Cannot rate this highly enough.
(Full disclaimer, because I know people can be (rightfully, perhaps) skeptical of very effusive reviews like these: I’m not being paid to write this, nor am I a Blinkist “partner”, etc. — these are completely my own thoughts, and I’m writing them on my own initiative and volition.)
This app is absolutely amazing. I’m grateful and ecstatic that I discovered it, but annoyed I haven’t been using it longer. It condenses almost every book conceivable — philosophy, politics, relationships, you name it — into what you need to know, breaking it down by chaptered themes, with examples; obviously, I’m not recommending this as an alternative to actually reading the books, but if your objective is just to glean, in a very practical, manageable format (just the perfect length — not as cursory as an internet summary, not as lengthy and tedious as a critical essay), the essentials, you can’t do without this. It allows you to expose yourself to SO much, so easily and quickly, and it makes learning really quite fun. It’s also an excellent substitute for the infamous, mindless “doom-scrolling”, given it’s organized similarly. Almost every book is available with voice narration, too.
This app is absolutely amazing. I’m grateful and ecstatic that I discovered it, but annoyed I haven’t been using it longer. It condenses almost every book conceivable — philosophy, politics, relationships, you name it — into what you need to know, breaking it down by chaptered themes, with examples; obviously, I’m not recommending this as an alternative to actually reading the books, but if your objective is just to glean, in a very practical, manageable format (just the perfect length — not as cursory as an internet summary, not as lengthy and tedious as a critical essay), the essentials, you can’t do without this. It allows you to expose yourself to SO much, so easily and quickly, and it makes learning really quite fun. It’s also an excellent substitute for the infamous, mindless “doom-scrolling”, given it’s organized similarly. Almost every book is available with voice narration, too.
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Blink list
At 77 life has changed in many ways and Blinklist helps a great deal to fill many voids and helps fulfill many aspirations. The range of topics and the format is ideal for starting everyday with renewed interests.
Love it and need some more features
English is my second language and I love to use this app for my listening and reading practice, could you guys make the vocabulary check and phrase or sentence translate functions that make it easier and faster for understanding the meaning? One click/ long press on the vocabulary can show the definition of the word, double click or something like that can have the whole sentence translate like linking to the DeepL translator
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Best App Ever!
A Game-Changer for Lifelong Learners!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I recently discovered this incredible app that has completely transformed my approach to learning and personal development. As someone who loves nonfiction but often struggles to find the time to read, this app is a lifesaver!
Whether I'm interested in tackling toxic management styles or diving into mindfulness practices, the app has a diverse selection of topics that cater to my curiosity. The narration is engaging, and the summaries are well-structured, making it simple to grasp the main ideas quickly.
What I appreciate most is how it encourages continuous learning without overwhelming me. I can easily fit a podcast into my daily routine—during my commute or while exercising—allowing me to expand my knowledge and enhance my skills on the go.
The app’s user-friendly interface and seamless navigation make it a joy to use. Plus, the community aspect allows me to share insights with others and discuss key takeaways, adding an extra layer of engagement.
Overall, this app is a must-have for anyone who wants to grow personally and professionally without the time commitment of traditional reading. Highly recommended!
🙌🏼⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🙌🏼❤️
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I recently discovered this incredible app that has completely transformed my approach to learning and personal development. As someone who loves nonfiction but often struggles to find the time to read, this app is a lifesaver!
Whether I'm interested in tackling toxic management styles or diving into mindfulness practices, the app has a diverse selection of topics that cater to my curiosity. The narration is engaging, and the summaries are well-structured, making it simple to grasp the main ideas quickly.
What I appreciate most is how it encourages continuous learning without overwhelming me. I can easily fit a podcast into my daily routine—during my commute or while exercising—allowing me to expand my knowledge and enhance my skills on the go.
The app’s user-friendly interface and seamless navigation make it a joy to use. Plus, the community aspect allows me to share insights with others and discuss key takeaways, adding an extra layer of engagement.
Overall, this app is a must-have for anyone who wants to grow personally and professionally without the time commitment of traditional reading. Highly recommended!
🙌🏼⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🙌🏼❤️
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Buggy but mainly good
I’ve been using this almost daily for a year. I like the summary and action points at the end (for the self development books). With the latest update though, the Play button is sometimes missing. I downloaded 15 titles for my 10 hour plane trip BUT when opening the downloaded books there is no Play or Read button!! Making it totally useless without a network connection. Very disappointed. Hopefully they fix it with the next update.
UPDATE:
I’ve deleted and reinstalled the app as per developer’s reply. This has fixed the problem. To bad I finished my holiday trip.
UPDATE:
I’ve deleted and reinstalled the app as per developer’s reply. This has fixed the problem. To bad I finished my holiday trip.
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Response from developer
Hi, thanks for your feedback, and sorry for the inconvenience. Please try to delete and reinstall the app. If the issue persists, please reach out to us via support@blinkist.com from your registered email address, and we'll be happy to look into this and help you further. All the best, Team Blinkist
Good app serving useful way to step out of the swamp that is the online world
Aug ‘24 .. still a good app with regular updates. Some functionality I’m just not interested in as I just want a quite calming reading experience where I can leave the growing mess that is internet behind. Overall Blinkist is quite good for this but recently I am finding the UI is not feeling quite as smooth flowing as was .. and I have been experiencing multiple crashes mid-read, I struggle to get rid of the audio reader tab at the bottom of the screen and when scrolling the text movement is jerky / jumpy which is REALLY distracting and annoying (Maybe the latest release fixes this?) but overall the concept is good. My wish is to focus solidly on performance and smooth calming user experience and don’t just add unnecessary functions for the sake of it —— 31 January : I was just about to update this review to say the app still does not work but thought I would delete and reinstall .. and now it works :) … so if anyone is having issues on ipad, this action may be worth a shot! ——— Have been using for nearly year and is overall pretty good. Works well is simple and clear and above all adds value. Where the detail is not enough then I have enough information to make an informed decision about whether to order the full book or not. Great 👍
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Response from developer
Hi, thanks for your feedback, and sorry to hear that you recently experienced some technical issues with the app. If you require any assistance, please reach out to us via support@blinkist.com. All the best, Team Blinkist
Debug your updates, or at least make it easy to contact support or give feedback!
