Top Problems With History Apps in 2026

We analyzed 300 negative reviews from the top 5 History apps on the App Store. Here's what users hate most.

300
Reviews Analyzed
9
Issues Found
78/100
Opportunity Score

Top User Complaints

Ranked by frequency — how often each complaint appears in negative reviews.

#1: Excessive and broken ad experience

High Severity

45% of negative reviews mention this issue.

"you get about 12 minutes of video before getting punished with 3-4 minutes of ads"
"went from 3 30 second ads per episode to 8 3 minute ad breaks"

#2: App crashes and freezes during/after commercials

High Severity

38% of negative reviews mention this issue.

"Every time, and I mean EVERY TIME it come to a commercial, the app crashes"
"the commercials freeze up you can't even watch the commercials because they freeze up"

#3: Doesn't remember playback position or watched episodes

Medium Severity

22% of negative reviews mention this issue.

"It doesn't remember correctly where you were in watching a show correctly"
"It doesn't keep track of the correct last episode watched and where in an episode it was left"

#4: Audio/video sync issues

Medium Severity

15% of negative reviews mention this issue.

"After every commercial, the audio gets more out of sync with the video"
"The audio sync was off after the first commercial"

#5: Content skips and jumps randomly

High Severity

18% of negative reviews mention this issue.

"it just skips over parts of the show. I have no idea who won the last episode I watched becuase it skipped"
"it skips within episodes over entire sections and jumps to next commercial break"

#6: No autoplay for next episode

Low Severity

12% of negative reviews mention this issue.

"when an episode of a show ends, it DOES NOT autoplay the next episode! You have to manually select the next episode"
"About 20% of the time you have the option to go to the next episode at the end of an episode. The other 80%, when a show ends, it sends you back to the menu"

UX Pain Points

Design and usability issues driving negative reviews.

Requires cable provider login with frequent re-authentication

Users must constantly re-login with cable credentials, and the authentication process is broken or fails repeatedly

"I can't login to unlock episodes. I don't get a sign page, and can't select my provider"

Poor casting/AirPlay support

App lacks proper casting functionality and fails when trying to stream to TV devices

"Most video/streaming apps sold for iOS have a cast button on the video AS WELL AS an AirPlay option. Because this app doesn't, and the casting doesn't work at all"

Inconsistent performance across devices

App works differently (or not at all) on different platforms - iPhone vs TV vs tablet

"I love the history channel, and the app works well on my phone, but on the television, not so much"

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