Today was the first day I utilized the new online state journal. What a setback! I utilize my iPad to read the daily paper as a sidenote. Where once you are able to click on an article, and it would be right there on the side to read in full without turning Pages. The new addition is somewhat similar, but not at a font that’s conducive to elderly people. In trying to expand an article you can’t get it centered, which is also annoying. A few other remarks is the fact that in this setting, I used to be able to have my time/clock on top of the newspaper and it would show me what time it was your new edition blocks that feature. As far as index, it does not include the obituaries /sports/ local news as a one click. Not exactly user-friendly! Looking at the sports television schedule is major work trying to get it to enlarge so you can see the whole thing. Also very annoying. We used to share articles with my family who lived in Madison at one time and while I can still do that it’s just not as easy one click to do it. I’m very disappointed in the new set up. Given the choice, I would take your old format every day of the week, which is when I read your paper! Please put me in the frustrated column.

7 months ago, JayCeeDeeSon

Serious downgrade from previous version

I left my original review in early January. Now, it’s mid February, and things haven’t materially improved. It seems like they put attention into constructing a slick looking, webpage-like homepage, but the e-edition is still a mess. Inconsistent behavior when you tap an article; many articles not available in page reader format; page “index“ more limited than before, including not being organized by section; navigation buttons too close together, so it’s easy to hit the wrong one…. I want to support local journalism, but the frustration involved in reading the paper is starting to make me question why I subscribe. ——- Just want to lend my voice to those complaining about this new version in the hopes that the newspaper will remedy the situation promptly. I found the previous e-edition app a pleasure to use. This one much less so. The biggest issue for me is that many articles are not available in the easier-to-read page reader format. But also, glitches like unreliable close window buttons and sometimes the wrong article—could be another article from today’s paper or an article from a previous edition—being pulled up mar the reading experience. Overall the navigation feels clumsy, even though for the most part it works the same as the previous app. A very noticeable downgrade from the previous app and truly disappointing.

5 months ago, rising to the top-111111

Terrible app. Previous version worked much better.

I use this app to read the Wisconsin State Journal on my 7th Generation iPad. I don’t understand why the company replaced the previous version of the app with this version. This app is SLOW, BUGGY, and PAINFUL to use. The pages frequently freeze or don’t respond to your finger movements when using the zoom feature. The previous version worked well and using it was a positive user experience. Using this version is painful and frustrating and is a significant downgrade from the previous version. Whoever decided to implement this version of the app should be fired. It’s as if no one at the company stress tested this version of the app before deciding to implement it. Incompetence is broad and deep at the company that owns the paper. Please be brave, make the right decision and bring back the previous version of the app. Thank you.

2 months ago, Nicktown

Worst newspaper app I've ever used

Whoever made the decision to go from the old app to this one should be fired. The old was easy to use and consistent with other Gannett news outlets e-editions. Without notice and no communication with readers, the old app stops working in December 2022 and readers (who pay for subscriptions) are forced to use this garbage. Glitchy, very poor user functionality, cumbersome...absolutely horrible. And there has been plenty of time to get this fixed. At a time when every business is improving the on line experience for readers, the Wisconsin State Journal made the decision to go back in time. Next they'll come up with the novel idea of printing the news on paper and delivering it to our door every morning...

9 months ago, T1LJ6

Why did they switch from old app?

The old app worked just fine. But all of a sudden the old app stopped working for me late December 2022 and I realized I needed to download this instead. However, this app doesn’t allow you to click an article to read the entire text separately from the page view. Any article you want to read you have to zoom in to read it and scroll to the next page where the rest of the article is. This is a huge step down for the daily reader. I have no idea what they were thinking, taking a decent app with good reviews and making it several times worse with this new app. Ugh!

8 months ago, Frustrated from afar

Hate it

I can’t comprehend how someone thought this app is an improvement over the previous one. Newspapers are expensive to print and distribute and not good for the environment. The future of newspapers rests on their ability to move to digital. The app is a big FAIL! It freezes up and is slow when it does work. It is inconsistent in how it presents the articles you click on. The old app allowed you to jump to sections. With this app you need to call up “Pages” then select which page you want to go to. Frustrating at best and a giant, frustrating waste of time. Fix it or lose another subscriber.

