# Granta — user reviews > 79 indexed App Store user reviews of Granta by Granta, rated 1.40/5 from 33 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/granta/id1020147105/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/granta/id1020147105.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 1 · 4★ 1 · 3★ 2 · 2★ 2 · 1★ 27 ## What do users think of Granta? Overall sentiment: negative **Pros** - 💎 Excellent content quality - 📚 Access to back catalogue **Cons** - 🐛 App frequently crashes - 😩 Constant login prompts - 😵 Unintuitive navigation - ⚫ Lacks dark mode - 📏 No text size adjustment - 🔄 No screen rotation support - 🚫 Offline reading not supported - 🤷‍♂️ App feels abandoned - 📉 Poor performance - ⚪ Blank screens on article load - 🪲 Login issues - 🗑️ Unresponsive support **Commonly reported bugs** - Subscription restore issues - Weekly feature not refreshing - App requires login almost every time - Internet connection required message despite connection - Blank screen when tapping articles - Weekly section not working - Issue cover disappears - Share link goes to homepage - Login details not remembered - No landscape support - Menu navigation unclear - Moving images for show - Annoying navigation - Weird division between 'the weekly' and 'the library' - Keeps signing out - Cannot adjust font size - Needs night mode - Scrolling off-center sends to another article - Doesn't remember reading position - Cannot bookmark within an article - App has been problematic for years - Login function hidden - Sign-in info not remembered for long - Last lines of articles cut off - App doesn't work on iPad - Screen rotation hit-or-miss - Overall experience stinks - App needs a refresh - Text size is too small - Roulette wheel of chance when reading - Sign in EVERY time - App crashes all the time - Looks hideous and uncomfortable to use - Cannot access account after forgetting password - Email for recovery not recognized - App only works in portrait mode - Images are pixelated - Photo features lump photographs together - Cannot bookmark one's location - App has not been updated in ages - App doesn't remember login details - Cannot swipe to next article - App just doesn’t work on an IPad - Screen rotation is hit-or-miss - Navigation is really unintuitive - App is in desperate need of a refresh - Type size too small - Scrolling up the page is wrong - Cannot bookmark a single page - No night time mode - App crashes constantly - Asks to login almost every time - App makes reading a hassle - Cannot alter text size - Sign in Each time I open the app - Won’t take me past title pages - Deleting and redownloading doesn't solve problem - App freezes when accessing the Weekly - Magazine pages do not display - Only table of contents displayed - App updates seem to fix issues - Cannot download anything beyond the title - No app support found - No bug fixes or developments in over a year - App doesn’t work - Magazine doesn’t reply to emails - White screen when trying to read downloaded issue - Obscure app - Online only subscription a mistake - Cannot access any editions (blank pages) - Struggling to read issues - Cannot read any of the articles - Blank screen where text should be - App is usually not functional - App does not work. Period. - Horrible app - App totally unusable - Refuses to provide support - Emails to support not answered - App does not work with recent iOS 11 - Weekly pieces section not opening - App is basically becoming useless - Free section doesn't work - Just a 'G' in the middle of the screen - App doesn't support landscape mode - Logins on app and website don't recognize user - Publisher doesn't respond to requests - No functionality for reading offline - No search functionality - Navigation and menus not labelled or intuitive - App is too much like hard work to read - User experience is terrible - Developers didn't ask users for feedback - Developers didn't look at other apps - Forces portrait format - No method of storing read content - Bookmarking does nothing - Doesn't remember book or page place - Interface is barren and not user friendly - Content can't be accessed offline - No access to content after subscribing - App won't let me sign in - Authentication info incorrect - Customer service hasn't answered email - Password reset email not received - Logs out every time - Tedious to login every time - Download doesn't mean offline viewing - Need for internet connection is a waste - Interface is clunky and confusing - Takes me to the last issue I was reading - Have to delete and reinstall to look at another issue - Nothing shows up - Not optimized for newer iPhones - App goes nowhere near doing justice to content - Can't sign in because App Store didn't give subscription number - Surly customer service agent - Not in the system - Text is not adjustable - Impossible to read on iPad pro - Scrolling often switches to a different one - Lose place when scrolling - No way to delete downloaded editions - Menu bar flashing distractingly - Hard to navigate - Lacks good overview of contents - Frequently lose what I'm reading - No way to connect print subscription - Nothing helpful on the website - App signs me out automatically - Doesn't keep your spot in a piece - App needs to be re-designed **Most requested features** - Ability to adjust text size - Dark mode - Pagination options - Share link to article - Landscape mode support - Offline reading - Search functionality - Bookmark specific pages - Mark articles as read - Hide read articles - Delete downloaded editions - Sync print