# Encyclopædia Britannica — user reviews > 80 indexed App Store user reviews of Encyclopædia Britannica by Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc, rated 3.33/5 from 184 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/encyclopdia-britannica/id447919187/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/encyclopdia-britannica/id447919187.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 71 · 4★ 23 · 3★ 30 · 2★ 16 · 1★ 44 ## What do users think of Encyclopædia Britannica? Overall sentiment: mixed **Pros** - 📚 High-quality, well-researched content - ✅ Reliable and factual information - 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Family-friendly and safe for children - 🎓 Educational value and learning resources - 🧠 Apolitical and unbiased articles - 🎯 Clear and concise writing style - 🎮 Fun quiz features - 💰 Reasonable subscription pricing - 🔗 Helpful article linking and topic connections - 📱 Generally accessible on mobile devices **Cons** - 🐛 Outdated and poorly maintained app interface - 🐛 Frequent crashes and technical glitches - ❌ No dark mode option - ❌ No text selection or copy/paste functionality - ❌ Broken and incorrectly linked articles - 📵 Excessive ads despite paid subscription - 🔐 Subscription recognition and login issues - ⚠️ Images and graphics not loading properly - ⚠️ Slow page loading times - 🚫 Not compatible with accessibility features (VoiceOver) - 🚫 Incompatible with newer iPhone screen sizes - 📄 Animated page turns cannot be disabled - 📄 Lexicographical sorting instead of alphabetical - 🔍 Limited article coverage compared to Wikipedia - 📊 Outdated information (e.g., presidential lists) - 💸 Ads present alongside paid content **Commonly reported bugs** - App crashes on certain article pages - Subscription not recognized after purchase - Cannot login with website account credentials - Images and photos not displaying in articles - Broken article links and incorrect link destinations - Pop-up ads that cannot be closed - Quiz questions not randomizing (same 10 questions repeat) - Articles fail to download or load - Unmovable graphics blocking article content - Password reset functionality unavailable - App freezes when selecting quiz categories - Black screen flashing issues - Poor performance on iPad with graphics - Slow tab loading and information retrieval - Offline saved files causing crashes after update **Most requested features** - Bookmark/page marker functionality for long articles - Progress tracking for reading position within articles - Guided learning paths by topic with progress tracking - Dark mode support - Text selection and dictionary lookup integration - Offline access to articles - Random topic discovery button - Bibliography/citation information - Optional quiz timer (ability to disable) - Better iPad/split-screen multitasking support - One-time purchase option instead of subscription - Family sharing support for subscriptions - Spell-check feature - Improved search functionality for favorited articles - Continuous scrolling instead of page-turn animations - Better app organization and UI modernization ## Newest reviews (14 of 80) ### 3/5 — Content good; App bad *2024-09-30* This review is for both the website and also the app. Biggest cons are: it doesn’t keep track of which paragraph you’re on, so when you come back you have to wade through content to resume reading; and there is no guided learning feature whereby you pick a topic like Astronomy and it then guides you through and keeps track of your progress through the 1000 or so articles you must read to be proficient in astronomy. There could be “intro” path, “intermediate” and then “expert”. ### 3/5 — Furby-like design not helpful Chicago e-version; like the quiz section *2024-08-10* The popular Furby toy became annoying and kids stopped playing with them because of a constant demand for attention. Ditto e-En Brit?! Constant advertising moving on screen, for example, is not what I experienced in a city library with the classic paper edition. Know your audience. Please. And too many errors for your Britannica standard of quality. Even in the fun quizzes. So who edits articles? Who fact checks? Are you seeking unbiased sources? Are you cutting costs? Readers and Researchers notice. But you're still the more reliable source to me. ### 4/5 — Olde flawless Encyclopedia Britannica paper editions? *2024-05-28* Like the quizzes section nowadays, but please assure that the full answers you provide are accurate. My score might be higher if you do! As well, could you address this related topic? The Roman Empire created the Province of Palestine under their rule. True or False? ### 3/5 — Lazy App and Sloppy Linking *2024-03-21* I’ll start by saying the content here is great, and it’s written in clear and concise language, which makes it very readable. However, it feels like not much care has been taken in designing the app or in linking articles. The app itself is pretty bare bones and lacks many obvious QoL features. You can’t search favorited articles, even if you have hundreds, and you can’t add bookmarks in the middle of longer articles. For some inexplicable reason, saved and favorited articles are sorted in lexicographical rather than alphabetical order, such that all the articles with capitalized titles come before all of them with lowercase titles. I can live with that. What’s most frustrating is the number of broken links I’ve encountered in the few days I’ve been using the app, and worse, incorrectly linked articles. For instance, a link in a section of the Computer Science article discussing Apple Inc. takes you to an article on the fruit, and one in the gender dysphoria article links to the article on grammatical gender. It feels like the whole thing has been slapped together. ### 4/5 — Thanks for the update *2024-02-05* Doesn’t have nearly as many articles as Wikipedia, but it’s much more family-friendly. It has an article for “Star Trek: The