Washington Post Reviews

WashingtonPost doesn’t show comments on the articles. So if you want to see the comments you click on the share to/open with button and click Chrome. But wait, that doesn’t allow you to open in Chrome. You can only bookmark or add it to a reading list. Why can’t you simply open it in Chrome, you ask? I was curious too! So I called their support phone number since there is no option for developer support or feedback and the “developer website” simply links to the newspaper homepage. At the 800 number I got a very nice lady overseas who did not understand my question. I asked for a supervisor who also didn’t understand and said I would have to “search for the article in a mobile browser.” So I called the 202 number and explained that I was a paying subscriber in Virginia and could I please speak to a DC/Virginia based person to ask a question and (now) make a complaint. I got a recording and left a voicemail. Instead of a call I got an email asking me to write what I wanted. I called the 202 back and explained to a nice lady in DC what happened and she said to email back requesting a call. I did so. As for writing what my problem is, I decided to go ahead and write that right here. Under a single star.

I subscribed to The Post over an hour ago and have spent most of my time since then trying to get signed in to WashingtonPost. When I open WashingtonPost and enter the email address on my WaPo account I get a pop-up telling me that I need to sign in on the website so that the site and WashingtonPost can share my info. The Boston Globe and The New York Times don’t ask me to jump through hoops like this, but okay.

When I sign in on this app dot com I receive an email telling me that a link has been sent to my email for one-click log in. Okay fine. I go to the email and click. It takes me back to the website and I’m all logged in. Then I go to WashingtonPost and - lather, rinse, repeat. I was able to log in to the website using my email and password on my laptop, but when I want back to my phone to give it a try - same stupid loop all over again.

I do not want to have to log in to a website on my phone. I want and need the convenience of an app. Apparently I’ll not get that here. I don’t currently have a personal laptop or desktop to use for this. I’m glad I got a good promo rate to subscribe. I won’t lose more than a few dollars for this month. I’ll be canceling once I hit “send” on this.

No question, WaPo is my go-to news source for All Things DC. It's profoundly satisfying to read well researched, trustworthy journalism in a day of claimed witch hunts and fake news.

So why does such a fine media outlet have such a crappy app? The navigation is awkward at best. Ads are often intrusive, disrupting reading. We subscribers get only partial versions of the print or browser-ready WaPo with the apps. Whole sections are missing, to say nothing of less popular articles. And there are no comments. WaPo comments are worth reading if only because some DC insider anonymously posts a news nugget from time to time. Many are thought provoking or witty or both.

WaPo's app developers have been aware of these issues with WashingtonPost for a long time-I mean years. WashingtonPost developers always promise fixes but seldom do apps change. It's jarring that journalism of WaPo's quality is delivered with the faulty, user hostile classic black or blue app. It's outrageous that WashingtonPost is unleashed in an unsuspecting world by WaPo publisher Jeff Bezos, the guy who practically invented seamless digital usability with his little ecommerce venture. Fix the problems, man. Deliver apps as good as the WaPo news reporting.

A recent article I had seen while scrolling WashingtonPost was no longer visible. I searched the subject’s name but only older articles appeared. I went on Google and found the WaPo article and that link brought me back to WashingtonPost . A frustrating work around and I’ve had to do this many times.
Also, sometimes certain stories linger on the home page for a few too many days.
And the Crossword sub-section frequently forgets my progress and I must restart a puzzle if I dare step away for too many minutes.
Those are tech issues which will likely continue to be disregarded (they’re a year old at least).
Content-wise, I would like to see more dissenting voices — throw rocks at the establishment and think critically and not as all one team. When one of your own reporters is blatantly hypocritical I shouldn’t have to go on Google to find (the thousands of) dissenting voices calling her out, this time with no self-critical WaPo links BTW.

