Substack Reader
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User Reviews for Substack Reader
Disappointed
I was really excited to see there was finally a Substack app and I was really pleased with the experience of the app until I realized I wasn’t receiving all my posts into my inbox. I’m baffled by this but it turns out that rather than including your whole feed inside the app it only shows posts that were sent as emails. making this a essentially a sandboxed email app rather that a Substack specific feed reader. This means that you will be completely aware of any posts your subscriptions post to the web only. And in turn this means that if you want to read ALL of your feed the app (what a crazy idea!) you need to go to each subscription individually to check for any posts not sent as email. Nobody is going to do that. Nobody sane. The funniest part is that the “beta” version of Reader on the web DOES show all post in your feed. So until this is resolved I will be deleting this app and sticking with the web.
Hooboy does this app need work!
I downloaded and subscribed in order to support Chris Ryan’s work. First, instead of a password setup, Substack uses the “we’ll send you an email link to sign in” tedious nonsense. So got the link, set up a name and a picture, then searched for “Chris Ryan” “Ryan” Christopher Ryan” “Tangentially” and even searched “T”…. Not a single one of those terms came up with ANY results- his or anyone else’s!Maybe my security settings conflict with whatever Substack is doing in the background, but if whatever they are doing in the background is invasive enough to break their website then uh-oh. I have turned off content blockers, no difference in search results. Without the ability to search for content then Substack is pretty much worthless, hope they get some engineering attention on one of the most basic needs of such a site…
Fun, Reliable, and Easy to use
Ok, we all know Substack has great content, but they’ve gone above and beyond by giving users an easy to use and reliable app now too! I saw today they added the ability to have articles “read” to us and added a “play next” function, so I wanted to drop a positive review here. I love that the are investing in their product in smart ways and executing well too. (Side note: about a month ago I emailed their support team and asked them to add a feature that would allow readers to expand or collapse comment threads, and a HUMAN engineer replied that she liked the idea and would add it to their RFE list. Great touch, Substack!)
Audio Is Great But Significant Bugs Exist
The new audio feature is great, essentially turning articles into podcasts. There’s an annoying bug. I only want to play one article at a time and despite never creating a playlist, previously played articles appear in the Next list and there’s no way to remove them. I don’t want a playlist.An even bigger problem with the app is that not every article displays in the main feed. You have to go to an author’s page in the app to see all their articles. I have no idea why and there’s no setting to list all articles in the main feed. This means email is still the most reliable way to see what’s happening.Finally, notifications don’t work at all for me.
There’s Finally an App!
I’m excited to see that Substack has an app now so that I can view all of the writers I’m subscribed to. Since I started with reading Glenn Greenwald’s substack, the site has been my go-to for journalism that I find trustworthy and worth reading. Individual people putting out their own content free of corporate pressure (at least that’s what it’s billed as). Having them all come through e-mail was fine generally but I enjoy the smooth movement into the app to see all of my subscriptions on one list instead of hunting for them in my email. I know it just started and will need to be updated so I fully realize the possibility of future issues with the app that will need correcting but nevertheless I’m glad to see that it’s been created.
It must have been hard to build such a patronizing app
Substack is fine. Some content is engaging, some isn’t. It’s a standard newsletter platform.I was delighted to have an app, as my life is busy and the constant flood of content into my inbox often feels overwhelming. Sometimes I like an idea or a writer so much that I want to support them by subscribing EVEN IF I’M NOT INTERESTED IN READING EVERY SINGLE POST. Substack doesn’t understand this. If they decide you’re not opening the app often enough, they will automatically switch on email newsletters for everything. You can not opt out, only delay the onslaught a bit by signing in and confirming, again, that you do not want all those emails. But if life gets busy and you’re not on the app enough for Substack’s liking — prepare for the emails to return.I’ve unsubscribed from every list and won’t subscribe to any more, though I’ve got a couple of annual subscriptions to see through. Writers: this platform is likely to annoy your readers right off your lists, and actively discourages people signing up for paid subscriptions just to show support. Readers: you’ll never get these people out of your inbox. They override your notification settings on your behalf about once a month. (And send another email to let you know they’ve done so!)
Warning! Big problems.
Update: as a writer using SubStack, I would not recommend that writers jump onto the SubStack platform until things get worked out. Stripe, the company that processes payments, charges 15%. That is outrageous and unacceptable, and they don’t tell you that up front. As stated before, there is NO way to contact any customer service. While there are some things I like about SubStack, I really regret having jumped into it at this point. Now that I have subscribers, there is no easy way to just stop. I think that’s what SubStack is counting on. Currently, the app is not working. There is NO customer service. You cannot talk to a human being if you encounter a problem. The thing I like about Substack is it’s simplicity. It’s a newsletter only, without extra nonsense. It’s great when it works. When it doesn’t work, I guess you just have to hope it does work again, eventually, somehow.I got the impression that SubStack was all about connecting readers and writers, and the whole concept seemed clean and honest. So far, it is not turning out that way.
Mesmerized
I just started and have spent hours with some of the best articles I have come across in over half a century of habitual reading. I can feel myself slowing and focusing as an invisible universe makes itself tangible. I am not using the paid or upgraded model. I am frugal to a fault, but I think I will be upgrading out of a combination of appetite for more, guilt and gratitude. There is material here for everyone regardless of your faith, politics or interests. The quality cuts across the normal distribution of bad to great but the great is insightful on a grand scale. Download the app, set aside time, and prepare for a feast for your mind.
Good but missing a few things
For the most part I’m really enjoying the substack app. The UI is great, it’s easy to navigate between specific substacks or just look at your combined chronological feed, etc. I’m only giving three stars for now because there are a few features missing (or not working on my device? iPhone X, so not that old):- minimize comment thread! This exists on the main site, so hopefully it was just a small oversight (or it wasn’t considered a priority for release) that it’s not on the app… - minimizing a comment thread should send you to the next comment, rather that keeping your distance scrolled constant. This matters because oftentimes I’ll spend some time reading replies and then want to close the parent comment and move on to the next one, but the way minimizing works on the desktop site if you do that you’ll be in the middle of the replies to a later comment- if you tap the top of the screen and are sent back to the top of the article, it would be nice to be able to tap it again to return to where you were. As someone with aggressive thumbs this feature is a lifesaver elsewhere that it existsAgain, the app is mostly great, but these three issues are huge for my enjoyment, so I’ll be leaving my review at 3/5 until they’re added.
I don’t want to be in my inbox. This app is perfect.
I subscribe to a dozen or more Substack newsletters. I’m also one of those people who has a fraught relationship with their e-mail inbox. I don’t want to spend more time in my inbox(es)! This app is delicious nectar from heaven. It just works. My newsletters show up. The reading experience is smooth. The app is quick. And I don’t have to be distracted by the wayward work email or wild email promo when trying to catch up on reading. The inbox reminds me of the good old days of social media. I subscribe to certain creators and what they published is served up to me in chronological order!!! Thanks for building this. Excited to see what comes next.
Description
Substack exists because what you read matters, and great writing is valuable. Use the Substack app to: - Collect your newsletters in a dedicated Inbox - Be instantly notified when a writer you’ve subscribed to publishes a new post - Read posts in simple and elegant view - Discover new writers on Substack
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