Original Series,” but the encyclopedia would be better with general articles for “Star Trek” and “Star Wars.” It should be marked as having “in-app purchases”, because there’s a premium subscription. Next to the “get,” I should see small letters for “in-app purchases.” ### 3/5 — Great content, horrible app *2024-01-03* 5 stars for content, one star for the app. No dark mode and you can’t even select article text to look up things (??). The paged reading is extremely annoying especially the page flip animations which can’t be turned off. Given the long article lengths you should be able to bookmark specific sections of an article and the app should remember where you left off. Pretty bad for something that costs 8 bucks a month. ### 2/5 — Formatting *2023-05-06* The app is supposed to work on ipad, but the first article I tried to read had an unmovable graphic that prevented me from reading it. Looking at the version history, this is a terribly maintained app, especially an app that is supported by a paid subscription. The world does need a factual encyclopedia, and it should definitely not be free, but this app is terrible and I don't understand why. ### 4/5 — Just one note… *2023-01-21, version 2.1.1* I love having access to the Encyclopedia Brittanica on my phone, and the price is very reasonable; but there is one feature that I feel is sorely missing: bookmarking. There are some articles that are so long that I don’t want to read through them in one sitting, and having to go and find the page that I left off on every time I close the app is tedious. I know I can add whole articles to my favorites and that is useful, but it would be nice to be able bookmark individual pages as well. Other than that, I think it’s great that I have such easy access to so much knowledge! ### 3/5 — Was Born & Died *2022-11-16, version 2.1.1* This app has two problems. The first is that there is not enough content on the “Events this Day” page. The second is that half of the content on the daily-events page is informing you that a specific person was born or died on that day. This is frustrating as they already have a “Born this Day” page. If I want to learn about birthdates, I will go to that page. ### 2/5 — Used to read this every night *2022-09-09, version 2.1.1* Now I have to pay $14 per year. Next I’ll have to pay to learn common law. ### 2/5 — Frustrating *2022-08-24, version 2.1.1* The main problem with this app is that there are ads EVERYWHERE but then also you have to pay for the majority of the content. I’m fine with one of the other but have both is extremely annoying. ### 4/5 — Feature Request *2022-04-15* Please make it possible to select text! I want to look up definitions of words as I’m reading encyclopedia entries. ### 4/5 — The price of knowledge *2021-12-29, version 2.1.0* Shame education and knowledge costs money. I understand there’s tons of work and upkeep and maintenance expenses yet, those free knowledge bases supply the usual information at a cost of being edited by omission, one sided views etc etc. as a big fan of those old thick hardcover shelf books, of which as a child i would peruse daily through, online isn’t that great of a desire. As curiosity of statue’s and other art gets erased from a young minds view, the books no longer collected , unavailable and dismissed due to online ventures such as social media, games and chatting with strangers, encyclopedias give way to a choice, an hurried, short learning curve, dumbed down populace. The sharing and influence imbued among actual People, other then the criminal minds has long ago become a cloudy opaque afterthought. Best regards Britannica , thank you for the adventures around the world many decades ago. Im still traveling in my imagination. For free. ### 4/5 — Apolitical *2021-12-21, version 2.1.0* What a chance for Britannica to shine above its greatest competitor, the politically biased Wikipedia. Please don’t blow it! ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Not usable *2023-02-11* I downloaded this to check out their quizzes. I have to force quit the app every minute because of pop up ads that cover the screen and cannot be closed in any way. The app is poorly designed and poorly coded. The quizzes also contain 10 questions and never randomize the content from any set larger than that same 10 (same questions every single time). It’s saddening that they would put this out as a product. ### 1/5 — Nearly useless to the blind/visually impaired community… *2022-12-20, version 2.1.1* **Sight, impaired, user**this app does not comply with Apple's voiceover (verbal feedback for blind users), rendering it virtually useless to anybody who utilizes voiceover for accessing technology. ### 1/5 — Januaryfebruary369 *2022-06-03, version 2.1.0* REALLY, thought you could have done a better job, the worse encyclopedia I’ve seen, definately not like the old days, when you could get hard cover encyclopedia. Take a note from Wikipedia and maybe you could bring your game up, and then you want to charge money for this app. REALLY!!! You must be seriously kidding compared to way far better free encyclopedia with not only the meaning, but full detail and audio. Get real !!! What world are you living in. I gave this a ‘#1 if I could have given a less I would have. Would not recommend this app to anyone. ### 1/5 — I’d like to like this. *2022-02-17, version 2.1.0* I’ve used the webpage a bit. The quiz content is much better than Alexa skills. I was on the verge of ordering a subscription when I installed the iPad app. The AppStore blurb states “we heard your feedback and fixed common issues”. 