Here’s my review of Readly magazine app, a subscription app that allows you access to over 3,300 digital magazine titles!
Calling all magazine lovers! I have a magazine app I want to tell you about and you’re going to love it.
Before I begin I need to confess to an addiction. I’m a magazine addict. Everyone has their vices and mine is magazines.
For as long as I can remember I’ve loved the glossy pages of magazines. It began with GirlTalk when I was about six. I’d look at pictures of puppies and kittens and the odd star from a boy band before I progressed to Chatterbox and Mizz before discovering Smash Hits and J17.
I was too young for J17 but my dad promised me a magazine every time I went to the supermarket with him to do the weekly shop. I took advantage of my dad’s naivety and snuck J17 into the trolley with the cover facing down so he couldn’t read what features were inside. I’m sure he would have just laughed about ‘snoggable celebs’ and ‘fit boys’ but this was my first glimpse into the teenage years that lay ahead of me.
I got a little thrill of excitement standing by the magazine rack in Sainsbury’s while pondering which magazine to buy that week. I actually probably didn’t help my dad with the shopping at all as I’m sure I spent a good 30 minutes deciding which magazine I’d take home with me.
I’d flick straight to the problem pages followed by star signs and I’d pull the posters from the middle and plaster them across my bedroom walls. My magazine choice was often determined by the freebie inside and I had an enviable collection of tiny nail varnishes that had come free over the years.
My dad no longer buys my magazines when I ‘help’ him with the weekly shop but I’m still completely addicted and I still get the same thrill when I buy them. Magazines are a glimpse into a world that’s more fashionable, more stylish and more exciting than my own. The writers behind magazines are the BFFs you wish you had and share knowledge like an older sister.
I no longer read about snoggable celebs (OK, sometimes I do) and my range of magazines has widened…and recently it’s got even broader so that’s what I want to tell you about today.
^Women’s Health, Cosmo and HELLO! Fashion have always been favourites but House of Coco and gurgle are new ones!
I’d like to introduce you to an app called Readly which is basically the Spotify of magazines. You subscribe to the app (currently £7.99 a month) and you have access to over 3,300 magazines. Yes, over 3,300 magazines!!
Of course, you won’t want to read them all but I can guarantee there’ll be loads you want to read using the Readly app.
It gets even better because you have access to the back catalogue of magazines too so you can scroll back and read old issues you missed. There are over 70,000 issues available on the Readly app!
When you subscribe to Readly you can also use it on 5 devices which is a nice bonus. I currently have it on my phone (for casual browsing) and my iPad (for serious magazine reading) and Sam has it on his phone and George has it on his Kindle for kid’s magazines.
I’m not going to lie, £7.99 isn’t cheap for an app subscription but, if you’re anything like me, you’ll seriously get your money’s worth (plus there’s more info about a special offer below!)
When I first downloaded the app I started reading my usual favourites. Magazines like:
- Elle
- Vogue
- Family Traveller
- Women’s Health
- delicious
- Cosmopolitan
- gurgle
- Hello fashion
- Health & Fitness
- Practical Photographer
- Conde Nast Traveller
Once I’d devoured all of these I began looking at different magazines and this is where the app really shines because it gives you the opportunity to read magazines you might not normally buy.
Some of my new favourites include
- House of Coco
- Shutterbug
- Red
- Sainsbury’s magazine
- Vegan Food and Living
- The Writer
- Inc. 500
- Wallpaper
- Trail Wales
- Travel and Leisure
A great feature is the ability to search for a term. So, say you had a butternut squash that needed using, you could search butternut squash and it’ll bring up all the articles in loads of magazines so you could find a recipe.
Or, say you wanted to visit Paris, you could search Paris and find loads of magazine articles from lots of different magazines.
^Getting into the Christmas spirit with festive magazines!
I do miss being able to tear out pictures or recipes but I just screenshot pages I like and save them on my phone. You can highlight pages in the app too.
Another good thing is that you can download magazines while you’re abroad and read them without wifi – and it doesn’t use too much data if you’re using your mobile data. The magazines also don’t require a crazy amount of storage space so you can load up your phone with up to 500 magazines before a long flight. Imagine lugging 500 magazines onto a flight with you!
As you can probably tell, I love this app! If you like the sound of it you can subscribe and get your first month for 99p!
Readly app
- Log in on 5 devices
- Have access to over 3,300 magazines
- Including old issues so there’s a total of 70,000 issues
- £7.99 a month
Readly special offer
*Accurate as of November 2018*
There’s currently a special offer with Readly. You can currently subscribe for £1.99 for the first two months. This offer is valid until 31 December and will then be £7.99 there after.
This would make a great Christmas present so check out the offer here -> readly.com