Non starter
Can’t get past the welcome screen…
Not helpful for users with impaired vision
So first, half of the exhibits don’t have any audio. Then a couple of them don’t work, punching in the code says it’s not found. And on top of that, they play loud background music while describing art… like cmon guys. This could be so helpful for those of us who have trouble reading.
Load Failure
“Failed to load application data.” Unable to load the app despite several attempts.
Will not load
I have tried and tried and cannot get the app to open on my phone. It just tells me there is a load failure and to check my connection which is strong.
No point
It’s barely useable. Do not try to follow the tours. The order takes you in a line, then backwards, the forwards, then downstairs with no linear cohesion between stops. You’re better off punching in the specific audio numbers wherever you are to listen. Otherwise, you will end up exhausted from all of the wandering around you have to do to find anything.
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Not user friendly
Museum hours and visitor info? The app directs you to their website.
Renew your membership? There is no link from the member card on the app to renew.
Renew your membership? There is no link from the member card on the app to renew.
Lilliputian Art
When I found this app, I presumed I could see the tour of the art within the museum. Rather, I see a pinhead version. Please correct me if this is user error with the app and will be happy to adjust the review. But the app description said you could use it anywhere, it didn’t say that to actually view the art you needed a membership card. That’s disappointing because my initial thought had been what amazing community outreach to let people Tour the museum digitally, what better way to get them to want to see something in person? It feels a bit like an oxymoron that the app will tell you the story about the art, but then won’t actually let you see the art.
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Useless - don’t bother
This app should enhance your experience, it distracts and makes it worse. Directions are bad, the tours are poorly narrated with no way of making the picture bigger to make sure you are looking at the right one. Just bad.
Useless map
The paper map lists artists in numbered areas, but the digital map doesn't list the numbers and won't stay in one place to navigate. Useless!
Stunned at how poorly designed it is
This app is barely functional. When you first download it, it takes a long time to download excess assets without any explanation why, and it seems like the app is just…stalled. There is a progress bar, but you don’t realize it’s a progress bar because it doesn’t look like one.
Several app titles are hidden behind the Dynamic Island, which makes the app a not-so/fun guessing game.
The app doesn’t seem to allow copy/paste, so good luck pasting your member number copied from your email.
I do not recommend this app, but of course it’s the app for the Art Institute, so you have to use it for some features. Not a great experience.
Several app titles are hidden behind the Dynamic Island, which makes the app a not-so/fun guessing game.
The app doesn’t seem to allow copy/paste, so good luck pasting your member number copied from your email.
I do not recommend this app, but of course it’s the app for the Art Institute, so you have to use it for some features. Not a great experience.
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Inaccurate membership status
My membership is currently active yet the app is showing that it expired a year ago. Not seeing a mechanism to refresh, making the app not helpful.
I really WANT to like this app
I really WANT to like this app, but as of 2025.05.10, to call it just buggy is a severe understatement.
Currently, it crashes immediately when I try to “ACCESS MEMBER CARD” to input my new membership information. I had let my membership lapse for a long spell while I was in NYC, but now that I’m back in Illinois for at least another 10 months, I figured I’d rejoin. But nothing doing: ACCESS MEMBER CARD may as well be labeled CRASH APP IMMEDIATELY.
I suspect I know what’s wrong. I suspect the app hasn’t cleared its cache of my old membership information, and so doesn’t know what to do when I tap that option. The old membership is expired, so the app looks at it and gives up. There’s some way to go into settings and clear an app’s old data files—at worst, I’ll just delete and reinstall the whole app. But should an end-user have to do all of this? And I’m not even yet sure clearing old data or deleting and reinstalling the app will work.
But even beyond that, the app can be pretty buggy. My biggest complaint may be the “map” feature: the app claims its map will locate the end-user within the museum with pinpoint accuracy and guide the user along on tours and such—all balderdash, alas. I’d assumed the app was using Bluetooth technology and little fobs located throughout the museum to provide map features, as GPS famously doesn’t work indoors. However, using this feature makes the map whirl around like a tilt-a-whirl, and it often locates me randomly in a different floor and/or room from minute to minute while I stand perfectly still. I still think this employs Bluetooth, but something’s gone terribly wrong in its execution.
Finally, even on a good day, the app does crash pretty frequently. One needn’t be logged in as a member in order to employ nearly all of the app’s features, so the app is largely a lovely public utility, a generous act of civic engagement. Logging into the app as a member basically creates an electronic membership card which can be scanned from the phone for museum admission, which I suppose is a nice perk. The rest all seems to be available to everyone, which is great. But whoever you are, you will wind up rebooting the app at least once during your Art Institute of Chicago visit.
