Top Hat - Better Learning

I am lucky when I have professors who know how to properly use this app in a way that facilitates learning and retention of material. When the professor doesn’t know how to utilize the app, and uses it in a distracting way or cannot use the interface, that takes time out of the class and frustrates me and other learners. This app is pretty solid for students as it provides a good learning platform to assess learned facts as well as a source of review questions. I can’t imagine what it must be like to be a professor and write hundreds of questions per semester for this app, though. Thankfully, I’m not a professor!

I would always use the website on my Mac in class so I could split the screen and take notes. it would never load, I would always be three-four slides behind, and my quiz questions would hardly ever load in time for me to answer them. I figured I’d just start using the app, but I have the same issues on the app that I have on my Mac. the connection is always “poor”, and my professor can’t ever use it either - and will insist that the students are taking up the bandwidth and are causing the app to crash and lag (?? don’t know where he got that from), costing us our attendance points. and I know I’m not the only one, whether it be in my class or across everyone who has bought the app, that has these issues daily. if I have to pay this much for an app that simply takes *attendance* and gives mini class quizzes, I expect it to work 100% of the time, flawlessly. the rest of my university uses a free attendance app and I have never had an issue with it - ever. drop your prices, and fix your interface. this app is a whole mess, a money scam, and absolutely ridiculous. if they have to charge for the app to keep it running and whatnot, why not $.99, $2.99, $4.99?? where did the $27 and $50 come from? the people buying it are college students with little income who are forced to by their professors. incredibly pathetic for something that never works.

I love TopHat for my lectures and I think it’s a wonderful way to absorb new material. It has a really clean and user-friendly interface. However, it is virtually unusable on the mobile app. Maybe it’s just the iPhone, but I’ve used TopHat on several different iPhone models and it is extremely frustrating. The videos will time out and end unexpectedly, the app frequently crashes, attempting to do my homework questions on the mobile app is completely out of the question (as it will continuously freeze or divert you to the top of the page without notice). Overall, a great app to use on a non-mobile device, but I don’t recommend relying on this app if a mobile device is all you have access too. And since today many of us students are always on the go and like to absorb new material in a variety of ways, I have to say this app is just not it. Nothing more frustrating than paying exorbitant prices for tuition and then you can’t even have the content delivered effectively! I wish my school would abandon TopHat and use something more functional all around!

The way that the professor utilizes this app is definitely important. Since you can't receive notifications for due dates, your professor will hopefully be diligent about that. Other than that, I think this is a really nice tool for classrooms. It's interactive, and has some cool question types (heat maps, clicking on images, matching, etc) although some of them are either difficult to use or don't work because my professors struggled. What's cool is you can go back and forward in the slides your professor has up so if you're a slow writer you can still get all the notes. Overall, this is a really nice idea and needs a little work but I enjoyed having it in my class. Definitely could do with more organization in the content, it's a little overwhelming when all the slides are posted and you're trying to study.

The app itself and its mediocre design and execution is not what bothers me. At the end of the day we all download this app because some professor thought a $30-dollar-per-semester was somehow going to improve our learning. What really bothers me is not knowing why am I forced to always say share my location with this app. Marking attendance with location makes sense, right? Except that the app does no allow you to be marked as present if the app location setting is on “while using the app”. If that wasn’t enough, I got a notification telling me how many times a week this app was using my location; guess what? The little map showed me that it was using it even when I was not in class (and therefore not even using the app). I am already paying for this service and I would like to know what exactly are they doing with my location. Also, toggling the location setting is not a solution; FIX YOUR APP!

The app is poorly designed and makes content impractical to access at best. You can’t download slide shows off the app. Content availability is inconsistent across the different portals (browser vs phone vs tablet). The browser isn’t made to be compatible with safari, completely ignoring the fact that Apple makes up much of the computer market. Customer service is slow and rude. I filed for help over a week and a half ago. The first email response took over two days; the next was quicker, but offered no assistance and completely ignored the information I had given them earlier, instead treating me like I just didn’t understand how to use the app. The third response showed up SEVEN DAYS after I replied to the impotent email “support” in the second email. IF YOU WANT TO BE IN ACADEMIA, BE RELIABLE. Homework due dates are typically less than 10 days out. Don’t sell a service you don’t have the ability to adequately provide.

