SmartBook

So this app is more or less required for college. The User interface is awful. As a textbook publisher, you might think that this would focus on reading, but it only displays the actual book on about 25% of the screen. It takes forever to load, and frequently has a popup about its review function that blocks the reading. We have to READ the book, everything else is just extra, so please make the app focus on allowing you to read, not highlight/review or whatever other secondary functions.

Awful! So many problems with this app. Unfortunately, it was a have to have in order to access my textbook. It crashes and struggles loading which is a real problem when you are trying to go from one chapter to another during a quiz. Personal note, I did not like the setup at all. I am more of an independent learner and this app wants you to interact with it to increase your learning. This was highly annoying

Its true, this is a truly 1-star app. Permanently in landscape mode. Every time you open it you have to log back in to Connect - with the keyboard in landscape mode. All of the books text is greyed out, unless you also turn off the highlighting. Greyed out text?? The app is a TEXTBOOK at least get the text right. Just remove all of the other BS. Can't select text to copy/paste/highlight/translate and make your own notes.

I love the computer version, I think it's great. Tried to install the app to use it on my phone for convenience... nearly impossible to read, and SLOW. My phones browser works way faster. Tried it on there, and the home screen is a little crammed, but even thats acceptable. What is unacceptable is that once you try to do your assignments through the browser, it REQUIRES you to install this horrible app. Absolute garbage. You'd think the creators of such a genius eBook would do better on the app.

This app is horrible and if I had a choice I wouldn't use it. It takes forever when it's "initializing" and starting up in general. When I'm answering questions it'll skip through about 10-15 questions in just a few seconds. It's literally constantly crashing while I'm trying to study or finish my work. This app requires a remarkable deal of patience. I can't stand that I'm required by my college to use this horrendous app. I would love it if it worked because it's a good idea. BUT IT DOESN'T WORK!!!!!!!!

Application has some glitches. It logs me out while in the middle of reading or practice questions, I can't scroll to the bottom of the textbook and it won't follow my touch commands to zoom in or out and when it does it has a delay. It's quite upsetting to have paid for the service that allows it to be portable but unable to utilize. This needs to be fix because it is a waste of time and money.

This app is a companion to an online course I am taking. It crashes frequently and the "learn smart" portion of the text is very buggy. It frequently skips questions and does not allow answers to be changed before submitting. These activities are graded and are impossible to complete using the app on a tablet or smartphone due to these bugs. It would be convenient if the app worked, but McGraw Hill needs to make sure the apps actually work before allowing them to be used live.

Broken on my phone. When it opens i can't get past the "alias" dialog because the app insists on viewing only in landscape mode, which causes the buttons i need to press to go off the bottom of the screen. There's no other way to start using the app than to hit those buttons, as the back button on my phone just exits the app. Easily fixable by allowing portrait mode, or adding an x button to close the dialog.

Very user UNfriendly. Even when phone is on vibrate, screen off, app isn't active... if you leave the text open for a few minutes, some woman AT FULL VOLUME berates you for "taking too long" (I was in the middle of an exam!) The app is so clunky and bloated that its impossible to function as a textbook. The best thing this app is for is being a battery vampire. And then it can't even remember my log in information even when I check the box.

Incredibly difficult to use on a phone. Dragging and dropping to match is a nightmare. Aspect ratios between landscape and portrait are completely different and make text difficult to read. The assistant interrupts to tell you how to learn, and cannot be turned off. This app clearly needed far more play testing than it got.

I use this app for school and the homework built into it. unfortunately the app crashes continuously on my chromebook and won't even begin to let me start reading or answering questions. I don't seem to have any issues with the Apple version on my phone or iPad though. Please fix this app as it is a great resource and required for many of my classes to use. It would be nice to view on a 14" screen vs a 5" screen.

When it works, it is a wonderful app. It makes studying on the go easy. Unfortunately, it crashes constantly. You may get 5 minutes of solid practice and then it starts skipping questions and freezing before you get kicked off. Super frustrating. You might as well carry the textbook.

Don't waste your time downloading this app. It barely functions. If you want to do on-the-go homework or reading, you are way better off hauling your computer or textbook around. The app barely loads the textbook, and after all of the waiting around that is done while waiting for it to load, it crashes. All of these reviews say it all, this app isn't worth your time.

Quite possibly the least smart book app I've ever used: 1) Constantly complains about my screen size - which isn't something I can control. I have multiple ebook apps with which it is a non-issue. 2) Often glitches out and won't let me scroll. 3) Every time I leave the app and come back it glitches out and won't display anything. Requires me to clear app data before it can recover. Every time. 4) Requires to be loaded through the connect app which is a whole extra pain to have to go through.

Did anyone on the dev team look at even a single e-reader or e-reader app while making this? It's terrible. The menus take up 2/3 of the screen and you can't minimize them. You can't just scroll from one section to the next. The highlighting system is weird and clunky. And I need 2 different apps just to read my textbook. Yikes.