8 months ago, BogenBlitz

Garbage, Unless You Have a New iPad

If this isn’t fixed soon, I’m cancelling my subscription. The app is complete and utter garbage. It locks up. It’s slow. The interface is unintuitive. What a mess. It’s stunning to see the old app tossed in favor of something that is utterly useless. An incomprehensible change for the worse. Wow. UPDATE: We just bought a new iPad and the app works very well with a 10th generation iPad. I added two stars, but I am still rating it 3 stars as we shouldn’t be beholden to the latest tech to read our newspaper.

9 months ago, Couldn't be much better.

Review

Absolutely horrible. Doesn’t work when you click on the suggested sign in box. Can’t switch sections. Who thought of this ————show? It will not save my password so each time I want to check for updates I have to sign in. Of course that doesn’t always work. Some times it says my password is invalid. I can’t figure out what was wrong with the previous system. BTW, I called for help and after being on hold for 20 minutes I decided to leave a request for a call back. That was 28 hrs. ago and still haven’t heard from anyone. The ————-show continues on.

8 months ago, Chriswhal

Buggy app

I have a new iPad and this app is still slow when I pinch-zoom on articles. Some articles are missing the blue triangle to tap on to open on side view. App is frustrating and clunky to use. Now I tap on the app’s Download icon to download the full edition to pdf, and open it in a different app to read. Easier to read the papers as a flat pdf file and pinch-zoom on articles. During the Download process, I learned to keep my finger pressed on the View PDF button until another menu appeared, and I then tap Share and select my pdf reader app to open the file in.

8 months ago, Fluffy bunny 12

Horrible App

Your previous WSJ E-edition worked perfectly. You then discontinued that app and made everyone migrate to this app at a higher subscription cost. The new app is horrible. Articles many times doesn’t open so they can be read. Navigation is clunky. The time at the top is blocked. What is wrong with your company? You run a newspaper and the whole point is to have people read your paper so you can receive subscription payments and advertiser revenue. By the way you also cancelled my WSJ E-edition subscription half way through without a refund or credit for the unused period.

8 months ago, SunnyD2023

Extremely Disappointed

This is not a well thought out version of the old app. Difficult to navigate. The old app had sections you could could click on, the new app got rid of that feature. I’m thinking that someone thought this new app was an improvement, maybe next time they should try out the product on existing readers to get feedback before launching such a poor product. I would have given this app a NO star for a rating if it existed. In my opinion subscribers will find news out elsewhere, this was a failure on many levels

9 months ago, Hand didn't didn't

Rubbish service

So the app fails, and even after 7 days they haven’t contacted subscribers to explain, apologize, or compensate. I re-loaded the app as soon as it stopped working to no effect, so this new (and apparently buggy) one has just been added. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to spend two afternoons waiting for an operator to answer, and then to offer a flawed fix with no compensation for a wok of missed editions. Now all it does is kick me back to the login when I try to load the paper .Won’t be renewing for a company that thinks so little of its long-standing subscribers.

9 months ago, Gottodobetter

What a disappointment!

I really want to support my local newspaper but this makes it real hard. Screens are difficult to navigate and size on either phone or tablet. Pages do not fill screens on either device resulting in large white space boarders and very small print requiring resizing where top, bottom and sides of pages are lost. All this creates too much futzing to read the paper on what should be an easily accessible, customer friendly foremat. This one doesn’t cut it. Really disappointed. Go back to old app n drop this one.

8 months ago, xklgh/slkgj

Zero Stars is appropriate for this App

Absolutely the worst app I’ve ever used for online news. It’s impossible to scroll the paper page by page, unless you are willing to re- load pages dozens of times. Each time you zoom to read an article the app is at high risk of locking out the scrolling function and only allowing zooming in and out. This is only fixed by exiting the page and trying again. It’s very annoying and slow to get through the paper this way.