subscription - Kindle download access ## Newest reviews (18 of 79) ### 2/5 — Frustrating - needs update *2026-07-04* I love Granta magazine but this app is desperately in need of an update. I’m constantly asked to sign back into my account and there’s occasions where I can’t access the library at all. Easier just to access through browser. ### 2/5 — Log in prompts *2025-05-02* I wish they would update the app to fix the issue of it requesting my log in details every few days. It really lets down the whole digital subscription, which we do pay for after all. ### 2/5 — Knackered *2024-11-18* The app works, crudely. It looks okay. But needs some serious effort, and most of all, configurability. Font size, light/dark mode, at a minimum. It feels like a hack job, and probably it’s been orphaned and no one at Granta either uses it or cares at all. ### 2/5 — Frustrating *2024-10-19* Great content — grading on the app. (1) I have to sign in every day; just makes reading it a pain. (2) No landscape support — in 2024? Really? ### 2/5 — Good magazine but app is unusable *2024-05-31* Terrible app. Sacrifices all usability for looks. Finding articles feels like walking through a maze. Scrolling slightly off center sends you to another article and resets the scroll. Feels like a beta version, for an app that should do one thing: display text. ### 1/5 — Great content, terrible app *2024-05-16* Granta is a wonderful literary magazine but its disgraceful app does the content a disservice. If a magazine offers digital only subscription they should have a properly functioning app and Granta does not. The app does not honor screen rotation so you are perpetually stuck in portrait mode, not a good thing for a tablet. The images are pixelated and photo features lump all the photographs together in an unscrollable conglomeration. Worst of all, it does not remember reading position and one cannot bookmark one’s location within an article; it’s only possible to bookmark a whole article, which is pointless since one has a table of contents for locating articles. A glance at the reviews here show that this app has been problematic for years yet remains unfixed. It can’t be that expensive for Granta to put to work a decent coder or two and fix the app. ### 1/5 — Really unfriendly *2023-11-16* The app always logs you out between reading sessions and the app programmers have gone to unbelievable lengths to hide the login function. ### 1/5 — Frustrating *2023-08-17* Stupid app will not remember my sign in info for more than a few hours and the last lines of most articles are cut off. What a disappointment. ### 1/5 — It’s not hard *2023-04-15* Agree with other reviews. Horrible app and no service ### 1/5 — Ridiculously unusable *2023-02-13* Who wrote this? Un-navigable, unusable. Dreadful. ### 2/5 — Dismal app *2022-01-17* Pros: access to all Grantas. Cons: not intuitive, some illegible low-res images, and one display format (it would have been nice to have the option of seeing the original page images). All in all, it looks like something designed on the cheap a decade ago. ### 1/5 — Absolutely terrible *2021-07-01* Terrible service from Granta. Ordered the magazine but it didn’t arrive. Been emailing for weeks asking for an update with no response. The app is absolutely terrible. Clunky and really, really, really bad. ### 1/5 — Needs a redesign *2021-03-02* This app makes it very difficult to access the quality content of Granta. Simply taking their website and reformatting it into an app layout, with the ability to bookmark specific pieces, would suffice ### 2/5 — Great content, bad app *2021-02-21* Come on guys, you can do better than this. I shouldn’t have to log in every time. ### 2/5 — Great content, terrible app *2021-02-13, version 1.0.13* Why am I asked to log in every single time I access the app? ### 1/5 — Just a terrible app. Subscribed but likely will not renew *2020-11-27* The app just doesn’t work on an IPad. Screen rotation is hit-or-miss. The navigation is really unintuitive, and the overall experience stinks. It’s a pity, because so many magazines get this right. Why not just license a standard app framework and get on with the content? ### 1/5 — Content let down by poor app design *2020-10-31, version 1.0.13* Sadly this app is in desperate need of a refresh. ### 2/5 — Type size *2020-07-05* It must be no larger than six point type,and there is no way to adjust it. I’ve been a subscriber since the early 1980’s, but will no longer subscribe., ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Why bother having an app? *2026-05-11* Unable to restore subscription, even after redownloading the app. The weekly feature has not refreshed since the week I purchased my subscription almost a year ago. ### 1/5 — Always logging in *2026-04-27* Nice to look at and use. But you have to log in almost every time. Total pain. Defeats the purpose of the app. Simpler to just keep the book near, but reduces my time reading Granta as a result. Shameful product. ### 1/5 — :( *2026-02-26* just cant use the app. it say that I need to have a connection with the internet but Im already connected and never launch ### 1/5 — I can’t read a thing *2025-09-23* I have the app for the past year and a half and I have a paid subscription. Suddenly the app has stopped working. I can’t read a thing. It’s a blank screen every time I tap on an article. Please help. Before this it was working wonderfully. ### 1/5 — Granta Magazine is great, the app is not *2025-07-13* That’s it really - barely works. Click on weekly multiple times