Star Tribune 12+

I enjoy the Strib, but unfortunately this is a bad app that doesn’t do the paper justice. The layout is fine, but the app has severe operational issues. After about 30 seconds of use, it grows increasingly sluggish, so scrolling becomes like pulling taffy, and if you select an article it will struggle for 15 seconds before it finally manages to get it open. The longer you keep the app open, the worse the sluggishness becomes. It’s very much like walking through mud. You have to close the app and then re-open it, every minute or so. Not a good experience. These problems have become especially bad since early May, 2020.

The old app was awful. The new app is awful too, just in different ways. There are two major problems. One is that it is way too sensitive to touch. When you are scrolling through the screen it takes you to articles that you happened to lightly press on when scrolling. You have to keep your touches to the narrow margins on the sides if you don’t want the app to open up articles. That is not practical.

The second problem, and the bigger one, is related to the first. If you happen to touch a photo when scrolling, it opens the photo up and then you can’t close it. The only way to get out is to force quit the app and start all over again. These are problems that any minimum amount of testing should have caught.

Another issue just came to mind. Having no photos in the obituary section is a huge step back. I look first at the photos, not the names. I don’t even bother looking at that section now.

I cannot understand why, after years of development, this app continues to be one of the buggiest and annoying apps I have on my iPad. Constantly freezes, cannot scroll smoothly, crashes, and shows old old news on the front page (home) feed. I would like to be able to scroll through the front page without constant freezing which often results in accidental fat fingers selection of a photo or ad that takes you away from the story. I have the fastest internet you can buy so don’t blame this issue on Wifi signal issues. And I don’t want to see a story I read a week and a half ago on the front page (here’s a tip-it’s not news anymore and this isn’t a monthly magazine). Especially frustrating when paying for this service. I want desperately to support the local newspaper but if this app doesn’t improve soon I may have to rely on local tv station apps.