I’ve had to use this app for 2 different classes now and every time, I run into bugs. It says my bluetooth is off, when it’s not. It will fail to connect. Often, it glitches when the professor is switching slides, or doing a quiz with too many pop-ups, or when I tap to answer a question it just won’t answer it. When I was trying to view/ join the slideshow, often, it just won’t work. Usually the only way to work around the issues is to close and re-open the app until it works. It is so difficult to keep up in class with so many bugs and glitches I’m spending way too much time just trying to get it to work. At one point I got added to a class I had the previous semester, after I had left it, and I couldn’t leave it again, it just has so many bugs. This app, in no way is useful as a reliable classroom tool.

Little differences between the online version and the app. I appreciate the app saving my location from where I left off. Its never really cause too much of an issue. Well, except that the answers don’t vary too much unless the teacher allows (inputs the variation of answers lol, but normally the written answers are given so the teacher knows if your actually reading the text lol).. Its good for tho

Why does this app require me to set location services permission to “Always” and claims that it doesn’t use it outside of class and can be toggled off after my attendance is recorded? It seems like this is the perfect use for the While Using location access setting. This used to work but now whenever I try to submit my attendance it prompts me to change it to Always and will not allow me to submit my attendance until I set it to Always, whether I had previously set it to Off or to While Using. It also seems that their claim of only using my location during attendance is a complete lie, because twice I have left its location access on and got a notification from my phone saying that TopHat had been using my location in the background over the past 3 days.

I don’t know how this app is a 4.7 Stars. Every review I’ve read is 2 and below. I don’t even leave reviews for apps, but I felt this was necessary. I downloaded Top Hat because it is a requirement for my Organic Chemistry course. The textbook, homework, and assignments are all online. So far, it is awful. I spent over $100 for the subscription. Every note that I’ve highlighted and question I’ve answered on my computer does not sync to the app on my phone. This is a major issue because I need to access these notes during class, but they don’t show up in my phone app! Not only will they not sync on the app, but if I close the chapter or leave the page, the same thing happens. Everything disappears. For this much money, Top Hat really needs to fix their sync issues and add a save progress feature. I’ve even contacted support through Live Chat. They were unhelpful. The agent repeated that I was experiencing an issue, then the app crashed and I lost contact. For an app whose subscription is so expensive for college students who are financially struggling, you’d think it would have better accessibility and functionality. I hope this doesn’t affect my class grade.

I really don’t write negative reviews on any app but this top hat software has made me so frustrated. I’m subscribed to TopHat(paid a huge amount), and I have this app. But, sometimes when I am trying to review the answers after getting the answers, it doesn’t completely show me the answers. And, it doesn’t completely show some questions which has a lot of math or figures. If I try to load top hat on safari, google chrome, or google on my IPad, it takes about an hour to open up and show me something as “steeping tea”. It might work on good laptops or chrome books, but why can’t u fix the problems on handy devices. I am a student and I use my iPad to complete the homework problems on top hat. One time it took so long to load, I kept it beside me and slept and when I woke up, it was still loading.

I am extremely disappointed with this app, it really delays me getting the work done. The app doesn’t even open certain pdf documents and in the beginning of the semester the videos weren’t even playing, I only use the website now but it continues to glitch, the letters on the answer choices get smaller and smaller. I don’t understand how such a program can have so many defects. I used it a year ago for a different class and I never had a problem with it but now it’s extremely disruptive and annoying. The letters won’t stop glitching so it’s hard to read and I have to continue to reload to look at the answers normal size before they get extremely small. Very sad and frustrating, this is taking a lot of time.

I have a lot of professors who buy into tophat and force us to use it for in class quizzes. It seems easy enough on the professors’ end but for the students using their phones it is total garbage. It works like an endless string of popup windows and notification banners every time the professor opens a quiz. The lag is terrible and the submit button doesn’t always work. It won’t stop opening a banner letting me know I’ve been marked present every other question. I have to exit out just to get to the next question. There is not anyway for the student to turn off the constant pop ups. Piazza is a much better app for students. Further more they like to lock up your account and charge hidden fees mid semester! That is the definition of extortion!

Tophat does not work if location services are on “only while using” however it works if location services are on “Always”. There is no reason for location to be on permanently unless using during class. I have noticed the location symbol on and it is concerning. I have been marked absent for not having location on my laptop. Apart that it is using battery, the breech in privacy is not worth it. This is an application to help students and teachers, not a hindrance that gives students a disadvantage. I completely understand the reason to have location on while on tophat. But to mark a student absent because location services are not set to always is not unacceptable. Attendance codes are available to ensure students are in the classroom.

