The Economist - News, Podcasts 12+

Possibly a paradigm of digitally news delivery

From a clumsy and awkward mix of a website and an app, the transition between these two hardly smooth, the Economist seems to have really dug in and revamped digital delivery. The website is great of course, but the app definitely is a deal breaker. Some minor bugs here and there still are present, but the app itself is smooth and just works.
Audio recordings and all that work great too. Sharing is good, reading density is good, navigation might need a bit of tweaking.

Now it’s a hassle to use IOS built-in lookup

I had been using this app almost every day before this update and really enjoyed it even if I’m not a native English speaker. Inspiring contents (still it is) and nice UX. I can get translation of a word by just selecting it and then using the lookup service.

Now I am forced to select a whole block of texts where I have to then move my finger a lot to locate the text I want to get translation. I was getting interrupted a lot due to this new function. That is quite annoying so now I might decide to cancel my subscription.

worst update(4.6.0)

For readers who are not English-native, this update makes apps useless.

This update blocks “search” and “translate” options for iOS, which enable dictionary function. And cannot use 3rd party translating apps, cannot control font size in app, either.

How can you read lengthy articles with such tiny letters on the smartphone screen?

Considering significant number of foreign reader who are studying English with the Economist, this update makes them use app less.

I hope it to be fixed real soon.

Developer Response ,

Thanks for your feedback, and apologies for the inconvenience. Please download the latest version (4.7.1), a major update that addresses performance and stability issues. This version also includes the ability to change the font size. More features will be released in the coming weeks.