I subscribe to both The NY Times and the Washington Post. It’s interesting to compare how the two papers use mobile apps to present their content. Each has its advantages, but I find that the Washington Post Classic app has a couple of significant deficiencies. On the plus side, the Washington Post is a more visually appealing and less cluttered presentation compared to the NY Times. But there are two behaviors that I find limit the usefulness of the Washington Post Classic app. First is the fact that it does not give any indication of stories that have already been read. The NY Times app, for example, dims to a fainter gray the headline text of stories that have been opened. Second, and most infuriating, is that the Washington Post Classic app seems incapable of remembering the reader’s position within WashingtonPost . Leave WashingtonPost to read a text message? When you return to the Washington Post app you’ll be returned to the story you were reading, but once leaving that you’re back at the top of the story list and forced to scroll and scroll to re-find where you were. This often happens even when you haven’t left WashingtonPost at all and simply close a story. (Note that I’m using a current generation iPad Pro.)

I’m just a WaPo digital basic lady, so maybe I don’t have all the options that I’ll now complain about. I am a full access New York Times subscriber, so I’ll make a bit of a comparison. I like NYT so much better because it is less jumbled up and the articles refresh at least daily (with breaking news at the top) so I don’t have to sort through all those articles I already read. On WaPo, the same articles are featured for a week at a time. On NYT, I choose my own view of favorite sections and I get the crossword, so there’s value in a full subscription.

I check the news like 10 times every day; I don’t want to see the old articles forever. It’s cool to have the WaPo print edition, but navigating it on a 5” screen isn’t easy. The writing is strong, and the WaPo is more gossipy on politics than the NYT (which I consider a good thing;). Plus I live in VA and it’s good to get that local flair. Still, I’m not looking at WaPo as much as I thought I would because of the article refresh problem, and because I can’t curate my view for my favorite sections.

Last thing, I do hesitate on the WaPo because Jeff Besos owns it. One guy shouldn’t own the world and its news.

For the last week, I have been plagued with a video ad for a personnel service that begins talking shortly after I start reading an article. I can't find any way to turn it off and it is irritating and intrusive. Am getting to the point of cancelling my subscription if it doesn't stop.
Update, it is now broadcasting this same talking ad every single time I try to read an article. I am regretfully canceling my subscription. I will check back in a couple months to see if this has been fixed, but for now, can't stand it.
Another update. I did cancel, but like the post so much, I regretted it and renewed the next day. Now I am canceling again. Every single time I tap on an article to read it, a voice blares, “For the past 25 years, PNP personnel services...” I did write to the help desk, and got back an email that did not resolve the problem.
Nobody else has complained about this, which leaves me wondering why I have been so blessed with the attentions of PNP personnel services. I’ve tried easy solutions, but no setting addresses it. If anybody has any ideas, I’d be happy to try them. I love the Post, but have come to hate PNP personnel services more.

The other day I noticed on a couple media bias graphs that the WP was dead center with the highest amount of original content. As someone who doesn’t fit in either political party I have been longing for a news source that works hard to see both sides, like I do. So, when I saw the graphs I decided to order a subscription at a promo price that seemed generous. The first two days I read as much as I could and seemed to be getting what I had hoped for. Then yesterday I opened WashingtonPost and was dismayed at what I saw yesterday. Four out of the six featured pieces were obviously left leaning on the issues of state rights, abortion, and the use of presidential power (9/5/21). Were the other two right leaning to at least attempt to give a little balance? No, they were not. They were about items that didn’t have a political impact.
I’m going to give the Post a couple more weeks to try to prove me wrong on this, but I’m not all that hopeful. Has the news media swung so far left in general that the Post just looks centrist by comparison?

I love the way WashingtonPost is arranged. But I do have a complaint about the search feature. I searched for articles on Indonesia and got several hits from a couple of weeks ago. When I attempted to click on the links the only place they sent me was back to the front page of the current day.

I’ve been using WashingtonPost on both iPhone and iPad and it continues too a good way too navigate and read the paper on these devices. One thing has changed with the latest update. Previously, when opening articles from the WaPo email news digest I receive several times a day, it would open them in the browser and not WashingtonPost , which was fine. The browser would have the little arrow in the upper left corner to get back to the email app to continue going through the list of articles. Now when clicking on a link in the email WaPo digest, it opens the browser and from the browser offers to view the article in WashingtonPost . After clicking to open WashingtonPost , the return arrow lead back to the browser, not the email app. There is an unneeded clunky browser step in the middle. A fix to WashingtonPost to allow moving back and forth between the email digest and WashingtonPost would be a great feature in an upcoming release (which would make it operate as seamlessly as The NY Times app). Also when clicking on a link in the email digest when there are no open windows already open, it often jumps to the browser but then nothing happens.

