Leave a Review Listening
When you unsubscribe, unsubscribe using the store not the app
I made an account and bought 3 months for the price of one. Found out the app still needs a ton of work and deleted my account and unsubscribed in the app itself. Come to find out 7 months later it had been billing me the whole time. So now I am out ~$90.
I am super sad that this app isn’t what it says it is. As a student with learning “disabilities” this could have the power to drastically change how I learn and my bandwidth. But in science(biochemistry and relevant) and philosophy(my major and minor) the app is useless for reading papers. I am very disappointed and hope someday an app will come along which can truly do what this claims to do.
What was wrong with it:
1)more often then not the app would read the pdf out of order.
2)most of the jargon and a ton of the abbreviations it misread or mispronounced. (In chemistry Ca+ does not mean California)
3)the app would skip full pages/paragraphs/sentences. And sometimes it wouldn’t load or detect words on full pdfs.
Possibly this could work for more cut and dry topics but I doubt it could work for anything above a 5 grade level.Show lessJack Ski3
Developer Response
Hi Jack - I'm really sorry to hear about this experience! It sounds like you subscribed twice, once through the website, and once through the Apple App Store. When you unsubscribed from the website, the App Store subscription was still active. Unfortunately, we don't have the ability to cancel the subscription for you - the only way to cancel an App Store subscription is in the subscription management screen of the app store. We do send an email to ask you to unsubscribe from the app store, if we detect that you subscribed on both the website and app store. In any case, we'd love to make things right and help you get a refund for the $90. Can you send me an email directly, and we'll get you taken care of? - derek@listening.com, CEO at ListeningKind of usable
Currently the subscription is $10. I don't think it's worth that. Here's why
1) Audio controls don't work with Bluetooth buttons. Not in my car, not on my headphones. So no fast forward, rewind. There are screen buttons that can jump back 10 sec. Sometimes I just want to jump back 1 sentence, or 3 sec. Not smooth navigating.
2) Pronounciation: can be all over the place. It's not bad overall but common words can be off. Scientific words are more often wrong. Strings of numbers are read nonsensically. (Eg 1980s is pronounced one thousand nine hundred and eighty S) . Choppy pronounciation pulls me out of concentration instantly. And sprinkle enough in, and the listening experience becomes more work than it's worth.
3) Importing: the OCR needs work. It does an adequate job ignoring footnotes but often it will chunk words together without spaces.
Sotheeffectisanarratortryingtoreadalongstringofwordsanditsincomprehensible.
Descriptions of graphs and figures aren't always left out of narration. The flow is so hit or kiss that I can't really recommend this over using Apple Siri voice reading with the accessibility features.Show lessSwaerles
Developer Response
Hi Swaerles - Thank you for the feedback! Audio controls - we're planning to add support for more types of controls in the future. Currently, you can control it in app, as well as in the media control center when the app is closed. Pronunciation - These are getting a lot better now. If you hear any words mispronounced, please report them in the app and we'll fix it in about a week. (There's a button in the read along screen). We're doing a big upgrade on the OCR system now, so we expect overall quality to increase a lot in the near future.Misses whole paragraphs and everything
It was very good at the beginning so I decided to pay the premium. Now it misses whole paragraphs and also reads in text citations. This is very sad. I liked this app quite a lot at the beginning and now it’s a waste of moneycheesecake89890
No help function to fix missing chunks of paper
With the first few pdfd I used it worked perfectly! Perfect transcription and totally clear reading. So when it works, it’s fantastic.
But lately I’ve been uploading new papers, all in the exact same format as the first one, and the transcribed version imported into the app, which the voice reads, is constantly missing pieces. I have no idea why but the app is missing full chunks of the original. I have tried re-uploading the document in different planets and the same thing continues to happen. The app has no “help” or troubleshooting section, or contact information in order to understand why this issue happens or how to fix it or how to prevent this from happening with future documents.Show lessvalendez123
Listening review
Have found it helpful to assist in keeping up with clinical research without having to spend a long time sat down reading, it’s ideal for car journeys or if sat at home and just to make notes with easier - works for me and it’s good!Eefurn
Big price, Begrudgingly Worth it
Incredibly pricey, I’ve got to say. I was a bit frustrated after the trial ran out, and I spent $139 for a year’s subscription. But, a few months into using it, I’ve found it’s totally worth it. I love the app. The voices are incredible, and the ease of uploading various documents or anything you want to listen to is astonishing. So far, it’s been flawless - simple but effectively easy to use. I couldn’t recommend it more.Show lessNapper Nick
Cancelled and still secretly charged
I cancelled my trial on the same day I started it and checked the instructions on their website. They’ve still been charging my credit card and did so without any emails to say they were charging. Don’t fall for their free trial ad.KGTSJ
Developer Response
Hi KGTSJ - We're really sorry to hear about this experience! Can you please email support@listening.com, and we'll make sure you're refunded?terrible
only one robotic voice. reads all footnotes and in text references. pronounces words wrong. so expensive and only one subscription option. there are lots of free reader that perform the same.ella73648291
Inferior to Speechify
Why create a product that basically clones another product and not even allow a test run without volunteering to a trail that automatically converts into a sale?
Simple answer, company wants to lock in sales more than lock in proving their worth.
The voices sound decent from the initial setup, but I have 0 desire to allow access to my financials before test running the product, much less if there is already a compelling product that already gives a lite version of their product.
Hopefully you guys grow to the point that you can lock in sales based on merit instead of based on forgetfulness of unsubscribing from a trail.
I can’t give less of a rating because I wasn’t able to test the product behind the in-app purchase, but by principle any company that can’t prove it’s worth before demanding an automated subscription doesn’t deserve a perfect rating.
All the best 🫡Show lessAesaito
I liked it until the supposed logo and branding update
I have been using this app almost two weeks now, and besides a few glitches here and there, when converting a PDFto audio, it was ok, for the most. Until the supposed logo up and branding update, which was a little bit more, because before that update, I was able to multi-task between apps, now as soon as I come out of the app it stops. Until then, I was willing to do the full subscription, but now, not interested. I liked being able to follow along in the actual PDF, as opposed to the app's conversion. I was able to do better note taking then. Also, because it's AI, the conversion is not fully fullproof, so there are mistakes and such. Something I would suggest in that regard, is that you give people the option to edit the text in those cases. Sorry that this relationship didn't work out in the end. ✌🏾Show lessTHARegis
