The Economist (Legacy)

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It blows my mind that an app I'm paying upwards of 200 dollars a year to have access to has glitchy mobile advertisements. Reason enough to not get the app is that, but horribly glitchy feeling navigation detracts from the amazing journalism that we get from the Economist. This app is frustrating and overall seems like it was built on a budget by suits, not designed by software engineers.

Great magazine but the app is a pain in the arse. Randomly deletes the latest edition for no apparent reason, won't auto-download, and switching out of the app closes the edition rather than it staying suspended. I've had these issues through multiple updates

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Full of flaws I really like The Economist, but this app is sloppily designed and full of flaws. Downloaded editions are deleted at random and have to be re-downloaded, which is prone to errors and time-outs as well. Given the high quality content of The Economist, it's a mystery how the app can be such a mess.

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While the app as a whole has its issues -- browse through some of the other reviews -- this one addresses the audio portion. I was excited by the feature as being able to hear articles read during my commute would be a boon. Unfortunately, the design of the audio player is such that it's completely inappropriate and unsafe for use in a moving vehicle. There needs to be a way to get straight back to the last article you listened to without opening the app, selecting the issue, swiping past the obligatory advert and hitting the teensy audio button at the top-right. Perhaps offer an audio-only app with audio adverts if this streamlines this process. The controls are a UX nightmare. The buttons are too small and can be unresponsive. This unresponsiveness is compounded by the fact that there is no feedback that the app received a touch input, just an indefinite delay that may or may not result in the control doing what was requested. This often results in attempting to hit the play button again just as it starts, resulting in pausing the stream again. Even if one gets the audio started just prior to driving, the audio has a habit of stopping if the device's screensaver goes active, and it may or may not restart once the screensaver is deactivated. It will also quit playing if Android Auto is active -- a missed opportunity would have been to integrate with Android Auto as it's usability is leagues ahead of the Economist's. All of this is a shame as the actual audio content is of consistently high quality, with professional readers. The only way to enjoy it though is if you're not in a hands-free situation where you can patiently nurse the app to work as intended. Definitely do not use this while operating a vehicle.

Would be 4 or 5 star if play back was more robust (currently stops randomly with no reason given). Playback could do with more control over position and synchronised with the text by highlighting as it read (e.g. whilst listening and wanting to see a quote to re-read). These days, audio is important as we need to multi task in our busy lives, so please do improve. Good effort so far, keep improving!