# Forteller — user reviews > 58 indexed App Store user reviews of Forteller by Forteller Games, Inc., rated 3.70/5 from 267 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/forteller/id1495720285/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/forteller/id1495720285.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 150 · 4★ 20 · 3★ 19 · 2★ 21 · 1★ 57 ## What do users think of Forteller? Overall sentiment: mixed **Pros** - 🎭 Excellent voice acting and professional production quality - 🎵 High-quality sound effects and ambient music - 🎮 Enhances immersion and gameplay experience - 📖 Well-produced narration for supported games - 🌟 Professional full-cast performances with atmosphere **Cons** - 🐢 Extremely slow loading times and content delays - 🐛 Frequent app crashes and freezes - 🔄 Navigation issues with branching story paths - 📱 No landscape mode support - 🔐 Login/logout functionality broken - account switching impossible - 💳 Convoluted purchase process requiring external website - 🔌 No offline download capability - ⚠️ Purchased content not syncing to app - 🎚️ No audio output to external speakers or AirPlay - ⏸️ Playback issues when switching between apps - 🔊 Audio cuts off beginning of narration - ❌ Blank screens and missing content options - 🎯 Unintuitive and confusing user interface - 📊 Inconsistent content availability across devices **Commonly reported bugs** - App fails to load content, displaying blank screens - Extremely slow loading times (minutes per section) - Cannot switch between accounts - permanently logged into first account - Purchased content not appearing in app library - App crashes sporadically, sometimes repeatedly at same location - Going back results in blank screen requiring restart - Branching path navigation broken - clicking choices doesn't advance correctly - Audio playback fails after switching to other apps - Audio clips cut off at the beginning - App won't allow device to sleep, drains battery - Loses place in content after device sleep/wake cycle - Playback controls unresponsive - requires multiple taps - Missing audio clips and scenario triggers - Content doesn't sync between website purchases and app **Most requested features** - Landscape mode orientation support - In-app purchasing system - Offline download for all audio content - AirPlay and Bluetooth speaker support - Account logout/login functionality - Separate voice and background audio volume controls - Ambient background music tracks for gameplay - Search and favorites functionality - Batch download entire missions at once - Screen-off playback capability - Improved navigation for branching narratives - In-app help and support documentation - Ambient timer/track for smoother gameplay flow ## Newest reviews (14 of 58) ### 2/5 — Very buggy and extremely slow to load needs a serious fix! *2024-06-01* This app used to work reasonably well, but somehow now it is super slow to load and to load content. In some cases the content never loads and all I get is a blank screen! In our most recent session of Forgotten Circles we tried to use app narration but every screen took minutes to load while we were forced to stop our game and wait for the spinning load circle to produce my purchased content, only to finally end with a blank screen without narration. I have spent way too much money on several game narrations to now have an unusable product! You have to fix this app! ### 4/5 — Worth it for the acting and music alone but fire the app team *2023-12-03* Bought for Kinfire Chronicles. The acting is fantastic, ambient noise effects is engrossing and the music is beyond 5 stars. Only issue is the app not able to back to previous selection and due to story choices and branching the app sometimes does and doesn't include options. Sometimes it takes you to the next story card automatically and other times it doesn't. I feel the app team is perhaps overseas support team that could care less about the Forteller company. ### 3/5 — Good voice acting, iffy interface *2023-07-30* Picked up Sleeping Gods to use with the start of a new campaign and while the voice acting a great, the app really seems to struggle with the multiple branching paths of some of the stories. Often I have to click through multiple times to get to the next selection and going back always results in a blank screen, requiring me to go all the way back to the beginning of the section. I found myself needing to consult the story book every time to make sure something wasn’t missed. I think the app needs an interface rework to function with more complex games like sleeping gods where it’s not just one segment to read at a time, but a branching narrative. ### 2/5 — Typical App Process Crap *2023-07-04* In order to look at the app, you have to