Readly, a susbcription service that gives you unlimited access to more than 1,200 magazines has announced that it will shut down its Windows and Windows Phone apps on February 27 (via Windows Central). In an email sent to subscribers, the company explained that the small userbase on Windows devices pushed the company to focus on its iOS, Android and web apps going forward.
Because you can’t use Readly on more than five devices, the company is inviting users of its Windows apps to log out before the apps eventually stop working on February 27. After that date, subscribers will still be able to read their favorite magazines by using the web app, which is better than nothing.
Here is the full email that the company sent to users:
We are contacting you today to let you know that we’ve decided to close the Windows version of the Readly app. Unfortunately the number of customers using the Windows version doesn’t motivate the effort for maintaining the app so going forward we’ve decided to work harder on developing our iOS/Android/Kindle apps and our web service instead.
Fortunately you can still read your favourite magazines with the Readly apps for iOS, Android, or Kindle Fire devices which we will continue to develop and improve to give you the best user experience possible. If you don’t have access to any of these devices our web service (https://go.readly.com/) is your best alternative.
The Readly Windows app will be maintained and fully operational until February 27th 2017. After this date, the app will not function any more and you should delete it from your Windows computer. First, log out of the app and then delete it. By doing this you will make Readly available on one more device (as you know, you can use Readly on up to five devices).
If you’re a Really subscriber, are you disappointed by the company’s decision? Sound off in the comments if you know other alternatives to read digital magazines on Windows devices.
