that doesn't crash and completely ruin your paying users' experience. Just a thought. Thanks for taking my money every month and wasting my time. CM.Version: 5.4.1

Great content but poor deliveryI have been a Great Courses and Great Courses Plus subscriber for many years and really appreciate the content and presenters. However, although this app provides the required functionality and access to the courses, it does a poor job in the streaming of the material in that video and sound will often go out of sync several times during a single episode. Synchronization can often be re-established by pausing and/or rewinding but not always. This is particularly annoying in more complex courses (for example, “Introduction to Organic Chemistry” that I am currently watching) where it is important to be able to follow the presenter’s description of the visuals..Version: 6.0.7

Awful interfaceIf only this app had the same quality of interface as Audible..Version: 3.1

Great content but app does not work too wellI recommend the Great Courses Plus without reservation. It’s very, very good. Superb courses on all manner of subjects delivered by excellent lecturers. But the app could do with improvement. It takes ages to load, and very frequently, nothing happens when I tap on a course to continue listening..Version: 5.4.1

BottonsSome bottons does not work well. Up at the right.Version: 3.0

Terrible customer serviceI paid to renew this subscription after a few months away. They took my money but never gave me the content. I’ve sent many emails, receipts and screenshots to the developer who has been very unhelpful and generally unresponsive.This also happened last year and they never responded to my email then, so it isn’t about the current Covid situation, it’s just very bad customer service. Also, there is now a lot more competition for this type of service and much of GCP content is very old and dated. It was frustrating to have paid renewal and not gotten the content, but I probably didn’t miss much as I had stopped watching the last month my account was active..Version: 5.2.2

Great idea but...Some of the directors have a tendency to over direct! Instead of letting the teachers presenting skills and subject speak for themselves, they insist on having them move from side to side and changing camera angles every 2 minutes! Which is highly distracting and a little nauseating! Beware if you suffer from motion sickness..Version: 2.8

NastyBlocking return to codycross even after I was forced to install..Version: 3.0

The service is 5 stars, the Apple TV app is 1 starCringeworthy name aside, the “Wondrium” service is great. Not so great is their Apple TV companion app. The TV app is imho the absolute best way to watch their lectures, but they clearly treat it as a bit of an afterthought and don’t put a lot of effort into making it the best possible user experience. With the apple tv app, the audio constantly goes out of sync with the video stream and you have to exit the lecture and play it again to correct the issue. Nor can you organise your watchlist to easily find your favourite lectures. Most infuriatingly of all the Apple TV app constantly, constantly, CONSTANTLY logs you out for absolutely no good reason, meaning I have to scrabble around trying to finding my password and go through the chore of having to enter it again. It’s (almost) enough to make me want to change it to something easy to remember, that is also obvious and easy to guess for somebody so inclined. For the last reason alone the app gets only 1 star from me..Version: 6.0.13

PointlessSubscriptions are not available to anyone in the EU and apparently has been the case since early 2016..Version: 1.0

Good Content...App in UnusableThe GreatCourses has lots of good content. Unfortunately the content is locked with and one of the most atrociously buggy interfaces I've ever experienced. The app is literally on usable 80 to 90% of the time. For example, on my iPad I attempt to tap the screen to play, pause, or advance once a video is playing and the screen has inexplicably locked me out. The only way to remedy this is by hitting the home button and exiting the app. Meanwhile, on my iPhone I literally can't access any content because it says that I need to purchase a subscription, which I've already purchased. I tap the purchase button again in hopes of the app recognizing that I've already made the purchase and I receive confirmation that I indeed already have a subscription, I click OK and then nothing happens. I still can't access any videos, despite having an active subscription..Version: 2.2

Great Courses, Broken AppAs others have noted, the audio stops playing when you sleep your device, making it unusable in the gym. And the audio does not respond to the Play button on my bluetooth headphone. --- Later: Having tried to use the app in real life, I must conclude that the usually good people at The Great Courses did not do so before releasing it. I commend the book _Testing Computer Software_, by Cem Kaner et al., to their attention. As others have noted, when the app finishes one lecture and begins another, it doesn't do so from the beginning. And if you actually use your iPhone for other things during the day, and return to the app the next day, you’re not returned to the course you were listening to, but to the advertisement screen. The app is barely tolerable for extended sampling of a course, but for actually finishing it, I think I will return to my usual habit of buying the lectures from the iTunes store and listening to them with Audible’s admirable app. --- Even later (2.5): I now can’t use this in the gym at all; video downloads won’t play in the background, audio downloads are forbidden (and according to another reviewer wouldn’t work anyway); streaming doesn’t work even with an excellent LTE connexion..Version: 2.5

Can’t restore apple subscriptionKeeps dropping link to iTunes subscription. No instructions on how to restore the link. Shut out of an expensive subscription, not happy..Version: 6.0.9

