Foreign Affairs 4+

Questionable Update

It looks like this update was intended to allow dynamic content and consequently the ability to use with an iPhone. What I appreciated about the old app was that it was simply digital/ePub versions of the print magazine, and therefore replicated the experience of flipping through the pages but with the added portability of having your entire collection available on the plane or a train.

One (presumably unintended) consequence of the change in the display engine is that all the subscriber special editions are no longer available, at least as far as I could find. One has to now go to the FA website and download them from there.

Many people are having trouble with validating subscriptions. This has also been a problem with previous versions of this app. I did not personally experience it this time, but understand how frustrating it is having experienced it before.

I, for one, would appreciate the ability to retain the option to read ePub versions of the issues (and keep the subscriber specials), even as a separate option within the app.

Bottom line, Foreign Affairs is a world-class publication and ought to have a world class app. It’s not quite there yet.

Developer Response ,

Thank you for your review. We have now added all of the past subscriber special editions as a PDF/ePub versions.

Good but can be better

Update 2: The “The Latest” section started working again. Also, I appreciate customer support getting back to me.
Update: app’s been pretty buggy lately. The “The latest” section doesn’t load. Overall, the app is pretty good and the content is great. It would be really nice if saved articles don’t just save locally. I constantly switch between my devices (iPhone, ipad) and none of my saved articles appear on the other devices. Also, it would be nice if the app had the ability to download articles in the background so it starts up faster and does not do the updating when I launch the app. If I’m mistaken in any of this and the app does, indeed, do those things, then please let me know.

Can't access my digital issues

Having the same problem as others who complain they can't access their digital copies of their print subscription through the app. The latest update seems to have broken the app, and customer service says they're "aware" of the problem, but so far, after weeks, they haven't fixed it. Seriously, it worked before,roll back to the previous version.