Love it
I read all my news with this app, mostly by using the share extension to save articles to my read-later list. Love all the text formatting options, especially the BeeLine colors that help me read faster.
Waste of money
I paid $5 for the app thinking I could at least read PDF’s…no, when you click to read a PDF you are asked to pay another $10! I reluctantly paid the $10 and still, it will not work! I’m very frustrated , as I was excited to be able to read more easily.
Misleading!
It's really not acceptable for you to state in the description that you can read kindle books but only tell people that this feature is no longer available once they've paid for the app. I want a refund!
Dont fall for this
They charge you for the app, then 10$ to use the app, then that doesnt cover the web extensions which is 3$ a month. This is a cash grab someone is masquerading as enabling to people with disabilities. Disgusting.
Response from developer
The $10 IAP you mention is for use of the PDF functionality. It is not required to use the popular reading list feature. Also, the extension for iOS is completely free, not $3. The reason we have IAPs is so that people can use the portions of the app that they want without having to pay for all of the possible features. We are doing our best to keep our features as affordable as possible, and even free in some cases. We also offer a free Student Pass for our Chrome extension, to help students cope with remote learning during COVID.
App failed to work
Wish I would have listened to the other reviews. I purchased the app yesterday and it hasn’t been working, unless I choose to review the material online. I also tried sending them a message about the issue by filling out the “contact us” sheet on their website - that doesn’t work either.
Accessibility is only reason to buy
So disappointed in beeline reader team. I paid the yearly extension cost, waited for years for an android app that never came. I finally got an ipad, and all that greets me is a buggy bare bones app from what feels like 2014. I laughed the other day because my review was still on your extension, excitedly saying I couldn’t wait for the never android app.
This tech can change lives. But its behind a paywall before you can even try the darn thing. How are new people supposed to come try? There seems to be no updates from the team in the last few years. If they’re done trying to make money off this, I hope they release or open source this tech so other people and companies to try it. I can’t stress how much this has positively changed my life, but its distressing to see so little care put into this project. The 40 dollar uni package looks like a joke. The only reason this isn't one star is because the tech is still real and works, but everything else is garbage. I hope that changes, because I would love to use this tech with me as I age. I WISH I could recommend this to my friends, but i only do it for a few because how out of date and buggy everything is.
This tech can change lives. But its behind a paywall before you can even try the darn thing. How are new people supposed to come try? There seems to be no updates from the team in the last few years. If they’re done trying to make money off this, I hope they release or open source this tech so other people and companies to try it. I can’t stress how much this has positively changed my life, but its distressing to see so little care put into this project. The 40 dollar uni package looks like a joke. The only reason this isn't one star is because the tech is still real and works, but everything else is garbage. I hope that changes, because I would love to use this tech with me as I age. I WISH I could recommend this to my friends, but i only do it for a few because how out of date and buggy everything is.
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App without support = Worthless
I felt compelled to write this review in the hope it might stimulate improvement. Great app… when it works. But my E-book reader no longer functions, and two messages to Support over the last several weeks have gone unanswered. What is the point of paying $$$ for a product that fails to deliver?
There is no mention of the extra cost for the (useful) bundles up front
The concept is really useful but you have to pay extra and upgrade to Pro in order to use the recommended email and social sites (of which there are not many to choose from). I assume that it would be difficult to get permission from most of them.
They offer Medium for free but you have to create an account for that or sign in with your Google, Facebook or other email address.
With the news option you can get Reuters and AP for free but you have to pay for any others. This offer is not so bad - £0.99 for up to 3 news sites or £4.99 for an unlimited list of sites.
This app only works with Kindle Cloud reader (which I don’t have. I use the Books app). It suggests to use another app which can read ePub files, but now I’m not motivated to chase it down just to make reading easier.
For reading pdfs you have to pay £9.99 for their pdf reader.
So If I wanted to read my emails, look at a couple of news sites and read pdfs I would have to spend almost £20 extra.
I think more people would buy this app if it was £0.99 or even a free trial with the option to buy the bundles and it would also be in good faith to mention the option to buy the bundles in the description.
Otherwise I have found the text colours very easy on the eyes.
