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National Geographic App Complaints & User Negative Comments 2024
National Geographic app received 58 complaints, negative comments and reviews by users. Have you ever had a bad experience using National Geographic? Can you share your negative thoughts about national geographic?
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National Geographic for Negative User Reviews
✓ Print view needs improvementHi, the latest updates have solved many of the bugs with the app and greatly improved the ability to view a “print version” (i.e., a replica of the printed magazine), but one feature I would love to see is the option to have landscape mode show both pages as they would appear if one had a paper version of the magazine open. This would greatly improve the app, as there are many photographs that span both pages of an open magazine. Thanks so much..Version: 7.2.0
✓ Slow to nothingI love National Geographic and I subscribe but this app is not functional. It takes a long time to load the app and even longer to launch the article. When I click to read an article from an email they send that article it never appears so I choose something else and then wait staring at a blank page where nothing appears. Please fix this. I’d like to be able to enjoy your very interesting articles again..Version: 7.6.0
✓ Unbelievably frustratingThis app is the worst I’ve ever dealt with. As a paid subscriber, it constantly kicks me off, doesn’t recognize my subscription and gives the circle of death trying to load articles. Uninstalling and reinstalling is getting real old. Unfortunately I paid for a year subscription and I’m getting to the point of just writing off the loss and uninstalling for the last time. Stay as far away from this app as you can..Version: 7.46
✓ NosA constant fight to try to access and read my magazine. Fortunately, I get the paper edition. Shame on you..Version: 7.8.0
✓ Please Fix Me!Worst app ever. Keeps freezing and/or crashing. Guaranteed frustration..Version: 7.5.0
✓ App crashes far too often!14 June 2021: While I absolutely appreciate the featured journalism in National Geographic, this app is unstable! It is crashing often, many times a session, even though I have kept my iOS current. I have a lot of native apps of other well known periodicals installed and this one is by far the worst performing. Time for Disney to invest in a quality experience for subscribers… I would like to see this fixed ASAP..Version: 7.3.0
✓ Awful appIt remains inconceivable to me how a famous and well respected magazine like National Geographic can be so incompetent when it comes to designing a simple app to make their magazine content digitally available. I’m a long term subscriber but would love to read the magazine anytime, anywhere on my iPad and iPhone just as conveniently as in print, yet this seems further and further from the realm of possibilities. Rather than listening to feedback, the app gets worse with every update. Downloading issues takes forever and is horribly buggy, failed downloads cannot be repeated ending up stuck on “retry”, and issues supposedly downloaded don’t open or properly without internet connection - making any download redundant in the first place. The link between my subscription and the app constantly breaks, and can also only be fixed with a working internet connection - not helpful when you want to read the magazine on a flight without wifi and don’t want to carry it in print..Version: 7.50
✓ Gifted subscriptions don’t registerUnless you buy this subscription with your own Apple ID, you’ll have to use the website to read the articles..Version: 7.0.2
✓ Email and app don’t sync upI get National Geographic emails regularly summarizing new stories. Now that I have the app installed all of the links in the email automatically open the app. Except the story doesn’t open in the app, the app just opens to the main page! Then I have to try and go searching through the app to find the story I want. Super frustrating, I own many National Geographic and Disney products and expect much better..Version: 7.7.0
✓ Some improvements but still slowUpdating to 3 stars. Finally I was able to reach someone that suggested deleting the app. But that didn’t work. Then it seemed they perhaps had some issues on the back end of the system (nothing to do with my app). Now downloads seem to work as well as reading offline. Not giving higher than 3 starts because the app is still very slow. —————— Zero Stars!!! It’s been years since my first review of this app and it’s still broken. Nothing gets fixed. They say the Downloading is now enabled, but it’s clearly broken. It fails when trying to download, then the item gets stuck in the Library and your can’t remove it even though it isn’t bookmarked as a saved item. The only way to purge it is to delete the app and start all over. One brief time I was able to download an article, then while traveling and not on WiFi, the article wasn’t available. So why is there a download option if you can’t read it offline? Maybe I’m missing the purpose of the download option. I’ve tried uninstalling and reinstalling the app per NatGeo’s support team recommendation, only to loose all my bookmarked items. Then the problem persisted. They or their developer clearly have no clue as to what is wrong with this app, nor do they care about fixing it. If they did, these issues would not be languishing for the past several years. The original apps was great — could download issues, read offline — then this new app came along and all went sideways if not backwards..Version: 7.1.0
