Washington Post 12+

No matter your personal slant of politics the Washington Post is a consistent source of quality and credible journalism. It is said that “Information is power” truthfully I see information from quality journalism as a both a compass and a mirror of sorts. Our mission in this life is to “know thy self”. If you consider how the world is connected than this information pertains to you directly, read the Post, be informed, make sense of our times so you can navigate both yourself and contribute direction in your communities effectively. In no free democratic world should we ever have only one source of news; so have a few but make sure they are credible and quality, make sure your news sources care and stand up for truth. We should all take notice however the trend for massive corporations to wield cash with purposes of their own benefit. I doubt it is lost on anybody that Amazons, Jeff Bezos now owns the Washington Post and what implications this delivers. Because of our times It has now become imperative to know who owns what news outlet, to then compare and contrast; between the lines you will find the truth. But make no doubt about it hold the Washington Post as a top shelf source of information. Good luck to us all as we desperately need a quality compass.

My biggest complaint with this app is the confusing way commenting works. If you want to see a reply to a comment that is very far down a chain, you go to a shortened version of the chain. This is fine, but if you try to go back, it takes you to the top of the entire comment section. If you want to look at your own comments, you have to open another article’s comment section, hit my profile, then tap your comment…which opens another article that you have to scroll back down to the comment section, hit my profile, then your comment and THEN you can see your comment. It won’t just take you directly to your comment from a profile page or something like any other app. You also can’t delete your own comments, which seems like a bad choice on a news app. I also have an issue where it logs me out whenever I open the app, but opening and closing the comment section fixes it.

Outside of the comment section, many of the longer read articles aren’t formatted properly for the app. I just saw an article that had important information showing up as white text on a white background for example.
The search function is also pretty useless. Trying to search by keyword will give you stuff from months ago instead of recent articles. Finally, the ads really need better screening. It’s all “5 Quick Tips to Reverse Aging” type clickbait with nasty pictures.

I use both the digital version and the soon to be replaced print versions of the wapo apps. With what is available in the most recent versions of the digital app, I fear that many of the features of the print app will be lost in the upcoming move to a single app.
Two of these features are: control over which section are downloaded when the app opens and the ability to change pages with a simple touch instead of a swipe. At home, with excellent internet speed, choosing which sections to download is not critical. However, when travelling and at the mercy of a hotel’s slow speeds, it does become very important. I have had cases where it took over 15 minutes to download a single section. The touch vs. swipe may seem insignificant to some but if you must work with one hand while holding your iPad having the ability to turn the page with a simple touch is important. I hope the Post keeps these and the other print addition features when they finally retire the dedicated print app.