THAT HAVING BEEN WRITTEN: this is one of my favorite museums in the world. The exhibit information available online through the app is splendid. The audio tours, while slender, are free, and they cover most permanent and temporary exhibits. And although the audio tours don’t seem deep to me, they’re probably the right length for someone from out of town, making a day of it, trying to see as much of the permanent collection as possible in between accessing the temporary exhibits, and the info provided is interesting and well presented.
This app at least attempts to be great, and all it needs is a little more love. All the bones are there for something spectacular, but someone needs to go through and polish off all the rough edges. I’d give it three, even four stars in its current state, if it weren’t for this “immediately crash when tapping ACCESS MEMBER CARD” business, which at least for now lowers it to two stars. The museum itself gets at least ten stars, and is a fine illustration of why we all ought to support public funding of the arts.
Currently, it crashes immediately when I try to “ACCESS MEMBER CARD” to input my new membership information. I had let my membership lapse for a long spell while I was in NYC, but now that I’m back in Illinois for at least another 10 months, I figured I’d rejoin. But nothing doing: ACCESS MEMBER CARD may as well be labeled CRASH APP IMMEDIATELY.
I suspect I know what’s wrong. I suspect the app hasn’t cleared its cache of my old membership information, and so doesn’t know what to do when I tap that option. The old membership is expired, so the app looks at it and gives up. There’s some way to go into settings and clear an app’s old data files—at worst, I’ll just delete and reinstall the whole app. But should an end-user have to do all of this? And I’m not even yet sure clearing old data or deleting and reinstalling the app will work.
But even beyond that, the app can be pretty buggy. My biggest complaint may be the “map” feature: the app claims its map will locate the end-user within the museum with pinpoint accuracy and guide the user along on tours and such—all balderdash, alas. I’d assumed the app was using Bluetooth technology and little fobs located throughout the museum to provide map features, as GPS famously doesn’t work indoors. However, using this feature makes the map whirl around like a tilt-a-whirl, and it often locates me randomly in a different floor and/or room from minute to minute while I stand perfectly still. I still think this employs Bluetooth, but something’s gone terribly wrong in its execution.
Finally, even on a good day, the app does crash pretty frequently. One needn’t be logged in as a member in order to employ nearly all of the app’s features, so the app is largely a lovely public utility, a generous act of civic engagement. Logging into the app as a member basically creates an electronic membership card which can be scanned from the phone for museum admission, which I suppose is a nice perk. The rest all seems to be available to everyone, which is great. But whoever you are, you will wind up rebooting the app at least once during your Art Institute of Chicago visit.
THAT HAVING BEEN WRITTEN: this is one of my favorite museums in the world. The exhibit information available online through the app is splendid. The audio tours, while slender, are free, and they cover most permanent and temporary exhibits. And although the audio tours don’t seem deep to me, they’re probably the right length for someone from out of town, making a day of it, trying to see as much of the permanent collection as possible in between accessing the temporary exhibits, and the info provided is interesting and well presented.
This app at least attempts to be great, and all it needs is a little more love. All the bones are there for something spectacular, but someone needs to go through and polish off all the rough edges. I’d give it three, even four stars in its current state, if it weren’t for this “immediately crash when tapping ACCESS MEMBER CARD” business, which at least for now lowers it to two stars. The museum itself gets at least ten stars, and is a fine illustration of why we all ought to support public funding of the arts.
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Map is unusable
No way to scroll the map without it instantly resetting. 3D much less useful than a 2D Birds Eye would have been.
Whatever
Only good for people inside the museum. Not great at all for members.
Love the museum, hate the map
If you're using this for wayfinding, you're much better off using the paper map or just following the signs. The only thing it's good for is the audio guide. But don't expect to navigate the museum.
I searched “textiles” and it showed me swords
Get a paper map while you are there. This app was useless to navigate the museum. If you pan anywhere on the map, it pans back to your location. It looks pretty, but has zero functionality for navigation. It probably makes a great companion for audio tours, but that’s not how I wanted to use it.
Let us download audio please
Connectivity in the museum is a challenge. Let us load the audio tour for offline use, please!
So disappointing
The map responds very oddly to attempts to scroll around.
The Audio feature is cool… but is only available for maybe 1 out of 100 pieces of art. Weak sauce.
Do better, AIoC.
The Audio feature is cool… but is only available for maybe 1 out of 100 pieces of art. Weak sauce.
Do better, AIoC.
Slow interactive map
Great for the audio but frustrating map
Really Poor Information-Wise
I’m a long-time AITC member. Got an email from them saying membership was expiring soon. Thought I’d get the App to check hours and exhibit dates of something I wanted to see rather than just Googling it. The App is a waste. No hours listed! No days open listed! No overall list of exhibits or coming events! Sure, I can watch a 15 minute video of something and see a floor plan, but that’s not what I need! I searched “hours” it gave me “horses”. Only useful thing I found was my membership doesn’t expire for another 3months. But who cares, I still don’t know when the exhibit ends or day the Museum is closed. Back to Google
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