Reviews of Cengage Read

By: Cengage Learning App

List of user reviews and ratings for Cengage Read

Total ratings

4.20 (Rating count: 3,992)

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Review summary

Cengage Read is helpful for mobile study with features like highlights, notes, and read-aloud audio, plus cross-device access. However, it suffers from frequent freezes and errors, unreliable highlighting, poor navigation, and login issues. The app also requires internet for reading, limiting offline use. Overall, it’s useful for on-the-go reading but plagued by reliability problems that hinder consistent study sessions.

Pros

On-the-go access to textbooks with cross-device login and the ability to listen to textbooks (audio reading).
Highlighting with multiple colors and note-taking features that aid studying.
Text-to-speech/read-aloud option for hands-free study.
User-friendly interface that makes reading on mobile easy and convenient.
Useful for studying and reading when a computer isn’t available.

Cons

Frequent freezing, crashes, and startup/download errors that make the app unreliable.
Robotic, glitchy text-to-speech that often doesn’t load or cuts in and out.
Highlighting/notes are unreliable (highlights may not save; difficult to export; navigation/citation is clunky).
Login/authentication issues and inconsistent access (sign-in failures; spinner/“error occurred” messages).
Limited offline access and dependence on internet; reading can be impossible without connectivity.

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User Reviews

Recent rating average: 2.20

All time rating average: 4.20

Upgrade to see all 55 reviews

51% (28)

Date	Author	Comment
2026-08-20	$$*****	The app runs smoother yes. But the search bar had a big downgrade. Be careful to not put any words that are used frequently in your book. And don’t try to look up definitions for keywords the and, like and or words will show every single chapter in your book. It can be managed but you have to be careful with the way you search now and where you search. Went from smart search engine to dumb search engine.
The app runs smoother yes. But the search bar had a big downgrade. Be careful to not put any words that are used frequently in your book. And don’t try to look up definitions for keywords the and, like and or words will show every single chapter in your book. It can be managed but you have to be careful with the way you search now and where you search. Went from smart search engine to dumb search engine.
2026-08-17	Co*****	I’ve been at this for over an hour with signing in and out, refreshing, uninstalling and reinstalling and nothing. It won’t even let me search for the book in the search bar. As someone constantly on the go I can’t always have my laptop on me so being able to at least access the book through the app to read would be nice.
I’ve been at this for over an hour with signing in and out, refreshing, uninstalling and reinstalling and nothing. It won’t even let me search for the book in the search bar. As someone constantly on the go I can’t always have my laptop on me so being able to at least access the book through the app to read would be nice.
2026-07-09	KK*****	How can you not initiate the read aloud from the text or page you left off, it starts all over … maybe i want to relisten to a certain section… nope can’t do that. What a trash app considering i have unlimited.
How can you not initiate the read aloud from the text or page you left off, it starts all over … maybe i want to relisten to a certain section… nope can’t do that. What a trash app considering i have unlimited.
2026-06-08	V_*****	Down load it. Saves so much time and very interactive and no they didn’t pay me for this review
Down load it. Saves so much time and very interactive and no they didn’t pay me for this review
2026-06-02	Ky*****	Won’t let me see my books ordered through here on my phone
Won’t let me see my books ordered through here on my phone
2026-04-23	Mg*****	Decent e-reader app but freezes constantly and the search feature is helpful but doesn’t find all the matches and then you have to manually swipe around to search on your own. Love that I can highlight things though.
Decent e-reader app but freezes constantly and the search feature is helpful but doesn’t find all the matches and then you have to manually swipe around to search on your own. Love that I can highlight things though.
2026-04-22	sh*****	This app is best when you only want to READ your textbooks on your phone or tablet. The text to speech is very robotic and frequently glitches, sometimes not even loading between pages. I often have to refresh just to keep it working. And the basic features like highlighting and taking notes are not user friendly.
This app is best when you only want to READ your textbooks on your phone or tablet. The text to speech is very robotic and frequently glitches, sometimes not even loading between pages. I often have to refresh just to keep it working. And the basic features like highlighting and taking notes are not user friendly.
2026-04-16	Ni*****	When purchasing a book, it makes it extremely unclear what exactly you’re buying. It’s so ridiculous that when I called customer service they were also unclear on what I bought and how I ended up not having e-book access. It ended up resolving itself with no help from customer service. I pray to God I don’t have to buy another book through these guys.
When purchasing a book, it makes it extremely unclear what exactly you’re buying. It’s so ridiculous that when I called customer service they were also unclear on what I bought and how I ended up not having e-book access. It ended up resolving itself with no help from customer service. I pray to God I don’t have to buy another book through these guys.
2026-04-08	Ja*****	Cengage is used in my graduate program and I thought the app would be helpful when I’m away from my desktop. It doesn’t work 90% or more of the time. On startup, an “Error” message pops up. The app will not load my textbooks on the dashboard and pops up with the same error message. The same message also happens every time I hit the refresh button. If a miracle happens and the textbooks DO appear on my dashboard, good luck getting them to download. More often than not, it freezes trying to download and will not be fixed by restarting the app completely. Sometimes these issues are fixed by logging out and logging back in, but for the majority of the time, it doesn’t work even after doing that. It is the least useful app I’ve ever tried to use. Not to mention it almost never gets updated. At this point, I can only access my books from a web browser, so if I’m ever without service or internet, I won’t be able to read the textbooks. Wish this app would work better because it could be so good!
Cengage is used in my graduate program and I thought the app would be helpful when I’m away from my desktop. It doesn’t work 90% or more of the time. On startup, an “Error” message pops up. The app will not load my textbooks on the dashboard and pops up with the same error message. The same message also happens every time I hit the refresh button. If a miracle happens and the textbooks DO appear on my dashboard, good luck getting them to download. More often than not, it freezes trying to download and will not be fixed by restarting the app completely. Sometimes these issues are fixed by logging out and logging back in, but for the majority of the time, it doesn’t work even after doing that. It is the least useful app I’ve ever tried to use. Not to mention it almost never gets updated. At this point, I can only access my books from a web browser, so if I’m ever without service or internet, I won’t be able to read the textbooks. Wish this app would work better because it could be so good!
2026-03-24	Po*****	This experience would be SO MUCH BETTER if the audio was synchronized to the text to flow as natural reading and in different voices.
This experience would be SO MUCH BETTER if the audio was synchronized to the text to flow as natural reading and in different voices.