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The Times Literary Supplement App Complaints & User Negative Comments 2024
The Times Literary Supplement app received 58 complaints, negative comments and reviews by users. Have you ever had a bad experience using The Times Literary Supplement? Can you share your negative thoughts about the times literary supplement?
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The Times Literary Supplement for Negative User Reviews
✓ Login every time!!!The app itself is wonderful. I just loaded it a week or so ago and love it. But I have to log in again every time. Why won't it stay? The iPhone version stays. Also, after their programmers figure out how to fix that, they might consider including the crossword. I'm keeping the paper subscription solely in order to get the puzzle..Version: 4.0
✓ CancelledMy issues will not download for the last several days due to problem with 'authorization service'. If not corrected in next two days I will set renewal to off..Version: 3.0
✓ Not as good as print version - so what's the point?This just isn't as good as the print version. It lacks a lot of the detail and the ease of reading. Online versions of print magazines were FAR better when they were facsimiles of the hard copy. Also, latest edition is often late in arriving online..Version: 3.0
✓ I guess I’m not the target user, but who is?While I so far I haven’t had the login issues that others have reported, I have substantial complaints: 1. I prefer to select what to read based on the topic and author of the books being reviewed, but that information is deeply buried. Thematic heads like “SCIENCE” are often too broad to help. 2. The information that is prominent in the table of contents includes reviewers’ names that I only sometimes recognize, and review titles, selected for cleverness rather than utility. 3. In print, I read a bit of the review, then look at who the reviewer is, and return to the review. In the app, this is a cumbersome process. 4. On my iPad, the app will orient to landscape from either side, but portrait only one way, and not the way that would be most useful..Version: 4.0
✓ AppWorst. App. Ever. Have been a subscriber for so many years, yet must re-sign in constantly and do not always have necessary info at hand. Joan Sindall Cambridge MA.Version: 4.0
✓ UnacceptableI am a paying subscriber and can find no way to log in with this app -- it insultingly tells me I am unauthorized. A good way to lose subscribers..Version: 4.0
✓ Where is the crossword?I live in Australia and travel a lot. I prefer digital to print because I can access the current issue immediately. But where is the crossword, one of my favourite parts of the TLS? Very disappointed. I contacted TLS re the lack of crossword twice and have received no reply..Version: 4.0
✓ Not a good startRecently I subscribed to the TLS and I'm able to access the archive, however I currently have no access to the App. I was given a logon commencing with a 4 and apparently there is a problem with this digit access. 2 calls to the UK to be told that the 'techos' are working flat out to resolve. No mention of problems or updates on the website...very poor..Version: 3.0
✓ Yet another stupid update that logs you outIt's incredible that the developers still haven't figured out how maddening it is to users to be logged out every time an update comes through or one tries using the app without an internet connection. Worse still is that now I can't even log back into the app after the update..Version: 3.0
✓ Appalling Waste of CodeI must delete the app and reinstall for every new issue. Messages to app support have yielded nothing beyond auto-responses..Version: 1.1.1
✓ Not an improvementCompletely new design, but you still keep having to re-login, just like before - have your subscriber number handy. The app defaults to highlights, rather than the edition you’re reading and your place in it. If you leave the app open to keep your place, it bounces up and down, I guess to show you what you were reading? Scrolling is jumpy sometimes. The TLS is great, but digital readers deserve a better experience..Version: 6.0
✓ App keeps saying my subscription is not active but I have paid itEvery now and then I can’t access the contents of the TLS because the app wrongly states that my subscription is not active. When this happens (and it happens very frequently) I have to access the contents through the website, making the app useless..Version: 4.1
✓ TlsVery good. Why is the crossword missing?.Version: 5.1
✓ TerribleWill not allow subscribers to log in! Ridiculous.Version: 4.0
✓ Hostile to the ReaderI subscribed to the TLS, yet am continually asked to buy the issue. There is no clear sign in option. Once it is up and running, navigation is poor - download each separate issue, see what’s inside. It’s print by other means, an archive, not respecting the possibilities of online. Great content, once you get to it..Version: 4.1
