Review Insights · Google Play
Channel 4
Channel 4 Television Corporation · 114,106 ratings · ★ 3.2
3.2
★★★★★
114,106 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 62 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
"watch"
18 negative reviews mention this · 29% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Oh wow, what an awful app. Trying to watch something from restart program mode, then it crashes and I have to restart from the beginning again. Happened 3 times this afternoon and now I give up. Why don't you allow us to skip to the part wh…" - Robert Hoeller
2
"adverts"
18 negative reviews mention this · 29% of all complaints
★★★★★ "10 minutes into using this app and watching a show, 5 adds start. watch another 5 minutes and it gives you another 11 adverts in one sitting. 16 adverts in the space of 15 minutes is excessive. we just deleted it and used another streaming …" - J
3
"channel"
9 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Just beware that if you go Ad free that a lot of the content still has promo ads for channel 4 programmes. for contractual reasons. felt a bit ripped off if I'm honest so just cancelled it." - Andrew Meadow
4
"content"
8 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Just beware that if you go Ad free that a lot of the content still has promo ads for channel 4 programmes. for contractual reasons. felt a bit ripped off if I'm honest so just cancelled it." - Andrew Meadow
5
"been"
8 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "The app used to work fine enough. the amount of ads was annoying but hey 🤷♂️ I have been signed in and using the app for about 6 months. Today it's denying me access because it believes I am not in the UK. I have made no change to my set …" - Margarida Lopes
6
"minutes"
7 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Oh wow, what an awful app. Trying to watch something from restart program mode, then it crashes and I have to restart from the beginning again. Happened 3 times this afternoon and now I give up. Why don't you allow us to skip to the part wh…" - Robert Hoeller
7
"show"
7 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "10 minutes into using this app and watching a show, 5 adds start. watch another 5 minutes and it gives you another 11 adverts in one sitting. 16 adverts in the space of 15 minutes is excessive. we just deleted it and used another streaming …" - J
8
"play"
7 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Why in the name of Zeus did I pay to remove adds and then they play adds. What a joke" - Dean Smith
📋 All 62 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").
Oh wow, what an awful app. Trying to watch something from restart program mode, then it crashes and I have to restart from the beginning again. Happened 3 times this afternoon and now I give up. Why don't you allow us to skip to the part where it stopped? Also, when watching a download and I want to skip to the middle of the download, I have to watch 4 minutes of ads every time I skip forward. Earlier today I had to watch 8 minutes of ads just to find the right section of the download. Sucks!
No controls to fast forward or scroll. What a strange oversight of lack of basic features
Keeps crashing on my phone
so glitchy. the 4 app is asbad as the 5 app now. even on tv via sky its glitchy and lagging
I hope the paid version is better than the free one. Can't stream without stuttering, just poor. Gigabit internet, so definitely your problem.
10 minutes into using this app and watching a show, 5 adds start. watch another 5 minutes and it gives you another 11 adverts in one sitting. 16 adverts in the space of 15 minutes is excessive. we just deleted it and used another streaming app
Why in the name of Zeus did I pay to remove adds and then they play adds. What a joke
The app used to work fine enough. the amount of ads was annoying but hey 🤷♂️ I have been signed in and using the app for about 6 months. Today it's denying me access because it believes I am not in the UK. I have made no change to my set up nor have I left the UK. Ridiculous...
Can't watch the credits or the end pieces that sometimes occur during the credit sequence. Can't skip opening titles. Can't create viewing profiles. Watched episodes don't always register as watched and hang around the keep-watching queue
sign in on the TV for EVERY other app is via a QR code, but not Channel 4, oh no, I have to sign in with a 30 character password via my remote control ... utter bollox.
Ad Scalping Ruined the Ap. Today the app play 7min of ads before I gave up trying to watch my show. This including playing the same as for Disney land Paris 4 times. This was before a single seconds of content.
insane number of adverts, truly awful
as of two days ago it stopped working on my smart tv. I can cast but that's not the point of a smart tv! fuming
12 mins of adverts as this app just happens to keep crashin, but never on the adverts. strange that 🤔
awful app, has about 5 minutes worth of ads before and in-between shows and even when you pay the £3.99 a month to remove them you still get ads.
What the heck is wrong with the wishlist function on this app, and browser too actually! It's been faulty for years and is still unfixed. I add things to wishlist, they don't show. I remove things, they don't remove. No matter how many times I refresh or update the app or log out and back in again, the issue remains, after YEARS! It's appallingly bad. I'll occasionally try and add something new and realise "oh I've added that before, it just doesn't show... still". Will you PLEASE JUST FIX IT?!
I thought it was my device or internet and am relieved to find out, no. It's Channel 4'saying✌️. They make excuses yet at LEAST 100 people, the VERY MINIMUM say EXACTLY THE SAME - constant buffering, repeated ads + quickly leave/return during programming NOT during ad break NOT just before - you're stuck with 3:30 or 4:40 of ADDITIONAL ads not previously shown then. Additionally, sometimes jumps to next episode HALFWAY through one you're TRYING to watch! NOBODY should suffer this bollocks!