I used to love this app, been using it for years. However a few months ago the updates started malfunctioning on IPad, which I mean is a pretty central device to the whole Blinkist user experience… I’ve tried uninstalling, updating, etc etc, the latest few months the app just doesn’t work like it’s meant to.
Not only that but getting support through the app is not supported (send an email? Really? At £60/year for AI content?) The only reason the app is worth it is cause of the UX and UI but currently none are working. App is broken, too complicated to troubleshoot, and too much hassle to even renew a subscription! Even the ‘you’re uninstalling tell us why!’ Prompt takes you to a page where you’re told to send an email… Not a good user experience for such a pricey subscription guys!
Not only that but getting support through the app is not supported (send an email? Really? At £60/year for AI content?) The only reason the app is worth it is cause of the UX and UI but currently none are working. App is broken, too complicated to troubleshoot, and too much hassle to even renew a subscription! Even the ‘you’re uninstalling tell us why!’ Prompt takes you to a page where you’re told to send an email… Not a good user experience for such a pricey subscription guys!
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Response from developer
Hi, thanks for your feedback. We're always looking for ways to improve, so we've passed your message to our content team for consideration. If you have any additional feedback for us, feel free to share this with our support team via support@blinkist.com. All the best, Team Blinkist
Won’t let me access my account!
I subscribed using an influencer account for a discount. I keep getting emails for blinks to access but cannot log in to the account to actually access anything. I’ve sent multiple emails and heard nothing back other than the generic we’ve received your email message. Really disappointed and can’t even rate how the free trial is going because I can’t log on. I’m assuming they’ll take my money in two days when the free trial ends and then maybe they might let me access my account?!?! But I’m pretty annoyed and will be asking for my account to be closed as I cannot access it anyway! I’m unsure why Blinkist have replied saying everything’s been sorted- that’s news to me as I’m yet to receive a reply and they’ve just charged my account too- and I still cannot access the account.
Blinkist have replied stating my issue has been resolved- it has not. I’ve only received generic ‘we will get back to you’ emails and they’ve now charged my account too.
Blinkist have replied stating my issue has been resolved- it has not. I’ve only received generic ‘we will get back to you’ emails and they’ve now charged my account too.
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Response from developer
Hi there, Thanks for your comment. We were able to locate your ticket and we're happy to see that your issue was resolved after getting in touch with our Customer Support team. All the best, Team Blinkist
Best app on my device (- HomePod connectivity)
Easily the best app on my iPhone. They constantly add new and update their existing content. The quality of Blinks are great and the curation and shortcasts are also great.
My only issue is that Blinks do not transfer to HomePod and HomePod Minis automatically or at all. So I can only listen on my iPhone/computer or via headphones which feels limiting while at home.
Keep up the good work and please fix this issue.
My only issue is that Blinks do not transfer to HomePod and HomePod Minis automatically or at all. So I can only listen on my iPhone/computer or via headphones which feels limiting while at home.
Keep up the good work and please fix this issue.
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Just Okay.
I’ve been hearing about Blinkist for a long time. They advertise on some of my favorite podcasts. After 4 months and about a book a day (sometimes more) I’m ready to write a review.
Summarizing books in 15 minutes, sounds like a great idea right? Well as a teacher I can tell you that I’ve read elementary school book reports that are better summaries and do a better job of laying out the main ideas.
Also, the over use of AI is evident. I know that some of the books are read by an AI voice bot but I’m starting to wonder if some of the transcripts are created by ChatGPT because they read very much like the work my students are turning in that was AI generated.
I was really done with this app after a couple weeks but based on all the great reviews I went ahead and got the year subscription. Wish I hadn’t…
But it’s not all bad. The app has been great for revisiting older books and concepts I’ve read but needed a refresher on. I would not rely on this to “learn” but as a refresher it works great. Also, I think it’s useful in discovering what books not to waste my time reading as a few books on my reading list were eliminated after listening to their summaries on Blinkist.
Overall, if you’re using this for a review session it’s great. I will also mention the Blinkist podcasts are well produced as well. But if you want to learn something new, skip this and ask ChatGPT or Perplexity to write you a summary. It’ll be just as good.
Summarizing books in 15 minutes, sounds like a great idea right? Well as a teacher I can tell you that I’ve read elementary school book reports that are better summaries and do a better job of laying out the main ideas.
Also, the over use of AI is evident. I know that some of the books are read by an AI voice bot but I’m starting to wonder if some of the transcripts are created by ChatGPT because they read very much like the work my students are turning in that was AI generated.
I was really done with this app after a couple weeks but based on all the great reviews I went ahead and got the year subscription. Wish I hadn’t…
But it’s not all bad. The app has been great for revisiting older books and concepts I’ve read but needed a refresher on. I would not rely on this to “learn” but as a refresher it works great. Also, I think it’s useful in discovering what books not to waste my time reading as a few books on my reading list were eliminated after listening to their summaries on Blinkist.
Overall, if you’re using this for a review session it’s great. I will also mention the Blinkist podcasts are well produced as well. But if you want to learn something new, skip this and ask ChatGPT or Perplexity to write you a summary. It’ll be just as good.
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