# The Spinoff — user reviews > 41 indexed App Store user reviews of The Spinoff by Hex Work Ltd. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/the-spinoff/id1194728952/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/the-spinoff/id1194728952.md ## Newest reviews (13 of 41) ### 2/5 — Links no longer open in app *2023-10-31, version 12.0.3* Links from outside the app, eg on social media or in the Spinoff’s own substack newsletters - no longer take you to the article linked to. They just open the app’s front page. Can this be fixed? ### 2/5 — No dark mode *2023-05-18, version 12.0.2* Great content. Needs dark mode option for night time viewing ### 3/5 — Lost links *2023-02-13, version 12.0.2* Opening the app from email or Substack takes you to the homepage. I deleted the spin-off app and then Substack worked fine showing the article I wanted in a browser window. I’ll keep using Substack for now thanks ### 3/5 — Disappointing refresh *2022-01-09, version 11.0.2* A disappointing "new look" refresh; ignoring subjective things like "it seems to use every font in the word all on the same page", objectively things like "back" swipe don't work anymore with the now-must-use-button for this present in a very non-standard place, and tapping on notifications now yields the "spinoff" banner forever, with the app never starting. Slower to load at clean startup, too. All-in feels like cheap portware with several bugs that nobody cares about. ### 3/5 — Prefer the web version *2021-12-17, version 11.0.2* No dark mode or font customisation, much better to use Reader mode in the browser ### 2/5 — Update definitely feels like a downgrade *2021-11-26, version 11.0.0* Much harder to use now and doesn’t look as good ### 2/5 — Updated app - still no real iPad support *2021-11-22, version 11.0.0* The new app feels just like a react native wrapper, and still no landscape support for iPad! ### 2/5 — Not working *2021-11-21, version 10.6.14* What happened to this app? It says there is a new app and I need to update I click on it takes me to this page here that shows already updated. Last update 5mo ago. ### 2/5 — Great app but kills battery *2020-09-20, version 10.6.11* This app is great because the reporting is mostly excellent, but it uses battery faster than any other app on my phone- why? 4 stars for content. Minus 2 for draining my battery. ### 3/5 — Landscape mode needed *2020-08-25, version 10.6.10* Can you enable viewing in landscape mode please, it’s annoying that it’s only in portrait mode. ### 3/5 — Letting ya know *2020-07-21, version 10.6.9* Your app’s broken atm which is hoohaa when it redirects you from FB to it. Just letting ya know ### 3/5 — Not a fully accessible app *2019-02-03, version 10.2.12* This app is not fully accessible to blind and vision impaired users. Many people these use voice on phones, tablets and computers. We are entitled to read news too, but when apps have links or buttons that have not been labelled correctly a simple task of sharping an article or simply moving around the app becomes impossible. Please note apple.com has very good references about accessibility. ### 3/5 — No sound! *2018-06-09, version 10.2.8* LOVE the content. Videos don’t seem to have sound when I watch them through the app though. I have to open the article in a web browser in order to hear the video ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Battery drainer!!! *2020-04-04, version 10.6.5* This app will drain the battery life rapidly, my guess is because of their background updates. I noticed it and delete it immediately!!! Stay away from it if u want a better battery life. ### 1/5 — Accessibility Bugs in an Accessible Magazine *2020-03-02, version 10.6.4* A Two-year reader of The Spinoff, I was pleased to discover an iOS app for it when I got my iPhone. My feeling changed somewhat when I opened the app, expecting a fair and inclusive experience much like that of reading the magazine, only to find it had rather shut out it's blind users / readers. As such a person - interfacing with my device via the native screen reader, VoiceOver - I was surprised that an app which consisted largely of rich text would or could have this problem. I was doubly surprised that it was The off of all apps which had this quality. Apple provides high quality accessibility guidelines and testing facilities to make sure users of any ability or disability can use apps through the accessibility utilities which are built in to every device. The primary issues with the app are: * A complete inability to close articles. * No labels on controls, the problem above being a symptom of this one. * A complete inability to access the app drawer. * A complete inability to click embedded links in articles. * Random focus jumps and cuts in speech. * A sluggishness which makes the phone hot and difficult to use when tapping on the unlabeled controls. It is my hope that the developers of this app read this not as a feature request, but as the bug report it is. Inclusion is vitally important, and in the past The Spinoff has always faithfully reflected this in its journalism and valuable reports. I would love to be able to tap those notifications I get and read the magazine like anyone who can see, and to be able to refer other blind readers toward this app, instead of away. Please make that possible. I am willing and available to give information and feedback. Thank you for your time and effort. ### 1/5 — Designed entirely for the severely vision impaired. *2019-05-30, version 10.3.4* Only those with utterly buggered vision would enjoy this app on an iPad. Font sizes are ridiculously large at an effective 16 point, and overly big line and paragraph spacing makes reading an article very much like using a high powered magnifying glass on newspapers. Let’s see how to fix. Simply correct the css used. And tick the box in the apple development software that automatically sets layout based upon the specific device used, and the user preferences for system font sizes. Also tick the development environment box allowing landscape, and side by side/overlap orientations. Doing this will improve the app quality and appeal by a huge margin. Now I will go back to looking at the Spinoff websitewhere reading articles is actually possible. ### 1/5 — Biased reporting *2019-01-26, version 10.2.12* Pushed the wrong button🙄I give you 0 stars. James Mustapic is an employee of yours and a friend! Your report of his Seven Sharp drama is biased and nasty. My diamanté’s on my cafetan are rattling! Was your ridiculous report , purposely designed for publicity? Quite the little tag team playing out here, you two. Dishonest and childish. Find another way to promote your silly selves perhaps? 