create an account. You may just want to see how much these add ons will cost you, but the app doesn’t display that, nor does it tell you before you create an account and login to find out that they are not using the Apple app purchasing system. Instead, you create an account and then the app tells you to go to their website. Stop wasting people’s time just to get their info. ### 3/5 — Nice acting, buggy interface *2023-06-14* Seems to have trouble with the many forking branches of Sleeping Gods. Often clicking on a choice does not send you to the relevant next clip. Going back will just show an empty set of options. Only by going all the way back to the story selector and then going back into the story can you find the rest of the clips, but even then you can’t tell what you’re supposed to play without referring to the story book. ### 3/5 — Landscape mode. Playback issues after switching apps. *2023-04-09* This iPad app needs to support landscape mode. Unless I’m doing something wrong, it’s always sideways on my iPad. I run this app, play audio for frosthaven, then I’ll switch to another app to track my initiative, monsters, etc, and when I switch back to forteller for the next section, it fails to play any audio when the play button is tapped. I have to then tap the back track button and then forward track button and the play button a few times before it will start playing audio again. It’s frustrating. Also I’ve noticed some of the audio clips, upon tapping play, will cut off a tiny bit of the beginning and it’s odd. This can cut off part of the first word of a sentence sometimes. I’d like an option to have the app download the data it needs for the entire mission in one go, instead of how it currently hour glasses on each section to dl each section individually. Not sure if there’s an offline pc version with full data of this as that would solve most of my issues. The voice work is great but the app needs work. ### 3/5 — Above and below purchase *2023-03-27* I purchased the Above and Below narration for my daughter (6) and I to play together. The quality of the voice acting and SFX is very good. I’m a big fan. However, they skimped out on some very important parts of the narration. If you’ve every player above and below you know that each story is like a choose your own path kind of story. You could go left or you could go right. You could fight the monster or you run away. Each path has a requirement that needs to be hit in order to succeed. This narration does not provide that. My 6 year old daughter who can’t fully read yet would not be able to tell me what those requirements are. I feel like I paid for a whole pie, but a slice was taken out before I received it. And this is a very important slice. As far as the app itself goes, it seems to be fine. Pretty simplistic. Nothing too outrageous. I’m not going to lie. I wish it had a store option so I didn’t have to return to the website to make future purchases. ### 2/5 — Very poorly executed with middling voice acting *2023-01-16, version 2.0.6* I have most of the Gloomhaven / Frosthaven related content. When I recently purchased Forgotten Circles, it doesn’t even show up in my list. Now I have to go figure out how to add it. The app is pretty pathetic. It stops and starts content, so you frequently have to replay. No landscape mode, so those of you switching between X-HAVEN Helper and Forteller get a nice reminder each time you switch back and forth that Foreteller couldn’t care less about the user experience. To top it off, the voice acting is pretty rough in most of the Gloomhaven content. The main narration is a ridiculous english accent obviously performed by an american. If you’re used to the Steam version of Gloomhaven’s voice acting, you will be sorely disappointed. Two stars is generous… I’m hoping they improve some day. ### 4/5 — Purchase Issues - Resolved *2022-06-25, version 2.0.6* I want to like it but unfortunately I can’t even try it. I purchased the Bardsung audio but after twelve hours my content still doesn’t show up on the app. According to my order confirmation page it should have been available in minutes. Edit: Foreteller customer support was very nice and quick to fix my issue once I got in contact with them. The production quality is quite nice. Only gripe is that I wish we could separately control voice volume and background volume. ### 2/5 — Offline *2022-04-10, version 2.0.6* I want to be able to download the audio files for camping where I don’t have service please implement this ### 2/5 — Convoluted, slow, but nice audio *2022-01-08, version 2.0.6* In 2022, it shouldn’t take multiple steps outside the app for us to exchange our money for your audio playlist. Pretty baffling. There are so many better ways. The audio is