✓ Not happyI cannot restore my subscription which is good till May 4,2022. I have spoken twice with National Geographic about this but no solution. It’s not a lot of money to loose but I was enjoying the articles and now cannot..Version: 7.3.0
✓ BuggyDownloaded content isn’t actually downloaded, because when i download and I try to read offline (literally only, and main reason I download content) it shows a load error. Like come on, why else would you give the option to download issues?? Also; links within articles that should link to related interesting topics don’t work half the time; (I mean with internet this time). Just black screen. So useless. It annoys me so much I’m considering canceling. Because how else will I get to read this magazine if the app doesn’t work?? I don’t use paper..Version: 7.52
✓ Cannot restore purchasesI used the app a few years back and had a subscription. I now wanted to check my old issues using restore purchases but that does not seem to work. In the process I am also forced to register a nat geo account. Totally unnecessary! The error message points me to the FAQ but there I can only see generic instructions on the various places you can go to to restore purchases. None of them work for me. App Support only leads to a generic support web site on which I am unable to find anything app related. The developer web site link in the app store only redirects to the app. I honestly tried but I give up. Developers make it super hard to get in touch with support or to get to some meaningful instructions on what to do if things fail. With this poor implementation of a digital version of the magazine I sometimes regret having gone digital. So sad..Version: 7.14
✓ Annoying appAs a long time Nat Geo subscriber, I’ve been extremely frustrated using this app. As others have said, it crashes and freezes a lot. Often when I click on an article either nothing happens or I get a glimpse of it briefly before it disappears. It can happen multiple times in one reading session to the point where I get frustrated and give up. It’s the only app I have that causes this issue. Disney needs to fix this ASAP. I prefer to use the app as opposed to the print magazine as I can enlarge the image/font for easier reading. However if this app isn’t fixed, there’s no point in continuing to be a subscriber, as it becomes an exercise in frustration as opposed to an enjoyable experience..Version: 7.5.0
✓ App doesn’t load when openedPurchased the subscription but the app doesn’t load with content..Version: 7.0.2
✓ DisappointingDisappointing app and content.Version: 7.3.0
✓ Font SizeThe font size can not be changed! This is a serious problem in this app.Version: 7.37
✓ Needs workCan’t save my spot while in page view. If I can’t mark where I left off for next time, the app is useless to me. I’ll stick to print..Version: 7.9.0
✓ Absolutely awful- 0 customer supportWow. The truth. If you can get access, great stuff. But my digital subscription won’t link to app or online. No matter what I do, won’t give me access. Logged in to account? Of course and all my information is there verifying account and history. Still pushes me to subscribe while I’m logged into my account!!! OK, seek help from customer support. Ha! I have emailed for months. Nothing. Tried to chat multiple times. No one ever gets on. Try calling. Wait, wait, wait. In 6 months no one has ever contacted me. A worthless digital subscription that I’ve been cheated out using. Read what they allow but never subscribe because it won’t matter. Hoping this review gets someone, anyone’s attention..Version: 7.57
✓ Downloading is not workingStill cannot download any magazines for offline viewing. Sticking to print magazines for now. Very sad how deep this great organization sank. Shame on you..Version: 7.3.0
✓ Magazine tab links to a black screenI can not access my subscription in the app. I click on the magazine tab and I get a black screen. If I click on an article on the homepage it also goes to a black screen. No article. I used to be able read the issues of the magazine in the app. I used to be able to read articles in the app. I will not be renewing my subscription if this problem is not resolved soon..Version: 7.8.0
✓ Tired of not being able to use this app!Love all the articles but can’t get the app to work on my iPad or iPhone, just see a blank page. Extremely frustrating! Figure it out Disney you can do better!.Version: 7.6.0
✓ Pull yourself together!The old app worked so well! Ended my subscription after the change as I couldn’t access articles anymore. Just checked back and it looks like it’s still a problem. When will it improve? Still?.Version: 7.8.0
✓ Seconding the download issuesI too am having download issues. I bought the subscription exclusively so I can read the magazines when camping in the wilderness. I have nearly unlimited data with my isp and I have fiber so I can only assume it is on the server’s end where something is being throttled. If you, the dev, want to limit our downloads, that’s fine, but it needs to be outlined clearly in the interface so your user’s don’t pick up the app and see an unhappy surprise with all the half baked downloads.Version: 7.2.0
