Espresso from The Economist Ratings and Reviews

I’ve always loved the Economist and have read the print version religiously for over thirty years. But their apps (and their subscriptions department) are truly terrible. This app will refresh only about 70% of the time. Every third day, good luck getting the news. It’s also the only app on my phone that regularly crashes. On my phone it looks fine, on my iPad it doesn’t expand to fill the whole screen (it’s “iPhone-sized” but in an iPad screen). The app won’t rotate from vertical to horizontal, even if Screen Aspect is unlocked. Finally, there are different versions floating around in the App Store, so you have to be careful about which one you are getting. My advice: stick to the print edition. (IF it ever shows up on the front doorstep, it’s a great read!)

If all you have each day is a few minutes and you’re tired of the 24hrs r new cycle mostly regurgitating the same info all day everyday, the Espresso helps distill the cacophony of news each day into a single powerful update.

While I enjoy reading the short clips each morning I have really come to look forward to the quote of the day. It has been my favorite part for all the years I’ve been reading the Espresso.

I enjoy checking the stories each day in Espresso but I do miss the ability to jump back to a day I missed (especially for the quote). I wish there was an archive of quotes of the day!

The Economist Espresso has become a valuable part of my morning routine. It provides the same quality global reporting and commentary in flowing prose that I have come to expect from the Economist Group. It survey’s recent stories I should know. And it is especially effective at covering global news which others fail to cover.

The most valuable part of the Espresso app is its brevity. The app allows me to read the news in a tight morning schedule without going down the online news rabbit hole. Like many, I strive to get the quote every morning as a reward for reading all six pages.

Keep up the good work!

Ive been using espresso since it first came out and i love it. The new version is really visually pleasing and they did a great job structuring it. The only reason im not giving it 5 stars is cause the old version let you read previous days posts. Some days we all forget or are busy but i would still like to know what the news is from that day. Maybe im just not seeing where that feature is in the new version…

Please, please go back to previous version. This one is just embarrassing.
Where is the the CURRENT (i.e. today’s) version of The World in Brief? What is the POINT of even using this app if all there is to read is OLD news?
Please allow users to SCROLL through WiB pages from previous days in the week.
This app USED to be a useful way to quickly access the day’s leading political, business and financial news. Now it is little more than a collection of links to outdated articles on the Economist app, which, as an Economist subscriber, I can already access via the magazine or its very good app. If this app is now to be a separate tool to offer a watered-down version of the Economist, please clearly indicate it as such.
Extremely disappointing.

I tried the trial and didn't find it valuable. So I went to Manage My Subscription and tried to cancel. They make it VERY DIFFICULT! They go back and forth using what appears to be a chatbot. They ask you why you're cancelling, over and over. They offer you upgrades. They offer you discounts. Back and forth, back and forth - even tho with each reply I just played "broken record" with them and simply replied, "No. Just cancel." Over and over. Finally, they cancelled. What should have taken one minute took about 15 (including an aborted first attempt because their site wouldn't register my responses that time and I had to start over).

I am surprised. I thought The Economist would hold itself to higher standards.

In the morning, I tend to make my coffee, meditate for 10-15 minutes, then read Espresso before moving on to something else whilst sipping my bean-water. As part of my morning ritual, Espresso gives me a good boost in thinking while making me a laugh out loud every so often. It’s well-informed data and links to Economist articles furthers my understanding of what’s going on in the world today. Plus, as a sucker for a good quote, the last page of the report makes me happy. Overall, a great use of time every day.

I like the content of the app…but I don’t much care for the audio version. I find that the speakers for the audio version are not of the same high caliber as those for The Economist; and listening to the repetitive bore of the daily quiz, combined to having to listen to who the weekly winners are is a major distraction. As a result, I now prefer reading the Espresso rather than listening to it.

I have used the app for at least 5 years now. It’s my usual cycling companion. Little by little I have watched the engineering decline and judgement grow worse.

Bluetooth buffering has been a consistent flaw that they can’t seem to get right. On certain devices when there is a pause, the resumption is delayed. Poor QA practices.

UI is not really improving and in the audio section is plain bad.

I pay for the subscription. Can I expect not to have to “swipe left” to avoid the upfront ad? The swipe is poorly done so 3 out of times you end up clicking. That’s called a clickbait - is that Economist wishes?

When first introduced, it was annoying. Now that it is always shown even when you are simply returning to continue on the article you were reading or listening to, it’s just plain offensive. You think that extra half a cent worth the damage to you brand’s image?

Poor judgement on the app diminishes a great magazine.

Sometimes a podcast won’t play or the regular espresso is yesterdays espresso. Sometimes the espresso just won’t play at all. But I’m general this app is great. Get all your daily news in audio format if you like and then if it is not enough, there is a thirty minute intelligence podcast to listen to that is pretty good that they put out every weekday. I listen to this while I brush my teeth in the morning.