Strange app—unreadable text, no customization, and subscription is pricey!

Love the Post, hate the app!

The interface is horrendous—lots of photos combined with tiny text. You get sliding stories left and right that don’t stop, don’t fall into place. Their text is small and, in that view, cannot be changed. There are only two stories shown at a time. No up and down list there of a set of headlines.

The two-column, side-by-side stories format simply doesn’t work—maybe it’s OK on a LARGE iPad Pro turned sideways, but on an iPad mini it’s two columns of tiny text.

Making matters worse, the stories are slow to load.

The section bar across the top is good— a carry over from the Classic apps. But the reader cannot customize them! We’re stuck with whichever sections the Post deemed important. Poor design.

There is a pull down list for sections on the left, but the headlines are in small text, too. And, again, no customization.

As one scrolls through the sections there, the headlines list changes quickly, so it’s visually a distracting mess.

TIPS

Double-tap a story for it to expand full-screen. Scroll down to read. Then, double-tap again to return to two column story format. How much better it would have been if that took us to a list of headlines with small photos and the first sentence or two of each story.

It also does NOT bring over SAVED stories from the other apps (classic or Newsstand).

PRICING

Really? $15/month. You have to be kidding us! The New York Times comes in at $8 and The Guardian gives you *six* months for $15. The Post has good content, but this app is way overpriced, especially as it doesn’t give you everything!

Keep in mind that this is “Essentials” Washington Post app—i.e., a streamlined version of it, without such things as comics, particular sections, columnists, etc. You can search for a columnist or a section you know, but can’t make it permanently part of the app! What else is missing? You’ll have to rummage and see, but calling it “Essentials” is the tip-off.

The app developers nailed it with the Classic app. This “new and improved”, stripped down, hard-to-read app doesn’t cut it.

AstroPaul about Washington Post Select