# Fark® Not News Reader — user reviews > 67 indexed App Store user reviews of Fark® Not News Reader by BEN SHEPHERD, rated 4.50/5 from 682 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/fark-not-news-reader/id392538337/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/fark-not-news-reader/id392538337.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 528 · 4★ 72 · 3★ 27 · 2★ 19 · 1★ 36 ## What do users think of Fark® Not News Reader? Overall sentiment: negative **Pros** - 🚀 Fast app - 📰 Great news aggregator - 👍 Enjoyable user experience **Cons** - 🔍 Too many ads - 🔇 Autoplay videos with sound - 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs - 🙈 Difficult to navigate and read content **Commonly reported bugs** - Sections not loading correctly - Frequent crashes on launch - Compatibility issues with newer OS versions **Most requested features** - Ability to disable autoplay videos - Option to adjust text size - Improved layout and navigation ## Newest reviews (16 of 67) ### 2/5 — Quit auto launching videos *2026-04-29, version 7.1.1* Whenever I click on a news article, if that piece has a video element, there is no way to close the video player and just read the report. I have to force close the app in order to continue. ### 2/5 — Mobile ads are a real pain *2025-01-21, version 7.1.1* The ads are too long. Make it stop ### 3/5 — Ads too many ads *2025-01-15, version 7.1.1* I rather view from my browser for the random 30 second pop up ads on the app are annoying ### 2/5 — Turn off Autoplay? *2024-08-19, version 7.0.0* 80-90% of articles have full screen autoplay videos that are persistent (pop back up after being closed). Very hard to use this app. Of course this is not really the dev’s fault because the content is hosted on the sites that are being linked to, but perhaps there can be an implementation of limiting autoplay videos? ### 3/5 — Fark is linking to annoying links now *2024-05-15, version 7.0.0* Been reading Fark (and paying for it happily) for years. Love the puns, references to things only older folks know. Great app first thing every morning. BUT, lately the links go to articles protected by a paywall, or worse to sites that autorun a commercial in the middle of the article an there is no way to get ‘er gone. Shut the commercial and it immediately returns. Have to shut Fark and restart then avoid the article. Truly annoying. Happening several times a day now. Otherwise it's six stars. ### 4/5 — Topics not correct *2023-12-10, version 6.1.0* All of the topics other than “Main” are messed up. It appears that the “Main” topic contents are displayed under all of the other topics. I.e.: “Politics” has the exact same topics as Main, Sports, Entertainment,etc.. Deleted/reinstalled same results. On IOS 17.1.2…. Update: seems to have been resolved ### 2/5 — Ok when it works *2023-12-08, version 6.1.0* Every few weeks the app will close as soon as you open it, the only solution is to reinstall it. Then you get a new problem as every section has the exact same content as Main for a couple weeks. Then you get a few weeks with it working like it should before the headache starts all over. Easier to just open Fark in a mobile browser. ### 2/5 — Ad-Free - videos *2023-09-20, version 6.1.0* I paid the annual subscription to get ad-free. Now when click the links to get the article- I get videos that are not ads - i get videos of teeth whitening, body growths, sores, moles etc… Maybe someone thinks the videos are cool, but I find most of them gross and have cancelled my renewal- in 10 months. And I won’t be using the Fark app anymore. Waste of money. When I click on links directly out of fark.com, this does not happen- it is not website related -these videos are only in this app. ### 1/5 — New format for ipad terible *2020-11-19, version 5.1.1* I find the new format not as easy to use and i keep getting database errors. Please on the next update go back to the old top to bottom format instead of the side to side scrolling ### 3/5 — It used to be good *2020-11-15, version 5.1.1* I used to love this app but now it keeps telling me there are errors and I don’t like the way things are laid out anymore. The GEEK tab is broken and that was always my fav. ### 1/5 — Update is trash *2020-11-05, version 5.0.0* Can’t even use this app anymore. The redesign is garbage. ### 1/5 — No longer works *2020-10-28, version 5.0.0* Fark changed the section names, now when you open the app you get error messages and big chunks of the site are missing. Trying to open twitter linked stories fails about 80% of the time. Prefer the old layout with choosing a section at the top so I don’t have to scroll past 100 things I don’t care about to get to the Politics section. **Developer response:** Hi - we have an update for the tab changes which should be available soon. ### 2/5 — Captions are truncated *2020-10-21, version 5.0.0* I’ve been a Farmer for a long time. I wish I could say I enjoyed this new format, and I probably would if itlooked like the posted screen shots. My app has smaller windows with truncated text. I haven’t found a way to affect that. IPad with 13.3.1. ### 4/5 — Needs update *2020-10-17, version 5.0.0* Fark changed their tabs to use STEM vs. Geek. The app doesn’t recognize the change. Otherwise it’s great! ### 2/5 — Text size not adjustable *2020-10-09, version 5.0.0* Lots of people have to adjust their text size for ease of reading, but if you make it too big, then the new format cuts off the link text. If I have it where I need it to read easily, I only get a couple words of the link. Please consider going back to links on individual lines, rather than in separate non-scaling boxes. ### 1/5 — Liked the old format better *2020-09-09, version 5.0.0* Can’t read the whole headline, I see fewer articles per page, and takes longer to read than the previous version. Very poor interface choices. Just go back to the old version. Drew must have been on a bender to approve this abomination. It’s buggy too. Sections disappear after highlighting. The old format looked like the website. The website is simple and well organized. Take that as your inspiration. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Too many ads *2024-10-08, version 7.0.0* Every article is loaded with so many ads you can’t read it. For comparison, pull up a story on Fark, then pull up the same story on the original website. The difference is night and day. What finally drove me off was the long unskipable ad for that King game (King’s Ransom?) I know they need to sell ads to make money, but they’ve made the site unreadable with too many ads. ### 1/5 — Waaay too many ads *2024-08-04, version 7.0.0* Adds that start full Volume are a deal breaker. The app is super glitchy too ### 1/5 — Getting worse *2024-07-31, version 7.0.0* Even with paid subscription, forces ads from other sites that you can’t close. Starting to become unusable ### 1/5 — Use to be good, now, not so much *2024-07-18, version 7.0.0* News/ad/N/Ad-Ad/NAd-Ad/Ad Enough is too mach ### 1/5 — Ads *2024-03-20* Full of so many hostagetaking ads. What a joke. The last thing I want on my phone is some 30 second video of a game that I can’t click out of. Absolute woke piece of garbage. ### 1/5 — Ads are waaaaaaay too long *2023-08-10, version 6.1.0* The ads are twice as long as they used to be, and it’s unbearable ### 1/5 — Ads *2022-10-11, version 5.4.1* Full of so many hostagetaking ads. What a joke. The last thing I want on my phone is some 30 second video of a game that I can’t click out of. ### 1/5 — Intollerable *2022-09-13, version 5.4.1* I love fark. I hate the app. Takeover ads. Long ads. Ad you to death. Crap video game ads. Ads with no way to close the ad. Intolerable. Dont download. Avoid ### 1/5 — Poor article viewing *2021-06-10, version 5.4.1* Lots of times I click on a link to read an article and it starts loading, and I can read for five seconds or so but then the page just goes blank ( probably because the articles have tons of Java script and ad tracker type stuff on them ) … I could do without the full screen find the X to close type ads too. Banner ads are enough and are not annoying, but full screen ads are obnoxious and a sign of greed by the developers. ### 1/5 — Inappropriate pop up *2021-04-04, version 5.3.0* I got a pop up for a naughty site when I selected an NPR article. No reason to get it. Now I am concerned about the overall health of my phone. I uninstalled the app with post haste. Can this be explained? ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Love it *2022-06-01, version 5.4.1* Read daily ### 5/5 — V4 needs updated *2021-03-04, version 5.3.0* I’ve used this app for years BUT you need to update version 4 to account for the new tab catagories on fark.com. “GEEK” tab is gone and replaced with “STEM”. “D’AWWW” is a new category as well as “DISCUSSION”. I realize you have version 5 now but not everyone can install IOS13 nor want to. ->updated March 4, 2021: back in November you stated that an update was coming to support the new Fark tabs for non-IOS13 users. When is this update going to be made available? ### 5/5 — Finally back to “easy to use and enjoy “. *2020-11-16, version 5.1.1* Seems like it’s been months (it has) since the app,was improved and became unusable. But a few updates, and way too much time, later and I can once again enjoy Fark. Latest update restored the ability to read entire headlines, choose topics, and make fun of real-world news. Back to five-stars. Please, please, please don’t “improve “ it again! **Developer response:** I'm not able to reproduce what you are seeing and no other users have reported this - can you send a screenshot to support@kineso.com? ### 5/5 — Please fix STEM Tab! *2020-10-20, version 5.0.0* STEM tab (the old Geek tab) no longer loads. Please fix! ### 5/5 — No need to change *2020-09-04, version 5.0.0* I’m really tired of app designers who make unnecessary changes just to show off. These newest “upgrades” are an example. ### 5/5 — I love FARK, but... *2020-09-02, version 5.0.0* The new changes to the app frustrate me. It’s not as easy to share articles, etc. ### 5/5 — Can’t write on Iphone *2020-08-31, version 5.0.0* Pop up blocking text screen now. ### 5/5 — News around the world *2020-08-31, version 5.0.0* Great place to catch up on the crazy in the world. ### 5/5 — Fresh air *2019-06-15, version 4.6.1* Fark is always a breath of fresh air. Relevant and funny. ### 5/5 — My trusted news round up *2019-03-04, version 4.6.1* From the ends of the world to the streets of my home town Fark brings me the the passing parade of humanity in all its folly.So here is your invitation to come join the parade --- *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 2026-07-28.*