# Encyclopedia by Farlex — user reviews > 79 indexed App Store user reviews of Encyclopedia by Farlex by Farlex, Inc., rated 4.60/5 from 401 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/encyclopedia-by-farlex/id1021341213/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/encyclopedia-by-farlex/id1021341213.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 295 · 4★ 64 · 3★ 23 · 2★ 8 · 1★ 11 ## What do users think of Encyclopedia by Farlex? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 👍 Easy to use and navigate - 📚 Comprehensive knowledge base - 🚀 Fast and efficient search - 💰 Free or affordable access - 📖 Succinct articles for quick learning - 🎓 Useful for students and research - 📱 Handy mobile reference - ✅ Well-organized and categorized information - 🔍 Reliable source with references **Cons** - 🐛 Internet connectivity issues - 📤 Opens search results in browser instead of app - 📺 Too many advertisements - ♿ Poor accessibility for vision-impaired users - 📚 Limited article coverage for some terms - ⏱️ Outdated sources (Soviet Encyclopedia 1979) - 🔤 Short/minimal text entries **Commonly reported bugs** - App displays 'No internet available' error despite active connection - VoiceOver accessibility not functioning properly - Search results not loading within app **Most requested features** - Browse by topics or categories - Table of contents for related subjects - Delete search history option - Retractable menu bar for smaller screens - Flip through pages functionality - More comprehensive article coverage ## Newest reviews (12 of 79) ### 4/5 — Words of review *2026-06-05* This encyclopedia is amazing! I use it when I find topics I don’t know about when I read! :) ### 4/5 — Useful *2020-12-27* A useful resource to have at your fingertip. If you haven’t time to examine a lengthy Wikipedia article, the succinctness of this might satisfy the immediate need. ### 4/5 — Thank goodness it's not that awful W-k-p--d--! *2020-08-25, version 2.0* I used to use the (un)mentioned 'encyclopædia' frequently, but over time, I noticed something; In this age of 'contributing', i.e., doing the work, such sites as W'pedia (and sadly, IMDb) have become 'home' to people who don't understand simple English grammar rules. Some don't understand what simple English words are, yet, instead of doing a little research, they plod ahead. They're more interested in doing as much as possible - writing as many reviews, articles, so they can - in a pathetic sense, build a name for themselves. If this sounds like 'nitpicking', it's not. It's much closer to someone saying to someone who's going too run errands for you (and you're depending on) to get several price quotes on a major job, and to pick up your very fussy partner's favourite chocolate. When this person you counted in returns, they've engaged for someone to do the major job - and forgetting how much it'll be, and instead of the chocolate they came home with cashews. If the person doing the work doesn't understand the basics, they're only going to 'contribute' garbage, and some of these 'names' (a very small percent do most of this 'writing', yet, their own CV, their background of why they are a good candidate to do this is nowhere to be found). The result is much of what's their (and not just in W'pedia, IMDb, but any of these sites which are mostly contributed writing) is garbage, and anytime who goes to such a place is at risk of not leaning, but mis-learning. In the case of W'pedia, an 'encyclopedia's nothing more than a basic source of information. It's not - as some of these semi-literates think, a place to write an entire novel on a subject (or steal someone else's published material). It's not - in more esoteric subjects, a place to write in high-level mathematics, nor in computer languages, nor anything else. It's simply a starting point for the reader. The READER's the most important part, NOT the ego of some fool 'writer'. Another - huge - problem is that many of these so-called frequent contributors don't even know basic English grammar. I'm not trying to sound 'snobbish', but there's simple grammar we all follow (when I mentioned this once in a 'talk' page this very idea, and that there should be some sort of 'gate' to let people who - as an example - use 'filler-words, constantly, such as 'however', and 'basically', I was called out... told by some idiot I was 'mean', and worse. This... person, as many other simpletons don't get, if you allow garbage, your not helping - your hurting). The point is that even in such a thing as a contributed resource, you want to pass on good simple grammar. The more esoteric articles are written (more factually, they seem to be copied whole-cloth from copyrighted textbooks and other sources, which the aforementioned 'higher-ups' of this 'commune' choose to ignore). An encyclopædia should be accessible to people of ALL ages, and ALL levels of understanding. For me, as I'm sure many others, it was the FIRST place I began to familiarise myself on many subjects that I'd go on to learn about in resources specific to it. Some of the articles are so dense (no, I don't mean 'stupid'), so impenetrable to anyone without a degree in the subject pertaining to, it's impossible for anyone to even grasp it. An article should leave you wanting more - it shouldn't leave you, midpoint, scratching your head in confusion. If anything, these morons have taken things and either made them understandable by only a few, or - due to their own ego and ignorance, have only 'passed on' THEIR misunderstanding, and the point of 'knowledge', of 'teaching' is to pass on information which is CORRECT. W'pedia's a joke. That's why I'm so happy to find an encyclopædic source which is much closer to what an 'encyclopædia' is - a place where one can quickly find out the basics a well as a place to begin to explore. ### 5/5 — Very good *2019-12-31, version 2.0* Great encyclopedia. ### 5/5 — Better use of time *2019-10-24, version 2.0* I was wasting too much time surfing reddit, watching YouTube or reading news. I decided it was time to make better use