✓ No 2 page spread?I was really hoping I could read Nat Geo on my ipad just like the printed magazine, seeing those big beautiful two page spreads in all their glory as they were meant to be seen/read. I get it on a phone due to the real estate, but on the ipad I only see one page at a time where I should be able to view two. Or at least have the option to go landscape and switch to two pages. Am I missing something? Is this not possible? I have ipad Air 3rd generation, iOS 15.5..Version: 7.27.0
✓ Poorly implementedI opened the latest version on my iPad 5, chose Magazine, chose download via my 418 Mbps internet, which was going on forever, so I opened another app, When I chose NG app, it opened not where I left, but on the home page. I had to go through the process again. It happened again. Terrible. Adding to this, it keeps happening, I put away my iPad with the app open to the article I'm reading, but when open the iPad the next day and choose the app, it goes back to the home page and I have to find the article I was reading all over again. Really bad..Version: 7.4.0
✓ Nice if it worksMoving from an article featured in the email newsletter is something that one day, maybe-perhaps-but-not-yet, will work as it should. Currently -and for the longest time, through all of the improvement and fix-it updates- the “Read On”button in the NG email newsletter goes to a blank page or, if very “lucky”, a nice picture with the iconic yellow rectangle in its center and that’s it, no article or any other content to see and read. Separate from the failed linking to articles from emails, the app is slow, text is slow, and images download as if stuck in a 2002, 3G time loop. What’s amazing to me is that this is the nothing less than THE National Geographic… and this is how their app works (sort of). If NG displayed the same standards when producing their mag., it’d be called “People Magazine” ….Version: 7.6.0
✓ No!Rip off.Version: 7.3.0
✓ DisappointedI have been using the online app for years..this new version is terrible...crashes all the time. Cannot read an article now.Version: 7.3.0
✓ Can’t View 2-Page SpreadsYou can only view a single page at a time! Basic settings should allow you to choose viewing two pages at a time as you would with a hard copy magazine..Version: 7.15
✓ Bottom link is very annoyingA link to another story is always at the bottom of the screen. I have accidentally hit it several times. I have to go back find the article again and scroll to where I left off. When looking at pictures, it covers the description. This is extremely annoying. I will choose what I want to read next. If not fixed I will not renew..Version: 7.13.0
✓ I removed auto renewal from my itunesI am giving one star as I cannot select 0. I have been a subscriber through iTunes since 2012. I am unable to restore my purchases. I keep trying and it says i do not have a valid subscription. Very frustrating, there is no way of getting in touch with support or anyone that can restore your purchases. I have turned off my autorenewal and you will lose a loyal member when my subscription ends in September..Version: 7.6.0
✓ Subscription canceledJust received notification that my subscription has ended. This is the rub. I paid for something else. I had several years worth of magazines archived - all gone. Subscribers who are calling National Geographic out for bait and switch are exactly right. So disappointed. That is an unnecessary stain on the Nat Geo brand. **Update 2021 After more than a year, I just signed on again to see if access had been restored to years of previously purchased and archived magazines. Nope. I don’t blame Disney. I blame National Geographic. For the same amount of money previously paid, I could have purchased the print version and would still be able to read through old articles. Going digital seemed like the right thing to do at the time. I would have to pay for access a second time in order to view previous purchases. Shame..Version: 7.0.2
✓ No photos when offline,why?As a professional photographer myself I’ve always loved reading the magazine. Great stories incredible images. The only thing I don’t like about the new app is downloaded, offline issue of the magazine are saved as text only. What is the point of downloading the worlds best photographed magazine if I can’t see the images when I don’t have an internet connection? It would be nice to be resting up from an amazing day of photography for example in base camp inside the arctic circle and be able to view and read a nat geo story about the arctic circle..Version: 7.17.0
✓ So fed up with this app!I’ve been subscribed to National Geographic for over fifty years. Love the magazine. Love the app too when it decides to recognize me!!! I don’t know what the change was but now it has decided I’m not a subscriber, apparently since I didn’t subscribe through Apple. What use is the app to me when it will not let me read any of the premium articles that I should have access to through my subscription. I’m not only ready to dump the app but to not renew my mail subscription. I only take it now for my grandchildren..Version: 7.54
