# Slate.com — user reviews > 316 indexed App Store user reviews of Slate.com by The Slate Group, LLC, rated 4.50/5 from 9,066 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/slatecom/id357555242/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/slatecom/id357555242.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 6,844 · 4★ 1,298 · 3★ 289 · 2★ 202 · 1★ 433 ## What do users think of Slate.com? Overall sentiment: negative **Pros** - 👍 Clean layout, easy to navigate - 🚀 Great news source - 🚀 Excellent journalism - 👍 Informative, insightful content **Cons** - 🐛 Crashes constantly - 🐛 Buggy, glitchy performance - 🐛 Unreliable login and sign-in - 🐛 Slow loading times - 🐛 Incompatible with newer iOS versions - 🔋 High battery consumption **Commonly reported bugs** - Articles not loading properly - Blank screens and white screens - Inability to access Slate Plus content - Podcasts cutting out or not playing correctly **Most requested features** - Add search functionality - Improve podcast playback controls - Implement landscape mode for iPad - Better identify Slate Plus content ## Newest reviews (20 of 316) ### 2/5 — Great content, if you can access it. *2026-05-12, version 7.1.3* App frequently crashes when I try to open articles. ### 2/5 — Meh *2026-04-29, version 7.1.3* The headlines are all sensationalized clickbait even if you’re a paid subscriber. The crosswords don’t automatically load the current day’s puzzle, sometimes reloading yesterday’s. If I leave a crossword for a couple hours and come back to it, it’s blank. ### 2/5 — Now two starts for half-assed iPad landscape support! *2026-01-15, version 7.1.0* Upgrading to two stars, as the iPad version is no longer locked in portrait mode. Instead you get to view portrait mode just rotated and stuck in the middle with empty black bars on the side. Longtime Slate Plus member here. You’ve got to be kidding? On the iPad this app can’t rotate to landscape mode? I use my iPad Pro ~90% on the Magic Keyboard and in landscape. Hopefully this is all a big mistake. I’m going to go put a hot compress on my neck. ### 2/5 — No landscape mode on iPad *2026-01-11, version 7.1.0* What am I missing? This is the ONLY news app I have that doesn’t go to landscape mode on my iPad. In this day and age that is unacceptable! ### 2/5 — Fix the notification bug! *2025-11-14, version 6.6.3* I love Slate. But there is a bug in this app where if you get a notification for a story on your lock screen and choose it, it will open the app on a black screen. I have to do a hard reset of the app and find the story manually. The transition from the notification into the story in the app is broken. Very annoying. ### 2/5 — Accessibility & Performance Issues Abound *2025-09-23, version 6.6.2* Incompatible with Speak Screen. No support for system font size adjustments. The custom font size control is unintuitive placed relative to the toggle to activate it, its operation being finicky at best, and it probably took more work to build that than to simply use the existing system. Performance is pathetic, scrolling a simple text view with a few images and ads is jittery and stuttering. On a device with a 120hz display and plenty of power to scroll a *single news article*, it’s so ugly and distracting. I haven’t yet bothered to try voice control, but given the embarrassing state of this application I doubt anything works with it. It seems even the most basic applications are impossible for people to build these days. Let me know if you need a competent engineer. ### 4/5 — One issue with app *2025-08-16, version 6.6.0* Love Slate and its writing and podcasts. My one quibble is with the app. How come no search function? ### 3/5 — Great App, good news coverage, but … *2025-05-29* Really informative news coverage and some really good podcasts, but it only works if you’re connected to the internet. This is really frustrating if I want to catch up on my reading while on the plane. It just won’t work. Would be great if there was an option to download all articles just before boarding and then allow you to read them while in airplane mode. ### 1/5 — Discontinued subscription *2025-04-03, version 6.5.5* Done ### 1/5 — App not working *2025-03-26, version 6.5.4* Great content when you can see it; overall poor app. Click on stories but just get taken to a blank screen, despite subscription to Slate. Disappointing. ### 4/5 — Better now *2025-03-26, version 6.5.4* Hurrah! At last they changed the default feed back to ‘Recent’. It’s taken far too long. ### 3/5 — Latest update broke app *2025-03-26, version 6.5.4* App isn’t showing the text of articles. When I click on any article, I get a blank white screen. ### 1/5 — All items blank! *2025-03-26, version 6.5.4* All the news items are coming up blank. ### 1/5 — Click on article and nothing *2025-03-26, version 6.5.4* I click on the title of an article in the feed and the article comes up blank. No content. If I tap share and open it in my web browser, the article is there. Did anyone even run this app before submitting it? The app is completely non-functional! ### 1/5 — Can’t get the content I paid for *2025-01-24, version 6.5* I purchased the slate plus subscription through the app months ago and still can’t access slate plus content. Have contacted customer service multiple times and only got one response , which did not fix my issue. Since then no one will even answer. I used to like the content quite a bit, and the app itself is fine, but Slate gets a zero for customer service. I really done know what else to do so I’m leaving this review here. ### 1/5 — Upgraded to IOS 18.2.1 and app won’t load to iphone *2025-01-09, version 6.5* Oops, you did it again. Don’t you guys beta test? Why don’t you guys test the app when Apple makes it plain there is an OS upgrade coming. ### 3/5 — Search function *2024-12-24, version 6.5* I've found some old articles interesting and wanted to bookmark for re-reading in the future on the website, but there isn't such function available. So I switched to App version and without search function, it's hard to look up old articles. I find this very inconvenient and makes me doubt that I would have another subscription as it doesn't make a big difference for paying extra ### 1/5 — No Search Function = Useless App *2024-12-09, version 6.4* It’s easier to just follow Slate on Apple News + ### 1/5 — No search *2024-12-01, version 6.4* It’s 2024. Add search. ### 1/5 — My neck hurts. Why no landscape mode? *2024-11-14, version 6.4* Longtime Slate Plus member here. You’ve got to be kidding? On the iPad this app can’t rotate to landscape mode? I use my iPad Pro ~90% on the Magic Keyboard and in landscape. Hopefully this is all a big mistake. I’m going to go put a hot compress on my neck. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Crashes constantly *2026-06-11, version 7.2.0* I love slate but hate their app. It crashes constantly. It takes me 5+ tries to open articles. This has been going on for months and updates have not fixed the issue. ### 1/5 — Are we in 2011? *2026-06-05, version 7.2.0* This is the buggiest app. I pay what - $120 a year for the privilege of an app the neither allows me to browse stories much less click into them. I go to the AppStore all the time praying for an update. They are periodically there, and do not fix the fundamental problems. ### 1/5 — Slate Plus is a ripoff *2026-05-21, version 7.1.3* You pay $119 and can’t access the benefits. Customer support tries to help but is unable to do so. It is a shame because the content looks good. Don’t bother with Slate Plus. It’s so frustrating ### 1/5 — Glitchy *2025-12-02, version 6.6.3* So glitchy that it shuts my phone down. And the podcasts in the app have commercials even for slate plus members (despite what they say) ### 1/5 — App completely unstable *2025-10-29, version 6.6.3* I keep checking back for updates, hoping the problem will be fixed. The app crashes constantly. ### 1/5 — My neck hurts. Why no landscape mode? *2025-10-19, version 6.6.3* Longtime Slate Plus member here. You’ve got to be kidding? On the iPad this app can’t rotate to landscape mode? I use my iPad Pro ~90% on the Magic Keyboard and in landscape. Hopefully this is all a big mistake. I’m going to go put a hot compress on my neck. ### 1/5 — Not good *2025-10-09, version 6.6.3* Doesn’t include search functionality anymore. The games listing is (now) set up so you can’t easily find previous games. The font resize function clips the last line of every paragraph. Not compatible with automatic light/dark phone os settings. Really baffling design choices. ### 1/5 — Fix your app *2025-09-19, version 6.6.2* App crashes constantly-please fix ### 1/5 — Search? *2025-07-20, version 6.5.5* Why is there no search on an app with thousands of articles? It's useless. And I'm a plus subscriber ### 1/5 — Notifications to Nowhere *2025-04-25, version 6.5.5* Slate Notification: breaking news about XYZ! Me: clicks notification Slate App: Black Screen Me: restarts the app, checks recent stories then searches for XYZ. Finds nothing. Conclusion: Slate constantly sends me notifications for articles that either aren’t on their app or I don’t have access to. It’s too bad. The app design is so bad because they actually have good journalists. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Clean layout, easy to navigate. *2023-08-25, version 6.0.3* I love Slate magazine and this app makes it easy to read on the go! Thanks! ### 5/5 — Landscape mode for iPads, please *2023-06-07, version 6.0.2* Long time Slate reader and Slate+ subscriber. I still use my green and purple patterned mug. Please bring back landscape mode for the iPad. That’s not a corner to cut. I enjoy Slate a lot less since the new app rolled out. Please consider bringing it back, soon, in a new version. ### 5/5 — Still the best *2023-01-04, version 5.7.1* Always well written with a variety of topics and voices presented in an intelligent way ### 5/5 — Great articles *2021-12-09, version 5.6.6* It seems that the article authors write from a very balanced point of view. Makes for honest writing with a tinge of positive vulnerability. ### 5/5 — Doesn’t work since update. *2021-09-26, version 5.6.2* The login function in the app is broken. I can still login just fine on the Internet using Safari on my phone, but I can’t login to the app. Just get a blank screen or an error message when I click login. Incompetent developers. ### 5/5 — App does not let me sign in *2021-09-23, version 5.6.2* I’m a paying subscriber who loves Slate content, but the iOS app continually “forgets” my login and bars me from reading stories. Often I can’t even get to the sign in screen. When I do, I have to keep producing my password because it is not cached. This is an awful user experience that needs to be fixed. ### 5/5 — I miss the free articles *2021-07-26, version 5.6.1* Slate has only gotten better over the years except that it’s become so paywalled. Is this the price of progress? ### 5/5 — Great but buggy app *2020-11-28, version 5.4* Content great, app hella buggy unfortunately, crashes literally every time I use it ### 5/5 — Always Intrigued *2020-11-19, version 5.4* The slate app icon is like a homing beacon for my curiosity. I can click it and I might get an advise column about a 76 year old divorcee that is lusting after her pool boy, or great interview with the mother of an asylum seeker that is stuck in Mexico awaiting a hearing. There is always something to learn, something to enjoy, or something to ponder. I love it!! ### 5/5 — Excellent journalism; bad time for paywall *2020-03-26, version 5.3.24* It’s a great site with sharp writers, good politics, plenty of human interest pieces and a taste for the contrarian. It should not erect a paywall on March 26, 2020 thereby losing long-time readers and alienating or blocking people who, with time on their hands, could stumble on its good Covid-19 coverage and form the Slate habit. It’s a tough time to pony up $35 for a nice but non-essential expense. --- *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 2026-08-28.*