Being forced to use this application to access the text material on a smartphone makes me want to tear my hair out, especially since the app does not work in a satisfactory manner. Loading is extremely slow, whether I'm on wifi or data. The practice sessions glitch out after a few questions and just start randomly cycling through the questions without any user input. Worst of all, I keep getting "The app has crashed" error messages, as well as an error message that I disabled regarding my screen size and how it would stop the app from functioning correctly. If your app doesn't work on multiple screen sizes or newer screen sizes, it simply doesn't work. For the devs, my input is as above; for the company, don't force me to use an app and block the full site on mobile, and that goes double if your app doesn't work.

Oh my goodness. I rarely rate apps, but this app is so awful. I hate using it and it constantly bugs out. I was just trying to use it and it began skipping all of my learn smart questions very quickly. The zoom level isn't adjustable and it's always locked in the horizontal screen position.

Absolute garbage. The app design is extremely flawed and the book page is always too big for the window viewer you get. The "show me in the text" button will leave you in random places that are nowhere near the answer. The app is extremely frustrating to use, if I have to pay you $90 for my online textbook that has my required homework on it make a app that f'ing works.

This app rarely works! I was so excited to get this app because I am out and about often or just not near my computer, BUT most of the time the content doesn't ever pop up! It just sits on a blank page after it says "loading content". It is absolutely annoying especially when I have my reading time scheduled and I can't get it done because it wont workand then I am behind in my entire school schedule! Also, no one likes to re-sign into an app they use often. I am not worried that someone is going to steal my phone and do my homework haha

As other reviewers have pointed out, the app is extremely slow to load and after a few questions the app starts switching questions rapidly without me touching anything or having any chance to answer them. It works well enough on desktop, but I find myself with far more opportunity to study using the app. This app simply is not smartphone friendly in any way. You cannot simply convert a desktop site to a mobile app and call it a day. Did your devs even test this on a mobile phone? For the amount of money I spent for access, it's amazing that free apps work infinitely better. Please fix.

The quiz app was not bad. However, access to the book requires jumping though hoops. After enrolling in the service, a discounted copy of the book is available but would be completely unnecessary if this app wasn't so bad. Want to read ahead, too bad chapters of the book are locked in sync with the teacher. Want to access prior chapters not without opening the quiz app first. The book pages don't reflow when the screen resolution changes. McGraw Hill will punish you if you don't buy the book too.

If I could give no stars, I would. Not only is this app awfully formatted, it doesn't even work. Same can be said for their website as well, no matter the device you access it on. If you need this for your class, I wouldn't even bother getting this app or buying the e-book access from them. Chances are it's cheaper somewhere else, where it actually works, or quizlet has answers for free. Absolutely horrendous, even mobile ripoff games run better and that's saying something.

terrible terrible terrible app. super slow loading and response times. unable to remember login credentials. frequent bugs and crashes. poor layout (e.g graphics do not scale with text resulting in the need for horizontal scrolling). Poor implementations (e.g once the questions for chapter are completed I could not reopen the chapter, each attempted ended in display of a blank white sceeen). this app does not facilitate learning in any way. buy a paper textbook!

This app hasn't been great. It works well for like 10 questions and then slows down and then starts randomly going through different questions. I just downloaded the app and within 30 minutes of using it it crashed three times. I would say that is pretty low quality stuff. I think it has potential, but really needs to be worked on. Please fix these problems.

This "app" isnt mobile friendly at all so it completely defeats the purpose. I feel that the developer has never seen amazon, scribd, or any other reading app. Parts of the book overlay the actual text you need to read and you're unable to get around them. The idea behind the app is good, but the effort and design are clearly lacking.

quite literally the single worst app I've ever had the displeasure of having to download. every update breaks it in another way. remember me doesnt work, the app forces landscape mode no matter what, sometimes the page will randomly fly off of the screen, the animations are broken and the practice lady will start yelling at you even if you arent even in the app and have your phone off. absolutely broken and borderline unusable. an absolute embarrassment

not a very smart book. this app is horrible just like the whole smart book concept. freezes, doesn't save place in book, so you have to find where you left off. doesn't have most basic common sense features a ebook should have and yes the prompts to practice seemed to be based on time you've been logged in, not how many pages you've read. everything about their product irritates me, especially when they seem to be used for a lot of online college courses! professors should avoid using.

This app is horrendous. I have used an array of school apps from different publishers and this one takes the cake for the worst... It runs so slow, lags the ENTIRE time, crashes, glitches (changing practice questions while trying to answer, scrolling unresponsive). I have used different phones and tablets and the only way to keep my sanity is by using the desktop version. I even tested my connection speed to rule that out. Considering this app is used for school, makes it more frustrating