to find nothing happens. Occasionally an issue cover appears below the line then disappears. Broken app. ### 1/5 — Granta, this is pathetic *2025-07-12, version 2.0.3* Add basic functions: Ability to adjust text size. Dark mode. Pagination options. A share link that actually links to the article, not just the granta.com home page. Looks like you spent a lot of money on your overly busy menu page. Hire a programmer instead of an undergrad design student. ### 1/5 — Garbage *2025-02-16* It is amazing that a good publication - in terms of content - has such an awful presence in the Apple store. I am not sure if the Granta management is either digital illiterate or simply indolent. At any case, they don’t spend too much time thinking about their readers. ### 1/5 — Such a shame , there’s great writing here but it’s not accessible *2024-10-16* Great content but terrible,terrible app , always in portrait mode , not in a epub format and no dark mode, please ,please update!! ### 1/5 — Apps can be beautiful and functional. Granta please do better *2024-10-08* The Granta app not only doesn’t honor screen rotation but it also doesn’t consider the functional expectations of mobile readers. The menu navigation isn’t clear. The moving images seem to be for show. Finding where you want to navigate so annoying I mostly want my money returned for the digital subscription. I don’t want to work to read. I want to read the excellent stories Granta is known for. ### 1/5 — Poor *2024-09-11* Really poor app. There's a weird division between "the weekly" and "the library" that makes no sense when opening the app, it then takes several clicks to get to the current issue, then keeps signing me out, so every time I open it, or sometimes when I want to look at another issue, I have to keep signing back in; you can't adjust font size so it's hard to read on a standard iPhone and it really needs a night mode. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Joy to read *2020-05-15* Ok App may need improvements... But Granta shines when it comes to articles! Best value for money to broaden your cultural view! ### 5/5 — Ideal for my commute to work. *2016-11-14, version 1.0.9* The Granta app is perfect for killing 10/15 minutes at a time. Lots of great essays and stories and it's easy to use. ### 5/5 — Brilliant!!! *2015-11-18, version 1.0.1* When I discovered this app, I felt like I found a treasure chest! Having access to all these brilliant collections of short stories blows my mind away! ### 5/5 — a beautiful app of beautiful writing *2015-10-19, version 1.0* Recommended! ### 4/5 — Does not work on iPad with iOS 11.3 - UPDATE *2018-05-25* I was able to use the Granta app on my iPad mini until I updated to the latest iOS 11.3. After updating the app freezes when I access the Weekly and when I access the magazine the pages do not display, only the table of contents. I wish Granta would update the app to work with iOS 11.3. *** UPDATE, 24 May *** Since my review, Granta has released 2 updates. With the latest version 1.0.13 installed the app appears to be working again on my iPad mini. — Thank you Granta! ### 4/5 — As beautiful as the paper copies *2015-12-08, version 1.0.1* Lovely app to read and to interact with. Beautiful design, even when compared to the exemplary paper editions of the magazine. I only wish that the app didn't sign me out automatically every three days or so, and that it could keep your spot in a piece after leaving the app. ### 3/5 — A triumph of style over function *2021-02-09* It’s 5-stars for what the app does, namely gives subscribers access to a huge back catalogue of issues of Granta. There’s lots of happy browsing to be done here. The app looks great, but using it is not at all intuitive. There’s also no option to adjust font size, for example. You have to go through a tiresome login regularly as it doesn’t remember your details. Mostly the login dialogue appears automatically, but when it doesn’t there is no way to force it. You can’t swipe to the next article but have to go back into an index and access it from there. And I note it hasn’t been updated in ages, which tells you everything about what a priority this is for Granta as well as their app developer. It’s as if there was a one-off budget to develop an app, but nothing set aside to keep refining it or responding to user feedback. It’s a shame that such a refined and excellent publication is let down by an app that doesn’t match the aspirations of the magazine. ### 3/5 — Keep trying *2019-06-16* Seems to me, this app is only half done. It presents The Weekly content as one undifferentiated pile, with the only navigation being next/previous (swipe left/right). No indication of Fiction or Nonfiction. Can I please mark things as read, then hide, so I don’t have to flip through? And, no option menu to select font size, a common feature in a world with multiple screen sizes. Please keep trying, Granta! A good digital option is for me a major lure to subscribe. ### 3/5 — Useful but Needs some work *2019-06-12* I can no longer afford a print subscription so I was happy to find the app. I’ve linked my digital subscription to it and it works fine. The main issue I have is that there’s no way to enlarge the print! This is a significant issue for an app devoted to reading. ### 3/5 — Can be better *2018-10-15* I’m getting used to the design and think it’s kind of beautiful. But why am I asked to re-enter my account and password so frequently? It’s almost every day. --- *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 2026-08-31.*