Also, oddly, from scrolling through the reviews, I appears the vast majority are about the WaPo itself and have nothing to do with the actual WaPo app.

This is the best of the three apps that the Washington Post has out there. The print version is exactly what it sounds like; nothing wrong with it, but I get tired of zooming in and having to find the continuation of the article. The newest app has a slick design, so it looks very current, but it is terrible to use. WashingtonPost is the ‘middle’ one; it is a continuation of the first digital-native app they came up with, and although it isn’t super pretty, it has a nice display of multiple articles, so you can decide what you want to read rather than having one particular article pushed on you. The articles read cleanly, and the graphics are well incorporated. Major problems with it include the fact that even for subscribers some of the advertising — especially in videos — is intrusive, links sometimes connect to paywalled content, and, most importantly, if you are mid-article and leave WashingtonPost , when you restart it, it resets to the front page. Sometimes it can be quite difficult to relocate the article that you were reading previously. Better reading apps (Kindle, Apple Books, etc.) reopen to what you were previously reading and give you the choice when you want to return to the top-level directory.

Our Founding Father’s created a government that was is supposedly designed with “Checks and Balances.” What they did not plan on was that moment when one of those branches lacks the integrity or courage to executed their solemn oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Sadly, that is where we find ourselves at this moment. The WP and others in MSM - particularly print media - have courageously stepped in to fill the breech to bravely defend the Rule of Law, and the concept of Human Decency our forefathers valued so much. So far, their reward - to come under an attack that seems to get stronger everyday. At some point history will show us who were the heroes and who were the villains of this moment in our journey. No doubt - America’s Free Press will be among those heroes. My hope is that ALL of America comes to that realization soon. I’m not sure we will ever truly appreciate the great patriotic service these journalist have performed for our nation.

We hear the term Patriot being thrown around by blow hearts that want to twist the information, they believe if they speak their falsehoods numerous times that people will believe their narrative is the truth. But in reality they do not have facts or truth. The Post and it’s journalists have verified facts that speak truth to power. Journalists at the Post are professionals and not two bit imposters that fill present day public positions. They understand that any false information not varieties would be career ending. The Post’s Journalist are our true PATRIOTS! Those that tell the true story fear reporting falsehoods. Those that tell falsehoods have no fear of telling falsehoods because their only survival is to bend the truth to their universe, they fill if you say unverified falsehoods enough there must be some truth in what they say. Free journalism verified is what helps keep are lives free!

Having watched numerous videos of the insurrection on January 6, I was still not prepared for the horrors this article portrayed regarding the experience of the DC officers who were trying to hold the West Terrace door. The vivid and detailed accounts were much more profound and heartbreaking than the videos could ever convey. I have no idea what it was like for these police officers, however, in my eyes they are all heroes. I was struck by the betrayal of these officers by President Trump. Through sheer strength and determination, these officers tried to hold the door and keep the insurrection from spilling into the Capital building. I am amazed and grateful we did not lose more police officers during the insurrection. While losing one officer is too many, from this written account, it is clear we could’ve lost more due to the president’s inaction. Thank you for this incredibly vivid account of what these officers endured.

I was, since the age of FIVE, when I learned how to read well, an avid reader (seriously!) of anything except sports, in the New York Times.
Fast forward to the ripe old age of 66, and slowly but steadily, since 2016, when the presidential election was lost to a would-be despot (will-be?), I gravitated toward the Washington Post. Recently, I look the leap, and I am now a subscriber to the Washington Post. As of now, I am an avid supporter of this fine newspaper, and even when I know an article I am about to read is one I will find utterly awful because of the subject (such as racial bigotry and Trumps’s constant tweeting random/or lies), I KNOW I will be reading what MUST be read for the sake of TRUTH, not “fake news” or “alternative facts”.
The Washington Post simply IS to me what the NEW YORK TIMES was- superb journalism without the backsliding. I couldn’t be happier with my first choice in news readership!