4 years ago, avm17

Annoying constant sports updates

I wish there was a way to turn off JUST notifications for sports news. The constant frequency of sports notifications is so annoying. I like getting updates for breaking news—international, national and local, but I don’t consider every single Badger or Packer Bit of Gossip worthy of having my phone ding me many times a day. But if I turn off notifications, I won’t hear of the important happenings near Madison or in Wisconsin. Dilemma.

4 months ago, ConnorKA

Poorly Designed Erratic App

Clearly, there is a consensus that this is the bottom of the barrel of newspaper apps. They did make one small improvement by making the silly blue triangles at the upper right for each story more transparent so they no longer block the text, but why they did not eliminate them entirely is beyond me. Problems that continue: - it has to be manually stopped on my iPad so that I can get access to the latest edition. - it logs me off 1 or 2 times each week. Not a good way to keep subscribers.

9 months ago, Ill transplant

Awful

All I can say is this update is awful. The pages jump all over the screen, can’t believe this. I called customer service this morning, talked to someone from another country who said it would be fixed in an hour. Don’t know where she got her information. Have you ever heard the expression, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Received an email in the middle of the day on getting my morning paper. Check the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, they seem to have their act together. PRL

9 months ago, Daniel588!

Not good

I could not score less than one star, but would have. Stopped getting editions 12/28, not clear why. Without any notification old app no longer worked. Noticed popped up about new app when trying to self serve online. Deleted old app and downloaded new app and new app functionality is poor. Not just because it is change and new learning curve. Can’t navigate article to article page by page without having to do a bunch of extra steps.

7 months ago, NewsRev

App improved

I hated the app I was having to use in January. I would have given it a half star at most. The one I’m using now is so much better and I appreciate the changes. I was happy with the oldest app though and don’t know why it had to be changed. I wish I could share articles with family without having to send the whole page.

2 years ago, fhuhhgh

App doesn’t let you forward things

I have gotten an error message for the past 4 years when I tried to hit share to email or anything else so I was having to take screenshots of articles to be able to read them later. Beyond frustrating. The latest update to their app seems to have solved the issue but it shouldnt have taken that long. It’s a rag with a very leftist slant - irritating even to independents such as myself

5 years ago, TheD34n

The ability to login and remove ads is huge and wonderful. For those who complain about video ads, get a digital subscription, and you won't have to deal with them. No ads at all!

9 months ago, Vulcan6

Like a bad PDF reader

The WSJ had an alternate app that worked very well (the “e” edition), but apparently they stopped supporting it in favor of this one. This app doesn’t behave well and is very unpleasant to use. Page flips and zoom-ins are awkward and slow. You often end up zooming in on the wrong area and end up over-zooming when using simple pinch gestures. Bring support for the old “e” edition app back. I’m close to canceling my subscription if I have to fight with this app every day.

8 months ago, Jwpauly

Horrible app

I have tried to use this app for several weeks but it is not user friendly. It no longer allows you to click on an article to read through entirely. The sizing of print is wonky. It thinks you want to ‘clip’ every article. Since most of the articles are pulled off the web from other places and very few stories about local events, we are cancelling our subscription!

4 years ago, Knitter1961

Can’t find search function

I’m a paying subscriber to the print version of the paper and like to check the digital one sometimes for convenience. I recently noticed that the app doesn’t show a search function, which seems like a serious omission for a news app. I did report it to their dev team and got a nice response, so it should be addressed.

9 months ago, Apptlee

Always crashes, requires repeated annoying, unnecessary logins

I guess I’m done with the WI State Journal. The previous app worked fine, this on works not at all. We’re stuck with the nearly-as-buggy web version, now requiring a new login after two days use. Add to that Lee Publications’ latest effort to reduce content and limit access with the “Platinum” subscription level, and this reader questions whether it’s worth it at all.

