The Mercury News for Mobile 4+

I have tried to use this app for years. I am a subscriber, but there are times when I want a quick look at the news. This is definitely one of the worst apps I have ever used. It jumps around. It flashes. The page moves up and down randomly. Scrolling doesn’t work, then it does, and sometimes it just runs away with the page. Obnoxious flashing ads dominate the pages, and change the size and shape of the text blocks. And never, ever try to use it on a slow wi-fi connection, because all that flashing and jumping uses network bandwidth, so it takes forever for the page to settle down so you might read it. Sorry Mercury news, I switched over to the New York Times mobile app several minutes ago.
I am using an iPad Pro with iOS 11.4. But this app has been this bad for years.

I have to keep identifying myself as a subscriber to use the app via a long login, which typically does not work. So every time I call the Mercury News for the (or any) problem, the automated system says I do not have an account. I spend 20 minutes on the phone to finally get a rep who spends another 5 minutes finding that I actually do have a subscription to the paper. So this is probably why the app does not work — because the Mercury News is so disorganized that they can’t keep their records straight! As soon as my subscription runs out I am cancelling! Why? — Missed papers, No credit for missed papers, No real customer service that solves problems, Unusable app. Total waste of time!

I want to support local news providers, but after two months I’m deleting the app and stopping my paid subscription. The site is full of persistent pop up adds that completely interrupt my trying to read an article. At best these pop ups are difficult to delete, at worst they crash the app. Enough!