Why I Use The Readly App To Read Magazines (And How You Can Too!)

[AD – Paid partnership with Readly]

Have you ever bought something and then realised, a few weeks or months later, that it’s gone unused? That’s what happened when I got a really chic looking magazine rack for my living room a few years ago. ‘It’s JUST what I need to keep the room tidy,’ I thought to myself. ‘And it looks so nice next to the sofa!’

But fast forward a few months, and the only things in it were one issue of Red magazine, an Argos catalogue and a Lego Card collectors book belonging to my daughter. I realised why – I had stopped buying actual magazines. Ever since I joined up to Readly– which is basically like Spotify but for magazines – I had barely bought one physical mag. Which is a big deal, considering I grew up buying Just 17 and Smash Hits, and refusing to throw out old copies once they’d been read. My childhood bedroom had piles and piles of magazines, and my walls were covered in the posters from the middle section.

But around three or four years ago, I discovered Readly and knew that it made sense to sign up – for £7.99 a month, I could read loads of different magazines on their app. I worked out that even if I was just buying Grazia every week, I would be saving money by reading it on Readly instead. All of my favourite magazines – Red, Elle, Marie Claire, Psychologies, Mother & Baby – are available to read, and every now and then I have a flick through a celebrity mag like Heat or OK! magazine. There are more than 3000 magazines on there, including international magazines, and you can download features and issues to your device so if you know you’ll be somewhere with no wifi, you can save it and read later.

Before a holiday or long journey, I tend to download a few issues onto my iPad and I know I can read them on a train or plane – or on the beach! It feels like a bit of a game changer, when you don’t have to spend time buying magazines at the airport and find space for them in your carry-on luggage! Needless to say, it’s better for the environment too and my paper recycling bin is much less full nowadays.

I also love how easy it is to ‘flick through’ a magazine, with the page thumbnails at the bottom. If I’m looking for a particular article, I can scroll along the bottom until I find it. And it always remembers where I read up to, when I open the app, and goes straight to that page. Handy! If I discover a new magazine, or I’ve missed an issue of one of my favourites, I know I can always catch up on old back issues – there are over 70,000 on Readly!

Just like with other media apps, you can share with family members too, with the ability to set up different profiles and use your account across five different devices. My eight-year-old has a profile, with parental control settings activated, which means she can read kids’ magazines and comics on her tablet.

SPECIAL OFFER! If you’re curious and want to check out Readly, you can try it for 99p for the first month – it’s £7.99 a month after that but you can cancel at any time (and it’s easy to cancel, unlike some other apps and services that you sign up to!). Head over here to find out more and sign up with the offer.

I heartily recommend you try Readly – it’s an app I’ve used regularly for a few years and I’ll never go back to buying actual magazines now!