Buggy, slow, poorly designed appThis is the worst app on my phone, and that includes a super beta app for my friend’s startup where no one really knows iOS development. The Great Courses needs to hire an actual designer and some developers who can do iOS because there is so much low-hanging fruit. First off, you have to click through like 3 screens to get where you want, and it’s super easy to click the wrong thing, which wouldn’t be a problem except that it can take like 10 seconds to load up each screen. In many cases, the best way to navigate through the app is actually to force-close it and reopen to get to the home page. Add to this the video skip and sync issues and the fact that it talks 10 seconds to switch between video and audio, and 10 seconds to load up the next lecture (if it loads up at all) As a feature request, I would also like to be able to navigate through the other while playing a lecture. It would also be nice if it actually tracked and marked which lectures you’ve watched. Really, my advice to the design team would be to emulate the Podcasts app. That app has it basically right. Given these issues, I’m tempted to drop my subscription despite the great content. Audiobooks from the library are free, and I don’t have to deal with any bugged out apps..Version: 3.1

GarbageWill not let me use the app. Keeps saying start free trial even after I restored purchase through App Store. It’s been over a week I keep messaging support and nothing . Beware!!.Version: 3.3

MichaelGreat courses indeed offers great content. However, I am writing this review so that someone at Great Courses might please improve their app. The downloads are mind-numbingly slow. You can’t do anything else on your phone while the downloads are in process or they shut down. And don’t let the phone go into sleep mode because that also shuts down the downloads. And after an average of 8 minutes per course download, make sure you are online before you start watching the downloads, not online content mind you, but the actual downloads have to be verified online before watching or the episode won’t play and your 3 hour flight time is now sans great courses. And I hope you must have tiny fingers and superhuman accuracy as you press icons in the app or else it will kick off a series of processes having nothing to do with your intention. Great Courses, please redesign your app consistent with your great content and over 100$ annual subscription. Please!!.Version: 3.1

Unable to loginUnfortunately, I can not start the 14 day trial to try the courses and see if I will like the app. Looks like it could have been interesting if it worked..Version: 5.4.1

Courses are amazing, but the app is horrifically glitchyI LOVE the Great Courses and all they have to offer, but this app is only barely functional. Sometimes it works fine, but frequently the videos freeze and won’t load, or else they stop to buffer every few seconds. Then there are the times when the video keeps playing just fine, but the audio goes completely dead or just skips every couple of words. I really, really hope this issue will be fixed, because the content is incredible. It says a lot that I use this app so much in spite of its problems, though I frequently have to give up and try again later if I want things to actually play properly. Another thing that I would very much love is if the written material for each course could be accessed through the app itself, rather than having to log into the website separately to download the materials. This is a small issue, though, compared with the constantly freezing videos..Version: 3.3

Lacks fundamental designUnfortunately this app lacks some core usability features which make it very frustrating to use the app. When viewing classes in a list, if you tap into one class for more details, when you return to the list of classes you are forced back to the beginning of the list and always lose your place. This makes me not want to spend very much time exploring the app. Also, when you tap to add a class to your watchlist the wait time is very long. Another frustration is that sometimes when I try to download a class guidebook the app doesn’t do anything and other times it works as designed. This is very frustrating when I am wondering if the app is doing something in the background but nothing is indicated on the screen. Lastly, the website for this company does not recognize when I am signed in so I am unable to add items to my watch list. This is an essential feature and quite intolerable..Version: 6.0.3

New app update is a failureEverything was good before the new update. Now even though I download the lectures fully, it comes with an error and don’t show while offline. Don’t subscribe until they fix the problem if you’re intending to watch offline in the subway or sth..Version: 5.0.3

Great content, poor streamingIf I were rating for content alone, I’d probably give Wondrium five stars. I’ve subscribed several times over the years (including back when it was Great Courses Plus) and gotten a lot out of the courses. For a streaming service, though, the app is pretty terrible. If I’m streaming from my phone to my TV and happen to unlock my phone while I’m watching, it resets the entire episode back to the beginning. The pause button often doesn’t work correctly, and then I’m scrambling to try to get the next episode to stop playing. I just feel like if you’re going to sell a streaming service and, undiscounted, charge more than any other streaming service out there, your app should at least work at the level of all the other ones. I have no problem paying for content and I’m happy to pay more for high-quality content — but if you charge a premium price and deliver a subpar technical experience, you need to make some changes..Version: 6.1.4

Lack of being able to minimize the screen is crazyI seriously love the courses but what a disappointment to see that the new wondrium (btw awful name) is still unable to minimize ! Guys you had one job to do ! please update the app to ensure that the videos can be played minimized (and not just audio) !.Version: 6.0

Doesn’t stay open since the recent software upgradeThe beautiful app has become useless since the recent upgrade. I tried deleting and reinstalling; nope, closes within 5 seconds of opening..Version: 5.0.3