✓ Great contentThe app however is hit and miss, sometimes it takes 20 seconds to start up. And it’s the only app on my phone to crash that I can tell. My phone was recently restored to iOS 14.5.1 with latest cloud backup and the IOS as an ipsw file. And still buggy. Please fix the speed and reliability. Thank you. Update. Changed to 4 stars. I will update to 5 if it stays. A developer of the app reached out and I’ve tested it a few times. Seems good. NG is awesome. I also have the tv program as well. 😊 Back to 3 stars. App takes a while to load. And if you switch back to it, it will crash, even though it was “open”..Version: 7.2.0
✓ Urgently needs a 2-page view side-by-sideThe page view is the step in the right direction. However, most of the photos in the print version of the magazine are spread over two (sometimes even four) pages. The app needs to have a 2-page view in which two consecutive pages are shown side-by-side. With this addition the digital version of the magazine will be able to (almost) fully substitute for the print version..Version: 7.15
✓ Horrible companyPurchased every magazine from 2012 to 2018. National Geographic is refusing to let me read my magazines. Never finished reading everything and now can't read it. This is not fair. If I purchased something I should have access to it forever like with books, music, and Movies. Apple keeps a record of puchase history..Version: 7.9.0
✓ Designed BadlyI recently downloaded this onto my new iPad Air (2022). If you navigate to a scan of an archived (pre-2008) article, there is no way to navigate out; the only thing that seems possible is shut down the iPad completely and then turn it back on. Also: when navigating within the scan, the place-marker at the bottom does not respond to touch, thus one must navigate page by page. Both of these faults are really quite bad and National Geographic should be embarrassed to have authored such a poorly designed app. Archived issues, one of the most persuasive selling points of the app are, effectively, nigh useless..Version: 7.32.0
✓ Frustrating beyond beliefThe app daily loses my subscription and membership information! That means I have to find my account number to reconnect it to the app again to access content even though I’m technically still logged in. A simple email and login won’t do it. Then the app doesn’t sync with the newsletter links - it just opens to a home page which you need to scroll through to find your story. Then it won’t open because it needs to link your subscription again! Better is expected from both National Geographic and Disney!.Version: 7.8.0
✓ Crashes constantly!Unusable on iOS 14.6.Version: 7.4.0
✓ Mostly brokenFirst there is the frustration of the articles in the app not matching the articles in the magazine each month. So if you want to see the proper content for the month you have to load up the page view, not just look at the articles (which just seem like a thin webpage to me). Which brings me to the problem with the app. The page view won’t load. It stops midway through the month and just won’t load anything more. If I jump to a page mid-way then it might load some of the pages on each side but nothing else. It’s like it caches some of the pages to speed up turning pages but then won’t fetch new pages when I hit the end of the cache. And if I attempt to download it takes forever (it’s not my wifi or internet connection) and usually times out or when iOS unloads the app from active memory…poof download progress is gone..Version: 7.49
✓ Has major problemsDoes not display content, quality is intermittent, Home Screen shows but none of the linked stories, NG has firewalled itself against queries for help. Keeps asking for subscription when you’ve paid. Aggravating to use. UPDATE: The problems continue, with some stories appearing and others not..Version: 7.2.0
✓ Worst App EverThis is the most frustrating app I have ever accessed. It runs you in circles and doesn’t give you useful information. And it has required fields that you can’t fill in. Plus it has a privacy policy that’s as opaque as a black hole. I’m disgusted with National Geographic and most particularly the Disney Company who seems to be running it. I have now deleted the App - hope my subscription comes through. 🤞 Ps: why cant I give it ZERO Stars?.Version: 7.9.0
✓ Lacks key featuresGood: -All article access (with NG membership) -Optionally store articles locallyl Not good: -Poor article layout. No font settings and articles are wasteful with screen size. Literally half the screen (left and right side margins) is black in landscape mode, about a third is black in portrait mode. What’s the purpose of electronic content if the app then does not scale / make the best out of the available space? At least let me zoom the entire article then, like I can on the NG website. In this point the Webpage is actually better than the app. -Can’t opt our of “sell my data to third parties“ if you’re not a california resident. Just why do you sell data in the first place? This is already a paid membership, Disney how dare you?.Version: 7.19
✓ This app never works!I paid for the yearly subscription because I really enjoy reading the articles however this app has only worked twice over the last 30 days. I can see all the articles but when I select one I only see a blank page. So frustrating..Version: 7.6.0
✓ TerribleFor years I was unable to play the videos provided but with this new version I can. However now it constantly crashes, kicks me out, I am having quite a bit of difficulty finding a magazine that does not crash or kick me out while I’m in the middle of the article..Version: 7.3.0