nice, but not sure it’s worth putting up with the app. ### 2/5 — Silly purchase procedure *2021-10-09, version 2.0.5* Why do we have to go to the website to purchase content? More importantly why couldn’t foreteller games at least put a simple blurb in their app telling us to first go to their website? Sigh ### 1/5 — Pay Wall *2021-02-26, version 1.0.7* I already payed for my board game. It is a real punch in the teeth to be told that there are downloadable audio tracks to enhance my game experience, only to find out that I have to pay extra to enjoy this add on. I'm just going to download them from google chrome and enjoy them for free without this app. ### 3/5 — Overall good but with caveats *2021-02-08, version 1.0.7* We have really enjoyed most of the voice acting and it’s added to the depth our gloomhaven experience. We found two voices to be really subpar. First, the voicing of the drake left a lot to be desired. It lacked depth and felt silly rather than cunning or vicious. Hail is the worst. She isn’t crafty or fierce and the voice actor can’t seem to settle on a vaguely British accent or her American accent, which I’m guessing is her norm. It really makes it hard to suspend disbelief. We won’t even use the app if she is speaking because it’s so terrible. That all being said, the app is well worth the money. We can’t wait to see future content from them. Help support them and add to your experience by buying this app. **Developer response:** Thank you for spending time to give us feedback on our audio and casting selection. Our story and narration team is always looking to improve the quality of our sound design and voice over. We appreciate your support and candor, and hope to impress you with our future products. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Great voice acting, but unusable interface. *2023-11-24* My group held off playing Sleeping Gods until the voice over became available, but after just two sessions we’ve gone back to the story book. The app is not intuitive at all. There are 1 second recording screens with every entry that seem totally unnecessary. It’s often unclear if we’ve selected the correct recording after just a few branching selections. Numerous times we’ve missed important information because it’s either non existent or too easy to skip over. It became apparent that we still needed to verify every entry with the storybook halfway though the first session. On top of it all, the app will crash sporadically, sometimes in the same place over and over and sometimes randomly. Until the interface is completely redone, my group won’t be using this for any game. Nor would I recommend it for anyone. An incredible disappointment. Buyer beware! ### 1/5 — MAJOR BUG! *2023-01-05, version 2.0.6* Forteller has not updated there app to allow you to login/logout of your account. This is a know issue, but until the fix it on iOS beware of this app. My issue is a long time ago a friend logged into his account on my phone. Since then I opened my own account and bought an audio file. However, I can’t listen on my iPhone because the app is permanently set to my friends account. Thankfully I have an iPad and was able to sign in and get my audio on that, but this app is a brick on my iPhone. And the iPad isn’t a good experience because this app doesn’t have landscape mode. ### 1/5 — Extremely poor design *2022-11-22, version 2.0.6* Very poor design. The app only gives a one-time login screen upon initial download. There is no way to log out of your account and login with another. If you used a different email address when you downloaded the app a long time ago from the one you used to purchase the narrations, you can’t use them on the app. ### 1/5 — Nothing works right, everything is coming soon *2022-07-03, version 2.0.6* I was excited for this app but the app is garbage. They want you to purchase everything to the website but don’t send you to the browser from the app, you have to do it yourself. I purchased a game on the site and it won’t show up in the app. Beyond that there are “planned features” all over this app that say coming soon, but the core functionality doesn’t even work well. The developer seriously needs to focus before trying to implement all these other features. Make the damned app do at least one thing well. Being able to use your purchased content without failure or having to call support sounds like a good step one to me. Forget all the fluff and just make it work right. ### 1/5 — No audio? *2022-07-02, version 2.0.6* I tried using this app for jaws of the lion (gloomhaven) but there is only 2 audio tracks and instead it just tells you to go to their website. Also there is no search capability, you can't "favorite" games. The ui is also unintuitive. ### 