✓ AwkwardTrying to log in with subscriber number often fails. Frustrating. Why can a subscriber not simply have a password with email recovery? Additionally, the index for each week ought to be fuller, as in the printed paper, and you should be able to get a proper picture of the cover which is often interesting..Version: 4.0
✓ Great content but idiosyncratic interfaceExcellent that the TLS is available in this format, but they've tried too hard with the interface. For example, to see the title or titles of what's being reviewed you have to tap on a grey tab: and where there's a second title it's sometimes invisible until you scroll down. It would be simpler just to have, as the printed edition, the book titles at the top of the reviews. There are two navigating tools, which is fine in principle, but as the thumbnail selector just shows an article's first page it's exactly the same as the more traditional contents menu. The new bookmark feature is very useful, but once in it you can't remove articles or go to the next without tapping Home and going in again. Emailing articles works very well (though the header text is a bit messy). So I'm glad it's there, and it's cheap, but would be grateful for an interface overhaul..Version: 2.0
✓ OpinionThis app works well but I still would prefer a paper subscription plus digital flexibility.Best for me would be to be able to read the T L S on my Kindle..Version: 2.0
✓ Buffering icon still showingPossibly something to do with background app refresh, but the constant spinning icon in the centre of the app is TERRIBLE. Occasionally you can trick it into disappearing by toggling background app refresh on and off, but you need to do this for EVERY article. Makes the app unpleasant to use. The web version is easier, but no dark mode and it has an annoying habit of forgetting you are a subscriber within minutes..Version: 6.0
✓ Awful Awful AwfulTotally with the awful review. No response to repeated email requests. 2 weeks "authorisation failure". Do not go near this app until they have authority to run it properly..Version: 3.0
✓ Let down by the appTwice in 3 months the app forgets that you are a long term subscriber, all access denied etc etc. Response time poor to fix. Print edition fine- but the app is not good enough..Version: 4.0
✓ Fix this AppLike other reviewers, I find I have to login to the app almost every time I use it. This has been going on for years, but the tech staff at TLS either don't care or cannot figure out a fix for the problem..Version: 4.0
✓ Formatting changesWith iOS 12 we have lost the much more readable two column format. This has been replaced by a single wide column of text, navigated by continuous scrolling, rather than page flipping. Together these changes make reading articles almost painful. If this can’t be fixed, I’m going to cancel my subscription..Version: 4.0
✓ Authorisation FailedI can no longer access my subscription. I get an "authorisation failed" message. This has been going on for 2 weeks. ——————— A year or two has passed since I wrote the above ... I decided to try the subscription again. It worked well for a few weeks. Then today, it crashes everytime I try to read an article. Eventually the TLS will catch up with the technology of the 1990s and provide an adequate app for reading. But they will have spent YEARS damaging their reputation and readership by tolerating their (fantastic!) content to be distributed through such flawed, thoroughly crappy apps. TLS was a giant of the print world. It is awful that such a wonderful newspaper couldn’t find a successful way to digitize after decades of trying. They were titans, and I have always loved the writing. But, they are complete digital idiots..Version: 5.0
✓ TerribleThis app is terrible. I am now re-installing it and it is still only halfway after two hours. This after a month of problems accessing content and half a dozen emails and two phone calls..Version: 1.1.1
✓ Among the worstConstantly have to re-log in. App is not user friendly. Once you're in it's ok to navigate the issue..Version: 4.0
✓ Sign InYou seem to be incapable of sorting out a problem with your North American edition that has plagued me for years. It frequently asks me to log in again. With the London Review of Books and the New York ditto, once you are logged in you never have to do it again. Perhaps you could go to them for a helping hand..Version: 4.0
✓ Should be betterGood for downloading TLS but not much more, unable to see details of my account, e.g. Subscription status, how much left to run, no phone number listed for U.K. enquiries. Expected more..Version: 3.0
✓ Very disappointingI paid a lot for this app but their crazy verification system means I could rarely access it during the past year. I had to keep rewriting this negative review because they refused multiple nickname attempts. Will not renew.Version: 4.0
