Substack revenue and downloads (estimated)

• Bugs & broken features10 reviews · 11%

  “Bug caused paid newsletters to stop delivering. A bug in the Substack app caused my emails to stop delivering when I got a new phone. Took me weeks to realize the newsletters I pay for were missed and I now have a no-longer-timely backlog of newsletters”

• Paywall & subscription push10 reviews · 11%

  “Fraudulent billing from content providers. I never approved a monthly subscription to a content provider but every month on 14th it is billed. My bank sucks too and they can’t flag this other company (using substack platform) to void the pending debit. I’m sure I’m not alone with this issue! Beware of Substack.”

• Notifications8 reviews · 9%

  “Way too many notifications. The app is fine, but HOLY MOTHER OF GOD, I DONT NEED HOURLY NOTIFICATIONS FROM PEOPLE I DONT FOLLOW. There’s no real middle ground, it’s either bombardment or not getting notifications for stuff I want notifications about.”

• Crashes & freezes7 reviews · 8%

  “ABSOLUTE JUNK on iPhone! Constant errors. Update 9/11/26: I am sooooo sick of the constant errors, freezing, not loading. Like WTF. FIX IT. Nearly everyday the app gives me error messages like “An error occurred Something went wrong, and we couldn't load this page.” SUPER ANNOYING.”

• Confusing design6 reviews · 7%

  “Confusing. Don’t get your panties all in a bunch, but your algorithm is confusing and attempting to navigate throughout it makes even less sense make your app a little more user-friendly, not so easily modified all I have to do is brush my hand the wrong way on the screen and I’m taken away from whatever I was reading your app sucks plain and simple”

• Missing features & requests6 reviews · 7%

  “Has some issues. I think of lot of it has to do with the lack of customization and options. Here is a list of issues I’ve found that I hope the developers implement: 1a. Please make it available to choose to remove individual replies and remove the Reply tab as a whole from profile. 1b. Also individually removing likes from profile. 2. Please either let us control what goes into the Activity tab or remove it entirely. Right now it honestly ruins the professional field by dumping everything we do into one place in a sloppy jumble. 3. Please give the branding colors their own light and dark settings. At the moment, they share the same one which makes some coloring issues, when in the opposite mode. 4. THIS ONE’S IMPORTANT! There is no place to look at the things you’ve purposefully or accidentally hidden. For example, I tried hiding a reply that was on my profile and now I can’t see it or find it anywhere to unhide it. That’s a big issue, and something I can do nothing about. If you do nothing else, please make a way to recover these. Thank you for your time.”

• Usage limits2 reviews · 2%

  “Unfound but not forgotten. Most of the Internet is people just begging for attention, but sub actually gives us room to just be true to our nature. The kicker is that we pour our hearts out, hoping someone would read our hearts work. It is so hard just like any other platform to get other people to see your work. Sometimes you’ll feel like why am I even doing this on this platform , the same as every other platform. With all of that said, it’s still one of the only spots where one can be true to their words and keep writing so that they don’t get lost. We have to remember we’re still playing against an algorithm! It gets three stars because getting notice is exhausting and most of the best stuff here stays unfound, but not forgotten by the few who actually managed to hear it.”

• Login & account access2 reviews · 2%

  “Can’t log in since updates. Clicking “log in with email” takes you back to the start up page instead of sending you an email to log in with.”

• Bans & moderation2 reviews · 2%

  “Why?. There is this person who is no longer on the app. Because I guess he got banned since August of this year. And with all the updates since then . It has the notification with his name . I can’t delete or open it . And this is in the chat area . I don’t understand he is no longer on the app . And I can’t get rather of the notification and person from there. I can unsubscribe but can’t delete the chat .”

• Customer support2 reviews · 2%

  “Great platform, but account support is seriously lacking. Substack is a nice app and a solid platform overall. The reading experience is clean, the interface is pleasant, and it’s easy to follow writers and manage subscriptions. For discovering and reading newsletters, it works really well. Unfortunately my experience with account support has been very disappointing. My account was suspended with no warning and no clear explanation. I followed the appeal process carefully and submitted everything that was requested, but I still haven’t gotten my account back and have received no meaningful follow-up. It’s frustrating to lose access to an account and the content connected to it with essentially no recourse. The product itself is good, but the lack of transparent communication and support around account suspensions is a major downside.”

Counted in the newest US App Store reviews we have collected for this app (English only). Numbers count reviews, not people.