App REVIEWS
It says I’m offline when not. Want open mags when offline. What’s the point of downloading it?
After downloading the “Read” button is ghosted but you can delete it but when you go back to home page all buttons are ghosted. R Terry
Unfortunately this app is so bad that it makes me want to switch back to paper. It freezes up, takes forever to download a magazine, and is not intuitive to navigate. I have had major issues scrolling / moving around a page. The app will freeze up when I try to zoom in on a page. It’s difficult to get back out of a magazine to view other issues. I am using this app on the newest iOS software. Does not work well at all. Would not recommend.
To be better, when I return to the app after an absence, it would be on the page I was reading when I left. To be great, no matter which issue I visit, it would start on the page I left off at. Like a dog ear. Only no crease. And zooming is sometimes wonky too … but a good app.
I paid the extra for the digital version of the mags so I could download copies to read anytime anywhere. At one time I could do that but not any more. It almost works when I am at home or somewhere with access to a fast WiFi. Even though I have several mags downloaded...it will not let me get to them without WiFi. Don’t waste your money on the digital subscriptions.
Update - 2/18/21: I either get an error every time I try to read or download the latest issue, or just a blank screen. When zoomed in enough where you can actually read the text, it winds up being too blurry. Even zoomed halfway in, it’s still too blurry. Zoom all the way out, and it’s too small.
I’ve suffered through the clunky app, random crashes, and login/logout issues for a few months. Not it won’t display any of my past issues at all. Completely useless. Time to call & switch back to the paper magazine (can’t AOPA even allow us to make that change via their website rather than requiring a phone call?!).
6th generation iPad. App is not functional even after deleting and reloading.
Updated review: Nothing has improved about this app since my last review. It’s still terrible. —— This app is generally frustrating. The gestures are non standard, it’s slow on the latest iPad, and it’s unintuitive. If you are deciding to go digital... don’t. Unfortunately, though it wastes money that could be used for advocacy, the printed edition is still significantly superior to what this app provides. Sadly this does not have to be. There are numerous magazine apps out there (Apple News+, Amazon, specific publication apps) that have useful magazine apps. The app is also useless on an iPhone. You cannot zoom in on text close to the edges of a page, so you cannot read many articles (iPhone 11 pro max). Also, the app does not work with the built in voiceover accessibility features of iOS. If someone has poor vision, are they assumed to be uninterested in aviation and supporting advocacy for GA? I won’t add a shame on you here... but think about it. I have been on occasion (less and less so) checking for useful updates only to find that the app continues to be pretty terrible on an iPad and useless on an iPhone... so, generally speaking, I do not read what I’m assuming are great articles and I get a little less value out of my membership. This leads me to having a less tangible sense of value in terms of what I’m paying for. Please revise this app to behave like a normal Apple iOS application. Download a copy of the official Apple HIG. It’s free and it’ll give you clear guidelines on how an iOS app should work. This app’s behavior compared to the HIG is like a pilot who’s never bothered to read the AIM.
I have tried to use this app on three different iPads. In every case, once I zoom into a page, the view locks and cannot be panned to the desired spot. Occasionally, I can briefly scroll vertically but not laterally. To correct, I must zoom out to full page view and then attempt to re-zoom to the desired view. However, it is very difficult to zoom into a specific portion of a page. Invariably, part of the text ends up off screen and again cannot be panned. I have several digital magazine subscriptions on my iPads, and this app is the only one that exhibits this defect.
For a group that prides itself on innovative modern avionics, etc, this App is like a Cessna 150 with a compass only. Move onto the 21 century and fix this thing so we can read the articles across all devices.
I have two main problems with this app. First, the magazines in my library aren't all visible. I have to click on one of them for another to display - I originally thought it was deleted. Secondly, you can't bookmark where you left off. If you wait too long to resume reading you have to remember where you were. Then you need to start at the beginning of the magazine and navigate to it which is a hassle even when using the page menu icon. I read Flying on Zinio and have none of these problems. I hope AOPA will offer Zinio as an option soon. Update 3/5/20 The bookmark feature was fixed on a previous version but with the latest release I can’t return to the page I last read. I have to remember and navigate there every time.
This is one of the worst reading apps I’ve ever used. After the last redesign, there were only two zoom levels - in or out. In was too small, out was way too small. Then there was an update where zoom started working as you’d expect on the iPad, only it was very slow and clunky. I would zoom in and there was a default location where the page would zoom, regardless of where the zoom was initiated. Then I would try and scroll to where I wanted to read but it wouldn’t work and took many tries. Sometimes scrolling would only work in one plane at a time - horizontal or vertical. No diagonal scrolling. I’ve never understood why AOPA can’t get their act together with respect to their reading app.
There are several things I love about eMags, and the major one is that I can carry them with me, and they are no burden to the environment. BUT ..... my wife loves it even more ..... no more “clutter.”
The ability to zoom to a legible size has been lost in the apps rewrite. On an iPhone the maximum zoom is barely enough to be legible so reading has become impossible.
Content and videos are terrific but app is slow to download, seems to take forever compared to other apps.
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The app is slow and rather “clunky”. I do like reading the monthly magazines on my iPad but there are way superior apps that are used to read magazines
... sure wish it would open right up to the page I left when I revisit the app...
It’s hard to enjoy a magazine, when they make it impossible for you to log in. Maybe I need to make a larger donation.