# Retro Gamer Official Magazine — user reviews > 128 indexed App Store user reviews of Retro Gamer Official Magazine by Future plc, rated 4.60/5 from 243 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/retro-gamer-official-magazine/id471305650/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/retro-gamer-official-magazine/id471305650.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 195 · 4★ 20 · 3★ 10 · 2★ 3 · 1★ 15 ## What do users think of Retro Gamer Official Magazine? Overall sentiment: negative **Pros** - 👍 Overall very good - 👍 Great magazine content - 👍 Nostalgia and retro gaming focus **Cons** - 🐛 Buggy app with crashes and loading issues - 🐛 Subscription and purchase issues - 🐛 Lack of support for newer devices - 🐛 Slow performance and long loading times **Commonly reported bugs** - Inability to restore previous purchases - Disappearing magazines from library after updates - Connectivity issues when accessing the store - Incompatibility with certain iOS versions and devices **Most requested features** - Offline reading mode - Better organization and library management - Multimedia content integration (videos, links, etc.) - Improved user interface and navigation ## Newest reviews (14 of 128) ### 4/5 — ANOTHER CASTLE *2024-08-12, version 7.1.1* Since the redesign, this app is much better than it used to be, less buggy and more responsive. It could still do with some levelling-up, though; the initial load still takes an ice age if your library is full (what else are 2TB iPads for), and the app, oddly, keeps sending me notifications for News stories that aren’t there in the News section. ### 3/5 — Great magazine, but the app … *2022-04-21, version 6.0.16* The issue downloads are a needlessly huge. Please offer smaller downloads so I can have more issues on my iPad at once. ### 3/5 — So slow……. *2021-12-28, version 6.0.16* this is an excellent magazine for the enthusiast. has many excellent articles each month AND occasionally they release Annuals . HOWEVER…this app is just tooo slow. i have an iPad air 4 and this app takes forever to open. even if the app is running in the background and you reopen it……takes forever. theres to much going on. it needs to be simplified so the basics open and you can get to your magazine. an app like zinio opens quick and downloaded magazines open quickly with out the need to make a hot drink while it thinks about it. at times when its thinking about open and looks like its loading something all i get is an error code (no products found. error 442345) and “retry”? i honestly rate the magazine 5/5 but this app needs a lot of work so 3/5! ### 2/5 — Great idea ruined by poor app *2021-10-29, version 6.0.16* While it’s great to have all the issues of retro gamer in one place, purchasing them is not straightforward. I purchased an issue that was previously a sample and the full version would not appear in my library. Deleting and reinstalling meant I had no choice to purchase it again. So I tried to delete the app and reinstall it and can’t even use it as there is an error message. Now all my downloads are lost. Very disappointing ### 4/5 — App startup takes a long time (if online), does not fill full ipad pro screen *2020-11-13, version 6.0.16* PROS: This is the highest quality version of the mag, out of all the online options. Almost no noticeable compression and no formatting errors (vs Kindle, Zinio). Zinio does offer Text-to-Speech, which is great. FIXED: I can now read issues offline and it fills up the full iPad screen. It’s really fast if you are on airplane mode. I added two more stars! :-) CONS: Store take a long time to load. (updated November 2020) ### 3/5 — Great magazine. Bad app *2020-10-08, version 5.6.3* I love the content but would be happier if it was in a better made app ### 3/5 — Love the magazine, but the app is subpar. *2019-12-22, version 5.6.3* There are several areas for improvement with the app, and I really hope the developers will address some of the many complaints over time. The performance is pretty terrible. The library section still has tons of screen space consumed by store, sub, and sign-in. There is a separate store section, so taking up real estate for the library view seems like overkill. There are so few options for organizing the library. Just adding the ability to manually adjust the order would be a huge plus. Anyway, I love the magazine enough to tolerate the issues with the application, but things good be so much better. ### 2/5 — So slow to open *2019-12-06, version 5.6.3* Ridiculously slow to open the app. Every time you open the app you have to wait 5 minutes for it to open!! ### 2/5 — Ok when it works. *2019-12-05, version 5.6.3* Great read