✓ Easy to buy issues- harder to keep themKeep losing the downloaded purchased issues, and support poor too.Version: 4.0
✓ Thank for the “update”While the TLS app team eventually fixed the app’s infuriating habit of logging me out, the April 2023 update deleted all my downloaded issues and saved articles (now referred to as bookmarks). Infuriated again. And yet the app designers have not deigned to remove the app’s ugliest feature. A button must be pressed to see what’s being reviewed, and then pressed again to read the review. Just put the damned book details at the top of the page!.Version: 6.0
✓ TerribleI have a print plus digital subscription, and the app almost never works. Says I don't have access. Can reinstall and sometimes that helps for maybe one issue. They've been trying to fix this since March. Whoever is working in their subscription/tech dept are a bunch of bumbling idiots. However, I did subscribe one month directly through Apple and everything worked flawlessly. Strange. I'm going to cancel with TLS..Version: 1.1.1
✓ Aggravating password systemI use the app when I travel, and like to download issues before I go. The app frequently denies access, won’t let my password app supply the user/password, doesn’t like the password, etc. I understand the need to protect intellectual property. But if you can’t make access closer to the experience of picking up the paper and beginning to read, there’s no point in a digital subscription, and it’ll be easier just to throw a few issues in the checked luggage..Version: 5.0
✓ Once again my online subscription ended for no reasonNow I can’t send Thanks.Version: 4.1
✓ Was charged, couldn’t viewFor about a year haven’t been able to view TLS but was being charged. About a year ago, I canceled subscription somehow, lost ability to view, but I kept getting charged. I messaged TLS who said they didn’t see me as a subscriber but iTunes was probably charging me. I asked TLS to allow me to view again since I couldn’t stop the subscription, but they couldn’t figure out the technical issue and told me to talk to iTunes. I just stumbled upon how to cancel the subscription on iTunes, canceled it, and immediately the app allowed me to view again for the 2 remaining days on last paid week. So a terrible experience..Version: 5.0
✓ Still CrapStill need to have sub number to login and still need to,login all the time. Award for worst app and for worst help -- delete and reinstall is not a solution..Version: 4.0
✓ Updated but not improvedIt still will not allow sharing an article but only sends a screenshot of the first page..Version: 5.0
✓ Just provide the reviewed title at the top of the pageTo view the title of the work being reviewed requires an extra click, which opens a overlay masking the review. It is a remarkably stupid interface for a periodical/app that is devoted to book reviews. I’m not crazy about the revision to the print versions layout, but it is more useful than this bad design. Why is an icon of a picture frame part of the UX? What did the designers think that means to a reader? The logic of the most basic aspects of the app’s design suggest that no one involved had ever read an issue of TLS, which is probably the case. You do need to login every couple of weeks, which is annoying. Also, the login is unconventional, requiring an account number, but not the account password. I suspect this underlies many of the complaints in the other reviews. The LRB app is faultless in comparison, although it is pretty basic. TLS should study the competition, as it is. I cannot speak more highly of the archive access, through Gale Research, but this is a subscription benefit unrelated to this awkward app..Version: 4.1
✓ Most poorly functioning websiteI’ve ever seen. Technical support is non-existent. In fact, it’s worse than nothing because, if you can ever get a response out of them, THE INFORMATION WILL BE WRONG! !.Version: 4.1
✓ My access to History of philosophy has limitedWhy? My subscription’s paid up. I have called and emailed multiple times for a rectification, but with no solution. It seems a technical glitch is preventing me from refreshing my familiarity with Western philosophy in the time of coronavirus..Version: 4.1
✓ Good app with one or two annoying faultsThis app would be vastly improved if two things were changed about it. First it should be easier and quicker to download an issue. At present it is a clunky process that takes a few too many clicks, making it hard to download multiple back issues. And second the app is constantly forgetting my login information which I then have to dig up and re-enter to download new issues. If these problems are fixed the app would be virtually perfect..Version: 4.0