✓ Totally DisappointedApp is basically unusable !.Version: 7.4.0
✓ LanguageI can’t change the lenguage.Version: 7.59
✓ Restore doesn’t workThey need your personal information so you can read a magazine?!.Version: 7.39
✓ Underwhelmed and disappointedI recently resubscribed to the digital Nat Geo offering and was excited to try the updated app on my newer iPad, thinking it would be a showcase for the device. So far I am disappointed. Articles are stuck in the center of the iPad screen, unable to use two-thirds of the screen area. Ok, so I will pinch or otherwise increase the text size in the settings, right? Nope. No way to do it. Similar experience with videos on the iPad. Low quality with retrace lines ever present. My connection is fast so it’s not that. A browser would provide a much better experience then this app does… so I will try that I guess. I would gladly offer to beta test improvements to this application on the iPad, if the vendor has any plans for that. It is sorely needed..Version: 7.47
✓ Not cool NGI havenot been able to access my subscription for some time. I contacted apple, they say contact NG. How in the world, do YOU contact NG support, i looked everywhere on their website? This is not first time, i had an issue with restoring purchases in the app. Just not working for me and this apple mess..Version: 7.15
✓ So annoyingI started an on-line subscription last December and all of a sudden I find I have to link my account subscription. Pop-up window is provided to input email address but a keyboard with which to input the required information does not pop up. I cannot figure out a way around this problem so I cancelled my subscription because even though I’m paid up until next December, I can’t access the on-line edition. Very annoyed and disappointed..Version: 7.41
✓ Updated review - increasingly frustratedIn my initial review, I mentioned that articles could not be downloaded and then viewed offline. After multiple emails back and forth and calls with technical support, I was informed that the “download” feature within the app does not actually allow for you to view the articles when offline (I.e., not connected to wifi). Instead, it was recommended that I “save” the articles by essentially “printing to pdf” which can only be done via the website, and not the app. While doing this technically works, it isn’t pretty and most of the associated images are not included in the pdf. It is also ridiculous that these extra steps are necessary, for something that should be easily done via the app. I cannot comprehend how this oversight continues to go without a fix. The error occurs on both my iPad and iPhone, and plenty of others have mentioned the same issue in their reviews of the app. One of the main reasons I subscribe is to read while offline, and apparently this is simply not possible. Ridiculous..Version: 7.32.0
✓ Not like used to be too much useless articles for what it supposed to be.My father used read NG since 90’s and I did since my teenage years. Came back to NG after long break just to see that 70% of content is same what you see on cnn and other media. Covid, BLM and global warming. I loved NG for their abilities to publish best scientific and nature articles on earth but that I see has changed. Also app being buggy sometime and articles don’t load..Version: 7.8.0
✓ Frequent crashes100% crash rate when you launch it from the lock screen notifcations..Version: 7.6.0
✓ Takes forever to open & load articlesPrior to Disney, this app was great. It was fast & I never had an issue linking my subscription. Once Disney took over the app quality went down immensely. It takes minutes for the app to just open the homepage. Once the homepage finally loads, I’m rarely able to get any articles to open. It’s unbelievably slow. The same issues occur when I open an article from a Nat Geo email on my phone & it prompts the app. When I’m lucky enough to get an article to load, the app often crashes/closes without warning…. Then I have to start the 5 minute process of restarting the app & opening the article again. This is really unacceptable when Nat Geo is now owned by the largest company on the planet. Not to mention the issues I had linking my subscription right after Disney took over. It took 2 months & multiple phone calls to customer service to get it fixed. Again… this is the quality product/service we get from the largest company on Earth? My local news apps work far better than Nat Geo & have a fraction of the financial backing..Version: 7.6.0
✓ Update iPadOS 14.7.1: from 1 to 2 starsGood news! It doesn't crash regularly anymore. The bad news: Search doesn't work. Click on a topic tile and it brings up a blank page. When I get an email with stories described and I touch the button to read more it brings up (or switches to) this app...period. I cannot find the story described in the email anywhere in the app. For such a great organization and such great magazines, this is a poor app. I have multiple subscriptions but it would be worth it to pay a couple of dollars more for the app and get one that actually works..Version: 7.8.0
🙂 National Geographic Positive Reviews
National Geographic works most of the time. If it is not working for you, we recommend you excersise some patience and retry later or contact National Geographic.
⛔ National Geographic Problems
