Washington Post

Since the update today the app does not open/simply crashes every time I attempt to open it. Is that one of the exclusive new tools? Just wondering.... When I attempted to open the updated app, the app would show the opening screen (grey page with “Washington Post” in the center of the screen). This remained for roughly thirty seconds after which the app would suddenly close. When double-clicking on the iPhone home button following the crash, a “ghost image” of a page from a Washington Post article that I last read before the update would show as one of the open apps. I assume—but cannot say with certainty—that this article was open when the app updated. In order to resolve the situation, I deleted and then re-downloaded the update app. After signing into my Washington Post account via the reinstalled app, I successfully regained access to the app/Washington Post content. I’ve not encountered further issues with the updated app since that time.

I subscribe to both The NY Times and the Washington Post. It’s interesting to compare how the two papers use mobile apps to present their content. Each has its advantages, but I find that the Washington Post Classic app has a couple of significant deficiencies. On the plus side, the Washington Post is a more visually appealing and less cluttered presentation compared to the NY Times. But there are two behaviors that I find limit the usefulness of the Washington Post Classic app. First is the fact that it does not give any indication of stories that have already been read. The NY Times app, for example, dims to a fainter gray the headline text of stories that have been opened. Second, and most infuriating, is that the Washington Post Classic app seems incapable of remembering the reader’s position within the app. Leave the app to read a text message? When you return to the Washington Post app you’ll be returned to the story you were reading, but once leaving that you’re back at the top of the story list and forced to scroll and scroll to re-find where you were. This often happens even when you haven’t left the app at all and simply close a story. (Note that I’m using a current generation iPad Pro.)

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For the last week, I have been plagued with a video ad for a personnel service that begins talking shortly after I start reading an article. I can't find any way to turn it off and it is irritating and intrusive. Am getting to the point of cancelling my subscription if it doesn't stop. Update, it is now broadcasting this same talking ad every single time I try to read an article. I am regretfully canceling my subscription. I will check back in a couple months to see if this has been fixed, but for now, can't stand it. Another update. I did cancel, but like the post so much, I regretted it and renewed the next day. Now I am canceling again. Every single time I tap on an article to read it, a voice blares, “For the past 25 years, PNP personnel services...” I did write to the help desk, and got back an email that did not resolve the problem. Nobody else has complained about this, which leaves me wondering why I have been so blessed with the attentions of PNP personnel services. I’ve tried easy solutions, but no setting addresses it. If anybody has any ideas, I’d be happy to try them. I love the Post, but have come to hate PNP personnel services more.

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No question, WaPo is my go-to news source for All Things DC. It's profoundly satisfying to read well researched, trustworthy journalism in a day of claimed witch hunts and fake news. So why does such a fine media outlet have such a crappy app? The navigation is awkward at best. Ads are often intrusive, disrupting reading. We subscribers get only partial versions of the print or browser-ready WaPo with the apps. Whole sections are missing, to say nothing of less popular articles. And there are no comments. WaPo comments are worth reading if only because some DC insider anonymously posts a news nugget from time to time. Many are thought provoking or witty or both. WaPo's app developers have been aware of these issues with the app for a long time-I mean years. The app developers always promise fixes but seldom do apps change. It's jarring that journalism of WaPo's quality is delivered with the faulty, user hostile classic black or blue app. It's outrageous that the app is unleashed in an unsuspecting world by WaPo publisher Jeff Bezos, the guy who practically invented seamless digital usability with his little ecommerce venture. Fix the problems, man. Deliver apps as good as the WaPo news reporting.

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This app doesn’t show comments on the articles. So if you want to see the comments you click on the share to/open with button and click Chrome. But wait, that doesn’t allow you to open in Chrome. You can only bookmark or add it to a reading list. Why can’t you simply open it in Chrome, you ask? I was curious too! So I called their support phone number since there is no option for developer support or feedback and the “developer website” simply links to the newspaper homepage. At the 800 number I got a very nice lady overseas who did not understand my question. I asked for a supervisor who also didn’t understand and said I would have to “search for the article in a mobile browser.” So I called the 202 number and explained that I was a paying subscriber in Virginia and could I please speak to a DC/Virginia based person to ask a question and (now) make a complaint. I got a recording and left a voicemail. Instead of a call I got an email asking me to write what I wanted. I called the 202 back and explained to a nice lady in DC what happened and she said to email back requesting a call. I did so. As for writing what my problem is, I decided to go ahead and write that right here. Under a single star.