Readly UK Reviews 2,150

The original version of the android app and website were functional and easy to use. The recent updates following the takeover by Cafeyn have crippled the product in terms of functionality and usability. It is genuinely the worst "update" to an application I have ever seen. For now, I have cancelled my subscription (at least I think I have - the new app is so atrocious that I can't be sure whether the cancellation has actually gone through). The concept of an all you can eat magazine subscription offering is great. The new app and website have unfortunately ruined what had been an excellent product.

I used Readly regularly, many magazines and newspapers a week - well worth the fee. Unfortunately this was on a Kindle Fire device.

Following the takeover from Cafeyn and launch of new apps, they are no longer supporting Kindle app. So I now have a device I specifically bought to read ebooks and emags which is now a reduced and a complete regression of service to what was pretty good before. My biggest gripe with the 'improved update' is that the new user experience is completely unusable, it is very hard to find magazines, you cannot download for reading later using the browser version.

I have been pointed towards the new android app - ignoring that this new app is badly designed and unusable, I don't want to read magazines on my smartphone. I want to read them on my Kindle, when I want to read them, which includes the ability to have downloadable access so I can read magazines on things like planes and trains where wifi is inconsistent. Like before.

Please please reconsider and redesign this service to reinstate what it previously was, in particular support Kindle and Fire access and the ability to download magazines across all platforms, this is now a regression of quality and good user experience where I was a loyal customer and read more magazines and editions than I would buy usually in print format. It was great before. It is now almost unusable. I am strongly considering cancelling my subscription (but alas it seems other users can't even do this)

Emailed to complain, generic response. Not holding out hope.

Edit, have now, hopefully, cancelled via stopping the payment at my end. Answers from the company, including the one below, did not address the concerns, no improvements or fixes have been made. The online version I have been forced to move to if I want to read on my Fire device (i do) are slow and unusable and I have to be online to use it. Pointless. Moving over to Pocketmags after years of being a happy Readly customer. Such a shame.

Since updating app all downloads and favourites have disappeared. Apparently Readly has been taken over by Cafeyn. So many poor reviews by others.

Please roll back the iOS app to the previous version before people start leaving in droves.

What is the point of having crossword magazines when you can’t complete them online ?

A disastrous "upgrade". No longer available on Amazon Fire devices. On my android phone its mainly pdf's - clunky, and most just don't download at all. Navigation is a nightmare. Oh and you now can't cancel your subscription on the app. Avoid.

Old Readly app was 5 stars, the new one isn't even worth a 1 star, it really is dreadful, Readly lost another long term customer.

It was amazing but the new app is diabolical. Thankfully, after a few days of the website saying I couldn't, I was able to cancel my subscription on the desktop version (not in the app). Maybe I'll return if they ever restore the older, better, wasn't-broken-so-why-fix-it app, but I expect I'll have long moved on by then.

Subscribed after seeing an advert online and thought it looked good. Unfortunately I didn’t enjoy the selection so tried to cancel and was unable to. The app would take you the App Store while I used a bank card.
Sent an email and they weirdly responded in German saying my request had been noted but they needed an explanation as to why I was cancelling. I replied to that and heard nothing further. Finally managed to cancel through the browser after a week of trying. Never will I use this company again.

Been a subscriber for years but the new layout is appalling and prone to crashing. The old site was easy to follow and intuitive. This new site seems to have been built by somebody who has never used Readly. I still cannot find out how to find my favourites after trying for ages to navigate my way around. Is the new layout change for changes sake? Please revert to the old site. When something works why change it?

wow what a change from great to unreadable.pages no longer fit tablet so you have to use fingers to enlarge on every page otherwise print to small ,needs to reverse changes or i will be cancelling after 10 years.Also didnt help them sayong amazon tablets no longer usable with app

Readly used to be an excellent app with a huge range of magazines and newspapers, and I was a long‑standing subscriber. Unfortunately, since the takeover by Cafeyn, the service has deteriorated dramatically.

Cafeyn immediately deprecated the Readly app without providing proper replacement apps for Android, Apple devices, or Amazon Fire tablets. As a result, the app simply stopped working overnight, leaving many of us unable to access the service we are still being charged for.

To make matters worse, you cannot even cancel your subscription through their website. This effectively traps customers into paying for a service they can no longer use. It is completely unacceptable to switch off a functioning app before launching a working alternative, and it raises serious questions about consumer rights and whether this practice is even legal.
I am now paying for something I cannot access, with no clear communication, no working app, and no straightforward way to cancel. A deeply disappointing and frustrating experience from a service that used to be genuinely good.

It is incredibly frustrating when a "merger" results in a worse experience for the people actually paying the bills. Cafeyn’s rush to kill the old Readly infrastructure before ensuring the new app was stable across all platforms (especially Fire tablets) is a classic case of corporate cart-before-the-horse.