0 stars for dishonestly supporting an employee and friend👍shame ### 1/5 — Terrible iPad support *2018-12-08, version 10.2.12* Please put more effort into properly supporting all sizes of the iPad in both orientations. Even on the iPhone everything is way too big - you can barely even see the titles of two articles on the screen at once because of far too much whitespace and giant pictures everywhere. But on the iPad Pro 12.9”, it’s just ridiculous. Forced portrait orientation even though a lot of people use this device in landscape orientation with an attached keyboard; the coloured bars blocking half of the screen; 150pt text with about 4 words on each line; and the pictures don’t have a high enough resolution to justify making them the entire width of the screen. The app also hasn’t been updated to properly support the size of the device’s screen. I’ve used a lot of iOS apps, and this is probably the one with the most actively hostile user interface I have ever seen. Look at other news apps. “Above the fold” on the main screen of The Guardian’s app (in landscape mode, I might add) I can see as many as twelve article titles on the screen at the same time. Why do you offer an app if it’s a deliberately worse experience than just going to your website? ### 1/5 — Good content, bad app *2018-10-10, version 10.2.12* I love the Spinoff, and really want it to succeed, but the app makes it hard to read their excellent content. The main problem is that there seems to be no way of increasing the size of the tiny print in long stories. A work-around would normally be to tilt the screen horizontally and increase the size that way, but the app doesn’t seem to allow for this. None of this would matter much if iOS didn’t constantly nudge us to read Spinoff content on the app. I would be happy to comply if the reading experience was better. ### 1/5 — Great content, awful app *2018-09-30, version 10.2.12* Love the spin-off but hate the app! Portrait only and crazy big font that can’t be changed. Very clunky and in user friendly. Hope you get it sorted ### 1/5 — Not mobile responsive *2018-04-18, version 10.1.8* I have just downloaded the app and can't even read articles as it's not mobile responsive... Could be a bug? ### 1/5 — How did this happen?!! *2018-02-06, version 10.1.8* I thought I would be a good person and support Spinoff by purchasing their app. They do good work. But, seriously! And it is $5.99. This a very poor app that just puts me off reading Spinoff rather than enhancing the experience. I recommend you take it down off the AppStore. There is so much wrong with it. Sad. ### 1/5 — Love the Spinoff, don't love the app!! *2017-02-21, version 1.1* Love your articles and love how they appear in my FB newsfeed with excellent regularity however your app doesn't refresh to show the latest articles. The Panic at the Disco article has been stuck at the top for over a week!! ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Great update *2021-12-01, version 11.0.0* Very nice app, easy to navigate. Well done to those who developed it. ### 5/5 — Very much improved *2021-10-07, version 10.6.14* This latest version supports my retina iPhone perfectly. Text and pictures are sharp and it’s very snappy. ### 5/5 — Love Spinoff, love the app *2020-08-30, version 10.6.11* I bought this app when it first became available, yes, there’s been some issues over the years. However, I’ve loved the app all the way through. It sits on Home Page on my phone like a gateway to a load of reporting, opinion, updates, breakdowns and information. Excellent articles and excellent journalism. I now also support the Spinoff with a regular donation. Thanks!! ### 5/5 — Just high quality 👍 *2020-02-08* Really well written content that is such a breath of free air compared to the big sites. Great stuff. ### 5/5 — Crashing App *2018-02-25, version 10.1.8* I love The Spinoff. The app keeps crashing when I attempt to open articles with bigger images like Toby Morris’ The Side Eye though. ### 4/5 — Good app I want widgets *2024-07-04, version 13.3* Good app, headline notifications are good, would be nice to have a headline widget that would act like a front page of newspaper. I miss the Apple made news widget. ### 4/5 — Where did edge swipe to-go-back go? *2023-12-02, version 13.1* Not a question as important as “Why are drive-thru menus so hard to read?” But important none the less. My right thumbs left edge seeking muscle memory has been thrown into confusion as I now have to hunt low for a back button. ### 4/5 — New app much better *2021-12-01, version 11.0.0* New app is much faster and easier to use than the old one. Only thing missing is the swipe to go back and landscape on iPad. ### 4/5 — Feedback *2021-11-22, version 11.0.0* Great functional good looking app! Adding swipe from edge of screen to go back functionality would make this amazing instead of just a back button. ### 4/5 — iPhone X Support Please! *2018-05-08, version 10.1.8* Can you guys update to ensure the app works on IPhone X please! Everything is huge and unreadable :( --- *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 2026-08-11.*