WIRED Magazine 17+

Reviewing version 4.7.2
Wired is using a portrait mode design where you move between articles by swiping left and right and read a single article by scrolling vertically. This is the first I’ve seen this design and I LOVE IT! There are many digital magazines and apps therefore, on the App Store. This is the first one I’ve enjoyed using. There are a ton of bad reviews for this app. I’m new to it. Maybe Wired introduced this style more recently than the negative reviews. Many of the reviews complain about not having a landscape mode. You can’t always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need (paraphrasing the RS). The current version is a good app with a great design.

WIRED app is a disaster. It’s the exact same application of the print version, with zero digital adaptation.
I can’t tell immediately whether I’m looking at an ad page or an article because there’s no indication - not knowing whether to vertically or horizontally scroll.
There’s no way to tell how long each article is thus I can’t decide immediately which article/s I want to consume.
Overall I can’t tell where I am in relation to the entire magazine because there’s no easy overview on each screen which there should be.
The navigation is so linear, is there a way to tap and choose a desired article from the chapter screen?? Also, the circles and squares around titles for chapters and subchapters makes no sense in May 2019 issue. It took me a while to realize what the shapes meant.

Problems with app:

- It insists on being in portrait mode. This turns out to be one of the buggiest parts of iOS. The bug that affected screen rotation appears to have been fixed, but this app triggered it constantly. And when using this app recently using screen zoom, my iPad locked up when the iPad rotated, and the app prevented the screen from following. There’s still a bug, and this app is the best way to find it.

- The app won’t let you pinch to zoom, nor can you select a different font. If you can’t read their selection, well, tough noogies, I guess.

- The app insists on leaving 25% of the screen as white space. You can’t expand text into it, it’s just wasted. They are forcing their aesthetics over usability, and that’s just silly.

- Ads, though. Ads are allowed to use as much of the screen as they like. 🙄

So, obviously, if you’re not their target demographic, then they don’t care about whether or not you can easily read their content.