of my time by learning as much as I can about anything/everything. This app is awesome for learning facts about whatever you want. Enjoy. ### 5/5 — Nice app *2019-10-01* Nice ### 5/5 — Simple app for learning *2019-09-07* I love this app, it’s simple and fast, keep up with the updates because I want this app for a long time. ### 5/5 — Excellent app *2019-03-06* I got all information what I searched for it. Fully recommended ### 4/5 — Good...but *2018-12-18* This is a good app but if only it had topics or categories to browse by. I can’t always come up with the exact subject title to put into search and would just like to browse. Other than that it’s good for knowledge. ### 5/5 — Everything in 1 app *2018-10-30* Loads of information and useful app to enhance ur knowledge. Must recommend to everyone👌🏻👍🏻 ### 5/5 — Good stuff! *2018-07-17* Seems fine so far,fairly comprehensive. ### 5/5 — Good program *2018-06-24, version 1.7* A great source for knowledge. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Accessibility not considered *2023-03-22* Voiceover can’t read anything but the buttons on this app, making it useless for someone with vision impairment. Very poor. ### 1/5 — Adverts *2022-07-07* Too many adverts. Great way to lose customers. ### 1/5 — This app doesn’t work *2020-07-08* This app looked like it had a lot of potential When I open the app and look something up, it pulls up a page that says “No internet available. Tap to retry”. I have an strong wifi internet connection and a strong cellular data connection but it is not working. Please fix this. **Developer response:** We're sorry to hear that. We will pass your feedback on to our development team. ### 1/5 — Disturbing..... *2018-08-04* I looked for over a dozen terms (from the Straight of Gibraltar, to fait accompli) picked randomly from my Encyclopedia Brittanica (hard cover), and the results we're not encouraging... It returned a roughly the-way split; no results at all, correct results, and results from an Encyclopedia from the USSR, circa 1979. Admittedly, some of the results differed little from a more current reference, but honestly.... 1979??? From the Union of Soviet Socialists Republic??? Not the source I'm looking to as trustworthy, and, with the march of technology and available tools, the accuracy will simply continue to wither. If I'm looking for an up to date and accurate source for research, I'm sorry, but this isn't it. **Developer response:** Our Encyclopedia app includes multiple sources. The one you're referring to is provided for historical interest and is clearly labeled. ### 1/5 — Articles? *2016-02-28, version 1.0* Should be called "Dictionery". ### 2/5 — Encyclopedia Brittanica *2025-12-16, version 6.0* I For Real Wish I Was Reading Encyclopedia Brittanica! ### 2/5 — Worst *2019-10-04, version 2.0* It says no internet available. ### 3/5 — Opens search results in the browser, whereas I want search results to load in the app *2025-08-15* This is meant to be an app, not a browser. **Developer response:** Thank you for reaching out. Search results should open in the app, so please send a screenshot to support[at]tfd[dot]com so our development team can investigate. ### 3/5 — Great idea *2018-08-31* I looked up many words and the majority of them could not be found. Needs work. ### 3/5 — I just wish... *2016-02-19, version 1.0* ...I could flip through pages ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Good but please make you delete searches *2025-08-30* . ### 5/5 — App off knowledge *2025-03-12* This application applies and provides accessible sophisticated knowledge. ### 5/5 — Excellent *2024-02-03* Extremely Informative ### 5/5 — Good *2023-04-04, version 3.2* kind for you ### 5/5 — Very nice *2023-02-12* 👍 ### 5/5 — Januaryfebruary *2022-06-03, version 3.2* Excellent encyclopedia, I gave it a #5 because there seems to have been only one other encyclopedia like this one that is free. Thank you for bring to the screen an encyclopedia free like back In the day when hard covers where the thing. Thank God your encyclopedia is a joy to use. Keep up the good work. ### 5/5 — A fresh angle on the finite pursuit of infinite knowledge *2021-09-25* Encyclopaedias aim to cover all knowledge or else some specialised field comprehensively. These seem curious goals when one considers it and in a time of Wikipedia and seemingly limitless expansions of online cloud based storage and increasingly universal access to it it’s worth contemplating how realistic is the very concept? Farlax has, I thought, cheated because it includes a number of entries with the warning that the article was copied from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). Actually this ‘cheat’ makes it valuable and gives me something additional to (for example) Britannica, Wikipedia and a web search engine failed to provide. Consider the various sources definition of oxymoron at the time of writing and you might see my point. Who is to say that the Great Soviet Encyclopedia’s view of a word that’s been in use and whose use has morphed over time as tends to happen is any less relevant or insightful than say the OED’s today? In my own case I found it gave me very significant insight but then again non-duality is very much a live thing for me just now so perhaps that’s why it seemed worth me writing this review right away to commend the app to others and to thank the app’s authors for making it available to me here and now (and all the countless others who also have made this possible; thank you all 😌🙏🏼). The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased. ### 5/5 — Knowledge is power *2020-10-16* The foundation of success is knowing what your looking for once you find it your own your life that’s strength of your app. ### 5/5 — Great Encyclopedia *2020-06-24* I do research all the time, and this is SO useful and handy. Great quality and easy to use for school. I 100% recommend that you get this sourse ### 5/5 — Enciclopedia *2020-02-05, version 2.0* Very good,love it. 😎 --- *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 2026-08-21.*