We analyzed 132 negative reviews from the top 5 Woodworking apps on the App Store. Here's what users hate most.
Ranked by frequency — how often each complaint appears in negative reviews.
32% of negative reviews mention this issue.
"Zero stars. After signing up for an online membership, which included access to the digital edition of the magazine, it took a week of emailing back and forth with customer service to even get the online membership to work."
"While the UI looks good, I can't test any features or use the app because it erased any evidence I was a subscriber. I have been since the 1990s."
28% of negative reviews mention this issue.
"I hated the new app when it was pushed on me, I lost at least a years worth of magazines (would be forced to pay for them, not just redownloading them) that I had under the old app."
"Since the new update for app I have lost about 10 years of issues of digital content."
18% of negative reviews mention this issue.
"Did anyone at Taunton bother to test this first? I suspect the answer to that is no. After selecting 'Restore Purchases' the app states '33 products successfully restored'. The problem is, they weren't. Only one, count em, one was restored."
"Dealing with them is incredibly painful. They said they restored but when you click restore it goes off to somewhere for a minute then says restored. Then you go to download and maybe you have one to download."
15% of negative reviews mention this issue.
"Won't work without an Internet connection. I downloaded all the magazines I wanted to read on a plane flight and the app won't even open without an Internet connection."
"Completely frustrating are the best words to describe this app. I can't open a magazine I've downloaded unless I'm online."
12% of negative reviews mention this issue.
"Imagine having to look through every magazine and book a publisher has published just to find the book(s) you purchased! That's what this idiotic application forces you to do. Every. Single. Time."
"I have to flip through issue after issue of issues I don't own and don't care about in order to find the issues and/or books I own."
11% of negative reviews mention this issue.
"This revised app will lose all your purchased issues. They say contact customer service in he review above. What a joke. I've tried twice and they ignore me."
"If I could give 0 stars I would. I never write reviews but will make an exception. Software doesn't function properly. Tried to speak with customer support. Spoken down to as though I'm an idiot incapable of signing into a simple app."
Design and usability issues driving negative reviews.
Users report password prompts that don't appear, login failures with correct credentials, and error messages that provide no useful information about what's wrong.
"Had a problem with the latest issue not showing up as purchased even though my subscription is current. Tried to login again and the login screen only accepted the email address - there was no prompt for the password and the login failed."
Downloaded magazines disappear and must be re-downloaded repeatedly, sometimes requiring 100+ attempts to successfully download.
"Every time I open the app to read one of the issues I previously downloaded they have all been deleted and I have to download them again. This happens over & over again."
Tapping on an issue immediately initiates a purchase and download without confirmation, preview, or ability to cancel.
"Watch out! I just opened this app, scrolled through a couple of issues and tapped one to see if there was a preview available. It downloaded the issue without notice or option to cancel."
Interactive ad elements appear on every page turn, making the reading experience frustrating and nearly unusable.
"While I love the magazine and have been quite happy with it all year, the new ad format is driving me crazy. Every time you turn a page you get little bubbles on all the ads. It is totally distracting and almost makes the magazine unreadable."
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