I have the app and find it useful, but is there a way to put an option tab under account for more purchases that Top Hat has to offer? No one could find the option, and went through the website. Since most of us in my class bought the year subscription we thought it came with proctored exams, and it doesn’t. So id also like to see an update with the status of our subscriptions, like how many days we have left, which services are available with that subscription, and a purchase tab to see what is available.

Tophat is a scam. I don't care what you say, I don't see how it's fair taking money from already broke college students like this. Because I have to pay for this app, I went weeks without food. The worst part is that you don't even know what classes are going to need it so you don't know how much you should pay for. I hate this capitalist piece of crap so much if I ever take another class that requires that I'm eating the professor 1 star as well. It doesn't even work sometimes or it crashes in the middle of a question. We already have clickers I don't understand why we need to pay for this too. If this costed less maybe I'd understand but at this price are you kidding me??? Stop making education cost more than it should I'm already starving.🤬🤬🤬

My professors use this app during lecture scrolling through PowerPoints but if you’re trying to take notes from slides, the app keeps switching slides automatically. Also, the PowerPoints are a third of your screen which makes it impossible to try and read of it, it’s super small and if you zoom in it won’t let you change slides unless you need to leave the lecture and enter it again. Just really awful app if you’re trying to follow the professors lecture and take the quizzes. It would be nice if you could have the whole PowerPoint already open for you to scroll around and make it the whole screen. Even on a computer I have to zoom in, it makes my eyes hurt!

If you have a crippling case of FOMO then this is for you, however If you don’t then you will ultimately find this application/service pointless. Schools and universities without an integrated web platform may get some use out of this, but for those who already have one, this is just another worthless service to add on top of your schools online platform. Almost no functionality on any mobile devices; the interface is less inspiring than MS DOS. File previews don’t exist. The instructors and TAs are either technologically illiterate (unlikely), or this program is about as user friendly as an etch-a-sketch. This product is not ready to be something a student is required to pay for. It’s basically in the pre alpha development stage. I would be willing to pay another 28 dollars to not have to use this for the rest of the semester. I wish I could have rated it one star, but Tophat isn’t even inspiring enough to warrant that much rage or disgust. Mediocre garbage.

It’s not like canvas, but I’m grateful for the mobile accessibility and ease. Sure, not all my classes are on here but, for the ones that are, the assignments, textbook, and grades are all easy to see and with little to no technical issues, I can read and do all of my assignments from anywhere.

Top Hat is a pretty good app. It is the app my chemistry teacher at college uses to track attendance, and I think it is pretty amazing that the app is able to see people in the class who are around you and how far you are from them, so it can mark you present in the class. My teacher also uses the app to give us points for attending class, and to give us our quizzes in the class that also get graded and give us points for the class.

Great app. Just an idea... I think when you open the app it should have the class that you’re in at the top of the list. I think if the instructors had to input the days of the week the class meets and the time their class is it would be an easy feature to add. I gave it 4 stars because I don’t like that to Mark attendance you have to allow the app to always use your location. I think in using your location while using the app would be sufficient.

I had to use top hat for a chemistry course and it would never load. Halfway through me trying to use it to study it would always stop loading. I’ve used the app and the website and it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t work. I’ve wasted hours of my life cumulatively by waiting for the app/website to load. I’m not exactly using this in my free time and it’s very inconvenient when it takes me twice as long to study because it won’t load. The concept of the app is nice and could’ve been a great tool, but it’s not because of how slow/glitchy it is.

Pretty aggravated they did away with due dates. I could see the due dates on my phone up until about a week, maybe 2 weeks ago. I thought my professor took the due dates off since we were so behind. Had no clue that Tophat took them down. 2 late assignments later and I figure out what the problem is. Not real happy about this at all! What’s the point of paying for this app if it’s only going to be halfassed?? The point of the app is so you don’t have to log in online every time. Sure would be nice if this was fixed and due dates were put back on there.

For attendance, it requires location, which makes sense. However, the service ONLY works if location is set to “Always”. Selecting “Only While Using App” doesn’t work. I have to change my location services back and forth between “never” and “always”. It’s annoying and invasive. I just want it to only take my location when I’m having my attendance accounted for, not while I’m outside the classroom. It’s bad enough I have to pay for this service when there are better free alternatives, but having my location tracked is just annoying.

