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From current affairs to the latest tech and film releases to gardening, world travel and more, our passions are rarely singular. While magazines and newspapers can help us keep up to date with all our interests, the cost of multiple subscriptions can quickly stack up. Plus, it’s all too easy to end up paying for subscriptions to titles that you never get around to reading.
Research from Aqua found that in 2025 the average Brit holds 2.8 subscriptions, with 17 per cent of people saying that they do not track their subscriptions at all, with an average spend of £65.50 per month or £786 per year.
To help you avoid adding to this statistic, some apps enable you to access multiple magazines and newspapers, all with a single subscription. For example, Readly offers more than 5,000 UK and international magazines, giving it a substantially broader advertised catalogue than providers such as Pocketmags Plus+.
The topics covered are extensive and cater to everyone, from those interested in business and finance, celebrity and entertainment, fashion and beauty, food and travel, or all of the above and more. Whether you want personalisation and curated recommendations or you’re looking to widen your horizons, cost-effective single-subscription apps such as Readly could be the answer.
If you are thinking about signing up for a digital reading subscription, here’s what you need to know.
How can one digital subscription cover different magazines and newspapers?
Magazine subscription services bring thousands of titles under one account. With Readly, you pay a flat rate, starting from £12.99 per month, which gives you access to more than 5,000 national and international magazines and newspapers – you’re not tied to any one of these, which is ideal if your interests span lots of different topic areas.
How easy is it to find different publications and articles on Readly?
When using Readly, you’ll have access to search functions that enable you to track down and read a particular article by topic or even a specific keyword, effectively putting thousands of titles at your fingertips. This can make Readly a useful option for anyone looking for a magazine app with strong search and content discovery features.
You can also add articles to a list of favourites to return to later, whether you’re interrupted at the end of a train journey or simply want to curate a reading list for the future. As of October 2026, Readly is rated 4.7/5 on the Apple App Store and 4.5/5 on Google Play.

What to look for in a digital subscription for news and current affairs
Before signing up to a digital subscription platform, check that you’ll have access to all the titles you want to read (and more) or that there’s a good range of titles that cover the topics in which you’re interested. For example, Readly offers dedicated ‘news and politics’ and ‘business and finance categories’, with titles including The Week UK, The Guardian Weekly, MoneyWeek and Time Magazine Europe, so you’ll be able to dip in and out of each to gain all the latest news and insights.
Can you access multiple celebrity, fashion and lifestyle magazines through one subscription?
In a word, yes. The idea with digital reading subscriptions is that you pay one fee for access to all content, which, along with newspapers, includes celebrity, fashion and lifestyle magazines. With Readly, for example, you can jump between the likes of Hello!, Cosmopolitan UK, Good Housekeeping UK and Woman & Home. Likewise, you can browse titles covering sports, photography, gaming, and other specialist interests, across big names such as BBC Wildlife and Rolling Stone to more niche and lesser-known titles.
Can you read digital magazines offline on different devices?
Yes, you can download articles so that you can read them wherever you are. As Readly is a digital app, it can be used across different devices, including mobiles, tablets and computers. This is all especially helpful when you want to read something on the go but can’t rely on having a strong internet connection, whether your commute gets a little patchy or you want to download several hours’ worth of reading material for a long flight.
How do digital magazine subscriptions help you discover personalised and new content?
Digital magazine subscriptions often use algorithms that filter through publications to find those that match your interests, in addition to offering the option to simply search for topics that you want to learn more about. With Readly, for instance, once you’re set up with your account, you’ll select your interests and favourite titles, and these preferences are used to customise the recommendations on your homepage. This way, you can start exploring what’s available without getting overwhelmed. You might even discover titles that you wouldn’t have done otherwise. In fact, digital magazine subscriptions can spark new interests as you explore publications completely outside of your usual reading list.