of all things retro gaming.But? App constantly freezes when reading or just refuses to work,if staring at a loading circle is your jam then this app is perfect. ### 1/5 — The app does Not work. *2019-05-12, version 5.2.3* Downloaded the app. And also the pc gamer app. Purchased a few issues and nothing. Nothing in my library. But. Billed. They take your money but literally give you nothing in return. Going to escalate this Apple to try and have the app removed as it doesn’t do what it says it does. Don’t bother trying to restore purchases in the app. I’ve tried that off two IPads now and it doesn’t work. ### 3/5 — Kein iPad Pro 2018 Support *2019-04-20* Bitte nachliefern. Ansonsten ein tolles Magazin und eine sehr gute App. ### 1/5 — Please allow library access without online connection *2019-04-05, version 5.2.3* Twice now a bug has occurred where the app locks up trying to access the store and so I can’t access my library. I’m then forced to delete the app reinstall and redownload load all my issues. It just happened a third time prompting me to write this review. If you remove the need to access the store and allow me to just read my issues I’ve paid for I’ll change my star rating, which reflects the app and not the magazine itself, which is good. ### 1/5 — Good mag, abysmal app *2019-03-18, version 5.2.3* The content is fine, but the app, which is simply a PDF viewer, is truly terrible. Unless you have a large iPad you'll be pinching and zooming continually to read the small text, and worse, the app has a fatal flaw which prevents it from ever showing the latest issue. To force it to show new content requires a complete reinstall, EVERY SINGLE MONTH. This bug has been present for a good while now but despite repeated emails to support, remains unfixed. ### 2/5 — Great mag, Poor App *2018-12-30, version 5.2.3* Great mag let down by poor app and digital versions. In a bid to get rid of back issues cluttering the house downloaded all back issues as part of a Black Friday deal....app now takes an age to load or refuses to load at all. After a couple of reinstalls..had to delete files..which means I now need to download any back issues if I want to browse them again. Poor app optimisation. Also the digital issues would benefit from some form of multimedia links to videos, websites etc..(Empire mag is great in this respect..although admittedly has a wider audience)...otherwise digital copy just glorified PDF’s......back to the clutter I suppose... ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Buggy app *2025-12-29, version 7.1.14* I just paid for this subscription and all my magazines are either queued or have a price tag next to them. You might want to try testing the app. ### 1/5 — It’s broken *2024-03-05, version 7.1.1* After downloading a few issues, all I get is a loading/spinning indicator when I start the app. It spins for minutes. It’s useless to me. ### 1/5 — Subscription through iTunes is frequently not recognized *2022-05-28, version 6.0.16* It frequently disregards your subscription through iTunes. I’ve tried using the restore function and it doesn’t work. ### 1/5 — Please update for iPad mini 6 *2022-01-25, version 6.0.16* This app does have its issues mostly down to the way apple handles purchases etc but it’s main problem is lack of support for the iPad mini 6 I enjoy reading on the tablet and it’s frustrating that this app doesn’t utilise the full vertical resolution of the device !!! ### 1/5 — Just kinda weird *2021-11-04, version 6.0.16* The app is not as functional as it should be. It’s not like reading a digital book on a Kindle app, it is more like a scanned version of a print copy. Not practical as you must make an effort to zoom in and out of each page so that you can read the font. I cannot recommend this app ### 1/5 — Great mag, terrible app *2021-11-01, version 6.0.16* Future, this app is terrible. The subscription models just don’t work. Even the help pages make no sense at all. You spam me with SALE ads daily even though I’ve already bought and can’t download the back catalogue. The user interface is shocking. Really disappointed in this app, get some new developers and sort it out! ### 1/5 — Horrible app *2021-07-25, version 6.0.16* This app is fundamentally broken. It constantly refuses to load the storefront which prevents you accessing the magazines you’ve paid for. I normally read Retro Gamer using the Pocketmags app which is flawless, but I bought a back issues bundle on this app when a deal came up. I’ve now been charged £23 for magazines I can’t read. This app should be removed from the App Store and everyone who has made purchases on it refunded. ### 1/5 — App not fit for purpose *2020-05-14, version 5.6.3* Magazine is 5 stars but let down by this clumsy slow and buggy app!! ### 1/5 — Over charged then zero customer support.uncontactable.Dodgy *2020-04-12, version 5.6.3* I was offered a supposed discount of approx $80 to have all the back issues,which I bought.Then a day or 2 later they offered again the whole back issue for approx $12 . I’m unemployed have less money and given the close proximity of the 2 offers emailed them if they could just refund the difference.And hoped they would do that in good faith. I was completely ignored.And approx 4 weeks and counting have passed.Thanks Retro gamer for ripping me off then ignoring me,great company you run there.Others be warned. ### 1/5 — The magazine is great, the app is terrible *2019-11-29, version 5.2.3* I subscribed a few months ago and ended up buying the back catalogue of issues and enjoyed reading them until I’d discovered some of the apps quirks: no reading issues offline, no reading issues until the publishers store loads, the publishers store won’t always load, loading the publishers store often causes the app to crash. It is at a point where I can longer read the magazines, instead I watch the app load and then crash out. Don’t download this app, if you want to read Retro Gamer, get the physical subscription. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Overall very good *2022-04-29, version 6.0.16* Like others have said, this app dies the job, and the magazine content itself is great. ### 5/5 — Mags are not readable offline! *2021-08-21* The Magazine is great by no means! Unfortunately there is no offline support. Once i downloaded every single issue (200+) and went offline the app was rendered unresponsive. Even when the iPad was online again the app kept unresponsive. The only way to get the app up and running again was to delete and download it again from the app store, which means to download every issue again. This makes the app unusable for my use case :/ ### 5/5 — Nostalgia review.! *2021-05-12, version 6.0.16* As a 30 something I’m collecting my childhood consoles again, and to find this magazine that takes me back , yet also it’s great to see how the games were made and designed, found it late in life but love it.!👌 ### 5/5 — Great but could be better *2020-05-14, version 5.6.3* Love the content. Pages are very clear and easy to read. Only complaint is offline viewing & library are annoyingly slow. Would like to see significantly better performance here. ### 5/5 — My app just stopped working *2020-03-12* Todaymy app just stopped working. I’ve tried to delete and download the app again but all I can get is an “Error -442345” and a messgae that says my editions will download (but they never did). I also tried the “Restore iTunes Purchases” with no success either. I tried the “contact us” button but all I can get is a “you don’t have an email registered” I can’t access any issue, neither in the store or the library. What can I do? ### 5/5 — Fantastic *2019-12-05, version 5.6.3* Easy to use and gorgeous images, especially on my iPad Pro. ### 5/5 — Merely gets the job done, but that’s what’s needed *2018-11-03, version 5.2.3* Some might bemoan the lack of bells and whistles when it comes to reading the magazine in this app, but it does exactly what I want/need: shows me the page. Going page to page is quick and simple, and the higher-level navigation is where you expect it to be, up at the top. Content wise, Retro Gamer is great, with a mix of lighter features and deeper dives into particular games/series/machines. In each issue, you will almost always learn something new. (Not doubting problems with the app that others have reported. It’s just that I haven’t encountered those problems over my years as a subscriber.) ### 5/5 — Love it *2018-04-25, version 5.2.3* This publication just gets better and better Love the content and ideas As a digital subscriber could you add video to the elements ? Keep up the great work ### 5/5 — Best games do not necessarily have the best graphics *2018-01-02, version 5.1* Brilliant look back at an era of gaming which defined my generation. Still the best in a lot of ways. Graphics and “power” were always beaten my gameplay. ### 5/5 — Great mag, decent viewer *2017-07-11, version 5.1* Viewer works well enough. Can be a bit tough to turn pages. Magazine is fantastic, looks great on ipad even if i'd still prefer it in print. Readable on iphone but loses some of the charm of the beautiful page layouts from print edition due to being shrunk so small and having to zoom in to read the actual text. Also got 169 issues for $47, which is a phenomenal deal. --- *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 2026-09-20.*