10 seconds later I’m banging on the broken choose quiz category link. Seriously? ### 1/5 — Needs MAJOR upgrades *2021-12-02, version 2.0* This app needs to be updated. The list of the names of the Presidents isn’t current (it still has listed Donald Trump as the President, instead of Joe Biden,) and it’s the same for the the list of names for the Vice Presidents. ### 1/5 — Pointless unless you subscribe through the app *2021-10-20, version 2.0* If you subscribed on the website, you can’t login through the app. ### 1/5 — BRITANNICA YOU HAVE DISAPPOINTED ME AND THE MILLIONS OF OTHER PEOPLE WHO USE YOU *2021-10-14, version 2.0* BRITANNICA. you seriously need to UP YOUR GAME!!! britannica doesn’t even have answers for simple questions like “what did people eat in Northwest Territories in 1800s” Like cmon! My friend and I are doing a research project on Northwest Territories in 1800s and so far britannica has been USELESS. UP YOUR GAME BRITANNICA!!! AND MAKE BETTER WEBSITES!!!D ### 1/5 — Help *2021-10-08, version 2.0* I cannot get in after paying for a years subscription because I don’t recall my password and there is no way to get a new one. Also, there is no way to get help. ### 1/5 — Not Working Properly *2021-07-19, version 2.0* I just installed this app on three devices today. Even though it is advertised as a Family Sharing app you cannot share the yearly subscription which allows you full access to all Britannica online content. So I purchased three subscriptions, one for each device. After installing the app and adding the subscriptions which were validated on each device, none of the photos in the app under any articles would show up on the screen. The photos were an important reason that I purchased this app. If I had known that it would not work I would not have wasted so much money. I would have purchased an online subscription to the website for the year. For the record, the app store showed that this app would work on this device. ### 1/5 — Needs Lots of Improvement *2021-06-03, version 2.0* I'm upgrading by one star. New version doesn't crash, looks nicer. App still needs work (access to dictionary and other common reading app features). Getting better though. Since this app is pathetic I'm downgrading it to one star, reason being is that since I started using it a lot it crashes on certain pages of some articles and also because it has seldom been updated. Content is great and reasonable for fifteen bucks a year but the app is really bad - no access to the dictionary no book marks no customization. It looks alright and works well but is really lacking otherwise. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — I recommend the app for education and learning about the world!!! *2024-08-21* Encyclopedia is much better then Wikipedia and I know why it's only 17+ it’s because there are all the topics in the world and they can be inappropriate content. This app is not just for older people but kids too! because the content is safe for kids. I would recommend this app for educational purposes or just a way you want to learn in your free time!!! I think the quizzes are fun because you have fun with the topics! You can search a article or topic, Like for example: I would search a celebrity like Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez, then it can show facts like ''Taylor and Selena have a relationship by being friends'' Or another example like you can search like Star Wars: a New Hope, Star Wars: Empires Strikes Back and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. Thanks for Reading my Review! I hope you Download this app! - Lynnice Marie ### 5/5 — Good App, UI could be updated *2023-12-05* Good information, better than 99% of the junk out in the world that “claim” to be of professional reference. Application not bringing up content properly. Tabs need to be updated and are slow in loading information ### 5/5 — Unbiased and straight information for a small fee *2022-12-29, version 2.1.1* Be wary of any free online “pedia’s” out there. For $15 a year this is a great deal. Devs should be pushing this product more in our school systems and social media. ### 5/5 — Reliable, verifiable, well-researched *2022-12-10, version 2.1.1* A beautifully designed app with a universe of topics that are well-written, deeply researched, apolitical, and verified. Britannica cuts through the undergrowth of questionable online material and remains a dependable source of intelligently-presented content. With an impressively credentialled staff of experts who stand behind their work, Brittanica is still the best since December 10th, 1768. ### 5/5 — Apologies many times over… *2022-07-12, version 2.1.1* I would like to take back everything bad I said about the Fabulous Encyclopedia Britannica. It’s just that I don’t think that I am smart enough to be reading such a Treasure Tome. ### 5/5 — Pretty good so far *2022-06-21, version 2.1.1* Pretty navigable at this point, willing to pay if it continues to be good. Reviewed 2022 June ### 5/5 — The link map is awesome *2022-05-03, version 2.1.0* I’m loving this app so far ### 5/5 — It is really nice *2021-03-24, version 2.0* I have used the encyclopedia Britannica books and before I read the books i used Wikipedia, until my teacher told me that Wikipedia can be edited by people and you don’t even need an account, so after that are used the complete set of Britannica that I bought the books from eBay there from 2004 and I did attempt to read all the books ALL 32 books and I use them for studying for school, but when I’m on the go I actually use this the encyclopedia Britannica app I really love it it’s actually better than Wikipedia, i would use it like Google but I won’t delete Google for this app but I give it a five star rating. ### 5/5 — More please *2021-02-04, version 2.0* I love this ### 5/5 — No more additions pls *2020-01-26, version 2.0* I think the programming of this app have done well to function and for me, it doesn't crash. I predict that it would starting doing that if adding more features, such as bookmarking/page marking. It's a spectacular app! So much use of creativity put into this and other users need to start using their imagination to stay ahead! You're awesome! --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-06-10.*