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Channel 4
Channel 4 Television Corporation · 113,202 ratings · ★ 3.2
3.2
★★★★★
113,202 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 68 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"adverts"
18 negative reviews mention this · 26% of all complaints
★★★★★ "adverts freeze nearly every time and have to back out of programme and start again making you watch the advert twice through, probably a tactic to pay for no ads" - katie branson
2
"watch"
15 negative reviews mention this · 22% of all complaints
★★★★★ "adverts freeze nearly every time and have to back out of programme and start again making you watch the advert twice through, probably a tactic to pay for no ads" - katie branson
3
"show"
12 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "The ads keep freezing which is causing me to have to go back to the homepage and click the show again which requires me to watch the ads all over again. Sometimes I'll watch 4 mins of ads just to have to watch another 4 mins again before I …" - TheKrazyK101
4
"watching"
11 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "The ads keep freezing which is causing me to have to go back to the homepage and click the show again which requires me to watch the ads all over again. Sometimes I'll watch 4 mins of ads just to have to watch another 4 mins again before I …" - TheKrazyK101
5
"work"
7 negative reviews mention this · 10% of all complaints
★★★★★ "have not been able to cast to chromecast for about 3 weeks just the 4 logo appears but won't connect same on my tablet what is going on???? .l have now updated to 3rd generation Chromecast and now your app crashes the stream after the adver…" - Andy Parker
6
"frustrating"
7 negative reviews mention this · 10% of all complaints
★★★★★ "It is SO FRUSTRATING watching on my tablet! Everytime an ad break comes, it plays one ad and then freezes, but the subtitles resume the episode. No sound, no picture, just subtitles. I have to leave the app, go back in and resume the ads, w…" - Amy Dobson
7
"freezes"
7 negative reviews mention this · 10% of all complaints
★★★★★ "It is SO FRUSTRATING watching on my tablet! Everytime an ad break comes, it plays one ad and then freezes, but the subtitles resume the episode. No sound, no picture, just subtitles. I have to leave the app, go back in and resume the ads, w…" - Amy Dobson
8
"subtitles"
7 negative reviews mention this · 10% of all complaints
★★★★★ "It is SO FRUSTRATING watching on my tablet! Everytime an ad break comes, it plays one ad and then freezes, but the subtitles resume the episode. No sound, no picture, just subtitles. I have to leave the app, go back in and resume the ads, w…" - Amy Dobson
9
"streaming"
7 negative reviews mention this · 10% of all complaints
★★★★★ "works sometimes but not at others. Rather clunky as compared to other streaming services" - nigel bulmer
10
"doesn"
7 negative reviews mention this · 10% of all complaints
★★★★★ "simply doesn't work anymore" - Jamie Mann
📋 All 68 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
adverts freeze nearly every time and have to back out of programme and start again making you watch the advert twice through, probably a tactic to pay for no ads
The ads keep freezing which is causing me to have to go back to the homepage and click the show again which requires me to watch the ads all over again. Sometimes I'll watch 4 mins of ads just to have to watch another 4 mins again before I can watch the show. This means that I'm watching 8mins worth of ads to get less than 1pmins of watch time to watch ads all over again. It happens multiple times in one episode. Please fix this it has been happening for months.
have not been able to cast to chromecast for about 3 weeks just the 4 logo appears but won't connect same on my tablet what is going on???? .l have now updated to 3rd generation Chromecast and now your app crashes the stream after the adverts most annoying as other apps work seamlessly 🤔
App works fine so feel bad leaving negative feedback, but the number of ads makes watching almost impossible.
dogshit app. by developers who could code a bbc micro. how is this app still broken 10 years later. still issues crashing after ads. No way to rewind or restart program. Just dosn't work.
the app is that bad u can not get passed make an account put my date of birth just sed that don't look right tryed 3 time
It is SO FRUSTRATING watching on my tablet! Everytime an ad break comes, it plays one ad and then freezes, but the subtitles resume the episode. No sound, no picture, just subtitles. I have to leave the app, go back in and resume the ads, watching way more ads than I need, just to get back to my episode. Usually I am playing a game as well, which makes me lose progress. Please fix, this has been an issue for MONTHS, I just haven't had the energy to complain till now!
Will not cast to tv. I have read all the threads trying to resolve. Given up. App is waste of time. You would think big oganisations could make things work. Things like Spotify Youtube manage to cast to tv. No problemd
Constant network errors, hasn't worked properly for some time. Clearing data and cache made no difference, nor did uninstalling and reinstalling. Frustrating.
freezes during ads, forcing you to restart the app and face the 4 min block of ads all over again. zero respect for viewers' time.
I tried signing in but it wouldn't let me it is TERRIBLE channel 4 needs to sort itself out now
App freezes after watching ads, then replays ads if app is restarted!
simply doesn't work anymore
A terrible and annoying app. Very common occurence is that the broadcast restarts (without sound) during the adverts and you can only tell if you have the subtitles running. Suddenly the script form the show starts appearing. The only way to stop this is by exiting and restarting the broadcast, at which point the adverts start again, very often with another full 3 minute slot. Please, please fix this!