✓ TerribleLove TLS but the electronic version fails constantly- my subscription isn’t recognised, my password has to pay reset, some problem week after week....Version: 5.0
✓ Terrible app, TLS REFUSES TO FIXFails every to authorize my valid sibscription every month. TLS refuses to fix, tells me to use web version, not iPad app. I’ve given up on TLS and canceled my sub..Version: 5.0
✓ Do not let these people have your credit card numberThe app is not very good but sort of works and the content of the magazine is not that bad. However, for a digital subscription, while you can easily sign up for a trial on their Web site, you can only discontinue the “trial” and avoid paying for a regular subscription by calling their call center, which does not make clear exactly when you may call. There is also an email address but all they are capable of doing is redirecting you to the call center. It’s obvious that the only reason for it to work this way is to make it inconvenient enough that you fail to cancel even if you do not wish to receive the subscription anymore. This sort of deceptive business practice ought to be illegal..Version: 6.0
✓ Too big margins and no split viewI’m using iPad mini 6 for daily reading bz it’s light and compact. TLS on iPad mini 6 makes reading a struggle rather than an enjoyment. Apart from the two problems mentioned in the title, the typeface is either too small which forces my eyes to squint and stare at the screen or way too big which makes a huge wasted screen area and forces me to constantly slide my thumb. It‘s a tiring and painful to use the app despite the content of TLS is really great！.Version: 5.1
✓ TLSRubbish.Version: 3.0
✓ Terrible appVery poor app. Never recognises subscription details. Put to shame by excellent LRB app..Version: 3.0
✓ Dumbed Down Update?Can we have the full contents page back, the same one in the print edition? The 'simplified' skimpy new one is only one step up from useless. I do not know why you have changed it. In fact I'm so startled it's gone perhaps it's still there and it's all my fault for failing to locate it in which case I withdraw my negative review....Version: 3.0
✓ Hopeless TLSThe TLS app for the iPad really is a disgrace. I cannot renew my subscription to both the hard copy and digital versions online, and now it has cancelled all the digital versions I have paid for but still not read. Does Rupert Murdoch know what truly incompetent fools designed this app?.Version: 3.0
✓ MrA wholly inferior app. Haven't been able to download paid for issues for two weeks, every attempt being met with "authorisation failed" and the TLS and iTunes refusing to answer my emails. To be avoided!.Version: 3.0
✓ Doesn’t work nowConstantly getting “Authorisation Failed” message whenever I try to download an edition. May as well stick with the print issue. Rubbish..Version: 3.0
✓ Very poor appWorst digital subscription app I have had the sad occasion to pay for using. Can’t remember my subscription information and provides no means to sign in to one’s account. Open the account tab and you are informed you are not authorized to view YOUR account information. All past issues locked for access by digital subscribers only, though you are and for several years have been a suffering digital subscriber. Sometimes the app remembers who you are and lets you in. Other times it does not and since it doesn’t allow you to sign in (how elementary a convenience!) you must again send an email to find out how to get in—when you want to read an issue now, not three days hence. This has been going on for 3 years and no web site improvements in that time. Tossing the app and keeping the print edition..Version: 4.0
✓ DisgracefulI am no longer able to download issues due to authorisation problems, despite paying 7.99 a month for them. My emails to the TLS have not been answered and I now see that other users have had the same issue and been similarly ignored..Version: 3.0
✓ Book titlesContent is good but app makes it hard to see quick summaries of the most important information - the titles of the books being reviewed..Version: 4.1
✓ Won't stay logged inI have to re enter my subscriber number every time I log on, which send me running for a paper copy to find that number, which makes me wonder why I have an electronic version at all!.Version: 4.0
✓ Cannot remove buffering signThe app across iPhone and iPad carries a buffering sign which is impossible to get rid of..Version: 6.0
✓ Great up, but could be betterI love the TLS, I’d love them more if their archive was available in the app and not just on their website..Version: 4.0
✓ Needs workThis app seems to constantly lose the login data. To login anew you need the subscriber number which is only found on the printed issue. So if you are away from home and don’t have access to a printed issue, you are unable to read anything. great..Version: 4.1
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