My reading of the Post goes back to Watergate when it was all alone in reporting on the scandal against fierce opposition from the government lead by Nixon. So I trust the Post’s reporting.
Another reason I like reading the Post is the great literary style of it’s writing. Sometimes I reread a sentence because it is so well written. Even straight news reporting often has interesting phrases. I really enjoy Martin Weil’s weather writing. Sometimes it’s almost poetic. And I’ve watched a Robin Given (can’t spell last name) advance from writing about fashion to interesting and timely commentary on important current events. I also enjoy seeing the variety of different ethnic names of the writers of various news stories This is a very American trait that I am dismayed to see under attack.
So keep up the good work and I’ll keep reading.
PS Thete are several other columnists I regularly read but don’t have time to list them

As a born and bred New Yorker from the forties, now retired in Florida, I escaped the cold with only one source of print media, The Times. I continue to read it in digital form and the machinations of New York life remain interesting to me. A like minded friend whom I met upon settling into Palm Beach County alerted me to the benefits of reading The Post. It wasn’t as if I didn’t know of its existence. Anyone who lived through the Watergate era had to be impressed by the quality of investigative reporting that it produced. I have been reading it daily for the last five years. It has become the foundation of my national news ever since. The quality of reporting is excellent, appropriately focused and it certainly disdains sensationalism. During this past year of COVID-19 and the election I stay in touch with breaking news throughout the day. Thank you for asking for my opinion and for producing such a high quality publication.
Respectfull, David Eidelman.

I retired from USPS in 2017. The Post Office was created during the birth of our nation. It was created as a Service for our nation not a business entity. That was changed under a Republican Administration in 1972. It was was made a quasi government enterprise to make a profit. In which it did. The government took their profits for many years. Then in another Republican Administration in 2007 made sure the Usps was saddled with paying forward health expanses and pensions so far ahead that people not born yet will have the pensions and health care funded. No other government entity has this burden. This was done to hurry the break up of the Usps so it can be pickup by private companies.
My know the history and the job,,I know the Usps. I have always considered the Usps a Service to the American people not a business . It should not be saddled with fiscal burdens to destroy it but it must be returned to what the founding fathers wanted,,to be a Service to the American people.

Thanks BW Cox

Wa Post does a very professional job of researching their articles. I appreciate the level of professionalism in journalism. It would be interesting to me to read more articles in regards to political issues of why the differences in political views. What are the reasons why some people want to believe in conspiracy theories. Why some highly educated people either buy into them, or just use them for their own aims. Also it would be interesting to see articles that explain the basic core beliefs of republicans vs Democrats, and how those beliefs are taken to extremes. We are in a time where we don’t want to ask our families or neighbors about their beliefs because they are just that, their beliefs and it does not provide any goodwill to question another’s beliefs, so if we can read about a reporters conversation with different views and maybe question their thoughts that may not make sense to some, that could be helpful.
Thanks for great journalism!

Since the update today WashingtonPost does not open/simply crashes every time I attempt to open it. Is that one of the exclusive new tools? Just wondering....

When I attempted to open the updated app, WashingtonPost would show the opening screen (grey page with “Washington Post” in the center of the screen). This remained for roughly thirty seconds after which WashingtonPost would suddenly close. When double-clicking on the iPhone home button following the crash, a “ghost image” of a page from a Washington Post article that I last read before the update would show as one of the open apps. I assume—but cannot say with certainty—that this article was open when WashingtonPost updated.

In order to resolve the situation, I deleted and then re-downloaded the update app. After signing into my Washington Post account via the reinstalled app, I successfully regained access to WashingtonPost /Washington Post content. I’ve not encountered further issues with the updated app since that time.

I grew up at a time when mid sized cities had quality local papers and televised news. Nationally there were three major networks that provided political balance and maintained actual journalists to report and anchor. Another commonality, what these sources provided was information edited with integrity and published with an attempt to provide factual reports.

Today, CNN does retain some of that character and the actual news segments of NBC, ABC, CBS, and MSNBC appear to do the same. I gather that lately even Fox does that .occasionally . However, financial stresses and the internet with its information flow has led to a lot of shrinkage - and the reduction of reliable sources of valid, factual news. The Washington Post is one of the few to come close to maintaining journalistic standards in reporting and editing. I appreciate this paper and the other media sources and employees who try to keep a decent news flow in our Country.