Disgusting app, making everyone now watch adverts BEFORE actually getting the chance to watch ANYTHING - DO One Channel 4 deleted app
4 ad breaks (9 minutes of ads) for 1.5 mins of streaming. I'm absolutely disgusted. also why must I watch ads again after rewinding the episode back. I hate this streaming platform so much.
too many ads. and some are inappropriate: Viagra & Alcohol in the daytime
long adverts
too many ads honestly its ridiculous how many there is every 5 mins there is a 3 to 4 mins ad used to be good but not anymore use Netflix or smth
The things I want to watch show here, but they are not here. Young Sheldon. The Big Bang Theory. It says it's here but then comes up with an error. If it's not here, then why show it as here? You also need to add Brookyn Nine-Nine. American Housewife, The Middle. I can't watch any of my favourite things.
Glitches everytime there's an advert!!! It's actually a joke, when watching on a phone, the adverts go on for 3-5mins and then it freezes. Causing you to restart the entire app and forcing you to watch more adverts. If it wasnt for the series, "The Great," i honestly wouldnt bother.
you pay for ad free and still get an ad, yes albeit its channel related but very deceiving. More lies. Let's see what happens next with the updated tc
App is awful. You can cast but only directly through the app and then it fails to buffer. Endless adverts!!! also navigation is all over the place... don't press back as you'll immediately exit the app.
Doesn't play from downloads, need to have network even to watch downloaded episodes. Can't delete old downloads, can't delete failed downloads. Absolutely useless
doesn't work properly
constantly crashes when adverts come on
Constantly buffers even with great broadband speed. Would defo not pay to go add free as still buffers
Awful. Chromecast support still not fixed after 18 months.
deliberately making you pay to remove ads not worth it at all and sometimes your watching three and half mins of ads at a time sometimes over 20mins on ads alone
I adore this app but it is now refusing to connect to the phones data and won't recognise my log in details.
I'm unable to use the app on my Google pixel. Adverts play fine but then get error msg when show supposed to start. I have cleared cache and reinstalled, no difference. Its very frustrating!
awful. constantly freezing after the adverts. takes 5-10 attempts to start again.
what is going on! Missing March 29th installment of Sunday Brunch on this app, why is that?
the app crashes very often (I stream on Chromecast), it's difficult to even watch one episode. very frustrating. furthermore ads are played even when you pay for the service which is very unnecessary. I'm not paying to then watch ads...
Keep getting "cannot run on secondary screen". It won't play anything.
A lot of adverts, most commonly 4 minutes long. Once you come to the end of the adverts the programme doesn't resume, at least thats my experience of watching on mobile. Annoying because you have to exit the programme and then return, sit through another 4 minute adverts before you can get back where you were. Won't be watching again.
crashes a lot and makes you rewatch adverts repeatedly
It's absolutely rubbish. You can watch TV and C4's streaming library, but there's no programme guide, so you can see what's on now and next, but you can't see what's on tomorrow afternoon, which seems like a massive oversight. And you still can't skip ads, even if you've paid up front, there are still adds on every live programme and some programmes start with "for contractual reasons there will be ads in this programme" it's completely arse and definitely won't renew
installed app cos website stopped playing, despite drm enabled. little/no support. ACCESSIBILITY DIRE. can't switch to light mode - white text on dark background generally difficult for those of us w reading difficulties/visual impairments. shocking to get something so basic so wrong. picture quality worse in app than browser. playback controls poor - skips to next episode. video frequently pauses while audio continues. video freezes in ads too & need restart & ads restart too so get twice :/
why stream on line when breaks are longer then television
glitchy
not sure whats happened recently, never had any issues with my android previously but now ads volume disappears towards the end of watching 4 mins worth of ads however you can see the subtitles for the programme continuing whilst the last ad is froze forcing you to come out of the show and press resume again... only to be forced to watch a further 4 mins of ads! not sure if this is a gimmick to force you to purchase 'the add free' option however this is very underhand if so.
Awful app on any device, constantly crashing and having to have the cache cleared, forced stops etc. this is the same on different devices, TV and fire stick. a real shame as content is decent but needs a massive update to fix the software bugs. really poor app support. don't have any similar issues with any other TV apps.
it's so nice to know that everyone can see all my details because of this app. privacy doesn't matter anymore
turned audio description on by itself and I can't get it off. I didn't put it on and I don't want it on and I've downloaded the app to my phone and it's doing it on there as well. it's only doing it on this app, all over streaming services are normal.
if the app wasnt so concerned about forcing 5 minute adverts down my throat, maybe the streaming would work properly. Very poor app.
Still get adverts when I pay a monthly for 4+ subscription. Deleted and reinstalled the app numerous times. What am I paying them for? Do not waste your money.
For three weeks all that I have been getting is "unavailable try again later" no explanation!!??
The app doesn't see my Nvidia Shield when I cast it. I don't have this issue with other apps.
downloads are very slow
+ 18 more in the clipboard copy
Sentiment summary
52%
Positive (4-5★)
8%
Neutral (3★)
40%
Negative (1-2★)