The new app has throughly degraded your service. It frequently freezes. Magazine titles read are no longer marked as such. The whole layout is poorly executed. Some titles seem to have disappeared. I’ll give it a month to improve, if not I’ll cancel. You should consider a refund.

I’ve been a huge fan of Readly since it became available in the UK. Since Cafeyn took over and released their own app it is appalling to use and find content to read. I now want to cancel my subscription for a few months until they get their act together (or they give up completely), but even that function doesn’t work……. DO NOT JOIN Readly until they start getting better reviews.

The New App Update/ takeover is Garbage.
I subscribe to interior design titles to avoid cluttering my home.
This week I lost all my favourite titles.
Years worth of carefully curated bookmarks that I will never be able to replicate.
Im devastated and want to cancel but I can’t!
How is this allowed!?
I find it hard to believe the database is unavailable to the new app.
0 stars from a long standing loyal customer.

A formerly excellent application which has become unusable overnight. Everyything good about it has been removed or disabled. Importantly, their current refusal to allow subscription cancellations is illegal under UK consumer laws and I recommend every user who finds this unacceptable send this email to their main offices, you will need to google for email addresses as Trustpilot does not allow them in reviews,

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I am writing to raise a formal complaint regarding my subscription.

On [insert date(s)] I attempted to cancel my subscription via your platform. On each occasion I was presented with the message:

“Cancelling your subscription is not possible right now… please check back in a few days.”

This constitutes a failure to provide a functioning cancellation mechanism.

Given recent corporate changes, please confirm whether my account is operated by Readly AB, Bonnier News, or Cafeyn Group, and ensure this complaint is directed to the correct legal entity. Regardless of internal structure, I hold the service provider responsible for compliance with UK consumer law.

I require that this email be treated as formal notice to cancel my subscription with immediate effect, effective from the date of my first cancellation attempt: [insert date].

Please confirm:

That my subscription has been cancelled with immediate effect.
That no further charges will be taken.
That any charges taken after my first cancellation attempt will be fully refunded.

For the avoidance of doubt, I do not accept any continued billing during a period in which cancellation is unavailable.

If this matter is not resolved promptly, I will pursue recovery via my bank and refer the issue to Citizens Advice and Trading Standards.

I expect written confirmation of cancellation and refund without delay.

Account details:

Name: [insert]
Email: [insert]
Subscription ID (if applicable): [insert]

Yours faithfully,
[Your name]

Been with Readly for many years but I've ended my subscription. Having forced to use a new app it's completely shocking, just random magazines showing,not even ones I'm subscribed to. Latest titles show but completely random. All my titles are now showing as silly icons.

The old app was vastly superior, one icon, I clicked it and all my magazines were there, most recent ones at the top.

Can't find half of my library, it's ridiculous. There isn't actually a link or button that brings up my magazine library,

Eight missing titles so far that haven't made it to the new app.

Disappointing and a compete waste of time.

Cancelled.

RESPONSE TO READLY: what a ridiculous response, "your full library should still be available"...."grouped and displayed in a new way".....exactly, your library is no longer accessible in one place. My favourite titles link still doesn't work, tech support told me weeks ago they were aware of the issues, but it's still not fixed.

The app I was forced to change to seems to have degraded all the puzzle pads I use to use. I have tried the web version and it’s the same there. Are we being forced to use their new puzzles creation which I find awful? Readly claim user experience will be maintained under the new app and with enhanced performance. I am not seeing that thus far.
Edited update following Readly reply. There is a huge difference between previous experience of using the interactive puzzle mags and the offering that Readly have put up as an alrernative. They’re being disingenuous in their reply. There is no choice of Sudoko or crossword, no selection of difficulty level. So basically no choice at all. We have been given a downgrade not an upgrade so don’t gloss over it and pretend otherwise. I am looking at alternative platforms.

Been a customer for many years but absolutely hate the new app! Tried to cancel my subscription but won’t allow me to-as soon as I am able to, it will be cancelled!

The new app is a mess.

Tried to cancel account but seems new owners have made it impossible to do so.

Contacted customer support and they say they have logged my request to cancel my membership but have not yet done so after a week. This reeks of scam like behaviour and against all consumer laws. Beware

EDIT:

Customer Support have NOT cancelled my subscription. Instead offered a 20% discount for 3 months.

I simply want to cancel my subscription. Surely that’s not rocket science.

I have contacted customer services again confirming my desire to cancel and keep getting fobbed off with it will be processed.

When? Surely doesn’t take nearly 2 weeks to do this.

This is now not looking like a scam.

IT IS A SCAM!!!

10 out of 10 for value for money but, since the latest update, really don’t like the new interface, far too cluttered and not as easy to navigate. Please give us an option to switch back to ‘classic’ view.