If you are a professor wanting to use this for presenting slides in class, be aware then virtually none of the features they tell you exist are available reliably on the IPad app. The rep finally admitted they weren’t designed to work with the new OS, and they have no plans to ever make it compatible. The only way you can annotate slides reliably is using a mouse, which they for some reason think is functional. The content they claim is so great is riddled with errors and has serious gaps that render it useless. Another sad tale of a tech company that thought scaling quickly was more important than doing something well.

This product vastly overpromises and under-delivers. Other than the attendance feature, which works fine, the rest of the platform has serious flaws. There is no weekend support, when support is around, they seem unknowledgeable beyond the basics. Further, TopHat test isn’t viable for distance / online / hybrid programs, the Test feature won’t work for all platforms, there is no way to adjust the gradebook to accommodate exam changes, students can’t use their electronic notes on the same device as their test, etc etc. Worst of all, students have to pay for this product. I won’t use it next semester.

This app is only good for reading the textbook. If you get a question wrong and then try to fix it, the app is glitched somehow so that it won’t actually put the answer you changed it to. I made this mistake twice and got questions “wrong” when I actually got them right! Always answer questions on the top hat website, because this app is NOT reliable. I used to use this app, but after dealing with these glitches, I deleted the app and will NEVER use it again. Fix your app, because you are making people lose points on assignments for NO REASON. I WANT MY POINTS BACK.

I always had my tophat locations settings”always on”. However, in the past couple days, its been collecting my location even when I'm not using the app which is why I was having the location symbol all the time. I had to disable the location for every app I had to find which one was causing the location symbol to appear and tophat was the cause. I changed the location preference to “while using” and that made the location symbol go away. I wonder why your app is collecting my location even though I wasn't using the app?

I hate when professors only find a product that is useful for them and don’t care about the struggles of their students. I like cengage better. Why am I doing too much to not pay for this until I try it on a trial? In on day 2 and I still can’t get the app to work on the free trial period. The app and the website keep trying to make me pay. I’m like pay for what? The instructor even said in the syllabus that the textbook may not be featured right away on this platform, so what is the rush to pay for access b4 experience? I don’t like it....

Yes, I agree that teachers need to hold their students accountable for attending class. But when you end up getting questions wrong because the app won’t allow you to submit answers, there’s a clear problem there. It has happened to me numerous times and I consider myself a good student in class, but constantly end up missing “clicker questions”. (Especially when your professor only gives you 20-30 seconds to answer a question and you can’t even answer in time). My chemistry class at my university is centered around this app, and to have to pay for a subscription service with so many bugs to play a role in determining my grade is entirely unfair. If you are a professor reading this considering using Top Hat for your lecture, please look elsewhere, and avoid placing unnecessary stress on your students!

I am currently using tophat and I would say it’s annoying as can be. Yea the reps would reply to you and they are helpful and try their best to help you but how the answer key is set up, is extremely stupid. Many times I submit my answers, it kept telling me it’s wrong and I was right the whole time. This platform allows you to waste time and energy. This platform is stupid. I hate it and I would tell anyone if their professor is using tophat not to take the class at all. I have been stuck on one question for 3 days and I gave up. I would never recommend to anyone.

This app is literally so bad it’s just a cash grab for the dumbest corporation ever. There are plenty of other ways to achieve what this app does by not using it. I will forever hat this app and the fact I was forced to spend $75 on it. The mobile version is an absolute horror never in my life have I seen such terrible connection issues and bad user interface. If I didn’t need this for a grade for my class and was essentially forced to purchase it, you better believe I would have saved that money without a second thought.

teacher had us buy it instead of just posting the powerpoint on canvas just so he can take attendance. half the time it won’t stop loading and you have to restart your computer and if you reload the page again you have to restart again. and the customer support isn’t even available on computer they tell you to go to the app. they say students feel more motivated to work with this it’s JUST a powerpoint application for 30$ extra it is such a waste of money

I tried to get a refund for an unused subscription and was denied because it was after the 2 week refund period. My professor had a hard time trying to figure how to use it but insisted she would figure it out. COVID-19 started and she abandoned it for the easier to use school site we have. I’ve used the program for another class before and it worked well but the company policy and customer care is lacking. I had another peer who submitted the same complaint same time I did and received a refund.

It’s pretty clear just from scrolling through the list of reviews that tophat has paid to have favorable reviews written about their app. All the genuine reviews written by actually students are all one star ratings, which is understandable considering from my first hand experience this is just another educational cash grab. This app is entirely designed to be marketed for teachers to save time and create a literal hell for students with a UI/UX experience that seems like it was designed by your parents who can’t figure out how their iPhone works.

