Leave a Review Skybrary
Background noise
The background noise of the island won’t shut off and it’s incredibly annoying.code_3_
Impressed
For 4.99 a month I am incredibly impressed with the book selection. As a preschool teacher I also appreciate the variety of fiction, nonfiction. Since much of early reading is about interest and developing a love for reading asking for the child’s interest is right on track.HappyUserAutumm
Developer Response
Thank you! It's great to hear that you are loving the experience. We welcome hearing from our customers, so if there is anything in particular you would love to see (and is not there yet), please email us at skybrary@rif.org.Not usable without Wifi
My family was very excited for Skybrary, but it has fallen short. The actual practical use of a educational distraction in the shopping cart, car, or on airplane travel is unavailable.
Overall the price tag is not worth the time I spend downloading and returning the 5 books you can check out. (My kid devoured those in two seconds. )Show lessNo Airplane Mode
Developer Response
We are sorry this was your experience. If you have any further feedback or questions, please email us at skybrary@rif.org.The best
This is the best book app out there. My kids and I love it!JEBS9747095618
Learning to read is a journey.
When you are looking back and your memories of reading are the worlds that were brought to life in your imagination, that's your reading journey. Now you're a guide to that journey with a beginning reader, I bet you want to guide this new journey to magical memories for your new young reader. This is THE cutting edge of creating that train depot that leads...anywhere.Show lesskerrymosser
Developer Response
Thank you! It's great to hear that you are loving the experience. We welcome hearing from our customers, so if there is anything in particular you would love to see (and is not there yet), please email us at skybrary@rif.org.Could be so much better
I've backed this since the Kickstarter campaign and subscribed since the app was released. I really, really, really want to use this more, but I don't find my son and I using it all that much. Why?
Finding books is clunky. There is no listing of books by authors. Often how we find a new book is by reading a book by an author and liking it, then going and finding more of their books. Absolutely no way to do that here.
No search. There's a search button, but it tells you search is coming soon. It's been three years...
Only five books at a time. The backpack idea is cool, but come on. I should be able to add books to an endless list, like shows/movies in Netflix. Since you can only download five at a time, if my son rejects those five (or we read them all and want another), we have to find another book and wait for it to load, etc.
The sticker thing is still 'coming soon'. What's with putting buttons in your app that don't work?
Finally, and perhaps biggest to me, although admittedly my son probably doesn't care, the books are low quality images. Children's books that I buy on iBooks look gorgeous on the big iPad Pro. But in Skybrary they don't take up the whole screen and are all pixelated.
Offline reading. It's back now, but why was it ever gone?
I really wish this app was easier to use and more functional. I really support the mission behind it and want it to succeed. Unfortunately, as it is it doesn't feel like a cutting edge app and service.Show lessrcniman
Go anywhere be anything!!!
I grew up in this show, and when I heard it was coining back I was super excited. I read the other reviews and thought I would chime in. My two nephews and I love this app. We read the books together (unless LeVar is the voice of the auto reader!) then we find videos we can watch that are the same subject of the books. (Eli, 2 years old, likes the Honest Abe video because their is a scarecrow in it. Ethan 7 years old, is really into the dragon books, because I read and he gets to make the pictures animate when he touches the screen) it's amazing to get to share my childhood with my nephews. I love the animation, the many islands full of books. There are pieces of the original episodes! I know people seem frustrated with no being able to view the books offline, but even with that minor flaw, the app is worth it. I am not a technical guru... but I can say bed time stories have become a must in our house hold and I'm so happy with this service! (Ethan wants me to add... every kid need this because it's soooooo coool!)Show lessTommypx3
My 4 year old keeps thanking me for this app!!!
My 3 and 4 year old love to use my tablet, but I hate for them to just play games. My 4 year old loves books and to be read to, but I can't always read to her as often as she would like. I tried the 5 books first and we fell in love with it! My daughters LOVE this app. I like the ability to have it read, but also the ability for me to read to them or them to themselves! They usually love watching videos, but have been so pleased with the books they haven't even began to mess with the videos yet. $50 a year really isn't that bad when you think of the amount of money you'd spend on books, gas, and time to go to the library, bookstore, etc. It takes up a lot less space and with young children ever changing tastes makes this totally worth it! Some complain this is way too expensive, but when you have multiple children with different taste this is way cheaper, plus paying for the service of the app reading to you. I love that this not only has fun books, but educational ones and National Geographic! There are books for different cultures as well. This is an all around great app. This may not be for everyone, every age, or every reader out there so I encourage you to try the app first before committing to the price so as not to be disappointed. The free trial is more than generous and really gives you a taste!Show lessTyranno Jex
My favorite reading app!
This is still my favorite reading app because it allows access to quality selection of books the kids can choose on their own. I like that they do not need supervision or help to choose what interests them. There are different levels for different age kids so I can have my oldest read to herself while my youngest can have the book read to him.
I am disappointed since the new update and have to deduct a star however, because the books are no longer staying downloaded into the backpack making the app frustrating and difficult without wi-Fi access. It used to be our go to app in waiting rooms and long lines, but now it is pretty useless unless I remember to go into the app prior to leaving and re-download all the books each time. It is such a long time with 5 backpacks full of books and does not download quickly with cellular. If I can figure out how to fix this I will update my review.
I wish that it would allow the kids to access offline like it used to. I will probably not renew my subscription during school since we usually use this while we are out, but if you have access to reliable wi-Fi it would be worth it. I will likely
renew next summer when the kids are home. Still, a great app, well designed and fun!Show lessSavvyShopMom
Don’t be SCAMMED
Dear Fellow Parents please be very careful when considering this app. I was super excited after we downloaded it and had chosen our five books. We decided to purchase the six month subscription only to find it didn’t work. My first step was to call iTunes to troubleshoot thinking my iPad was having issues. They worked with me and decided it was a developer issue. Their advise was to contact the app administrators. The only way I could find to do this was by email, which I did. I waited 48 hours with no response. I emailed a few more times and after no answer decided to start looking for a phone number. On their website it lists an address. After some research I found that this address is not an office building, but rather a single level building full of PO Boxes the “suite 209” they refer to in their address is actually their PO Box number.
At this point I called Apple again. After an hour on the phone they agreed that there is NO PHONE NUMBER for this company and that it is suspicious. They, of course were amazing, and returned my money. They also advised I come and leave a review for this app. So, BEWARE EVEN APPLE SUPPORT SAYS IT IS SHADY THAT THIS COMPANY HAS UNREACHABLE CUSTOMER SERVICE.Show lessemschumacher
