IEEE vs Academia.edu
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
IEEE
Access the latest technology news and innovations. Read and download IEEE magazines, manage virtual meetups, and connect with members. Discover conferences and stay informed about the world of technology.
- Personalized experience and recommendations
- Latest technology and innovation news
- Read and download IEEE magazines
- Schedule and join virtual meetups
- Locate IEEE members
- Discover conferences and meetings
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The IEEE App gives you the ability to engage and connect with all things IEEE: • Personalize your experience and recommendations • Stay up-to-date with news on the latest technology and innovations • Read and download your IEEE magazines • Schedule, manage or join meetups virtually • Locate IEEE members by location, interests, and affiliations • Discover conferences and meetings Staying connected to the latest technology and innovation resources has never been easier. The world of technology is in your hands with the IEEE app.
Academia.edu
Access a vast library of open-access research papers on your mobile device. Discover new studies, track mentions and readership of your work, and connect with fellow scholars. Explore millions of academic papers on diverse topics.
- Discover and read research
- Save research papers
- Track mentions and readership
- Search scholarly topics
- Connect with scholars
- View colleague activity
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Get the world’s largest open access library in your pocket with the Academia mobile app. Use the app to: - Discover, read and save new research - See who has mentioned you in their work. - See who is reading you papers and profiles. - Search for scholarly research on thousands of topics. - Find and connect with like-minded scholars - See what friends and colleagues are working on Academia.edu has over 23 million academic papers to explore from by millions of researchers around the world. Download the app to access your Academia.edu account whenever and wherever your curiosity strikes. __ Academia.edu Terms of Use: https://www.academia.edu/terms
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Academia.edu at 74% against IEEE's 7%. Academia.edu also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.1) and ratings volume (17K vs 123). IEEE's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Academia.edu sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. IEEE asks for nothing beyond the download.
Academia.edu holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Academia.edu has 17K ratings behind it against 123, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 7% of IEEE's written reviews are positive against 74% of Academia.edu's.
IEEE ships an update every 5 weeks, Academia.edu every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | IEEE | Academia.edu |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.1 (123 ratings) | 4.8 (17K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 6.5% of reviews | 73.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 123 | 17K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.6 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 105 MB | 52 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers Inc | Academia.edu |
Customer experience
IEEE
Academia.edu
User reviews
IEEE
From 123 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Good start with potential
- 👍 Membership card at a glance
- 👍 Useful for students learning about membership
Room to improve
- 🐛 App crashes frequently
- 🐛 Login issues persist
- 🐛 Magazine reading experience poor
- 🐛 UI not user-friendly
- 🐛 No iPad-specific version
Academia.edu
From 17K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Helpful for research and learning
- 📚 Comprehensive academic resources
- 🔍 Useful for finding relevant papers
- 🌐 Connects researchers globally
- 💡 Innovative academic platform
Room to improve
- 💰 Sudden price increase for Premium
- 🔍 Unintuitive search and navigation
- 🔒 Sign-in issues and frequent log-outs
- 📤 Unwanted notifications and emails
- 🔍 Difficult to access full papers without subscription
Bugs and requests
IEEE
Reported bugs
49 issues- Cannot download magazines
- Cannot read magazines in PDF format
- Membership card to Apple Wallet does not work
- Email address input format validation error
- App sticks on a loop when adding card to wallet
Show 44 moreShow fewer
- Sign in doesn't work
- Cannot sign in with IEEE password
- Cannot read Computer Magazine online or PDF
- Magazine zoom in is not good
- No panning when zoomed
- Downloaded PDFs don't have navigation
- 404 errors when reading content online
- Privacy settings not properly appearing
- App crashes when opening
- App crashes every time trying to open
- App crashes when opening on iPhone
- App crashes after showing splash screen
- App crashes after trying to open a notification
- Magazines get out of focus on iPad
- Extra white bar appears on iPad
- Zooming on page blocks text
- Taping screen causes zoom out
- Download button has no effect
- App freezes and crashes all the time
- Orientation locked
- Cannot access magazines
- No working links in magazines
- Cannot copy text from articles
- UI not flexible for phone, not supportive for tablets
- Only magazines show up for content
- Glitchy, slow magazine interface
- Cannot highlight or clip articles
- Unintuitive magazine interface
- No offline reading
- Crazy phone-based UX
- iPhone screen too small to read journals
- App nonfunctional on latest iOS
- IEEE Magazines not available
- Articles in Trending section disappear if not bookmarked
- No iPad version
- Forces portrait mode on iPad
- Cannot read Spectrum
- Lost ability to read offline
- Impossible to use entire screen on iPad
- Cannot make displayed magazine larger
- Multi-step process to download PDF
- iPhone screen size for iPad
- Out of focus when enlarging on iPad
- Articles don't show text
Requested features
16 requests- Add membership card to Apple Wallet
- Improve magazine zoom and panning
- Consistent online reader experience
- Allow saving reading progress
- Improve UI for better readability
Show 11 moreShow fewer
- Develop a dedicated iPad version
- Enable offline magazine reading
- Add navigation features to PDFs
- Improve sign-in process
- Fix email format validation errors
- Make privacy settings visible
- Add horizontal reading support
- Improve search functionality
- Improve back and done navigation
- Allow copying text from articles
- Enable external links in articles
Academia.edu
Reported bugs
3 issues- PDF files not loading properly
- Crashing and freezing issues
- Inconsistent behavior across platforms
Requested features
5 requests- Landscape mode support
- Improved search and filtering options
- Ability to bookmark and organize papers
- Better integration with other research tools
- More transparent pricing and subscription options
In-app purchases
IEEE
No in-app purchases
Academia.edu
- Academia Premium - Monthly$9.991 Month
- Academia Premium - Annual$98.991 Year
- Academia Premium - Annual7 Days trial$98.991 Year
