PressReader Reviews 230

Started using the app again after a 10-year hiatus. Forgot how useful it is. I can read magazines and newspapers from across my state, the U.S. and the globe, for free, through my library’s subscription to Press Reader. The UI works great on an iPad and well enough on a phone. Bonus: download publications for reading on an airplane or wherever internet access will be unavailable.

Incredible programme and free if linked to a library account! Astonishing list of publications immediately accessible at no cost. What’s not to like? Nothing!

I like using the app free of charge at my local library, however, there are a bunch of newspapers missing, like NY Times that I would be interested in reading. Other than that, I find the app great to use and recommend it to anyone who's interested in such a great collection of newspapers and magazines.

PressReader is a fabulous app for reading newspapers, magazines, all types of media. The selection is truly amazing and the clarity of the copy, photos, illustrations, etc - stunning. I highly recommend PressReader. There are ways to get it at no cost through QR codes in some airline lounges, or through your public library website . . . Totally worth the effort.

I rarely write reviews but I signed up to Trustpilot specifically to write this one. PressReader's shady practices on their website are obviously designed to make cancelling your subscription as difficult as possible. Yes, they have a help page describing how to cancel, but when it comes to people's card details and their money, it should already be intuitive how to cancel.
And what's even worse is that there is no way to delete your card details from their website. That alone should have alarm bells ringing if you were thinking about signing up to PressReader. I'll say it again, YOU CANNOT REMOVE YOUR PAYMENT DETAILS FROM THIER WEBSITE.
The only way to delete your payment details is to delete your account completely. Which I was happy to do. However, I'm sure that when a business is happy to have shady practices like PressReader are, I wouldn't be surprised if they are actually storing your details and your card details even after you think you've deleted them.

Dishonest company....
My library no longer carry hard copies of publications of some magazines but subscribe to pressreader which allows free access to some publications. I signed up via mylibrary app and then have been charged on a monthly basis. Pressreader can see I have never logged in. Payments were stopped by the bank but claim they can only refund 3 months. Luckily I noticed after 2 months and notified my bank who will hopefully help me sort out the remaining refund...

I had created an account a long time ago back when BA was using it in their lounges. Yesterday I logged onto it as it was showing on my new iPAD and downloaded a few publications. I’m flying with BA tomorrow so just assumed they were free, especially as there was no indication of how these were not free or much they might cost anywhere. However, this morning I just realised PressReader has charged as much (sometimes more) they would cost in print. And certainly more than a monthly subscription which would have allowed me to download anything I wanted at no cost. There is no contact to speak to them or any way to return them or cancel the charges either. Even when there is a pre-authorisation surely the price for an individual publication must be on show before they are able to charge anything?

UPDATE
PressReader has since reached out and refunded the charges. They also took my card of the system (which it seems we can’t do ourselves in the app) to avoid any future charges. I am pleased with their quick response and the quality of what they provide is pretty good so I’ve updated my score to 3 stars, but it’s still unclear whether the cost will be shown before people make purchases, which is likely to catch quite a few people unaware.

A payment to PressReader was taken on my credit card. No notice or indication of what it was for. I logged into the PressReader site and it showed no subscriptions.
I finally find out that it was for a specific newspaper and not for PressReader - this is not indicated on either the PressReader site, the news source site, nor on the payment.
As a customer, this information should be readily available and I shouldn't have to chase this down.
I did get this resolved, though not to my satisfaction. PressReader stated that they have cancelled the subscription but they will not refund the payment.

Signed up for a 7-day trial, since I positively saw some Danish papers (Jyllands-Posten and Politiken) in the catalogue. When I had signed up with my Danish credit card, and tried to find the Danish papers, they where not there, since these papers where geo blocked, as Perplexity could tell me.
Then I wanted to cancel my trial subscription, but under account there was no cancel option, and the help page for cancel had *no* information about how to cancel. Other users has obviously also encountered this problem, since 229 of 269 users had indicated that the help page was not useful.
So I ended up deleting my account, since that appeared to be the only option, and now I hope that I will not get billed.

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Below is response to reply from PressReader

Dear PressReader,

Thank you for your response and your willingness to review the matter.

To ensure transparency and allow Trustpilot users to benefit from your input, I suggest that we continue the discussion publicly on the platform. This will also help ensure that my original comments are not misunderstood or perceived as inaccurate.

Specifically, I would appreciate it if you could:

1) Confirm or clarify whether the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten is geo-blocked for users located in Denmark.

2) Provide a direct link to a help page or official documentation outlining the procedure for cancelling a trial account.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

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Below is response to answer from PressReader

Dear PressReader,

Thanks for confirming 1) about geo blocking of Jyllands-Posten.

With respect to the link to the support page, then unfortunately I get an "Error 1034" on my 3 browsers (Vivaldi, Edge and Chrome) on my main PC, the Edge browser on an alternative PC, and the Safari browser on an iPad at mobile network, so I am pretty certain there is a problem with the link. Anyway, maybe it had been easier if there had simply been a "Cancel" button besides the larger "Change/Upgrade" button on the "Subscription" page.