5 months ago, Buckloid

I’m trying to think of a word more descriptive than HORRIBLE

Half of the articles do not expand in a separate window to allow for easier reading. Which articles? WTFKs. Slow loading, redundant article placement (articles appear more than once), some pages do not load and appear blank, some articles have blue borders than impede reading. Overall, a PP effort. The previous version was years ahead of this garbage

8 months ago, kdk*tune*addict

Super buggy

This app is very buggy. I have to restart it at least once every day when I read the paper because some crazy stuff is going on. Also please bring back the links for page numbers when articles are continued. That was so nice and made navigation easy in the old version. This one definitely needs work.

6 months ago, 40-year subscribers

Wisconsin State Journal

This app functions poorly. The recent “improvements” have made it worse. It does not work smoothly. Worse, one, or even more than one, edition, will not open at all, without uninstalling, and then reinstalling, the app. We find that it may work on one of our Apple devices but not on another. Please improve this app immediately. Your subscribers are not getting what they pay for.

8 months ago, 4sureBad

Terrible change

I have been using the e-edition app on my iPad for years. End of December it would no longer update to current edition. No notice given. When I called them, their solution was to view it in a browser. Browser version stinks. Very hard to view and read as display fluctuates. This new app is not an improvement. It acts just like the browser. Go back to what you had before.

9 months ago, Jeans Toshiba PC

Puzzle print links don’t work

My main purpose of having the newspaper is the puzzles; specifically the crossword and word search (no longer available). I need to print these to solve them but new e-edition does not let me print them; I click on print and nothing happens. I also cannot figure out how to get new editions; latest one available is December 28.

7 months ago, CalorieTrackerGirl

Latest version harder to read

Upgrades to the app are going in the wrong direction! Pages feature a big blue triangle in the upper right of each story/cartoon. This makes it hard to read the copy under the triangle. In the previous version the “Hide” option turned those triangles off but no more. Squinting at the screen to discern text behind the blue triangles does not build reader loyalty.

8 months ago, Morning News Reader

Poor Customer Service and Horrible New App

When I did not get the Wisconsin State Journal e-edition for four days, I made several calls during that time and after long waits was told the problem was being fixed. On the third call I was told to get the new app. It is horrible compared to the previous app. Hard to read. Clumsy to enlarge. Pages repeat. Games take up too many pages.

9 months ago, Dailybiker

Inferior e-edition, changed to the worse

Latest app is difficult to navigate and read on IPad. Poor control of font size, paging and article selection. It’s confused between controls on touch screen and menu selections. Tables are presented incompletely and difficult to read across. Overall catches up slowly to commands. Needs serious attention for prime time. Please correct or go back to previous app.

9 months ago, TomIowa

New 2023 App Stinks

The app is clunky. You can’t click on an article without the app loading a new stand alone page and often there is no copy to read, there is just the article photo. The newspaper addition is full of ads ( no problem) but there are now even more adds attached to all the views making the experience clunky. The old application was beautiful. This one stinks.

9 months ago, Dave7469

Awful!!!!

Too bad there isn’t a zero star option. The old app worked great. The new app doesn’t consistently open the story properly or might even be the wrong story. If changes aren’t made, I can’t continue to pay for such a poor experience. And the sad part is this is how people will want to consume content going forward, so really damaging their future.

8 months ago, JB3149

Major step backwards

I concur with all of these negative reviews. We received no warning about the change and now that I figured out what was going on, I’m very disappointed. I’m all for change, but this is a failure. I’m seriously considering dropping my subscription after decades of being a loyal reader. I hope WSJ goes back ( and let’s us know via communication).

9 months ago, Weinkerd

why did you change

They could have at least told us they were abandoning the old app which I discovered after a couple of frustrating weeks. After loading the new app I don’t like it. It is a step backwards missing several features I used. It is change without progress.

7 months ago, Windy664

New version is terrible

I read the Madison State Journal on an iPad. This update is a very painful experience. It is slow, often poor resolution and freezes often, especially around 6:00 am. The Journal charges a premium subscription price and this is not worth it. If it doesn’t improve soon, I am canceling.