They offer Medium for free but you have to create an account for that or sign in with your Google, Facebook or other email address.
With the news option you can get Reuters and AP for free but you have to pay for any others. This offer is not so bad - £0.99 for up to 3 news sites or £4.99 for an unlimited list of sites.
This app only works with Kindle Cloud reader (which I don’t have. I use the Books app). It suggests to use another app which can read ePub files, but now I’m not motivated to chase it down just to make reading easier.
For reading pdfs you have to pay £9.99 for their pdf reader.
So If I wanted to read my emails, look at a couple of news sites and read pdfs I would have to spend almost £20 extra.
I think more people would buy this app if it was £0.99 or even a free trial with the option to buy the bundles and it would also be in good faith to mention the option to buy the bundles in the description.
Otherwise I have found the text colours very easy on the eyes.
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I wanted to like this, but...
...the only useful feature is the color gradient added to each line. Otherwise, it's painful to use.
If I'm reading a PDF and switch to a different app and don't switch back within a few seconds, the app loses track of what I was reading. Additionally, there's no way (or perhaps no obvious way) to save a PDF for future reference. So when I switch to Safari to look up a concept, for example, when I switch back into Beeline, I have to go through the rigamarole of searching all my PDFs and finding the one I was originally reading.
Another quirk is that trying to scroll sometimes triggers the sidebar. The only "fix" is waiting a few seconds and then trying to scroll again.
While I am happy to pay for useful apps, especially accessibility-related apps,$15 ($10 to be able to read PDFs, $5 for the app) is a lot for something that's this buggy. My experiences thus far have all been on an iPad, so I don't know if the iPhone version is this frustrating to use. I should have heeded earlier reviews and passed on this one because the efficiency gains provided by the colored lines are negated by the kludginess of everything else.
If I'm reading a PDF and switch to a different app and don't switch back within a few seconds, the app loses track of what I was reading. Additionally, there's no way (or perhaps no obvious way) to save a PDF for future reference. So when I switch to Safari to look up a concept, for example, when I switch back into Beeline, I have to go through the rigamarole of searching all my PDFs and finding the one I was originally reading.
Another quirk is that trying to scroll sometimes triggers the sidebar. The only "fix" is waiting a few seconds and then trying to scroll again.
While I am happy to pay for useful apps, especially accessibility-related apps,$15 ($10 to be able to read PDFs, $5 for the app) is a lot for something that's this buggy. My experiences thus far have all been on an iPad, so I don't know if the iPhone version is this frustrating to use. I should have heeded earlier reviews and passed on this one because the efficiency gains provided by the colored lines are negated by the kludginess of everything else.
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Great app
Im a university student with a slight case of ADD and this has helped me keep my eyes from darting around the page like I would normally do. I have used some virtual reading ruler applications on my other devices but this application is better than those apps because it sections off text so you can follow along better. I dont need to use my finger to follow what im reading because I have this app now.
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Can’t use
I paid $8 for this app and can’t use it for anything because everything requires me to ‘upgrade’ from the ‘free’ version. I am deeply disappointed. I thought it was a great idea and would have loved to use it and recommend it to others.
Great idea, meh implementation.
Beeline reader is great for me. However, even excluding the issues with availability due to external limitations, the implementation leaves something to be desired.
The UI is white with lines for options. There is no guide or settings, and you have to spend some time figuring out how it works - especially with the current iOS bug that means you need to restart to add anything new to the “share” list. I found this helpful tidbit in the pocket documentation.
The pricing structure is great, much more reasonable than the subscription service I saw at one point. I’m really happy about this.
I strongly suggest getting in touch with a UI/UX designer for iOS apps and work on that, since it’s the only major downside to the app that you can do anything about. (Most other complaints seem to be that it won’t work everywhere, which is unfortunately to be expected.)
As it stands, this isn’t quite worth the money, but it’s still so useful for accessibility reasons that I paid it. I also suggest adding in a feature - paid or otherwise - to read files we add. Epub, html, docx, I thunk even just those would help a ton.
The UI is white with lines for options. There is no guide or settings, and you have to spend some time figuring out how it works - especially with the current iOS bug that means you need to restart to add anything new to the “share” list. I found this helpful tidbit in the pocket documentation.