1/5 — First Experience *2022-06-25, version 2.0.6* Terrible! The app is an interface for the website. I paid for a narrative and I can’t access it. The interface is clunky at best, many links don’t work, and a few of them just loop me to the same place. I tried finding a help link and was met with more frustration. They have a long way to go, before this is functional on phone apps. ### 1/5 — Reported to Apple *2022-02-13, version 2.0.6* Reported the app to Apple for the scam it is, wanting users to pay for content on another website then not honoring the purchases made on the website on the app, effectively stealing money from people using the app. ### 1/5 — Great idea, bad user experience *2021-09-29, version 2.0.5* Bought the audio to Jaws of the Lion through their website, but never was able to get the audio into the app. Can’t purchase things through the app at all. Seems like they rushed to get an “app” made without making sure the user experience was worth the effort. If I had to do it again, I would just wait for in app purchases. ### 1/5 — Useless *2021-08-18, version 2.0.2* Download the app, just to be told to go to the website. That is the only thing in the app-instructions to go to a website. Why does an app exist that does nothing. Edit: A review of past reviews shows many negative reviews with the same concerns from over a year ago. So no support there. Also many have complained that AFTER going to the website and paying, they are unable to access purchased content. ### 1/5 — App is worthless now? *2021-07-23, version 2.0.1* I imagine I’ll need to visit the website or something, but the app on its own is apparently worthless now since there doesn’t seem to be a way to listen to games unless they’re in your library and there’s no apparent way to add games to your library. I’m assuming they’re making these changes/updates to set themselves up for micro-transactions, but I have no obvious way of accessing any of the audio that I used to be able to get to now. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — You must gather your party before venturing forth! *2023-01-31, version 2.0.7* This is an absolute must have. If you enjoy any of the games on their list it brings great ambience and atmosphere. ### 5/5 — Sounds great! *2022-01-16, version 2.0.6* The voice acting is so good. It would be nice if you could buy from within the app, but not a big deal. Definitely worth it to enhance your experience! I wish the app offered some general background music (battle, shopping in town, etc.) to let the magic continue during gameplay. But overall, super pleased and worth every penny. ### 5/5 — Great addition to Gloomhaven *2021-06-27, version 1.0.7* The voice acting, music and f/x are top notch. Definitely enhances the game. ### 5/5 — Fun and immersive *2021-04-14, version 1.0.7* I love the added ambience I’ve received for on this app. Fantastic addition to my gaming! ### 5/5 — Amazing addition! *2021-03-31, version 1.0.7* This app adds a lot o Gloomhaven. We became aware of it through the Frosthaven kickstarter and purchased the files for GH immediately. While we are most of the way through the game it had been an amazing addition. We will also have it for Frosthaven and will be excited to use it from the beginning. If you want to boost GH’s game play and up the atmosphere don’t hesitate, grab this app now. ### 5/5 — Love it!! *2021-03-23, version 1.0.7* I bought the one for Jaws of the Lion and I am so glad I did! The production value is off the charts and really takes the game to the next level. This is a no brainer for any game it supports. ### 5/5 — No, these are not dramatizations *2020-09-23, version 1.0.7* They are introductions to each section of the game. Is not a continuous radio drama. I was annoyed at first at the limitations in the app (not able to play with screen off, or out of the app, no native airplay support, must set it from control center). But once I figure it out I really enjoy it. The quality is as anything gloomhaven. Just awesome. ### 5/5 — Excellent *2020-09-14, version 1.0.7* The audio is excellent and extremely professional. Full cast with sound effects, atmosphere, and backing music. We purchased Gloomhaven. ### 5/5 — Great add to the game! *2020-08-27, version 1.0.7* Narration and sound effects add a lot to the game - I especially like having ‘trigger’ effects in addition to the introduction and conclusion for each scenario. Well worth the $15 ### 5/5 — Love it! *2020-08-19, version 1.0.7* I’m loving the voice acting, sound effects and the mood music for Gloomhaven. I see that Jaws of the Lion is available, and Frosthaven is coming. Are there plans to add Forgotten Circles, the Gloomhaven expansion? --- *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.*