Aesthetica vs ICON Mag
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Aesthetica
This app delivers a visually stunning mix of contemporary art and visual culture through a bi-monthly digital magazine. It explores global art, film, music, and performance, offering critical debate and engaging content. Subscribers can sync back issues for offline reading and access content from registered IP ranges.
- Sync back issues for offline reading
- Searchable archive
- Interactive page navigation
- Bookmark favorite pages
- Share content via social media
- Institutional IP access
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Aesthetica is a visually stunning mix of photography, debate and stimulating features. It is an essential magazine for readers looking to keep up to date with contemporary art and visual culture. Published bi-monthly, Aesthetica engages with the arts both in the UK and internationally, combining dynamic content with compelling critical debate and exploring the best in visual art, film, music and performance. During your subscription you can sync back issues to your device. These will remain in place if your subscription expires, unless your device removes them (for example when running low on disk space). Re-downloading issues requires a current subscription. • Swipe or tap the page edges to flip to next/previous page. • Use the animated thumbnail view to flick through the pages. • Pinch or double-tap pages to zoom. • Switch between single or double-page view. • Search the current issue or the archive. • Tap any page links to web sites, email addresses, phone numbers or maps. • Tap contents-page links to jump to a particular article. • Sync back issues to your device for offline reading (requires wi-fi). • Network connection required otherwise. • Bookmark favourite pages or search results to read later. • Share links to pages via social media. • If your institution has a magazine subscription, you can access it directly from within your registered IP range. We recommend first running the app within a wi-fi area so it can sync the latest issue to your device - after that you can use it anywhere. Subscribers will receive new issues automatically. Subscriptions are available within the app at the following prices: Two months £4.49 Annual £21.99 In addition, please note the following standard features of auto-renewable subscriptions: • Your payment will be charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. • Subscriptions will renew automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. • Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. • You can manage your subscriptions and turn off auto-renewal by going to your Apple Account Settings after purchase. • No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during active subscription period. You can find our privacy policy here: https://exacteditions.com/about/privacy and our terms of service here: https://exacteditions.com/about/tos
ICON Mag
Explore the world of architecture and design with this app. Access interviews with leading creatives, discover new buildings, and analyze cultural trends. Enjoy interactive features like embedded videos, zoomable images, and offline reading of back issues.
- Interactive magazine content
- Embedded videos
- Zoomable images
- Offline reading of back issues
- Active web and email links
- Animated thumbnail view
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Icon is one of the world’s leading architecture and design magazine. Every month we interview the most exciting architects and designers in the world, visit the best new buildings, analyse the most interesting new cultural movements and technologies, and review an eclectic range of exhibitions, books, products and films. Beautifully presented and accessible, rigorous and insightful, Icon shows you exactly what’s happening in architecture and design today, and what it means for the future. Now available as an interactive app delivering more content, exclusive videos, further imagery alongside its user friendly design and user ability. • Watch embedded videos inside the app. • Swipe vertically and horizontally to navigate . • Open and close picture captions. • Pan wide landscape images. • Animated thumbnail view to flick through the pages. • Zoomable images. • Jump directly to articles featured on the front cover. • Active links to web sites and email addresses. • Active contents page links direct to articles. • Sync back issues to your device for offline reading (requires wi-fi). For the best viewing experience and full functionality download the iPad version. ---------------------------------------------- This is a free app download. Within the app users can purchase the current issue and back issues. Subscriptions are also available within the application. A subscription will start from the latest regular issue at the time of purchase. -The subscription will renew automatically unless cancelled more than 24 hours before the end of the current period. You will be charged for renewal within 24 hours of the end of the current period, for the same duration and at the current subscription rate for the product. -You may turn off the auto-renewal of subscriptions through your Account Settings, however you are not able to cancel the current subscription during its active period. -Payment will be charged to your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase and any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when a subscription to that publication is purchased. -If a subscription offers a free trial, at the end of the trial period, you will be charged the full price of the subscription. You may cancel a subscription during its free trial period via the subscription settings on your iTunes account. This must be done 24 hours before the end of the subscription period to avoid being charged. Users can register for/ login to a pocketmags account in-app. This will protect their issues in the case of a lost device and allow browsing of purchases on multiple platforms. Existing pocketmags users can retrieve their purchases by logging into their account. We recommend loading the app for the first time in a wi-fi area so that all issue data is retrieved. If your app will not load past the splash page after a first install or an update, please delete and reinstall the app from the App Store Help and frequently asked questions can be accessed in-app and on pocketmags. If you have any problems at all please do not hesitate to contact us: help@pocketmags.com -------------------- You can find our privacy policy here: http://www.pocketmags.com/privacy.aspx You can find our terms and conditions here: http://www.pocketmags.com/terms.aspx
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: ICON Mag at free with in-app purchases against Aesthetica's subscription. ICON Mag also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7) and iOS requirement (11.2 vs 16.6). Aesthetica's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 6 months vs every 49 months). On price, in-app purchases 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. Aesthetica sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.49 per 2 months and ICON Mag sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $3.49 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
ICON Mag holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 1 respectively.
Aesthetica ships an update every 6 months, ICON Mag every 49 months. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.
| Parameter | Aesthetica | ICON Mag |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (3 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 3 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months — better | Every 49 months |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Subscription | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.6 | 11.2 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 25 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Aesthetica Magazine Ltd | Media 10 |
Customer experience
Aesthetica
ICON Mag
In-app purchases
Aesthetica
- Aesthetica$5.492 Months
- Aesthetica$25.491 Year
ICON Mag
- One Year Subscription1 Month trial$3.491 Year
- Oct 2016 (id:423412)$1.99
- Dec 2016 (id:423414)$1.99
- May 2017 (id:434800)$1.99
Show 6 moreShow fewer
- August 2017 (id:434806)$1.99
- Jun-18 (id:452124)$1.99
- Icon Feb-19 (id:452108)$1.99
- Oct-18 (id:452116)$1.99
- Apr 2019 (id:459135)$1.99
- Jul 2019 (id:459129)$1.99
Questions
Is Aesthetica free?
Is ICON Mag free?
Which has better reviews, Aesthetica or ICON Mag?
Do Aesthetica or ICON Mag have ads?
Which is updated more often, Aesthetica or ICON Mag?
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