One of my guilty pleasures is reading magazines on the plane when I travel but I don’t love how they add to the weight and bulk of my carry on. Up until now I’ve been saving my copies of the latest issues to enjoy in the air. I always have to leave some at home since I just can’t take all of them but thanks to Next Issue, I can have all my favorites with me when I’m on the go.
Next Issue is a subscription app available for iOS and Android devices that provides access to more than 90 titles from top publishers. For one monthly fee you get access to all of your favorite magazines, including current and back issues, from publishers like Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith, TIME Inc., Wenner, and more (a full list of titles is available here).
I downloaded the app, opened it on my iPad, and very quickly selected the magazines I love to create a custom library with just a tap.
Issues of my favorite magazines automatically appear in my custom library. Tapping on the cover opens the current issue or view any back issues. I was impressed that it took mere seconds to download any magazine and even more impressed with how vivid the images were on each page. Since some of my favorite magazines are food and cooking magazines, I always want the pictures to be as tantalizing as they are on the glossy pages that I’m used to holding in my hands.
One problem with other digital versions of content is the ability to thumb through like you would on a paper copy. Next Issue has solved this thanks to a scroll bar on the bottom of the screen. Tapping on the bottom of the screen makes the scroll bar appear. Sliding it allows you to thumb through it, as you would a paper copy, to get a preview of the content. Helpful headlines appear just above it so you can easily navigate the content and find what you’re looking for quickly. Of course, you can always swipe to flip the pages at any time.
Next Issue asks if you would like it to automatically download the next issue of any title upon opening the app and email alerts tell you that the next issue has downloaded automatically.
For the convenience of having all my favorite magazines and back issues as digital copies is wonderful and I honestly thought that I would have to pay more for the wide variety that is available through Next Issue. Compared to what I spend on annual subscription fees and the occasional airport newsstand purchase, Next Issue is quite affordable. After a 30 day free trial, users can select between two subscription options:
- Unlimited Basic: $9.99/month (access to all 84 monthly titles including current and back issues, e.g., Cooking Light, Esquire, Real Simple, Vanity Fair, Wired, etc.)
- Premium: $14.99/month (unlimited access to all monthly and weekly titles including current and back issues, e.g., The New Yorker, People, Time, etc.)
Besides the nice price that provides a substantial savings, Next Issue really is a dream to use and is something that I will continue to pay for monthly in order to have all of my favorite magazines, and their back issues, in one place.
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
As a magazine veteran, I hadn’t found a good reader that I liked for magazines yet. This one sounds like a great option. I’m going to check it out!