Leave a Review TED
Great Content - Lacking One Crucial Feature for iPads
I love TED Talks. I just wish there was a bit more functionality for the iPad app because the iPad is my main device. For instance, the app doesn’t take advantage of split screen or have a floating window feature that allows me to multitask by taking notes. Also, more customization in terms of allowing the user to create their own playlists would be great.
Thanks for being TED, the world would be a lot less interesting without this platform.Show lessyolo2s3461
Tiny fonts, worst search function ever...
I gave this app three stars only because it plays the videos without problems. But the search feature is the worst I’ve ever seen on any app. I wanted to find talks on ‘self trust’. Typing either of those words in varying combinations, including with a comma between, turned up two videos or mostly no results. Of course, typing in ‘trust’ results in about half of the entire Ted library. I literally have to use Google advanced search to find videos I want to watch in my Ted app. Sheesh!
By the way, when I did get a resul from my search in Ted app, the display was so tiny I had to use a magnifying glass to read them, and I’m using an iPad Pro. That lack of scaling in the display is ludicrous.
Additional input: Recently, every time I try to access TED videos through Facebook posts, I am asked to register or answer ‘two’ questions. So I’ve deleted the app. Why does TED need my private info to use their app? TED = Take Everyone’s DataShow lessaisleseat
Developer Response
Thank you for your feedback about the TED app. We agree that the search function needs some love. Many enhancements to how TED content shows up in the app are coming in future updates, including the ability to browse and filter everything on the app in one place, and a feed showing all the newest talks. I should mention that some TED content that can be found online is not available in the TED app. For example, all pre-2018 videos from the "TEDx" program of independent licensed events are hosted exclusively on YouTube (with the exception of a few rare "featured" talks). This is also true of most "TED-Ed" lessons. As for the "two questions" at the launch of the app, I assure you that it is not data mining, but rather a way to introduce you to the "TED Recommends" program. TED Recommends is an effort to engage the TED community in helping us uplift the most impactful, life-changing talks. The two questions will help us send you talks that other Recommends users believe will inspire and engage you, which in turn you can Recommend -- even with a written endorsement -- to other TED fans. We do not use the questions for any other purpose, like advertising or building a user profile. It's solely to bring together our powerful community to make the most important TED talks the most visible. That's Everything Dude!Great Content — Very Poor App
The poor rating is for the new app, that forces me to answer filtering questions and queues up videos to auto start after I finish a video. I have used the TED app since it came out on my first iPhone, years ago. What I most appreciated was the chaotic combination of topics that were always showing up, with no theme holding them together other than combining Technology, Entertainment, and Design. What I valued most was the juxtaposition of wildly differing topics — I don’t want filtering and categorization and I don’t want a TED account, I just want the flood of wildly different topics that characterized the experience in the past. Please provide a way to bypass the filter questions and categorized presentations and just go back to the timeline presentation of topics as they are added to the flow. On top of sticking questions I don’t want to answer in the flow of using the app, at a recent update it lost the results and made me answer them again. Bad programming producing a poor user experience. I was about to give two stars, since that is all the app should get, but it is hard to ignore the fact that the content is still very high quality.Show lessMountain Viewer
Developer Response
Thank you very much for your candid feedback. With regard to signing in on the app, it's actually already possible to bypass it. After answering the TED Recommends questions, you can choose "Skip this" on the login screen to use the app without an account. That said, your watch history, saved talks and favorites will be vulnerable to loss if you change devices or delete the app. We encourage signing in to an account to allow the carryover of saved data between devices or syncing across platforms. As you note, the "infinite scroll" feed that showed all recent talks has been revamped in the new version to better align with the "homepage" of the app with the homepage of TED.com. Our rationale is to make our content "ribbons" identical on all platforms. This is also partly meant to balance the viewing options for viewers who are more inclined to want content recommended to them, or surfaced based on certain interests. For more adventurous viewers like you, the most recent 12 talks appear in reverse chronological order in the Newest Talks ribbon, and the Surprise Me feature will generate a random talk to perhaps satisfy your desire to see a wildly differing topic each time. With that said, forthcoming releases will have many enhancements to how content will be shown in the app, including a holistic library to make random browsing more easy. Thank you again for your feedback!Surpisingly Stifling
This new version of access to TED Talks is disappointing. Being forced to pick sides (Topics and Motivations) so content that defeats broad-mindedness can be delivered, essentially contradicts a key purpose of TED Talks, to encourage understanding. Besides loading as slow or slower than the latest version of the Outlook app, this new approach to access makes me feel I won't be able to expand my understanding to it's potential. I also expect to be forced to surrender to one of my email accounts to additional spam and junk mail just to continue using the app. Nope. I'll be inventive and find a work around. Bye.Show lesspest5551212
UPDATE - Miss the drip and ripple
I miss the old app, I miss the drip and ripple, I can’t search/find playlists any more, and I tried to add a talk to my list, it said it did it, the plus turned to a check, then it turned back to a plus and did not go on my list. Did this numerous times, I finally just downloaded the talk to save it for later. Still love TED Talks, just miss the old app. <shrug>
UPDATE
Got the latest version, I still cannot add talks to my list. The plus turns to a check then a couple seconds later it turns back into a plus. I really miss the old app, why mess with something that worked so well?Show lessHawk
Thumbs up!
I love the variety and magnitude of topics that the Ted app has videos on and I deeply appreciate the ability to learn all that I can from these speakers in a convenient (free!!) setting. I especially enjoy the "listen" function, as I'll often listen to Ted talks while driving tractor in my strawberry fields.
I always love reading the cleverly written update summaries : ) Great job Ted!Show lessMaichai : )
Love-hate with Ted
App seems to work just fine. My problem is with the lack of diversity of ideas over the last 2-3 years which I LOVED Ted for in the past - learning something new or an idea I’ve never considered or even heard of from different perspectives.
But now, a lot of the narratives are all coming from what seems like the same person no matter what the topic. All very leftist leaning; socialist ideas = good, individual freedom = bad. Developed countries = bad. Race and gender identity good, individual character = bad.
Come on Ted, throw in some other perspectives. Challenge people to think outside of their box and not feed from the same one with people that think exactly alike.Show lessTeD2D
TED To Go
I love the fact that I can quickly and easily access a variety of talks on my phone. My daughter and I enjoy watching new ones whenever they are released. My only critique would be that I personally would enjoy more science-based talks, as it seems they are veering more towards the social/political realm these days. Other than that, it’s an excellent app!Show lessMeat Vendor
Now I know what I don’t know
I’m sure this review is - technically- supposed to be for the app itself. However, I’m having a hard time thinking of the app without the content. For me, the app works; it downloads fine, plays well, and is there whenever I want it. Four stars for that.
That said, the content gets eleven stars (on a scale of 1-5). There are so many fascinating ideas that I’ve been completely unaware of that I have to laugh at my own ignorance. Thanks, TED crew, for helping me see beyond.Show lesstqberry
After many months wait, the download function worked, with many bugs
Having been waiting many months for the download function to work, this version kind of works, yet with many bugs.
1. Crashes when downloading about five or more playlists.
2. When come back, the downloading function will not be able to resume properly.
3. When you play a video, even if it’s a downloaded video, the downloading function stopped.
4. When you first started download a talk, the downloading button shows a circular progress bar. But when you come back from the middle, like crashes, or shutdown, the progress button is gone, and not responsive.
5. No indicators on the download status, I will never know which video has finished download so that I could view offline.
6. No pause, resume
7. No control for individual videos within a playlist.
8. No background downloading.Show lessvfyang