Beyond terribly designed app. It’s by far the worst thing I’ve ever used. Who designed this? Who is in charge? Top hat please fire everyone at this forsaken company because you clearly do not know how to make an app. I cannot even type anything out without there being a myriad of issues. I cannot see the screen if I don’t scroll at some arbitrary speed. How was this allowed to be used by universities? Professors, if you’re thinking about using this app for your class, just don’t. Your students will thank you.

What a terribly written application. The fact that I’m forced to use this for class is ridiculous. The privacy policy also allows them to collect data on you as a student and there is no way to opt out of this. I guarantee they’re selling email addresses and other marketability data from your time using this. Terrible company, terrible app, terrible service. Avoid at all costs. There are abundant FREE open source alternatives that work far better without the invasive data collection/selling.

I mean it’s required by my professor but I had no problem with the app. I don’t like I had to pay for it even if it’s something just used for attendance and answer a few questions throughout the lecture. Btw if you have trouble answering the question Socratic is a amazing app to help quickly even if the questions are timed.

I hate that my teacher has decided to use this app. Most of the class was unable to get in before class because we couldn’t find the information needed to enter his class. The app is almost pointless to me since it crashes whenever I try to answer a quiz. I can read my textbook but at this point I would prefer a real textbook and online quizzes rather then this.

The app is very smooth and fluent and have not experienced any issues with it at all whatsoever. I highly recommend teachers and professors to use this application. Attendance is tracked and small quizzes can be created. I’m a student and I honestly wish more professors used this and involved more of their work and quizzes in them.

Very useful app. I am able to do my homework where ever and it looks fine when I’m reading. Only issue is when answering questions, it will mark them as unanswered when they have been answered. If I click on the question, it will show my answer. I just didn’t like how it would take a while to change to answered. Other then that, great app.

I use this app nearly everyday for professional school and its layout is clean and easy to use; however, it desperately needs Apple Watch compatibility. It would save me login time and fumbling with multiple devices, especially when I need to login in a clinical setting.

The app is still terrible at hosting large numbers of students at the same time and I don’t like how when a professor is presenting slides you have to always exit out of the current slide to go to the next instead of the more logical style of staying in the expanded version and just swipe to the next slide when they’re ready.

This app requires that you have location services set to always when a teacher has the setting on to verify that your physically in the classroom when taking attendance. “While using” should suffice but it doesn’t.

This software and app are a waste of money. Much easier to just use a clicker and your schools course management system and save you students some cash. You can even use Plickers which is completely free if you don’t want them to have to buy a clicker. The material in their MarketPlace is mostly available for free on the web. There customer service is also lacking, good luck getting them to actually show up for an appointment.

I was roped into top hat based on the promise that I could deliver interactive lectures from my iPad (iPad Pro 12.9”). This was and remains a lie. I cannot even view my own courses content on this app. Instead I get the error: this specific type of item is not available on mobile. Restated, the digital book isn’t viewable on an iPad. Every other publisher with an ebook has this feature except top-hat. The content of some of the books are inaccurate as there doesn’t appear to be a peer review process for verifying content.

They had it right 3 updates ago where you clicked on a chapter and you had a menu on the top right corner where you were able to jump to a specific section, or you saw the questions without having to click on a button that opened into a new page just to see it...utter nonsense! Thank goodness that the semester is almost over and I hope my next classes won’t use this platform!

Some of my professors choose to store documents in old top hat classes, which isn’t a strength of tophat. I wish there was a way to reorder the class list, as some classes will use it often and others I can basically ignore. Or an option to favorite certain classes. Not the worst app ever but not perfect either

This app should be taken off the App Store because it is absolutely false advertising and a complete SCAM. $50 to register for 4 years? App is unresponsive and has text overlapping. Doesn’t work in lectures as it sporadically won’t let you click answers. If you’re a professor looking at these apps, Turning Point would be my suggestion. Used both and Turning Point does what it needs to and does it well. Top Hat won’t be a company that lasts too long I have a feeling. Embarrassing product.

This is about on the same level as professors who write the textbook for their own classes. You have to pay for an app every semester in order to be marked present for class even though your sitting right in front of the professor and there’s a million other ways they could take attendance. I guarantee the school gets some kind of kickback from Top Hat. I’m not sure if the app is capable of doing anything else but Liberty University only uses it for attendance.