Consumer Reports Magazine iPad App Reviews

Just downloaded the iOS 8 version. Finally able to download my magazines again. App is coming up for renewal in 2 weeks. Very happy to see it working properly again.

You wont get any content - the app is just a vehicle for you to buy the monthly mag. You have to pay for every item.

Downloading new editions is easier now. Layout of the magazine is better although there are too many scrolling text windows.

Another "unable to download folio"

Occasionally it works. More often than it should, it shuts me out. Last time I asked for a password reset the email came with "This message has no content". A champion for "consumers" that treats consumers with contempt!

Every month I get a nice email from consumer reports telling me my magazine is ready for downloading. Every month I have to call customer support to get it to work. Unfortunately I renewed my subscription for another 12 months. Im hoping to change back to a hard copy so I can get this app of my iPad As far as the magazine goes once you get it downloaded I would give it 2 to 3 stars. It would be nice to zoom in on text but this cannot be done with all the articles. As well there is no landscape feature, so if your iPad stand only works in land scape mode you out of luck. Have been a big supporter of consumer reports for years but they should review there app against others in newsstand and see how short they come up.

I have an annual membership... All the app gives me is the ability to buy magazines. I would expect an App version of the website.

I subscribe to several magazines that use apps similar to this for distribution but none are as counter-intuitive and difficult to navigate as this one. The only thing going for it is that the login process is so convoluted that you likely never have to worry about someone breaking into your account! Truly a mess!

Can not download Jan 2016 issue, even though I have a current subscription, and have been able to download until now. Not able to send an email to CR as there app does not accept Canadian postal codes. Dont bother to download until issues resolved.

Cannot get this app to work in Canada. Wont accept postal code, but certainly accepted my money! Totally disgusted!

This is my second time that the consumer reports app is not working correctly. When you send an email to CR they request you to call their help line. When you call the number you are told that the app is broken and they dont know when they will fix it. It seems that an email, web site banner or updating the app to indicate that the app is out of service would be pro-active. For a company that evaluates products, I would think that this product would fail their tests.

I have numerous newsstand apps and this stands out as the worst. It almost always fails,to load or keep my account registered. I a, canceling my print subscription to protest because this has not worked for years. CR should be ashamed, it has become that which it claims to protect consumers from......

Each month if traveling I try to read the magazine content on the app. Each month it not only asks for my user name and password but for my subscriber number. If I HAD that number I would be at home reading the issue. I had hoped this issue would be resolved but it has not. PLEASE either fix this issue or provide your paying subscribers a realistic way of reading paid for content online.

If Consumer Reports rated their own app, they would probably give it a full black circle (as opposed to their good rating of a full red circle). I have repeated tried to download a copy of a magazine I am entitled to, since I have a subscription to the hard copy, but I just keep getting the error message that says "Index.html", "unable to download folio". Sometimes I would prefer to bring the electronic version when I travel, rather than carry the magazine. Also, would be nice if someone with a yearly subscription would have access to the yearly buyers guide as well. Addendum, a couple days later, the app is now not working at all. It keeps asking for my subscription number and zip code and then it says activated, then when I put in my name and password as it tells me to, it says Authentication Failed?? Addendum 2: I am a print subscriber. It seems EVERY time I use the app, it asks for my name and password. Not sure why it cant remember these. After I enter the name and password, it asks EVERY time for me to confirm my print subscription by entering my SUBSCRIPTION NUMBER from my print label. IF I HAD MY PRINT LABEL with me, I would not need to read the article on the iPad. WHY CANT it remember that I linked my account log in to the print version. I have logged in at least TWENTY times with this subscription number. I give up. I am just deleting the app. It is not worth it. A company this inept with their app has lost my trust in rating other products as well.

Sat May 4: according to Customer Service, issues past 2015 wont update on iPad, and CR is "working with Apple" for a fix. Ive been a hardcopy subscriber many years; opening CR on iPad never improves.

......whew!......I thought I was the only one having problems with this site!!!!!! .....really did not want to give even the one star rating at all....

Every time I try to use this app, its the same thing. It challenges me for login info (which I have), and then account number and zip, and then we go in circles. Even though it says Im signed in, and I can even download issues I had somehow managed to get to several years ago, it only wants to sell me current issues. This app never gets fixed. Why???

Update: After reading other reviews I have to agree, Consumer Reports should rate their own app but since they dont I will. I rate this app: DO NOT BUY! After 2 years of problems you would think they would work on this but they dont! This app is horrible! Issues dont download and Consumer Reports doesnt seem to care enough to fix it. So disappointing as digital magazines save so much. This is not the only magazine I subscribe to whos digital format doesnt work. Back to paper for me!

I am a print subscriber. I got this app set up and it will log me in SOMETIMES. Update June 2016: login madness. Sign in with user name and password, then enter print subscription number and zip code, then sign out, then sign back in and maybe, maybe, you can access all your subscription issues... But usually not. The constant six step sign in process is more than annoying. Older problems: Every time I open CR in newsstand I get the "connection to the server failed" error and when I try to view/download an issue the error reads "cannot start the download because the file is missing or invalid" error. This is totally useless! I have good wifi connection but cannot read a single issue, so much for the added print subscriber benefit. Update June 2016: new error, I am subscribed to jan 2018 but app only shows available issues thru March 2016. I cant open current issues. Older update: I occasionally I can download issues but each time I open CR in newsstand I must sign out and sign back in. I just saw next months issue in a store, but not in my mailbox and not on this app. Get this app current content! And please fix this app so a subscriber can download content. This app gets a CR rating of a black filled circle, poor.

Bring some paper and a pencil. To log in, you will need your subscription number from the magazine itself, so dont try this on the train or anywhere away from wherever you left the magazine. You will also need to have created an account and password. Key those in. Now suppose you want to research a new topic possibly reviewed a couple of times in the past five years. There is a separate text-only index for each year. Look at each one (there is no search function) and write down the issue month, year, and page number. Move to the next index and repeat. Now exit from the index. You will have to close the app and start over. Be sure you wrote down your login information, including possibly the magazine code, in case that app asks for it again. To move on to the next article on the topic, consult your written notes.. Be patient, as you may have to log in again.