My Bank statement this week noted a debit for PressReader for July.

Stopped using their service earlier this year but noted on their homepage they kept unilaterally changing “expiration” date to month in advance.

In interim for unrelated reasons took delivery of new debit card, expiry date different, card number different, security code different.

Company suggested, after a series of weekend email exchanges, that I had subscription with Apple. I don’t.

Sent them email confirming cancelled with Apple in 2024 AND in any event an Apple debit would NEVER have a a bank narrative stating Press Reader. Apple state “expiry” in strong red ink.

Love the service PressReader offer, though way overpriced on both its packages for single customers seeking access to American media from Europe.

Irish libraries which offered access to PressReader in past no longer do so, possibly for the same pricing reason felt by myself.

The PressReader attempt to substantively deal with issue this weekend I rate one star - no continuum of customer interaction, while three different people responded to three emails.

Have exhausted attempt to resolve it logically.

In the interim have signed up to Readly, very good at half the price but without some American media.

Whatever about Trump politics the era has made it essential to get a regular broad scope of viewpoints from their key media.

UPDATE 22/7/2025 - PressReader has resolved this item to full satisfaction, for which many thanks.

I had not used Pressreader for several years. My library has discontinued print publications so I turned to it. The authentication experience is one of the worst I have encountered -- needlessly conplex and maddeningly inconsiderate. First I authenticated myself through my subscribing library. Then I could not download an article without launching Pressreader, which I did, entering not only my library card and PIN AGAIN but still unable to access the publication. It started to take me in an endless loop, which happens too often with poorly managed user interfaces. The range of publications is good if they can be accessed, which is why I gave it a second star. No other library subscribed database has this problem.

Trying to use this through a library subscription is extremely difficult. Once I eventually sign in the search engine is hopelessly unsophisticated. I key in 'UK newspapers' and am presented with a list of magazine titles. It takes no notice of any search term, just presents a list of miscellaneous items. The only positive so far is that the people on the end of the help desk reply quickly, but so far most replies seem to be fobbing me off. Do people who pay actually get this interface to work properly?

Press Reader charged twice for the same women magazine I bought. They do not provide transparent information for customers on how to unsubscribe after 7 days. There is no possibility to download the magazines you bought, although they charge the same price as the shops that have physical distribution. If you buy the magazines from a shop, you can keep them endlessly. If you want to keep it online with Press reader, you have to pay them over 20 pounds each month. Press Reader must think of its customers that they are very stupid to cheat them so much!

I subscribed to PressReader, only to find out after signing up that not all the magazines they advertise are included in a subscription! PressReader does not mention this anywhere, you just have to find out. And their customer service for such a complaint is to refer you to Apple for a refund. PressReader claims that there is fine print stating that The Economist is not included with a subscription, but this was not the case on my iPhone where I took the subscription.

Update: Apple provided an immediate refund

For complicated reasons, I wanted a refund for a second subscription I had made in error. I searched on the internet for a way to contact them and found the above site. The response was almost immediate and has now been dealt with very efficiently by Lloyd Jensen Breganza. We have subscribed to Pressreader for many years and will continue to do so as we enjoy reading our daily newspaper wherever we are in the world.

Paying for a premium service, yet have spent the entire afternoon sending screenshots to Pressreader's team to be given instructions that simply don't work and we are nowhere closer to a solution. Happy to take your money but not fix issues. This is the second time that this has happened! So I'm paying for a service that effectively I can't access, how wonderful! Sort your service out PressReader it is shocking, you should be issuing me a full refund. Sick of wasting my precious time dealing with this when I am meant to be working.

Pity I can’t give this app less than one star…..

I cut and paste the below as it’s the same for every user…support are inept at identifying a pattern here.

“When it works it's fine. However, not for the first time, we're experiencing the frustration that other reviewers of this app have been reporting for years. It is again refusing to accept our correct password and PIN when the time comes to renew membership as local-library readers. We have contacted the library staff about the problem. They report that many other members have the same complaint just now, and that they have tried to contact PressReader about it.”

When it works it's fine. However, not for the first time, we're experiencing the frustration that other reviewers of this app have been reporting for years. It is again refusing to accept our correct password and PIN when the time comes to renew membership as local-library readers. We have contacted the library staff about the problem. They report that many other members have the same complaint just now, and that they have tried to contact PressReader about it.

The program continues to crash quite often, but that's a minor problem when we can't open it.

No doubt there'll be a reply to this with some jargon about "reaching out".

Free papers, many of them major publications, with library membership. However, many frustrations after 30 day period over and the tricky task of getting the app to work again. Grrrrrr! I persist but get mighty vexed by all the glitches here.

Wonderful way to read newspapers and magazines. Works really well on different devices.