Channel 4 slowly, but certainly surely, catching up with YT on the saturation of adverts within their content of popular films, documentaries, dramas etc etc. I accept that you need advertising money to keep afloat, and no I will not be 'emotionally blackmailed' into paying to remove the 4 minute long ad breaks, after all I pay enough for a TV licence as it is. It's a pity as the apps content has been better than its ever been, but as said before I will not be held to ransom. ta-ta channel 4.
this is an appallingly coded app. any new media introduction for example adverts or external media ,Gemini, okay Google etc will restart any content that has a time limit. the selection of media for viewing seems to be based on how much you have watched not what is most recent the placement of advertisements in any coverage seems to be decided by someone who does not care in the slightest what is happening ing in said media. shocking absolutely abysmal. deleting.
dificult
Stutters on firestick runs one ad fine then basically goes into meltdown.
adds are way too LONG!
wont start playing anything and just shows as buffering forever.. happened on multiple occasions after trying all sorts of temporary fixes, whats the deal guys?!
five times today I have sat through 4 minutes of advertising only for it to pop up and say I can not watch from my location! I am in the UK. very annoying!
poor quality content means I won't be using the app, it's all rather tabloid and lowest common denominator. celebrity does whatever for a few bucks more, same old faces yawn,yawn.
Even after all these years it's still a terrible app which also takes the piss with amount of ads it plays. They never buffer unlike the actual shows though! Maybe they should get Channel 5 to make their app as that actually works.
Absolutely useless. Constantly crashes. Have to watch twice as many ads because of that. And if they reply to this comment, I bet they'll say I just need to reinstall it. Like I'm an idiot who is incapable of basic troubleshooting methods.
why wont you fix the bloody bugs with this app and the advert problems? oh because you want us pay a subscription.
more ads than content. watched 15 minutes of tv and already had three lots of adverts, each 4 minutes long. might as well not bother.
11 adverts, and 8 of them are the same repeated ad..
Appalling app, having to watch adverts twice before program!!!!! Going to watch another app...!!!!
Terrible user experience
Garbage. Up there with ITV as the worst streaming apps. Forgets where you are, fast forwarding to where you need to be you are forced to watch multiple ad breaks.
never able to watch programmes as password never accepted
Just garbage. Haven't watched C4 for years but saw a show I liked the look of. Adverts play flawlessly but the actual content glitches, crashes and constantly needs resetting which of course means more adverts and the cycle of utter garbage continues. I guess it will be years until I watch C4 again. There are numerous rival channels and if C4 can't sort out the basics, they will continue to be a footnote on the streaming market
The app is no longer on my TV and has been removed from the play store for Android TV's.
download content you want to watch then stops working being able to play don't waste your time useless app
Zero stars! I watch TV via Chromecast. The adverts on this app are absolutely infuriating! The same advert repeated multiple times, no matter what you do. It's painful. The cynic in me wonders if it's a marketing ploy to try and make me sign up for the subscription advertising free version? 'kin rubbish.
Why doesn't it update The Simpsons anymore?. It's been season 33 and 36 for over a month now on the catch up bit. Even film4 always shows repeats. What is Channel 4 for when it's always the same shows on repeat?. Plus it's always crashing
This is a frustrating platform. I can't play any episodes and their is to many ads in the TV streaming platform. (NEVER DOWNLOAD THIS EVER AGAIN). I don't like the app I have a tablet but it don't work on it it keeps on gliching. I am getting very frustrated about this channel 4 app (ALL 4).
Didn't have the film it promised and then crashed my phone.
C4+ does not work! still shows ads, misleading!!!
Terrible app. And far too many lengthy ad breaks. I'm not paying either, you have gotta be kidding. Uninstalled.
Absolutely terrible. Unwatchable. Constantly freezes and hangs when playing adverts, or gets stuck in endless advert looks. Total, total, total garbage. Literally one of the worst apps I've ever used.
paid for adds yet you still get adds for 90 percent if things on the app what's the point of it
App will happily play adverts but when it's time for the programme, error message appears. Does this for most programmes now
A really poor example of a streaming app. Initially casts or streams but when you get to the first set of adverts it stops... Truly awful when the other ones (Netflix, Prime etc are all fine.
Too many adverts, I'm deleting the app from my phone!
I agree with the other comments. This App continually locks up during the Ad Breaks. You have to go back to main screen and Resume where you left it. It's been this way for many months despite updates.
the recent trend of showing repeated adverts is absolutely terrible! you get the same bloody advert 7 times in a row! come on channel 4! sort your app out!
+ 12 more in the clipboard copy
Sentiment summary
52%
Positive (4-5★)
8%
Neutral (3★)
40%
Negative (1-2★)