The Courses are great. App not so goodThe lectures in The Great Courses Plus are superb. If I was rating the app on the course content alone I would give it 5 stars. The app itself though has many bugs. The main one is that it does not automatically play the next lecture in the course that you are listening to. This is annoying, particularly if you are listening while driving. I have turned Autoplay Next Lecture on in the settings and turned off Stream Only on WiFi but it makes no difference. I have also downloaded the latest version of the app (5.2.2) hoping this bug would be fixed but it is still occurring. Other bugs are it often loses track of where you are up to in a lecture and goes back to the beginning. It sometimes loses track of which lectures you have already listened to and marks them as unplayed. It doesn’t pause the lecture when a phone call comes in. And the Play Controls when your phone is locked don’t include the 15 second rewind button or the 30 second advance button. Hopefully this app will be improved soon. I love the actual courses..Version: 5.2.2

The app is a pile of crapThe app is just poorly designed and bad although I like the content of the website. It’s just so bad in every way I don’t know where to start, there is no video quality selector, you can’t do the mini window video player on iPad, once you start watching a lecture, it appears in your history tab but there is no way in hell to get back to the lecture list, you can ONLY watch the episode you were watching, and the next one, by finishing it, but you can’t get to the list of lectures without searching for it in the search field. Overall server performance is poor, everything takes longer to load than normal services like YouTube or Netflix, it just feels like an app from the early days of smartphones..Version: 3.3

Good info, unreliable appOn Apple TV, this app does not allow navigation between tabs without the physical Siri Remote or a legacy/third-party remote, so you’ll have to search for and add courses some other way so they’ll show up on the home tab for you on the Apple TV under “continue watching” in the home tab. It’s surprisingly common for audio to glitch and fall out of sync with video. If you can find interesting courses and play then successfully, you’ll get great value from this service..Version: 5.4.2

Can’t cancel subscription!!!I think the app is great, but I’ve gotten what I can from it, and wanted to cancel my subscription. The app doesn’t allow me to do it. I went to my account on the app and all it gives me is my personal information with no option of cancelling subscription. Then I went onto my subscriptions page in my settings and it said I don’t even have a subscription. But my credit card keeps getting charged!! I would like to know how this is possible..Version: 5.4.0

Good content but app seems buggySometimes it doesn’t sync properly across devices, starting further back in a lecture than where you left off - and sometimes you can’t even fast forward to where you were; it just keeps jumping back, forcing you to re-watch parts you’ve already heard. You can’t download just the audio, only video, which is not too convenient if you are listening while driving unless you want to get a ticket for watching video while driving, because you can’t switch the downloaded video to audio only. Exit the app and when you go back you have to navigate back manually to where you left off, it does not automatically show the lecture you were on and offer to continue. It doesn’t even have the course you are on on the front page when the app opens. If you exit the app while watching a video to, say, read a message or google something, it stops playing; you have to manually switch to audio only then exit the app to keep listening. So, several frustrating clunky inconveniences or bugs, but I’m enjoying the content of my first course..Version: 2.3

Great potential, sunk by multiple bugsI’m a longtime Great Courses student (and supporter), and I’d love to heartily recommend this app, but after taking it on a long car trip I was so frustrated I was tempted to sail it out the window. With a long ride, often in heavy traffic, all I needed was for the app to continue playing the episodes in a course, and what I got was one or two episodes before it would stop and tell me that if I wanted to continue I had to subscribe. (Despite being signed in to an active account.) Then I had to exit the app, restart the app, and then find the course and episode all over again. (All while navigating an Interstate.) In addition, episodes would start in odd locations, again prompting a dangerous one handed juggling act. Good news? It’s not as bad as their one star Apple TV app. Bad news? A company with so many wonderful educational offerings can’t seem to get their tech act at all together. For $20/month, users deserve so much better..Version: 2.3

Far fewer courses than before? App VERY buggyI can’t help but think there are far fewer courses in the catalog than when I last subscribed about a year ago, before the branding change. Still $20/mo but *really* seems feels like a limited and sparse array of content than before. There were a lot more history courses last time. What gives? Where’s the rest? Why the branding change? Why charging same amount if you’re reducing the library? The app has many amateurish bugs. Off-by-one index errors, one course now consistently crashes app iff I tap on it on the Home screen but not if located otherwise, weird random stop/pause. The biggest annoyance is when not on wifi (and have downloaded some chapters, if I pause playback, I have to unlock phone, go to app and it behaves like it’s launching anew then tells me it’s not on network (yeah, duh) then I have to tap downloads then try to remember what chapter I’d been listening to then hope it remembers where I left off. More fun is when off-by-one index error has cropped up (not consistent!) then you get to figure that out. So for heaven’s s sake do not pause?!? Don’t worry it will keep playing in background for every single notification announcement that comes in, so you get to try to differentiate between the two voices. Come on those are amateur bugs..Version: 6.0.13


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