5 years ago, lldandurand

What did you do!

The latest update is unpleasant at best. Photos to large and text to small while being oriented poorly. Doesn’t work properly on iPad. Looks like something developed for a child or someone with eyesight problems. Article list photos overwhelm the screen. I pay the $5 but still get plenty of unwanted ads.

9 months ago, to old to struggle

Extremely disappointing

This is really a big step backwards from the previous app! Trying to read individual articles in their entirety and in a larger font is totally frustrating. If this continues, I will be canceling my subscription. Life is too short to have to struggle to read a local newspaper.

9 months ago, grrnoone

Horrible

Please go back to the old app. This new one is awful. It lags 2-3 seconds each time you try to turn the page. You can’t navigate section by section and some of the sports pages show up behind other pages. Really annoying and frustrating app.

6 years ago, dahank

Great App

All the people complaining are using the free version. Pay $5 a month which also supports good journalism and you get more ads.

9 months ago, Going back to paper

Terrible New Version

I finally became a true believer in reading the State Journal online——until they came out with this new version. It is terrible. One star is too high a rating. Zero would be more appropriate. I’ll just have to get my news elsewhere now. What a waste of subscription money. PLEASE fix this terrible version.

9 months ago, FERGIE 2

New e-edition

Gotta ask if anyone took the trouble to troubleshoot this thing. I can get it started, but before long it goes off on its own and just does random stuff. Note: Not all of your subscribers are computer technicians. It is very frustrating to not be able to control size and positioning of text.

6 months ago, Koolagan

E-Edition

If I could give the latest version less than a one star rating I would. The current version is cumbersome and difficult to read. Is business so bad that they cannot afford to hire talent to straighten out this mess? The current version is appropriately priced at a dollar a week.

2 years ago, pertz1158

What happened

Recently my app goes to a black screen & the only way out is to close the app and start over. Anyone else notice this? I’ve uninstalled & reinstalled and it’s the same. Any suggestions for better app to use?

9 months ago, TKRAS

Miserable App

The old app worked fine. This one is not at all intuitive and functions inconsistently. Most often, articles do not open and cannot be read. In addition, sections of the paper that could be read with the old app now require a higher priced plan.

7 months ago, Tweettue

Worst e newspaper app ever

I hate this app. It is almost impossible to navigate. I get 3 other e newspapers and they are not as frustrating as this. Unfortunately, I paid for a year. I have no idea how to cancel. My account only allows for changing my password. What a joke. One star is too much.

9 months ago, Jefe8501

Bad App

This new version does not work well on my IPAD. Freezes up. Slow downloads. Does not download all pages on the page button which would allow me to go immediately to the pages I would like to go to. This is a downgrade not an upgrade.

9 months ago, Jim-not a fan

Disappointed

The “new” app makes reading the e edition of the paper painful. The old e edition app was much cleaner to navigate, all stories worked to select versus about half now that don’t work, and the app interrupts reading by making you log in multiple times.

Description

Your story lives in Madison. From reporting on the Badgers and all of your favorite teams to the news that matters most in your community, we cover it all. Get in-depth stories from the Madison area and beyond – including news, sports, opinion, obituaries, entertainment, and politics. Easily access the very latest news in an app built for you. Read, see, and hear exclusive commentary, stunning photography, video updates, and binge-worthy podcasts. Our app features: * Your Stories – personalize your experience by selecting the local news topics that matter most to you * Get notified – stay in the loop by selecting alerts for news, sports, weather, and more * Easy navigation – see all the latest local stories by simply swiping up/down, and left/right * Read stories your way – either in the News Feed or via the E-edition * Breaking news updates – top banners let you know what’s happening right now * Continue watching – pause a video and pick up where you left off across devices * Bookmark for later – save stories to enjoy at your leisure * Listen to articles – press the play button to listen instead * Customize your text size – make the content bigger or smaller in your profile settings * Weather where you are – hourly, 10-day forecasts, and frequent video updates Free to download. Subscribers enjoy unlimited access. https://madison.com/terms

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