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Scientific American subscription: cost, reviews, how to cancel

Springer Nature America, Inc., News

Free on the App Store

Scientific American by Springer Nature America, Inc. 3 subscription plans from $5.99 per month. 8% of 12 recent reviews mention billing.

  • App Store rating4.8★ from 10,109 ratings
  • Cheapest subscription$5.99 per month
  • Reviews mentioning billing, last 12 months1 of 12 reviews

On this page: what it costs, how to cancel, what reviewers say.

What the data says

  • Not updated in 12+ monthsLast update 606 days ago
All signals behind this verdict
Reviews in the last 12 months12
Reviews mentioning billing1 (8.3%)
One- or two-star share, last 90 days100% of 2
App Store rating4.8 (10,109 ratings)
Developer's apps1, 0 removed from the store
Age5,166 days
Days since last update606
Subscription plans3
Subscription price changes, last 12 months10
Overall review sentimentmixed

Thresholds and definitions: how we rate apps.

What Scientific American costs

Download: Free. Subscriptions start at $5.99 per month.

  • 1 Month SubscriptionRenews every month, no trial$5.99
  • Scientific American - 1 year SubscriptionRenews every year, no trial$34.99
  • 1 Year SubscriptionRenews every year, no trial$49.99

How to cancel Scientific American

  1. Open Settings on your iPhone and tap your name at the top.
  2. Tap Subscriptions.
  3. Select Scientific American (listed under a plan name such as 1 Month Subscription).
  4. Tap Cancel Subscription and confirm. You keep access until the end of the paid period.

If the app is not in that list, it was not billed through Apple. Cancel it with the developer instead: support page.

Charged after cancelling or during a trial? Request a refund at reportaproblem.apple.com within 90 days.

What reviewers say

Rating breakdown

  • 5★86% (8,710)
  • 4★9% (933)
  • 3★1% (197)
  • 2★0% (86)
  • 1★1% (183)

Recent updates

  • 6.4Jan 9, 2025
  • 6.3Feb 21, 2024
  • 6.2Nov 14, 2023
  • 6.1Aug 4, 2023
  • 6.0Apr 17, 2023

Praised

  • Great reading experience
  • Intuitive navigation
  • Fast and responsive
  • Broad range of topics
  • Reliable content
  • Excellent graphics and visuals

Complained about

  • Subscription issues and login problems
  • Inconsistent performance and crashes
  • Buggy downloads and lost content
  • Lack of offline reading options
  • Outdated and poor app design
  • Incompatibility with newer iOS versions

Reported bugs

Frequent login issues and lost subscriptions; Unreliable downloads and disappearing content; Crashes and performance problems, especially on newer iOS; Outdated app design and lack of modern features.

Recent one-star reviews

Inconvenient to use and full of bugsMuch easier and more convenient to download the issues as pdf file from the webpage than using the App. Sometimes the App wants to charge me for issues for which I have a subscription. Sometimes downloaded issues are no longer accessible though the App still uses GB‘s of storage.

Reviewer42, Oct 23, 2020

Bugs1) There is no arrow back. Need to close and reopen app. 2) Articles don’t show when and where they will published.

MEBSCGV, Apr 16, 2022

AbysmalThis used to be a 5* app due to a really great reading experience. Now I really would like to go to a 0* rating. What on earth did you think when deciding to get rid of the beautiful HiRes pictures properly embedded into the texts, additional features and well designed design of the articles? Please…

Jmarktanner, Apr 10, 2016

Recent five-star reviews

Well written articles.Very professionally written and entertaining science news

Kahlkster, May 30, 2026

The SA then and nowScientific Magazine has changed quite a bit over the years. It was always a popular science magazine, but some 30 years ago articles were, I think, largely written by the scientists themselves and more cromprehensive but still understandable by the general public. These days articles are largely wr…

NFaber, Aug 26, 2019

Best alternative to doomscrollingVery good informative articles, even a lot for free! They are not too long and also easy to understand with good second language English. Very nice to read on the way or on short brakes instead of wasting time on Instagram.

appguide, Jan 17, 2025

About the developer

Springer Nature America, Inc. has published on the App Store since Jul 17, 2012: 1 app(s), 0 of them no longer in the store.

Alternatives to Scientific American

Also similar: BBC Science Focus Magazine (4.7★), New Scientist (4.8★), BBC Wildlife Magazine (4.8★), The New Yorker (3.9★), DISCOVER Magazine (1.5★), Science News Magazine (4.2★)

Questions people ask

How much does Scientific American cost?

Download: Free. Subscriptions start at $5.99 per month.

How do I cancel Scientific American?

On your iPhone open Settings, tap your name, tap Subscriptions, select Scientific American and tap Cancel Subscription. You keep access until the end of the paid period.

Does Scientific American have a free trial?

No plan lists a free trial in the US App Store.

How much does a subscription cost?

A subscription to Scientific American is available through iTunes for $49.99 annually. This subscription automatically renews at the end of the term unless canceled. Individual issues can also be purchased for $9.99 each.

Scientific American in one paragraph

Scientific American by Springer Nature America, Inc. is a News app for iPhone. Download: Free. Subscriptions start at $5.99 per month across 3 plan(s). App Store rating 4.8 from 10,109 ratings. 1 of 12 reviews in the last 12 months mention charges, subscriptions, refunds or cancelling (8%). The developer has 1 app(s) on the App Store, 0 no longer listed. Cancel through Settings › Subscriptions on the iPhone. Data verified Sep 8, 2026 by AppsLupa.

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