The pricing structure is great, much more reasonable than the subscription service I saw at one point. I’m really happy about this.
I strongly suggest getting in touch with a UI/UX designer for iOS apps and work on that, since it’s the only major downside to the app that you can do anything about. (Most other complaints seem to be that it won’t work everywhere, which is unfortunately to be expected.)
As it stands, this isn’t quite worth the money, but it’s still so useful for accessibility reasons that I paid it. I also suggest adding in a feature - paid or otherwise - to read files we add. Epub, html, docx, I thunk even just those would help a ton.
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Very limited
I primarily read on my iPad for class and we use a variety of PDFs and websites. I use GoodNotes currently to mark up the text and file them appropriately, so I’m not looking for this app to function in that way, but in other ways this app is archaic. I can’t take the color gradient PDFs or pages and put them into other apps to mark them up or save them as files on my iPad. I have to stay in the app that does only one thing... change colors... not worth the $15 I paid for the app and PDF reader. and maybe if the app looked nicer and not like 1965 Microsoft word, i wouldn’t mind reading in the app, but I mind very much. Definitely a rip off, worth .99 at most.
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Really enjoy but...
UPDATE: I got a response from the developers and apparently there is a restriction from Amazon on the Kindle iPhone app.
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I really enjoy using this for reading news articles on my phone. I wish the kindle compatibility was available on iPhone though. I don’t understand why it is only available on iPad. I would even pay the “premium content” fee if I could use it on kindle on my iPhone.
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I really enjoy using this for reading news articles on my phone. I wish the kindle compatibility was available on iPhone though. I don’t understand why it is only available on iPad. I would even pay the “premium content” fee if I could use it on kindle on my iPhone.
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Speeds up reading!
Wow, I never knows I wanted this but it sure is great! The colors really help your eyes follow from one line to the next. Simple and effective!
Good App With a Quirk
Good concept.
If you toggle on “safari readability mode”, and then press BeeLine It while in the safari app, a rectangular bar appears on the upper left of the screen, blocking out a bit of text.
If you toggle on “safari readability mode”, and then press BeeLine It while in the safari app, a rectangular bar appears on the upper left of the screen, blocking out a bit of text.
Love it
I read all my news with this app, mostly by using the share extension to save articles to my read-later list. Love all the text formatting options, especially the BeeLine colors that help me read faster.
The Kindle feature is also cool, and really easy to use, but I’m not sure why its iPad only. I want it on my iPhone too!
I wish there were a way to have BeeLine appears in all my apps, but I don’t think Apple lets apps work that way.
The Kindle feature is also cool, and really easy to use, but I’m not sure why its iPad only. I want it on my iPhone too!
I wish there were a way to have BeeLine appears in all my apps, but I don’t think Apple lets apps work that way.
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Extremely disappointed
I paid for this app under the impression that I could import documents to read through it. Finding out there are only *three* select places I can use them from in the app without paying even more? Ridiculous. I really love the concept, but this was a waste of my money.
These guys are the worst.
The program stopped working, so I tried re-downloading and reinstalling. It wanted me to purchase it. I tried “restore purchases,” and it still wanted $20. Then I sent them an email, waited a few days, and wrote them again when I got no response. Three weeks later still no response from these thieves. Avoid, unless you’re looking to get ripped off.
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Response from developer
We're so sorry to hear about this error, which is actually something that Apple can address for you (and the app developer cannot). Please reach out to the App Store support team and they can help figure out what the problem is, or issue a refund. Please also feel free to follow up with us via email—we received only one email in recent months describing the issue you described, and we responded same-day. Perhaps our response was filtered into a junk mail folder? So sorry for the trouble here—we are very responsive to email support requests, which are handled directly by our founder/CEO.
Mobile user experience could be better
A better way to bring the easy UX of the BeeLine chrome extension app to mobile: take note of how Safari browser allows you to read the content snippet. It’s embedded in the browser. Now take a look at the apple “shortcuts” app (formerly “workflow”)... if you could pipe a webpage into a Shortcut, and that Shortcut opened the page in the BeeLine app, then maybe MAYBE this would be usable. Good luck!!
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