Very stable, aesthetics are pleasing (especially compared to the other WaPo app), and the alerts are relevant. WaPo itself is among the great papers of our time following the Bezos purchase, and it's the only outlet I personally pay for a subscription to access.

My only suggestion would be to incorporate the comment section into WashingtonPost . Right now, I can only read and write comments using my phone's web browser. At a minimum, WashingtonPost could include a link at the end of each article that would open the article's comments in Safari or whatever default browser you may have. Still, the ideal would be to have the comment section within WashingtonPost itself to make for a more seamless experience.

Keep it up WaPo! We appreciate your dogged reporting in this age of "alternative facts" and outright misinformation.

I give the New York Times 4 stars. I wish I could give them five but in the past two decades or so they have backed away from genuine journalism and participated instead in “bothsideism” which is not journalism. It is reporting truth on one side and lies and propaganda on the other. No ethical journalist would provide a platform for propaganda and lies without labeling it propaganda and lies. Sadly, the NYT believes reporting both sides and giving equal weight and validity to both sides equals responsible journalism. It does not. The fourth estates sole purpose is to inform with facts and truth - not to print lies. This leads down the road to tyranny. Sadly the New York Times has not yet grasped the historical fact that when tyranny comes one of the first institutions terminated are the press. Pay attention NYT - your “both sides” reporting may be the cause of your demise.

“We?” I’m not your “we,” Ruth. You say what Barr said was unforgivable. I can forgive her and have some sympathy to boot. She said something dumb, without forethought, she hasn’t killed anyone. Now, deservedly, she’s been humiliated, raked over the coals in front of our nation. I think she got hers. As for Dee, she used an ‘offensive’ word. In America that’s okay. The Donald used the exact same word and got elected President. So we should humiliate and destroy her after the Trump precedent was set and half the nation was okay with it? Who do you think you are? You need to calm down and focus. The so-called “Outrage Machine’ has landed right in your lap and you are obviously ready to fuel it up so you can use your power to jump on the ‘Enemy’ because what they’ve done, as you’ve righteously judged, is unforgivable. “We” have all decided, as you have so passionately argued in your special column, that Dee like Barr, should burn too. Bring the family!

I love the convenience of WashingtonPost even though I have news aggregators for my favorite topics. On WashingtonPost, the Washington Post stands alone because, for me, it is special. I trust it. Sometimes I want to skip the rest and just see what The Post has to say about something.

Sometimes, I receive articles before the stories come out in print and that’s fun for me. But I also enjoy searching through historical archive stories that evolved over time.

I frequently compare WAPO’s perspective with that of papers and topical magazines in the U.S. and abroad. WashingtonPost makes it easier.

The Post verifies it’s breaking stories. So reading the paper via WashingtonPost gives me deep insight into both fools gold and fact-based stories that arise in other media throughout the day,

The Washington Post app gives me many entertaining and informative articles to easily share with my friends on social media. I also confidently reference articles at the Post when I write online stories on topics that the general public might find interesting..

In short, I appreciate WAPO’s in-depth, longitudinal stories, award-winning research and unique, fact-checked perspective. I like having it with me all day long on my phone.

This is more of a profound, heart-felt thank you to the hard-working, dedicated journalists and all the staff of the Washington Post for being our light in the darkness as our nation struggles to steer our democracy out of the quagmire of Trump and all he represents. I don’t know where we would be or how our democracy would survive without your efforts on behalf of truth and justice. I start and end each day with you, and trust I will find the answers we all are seeking in your stories. I’d also like to thank the families of your journalists and all the staff of the Washington Post for their sacrifice of time and family life that allow these pieces to be written and to become lifelines for us all. We and our country are in your debt. Thank You!
Renee A. Huss, Ph.D., St. Louis, Missouri

Amazing app, very readable and high quality well-sourced journalism. Some time recently I haven’t been receiving any notifications even though I’m subscribed to most popular/politics etc. I toggled every button on/off and did the same in the iPhone notifications options for WaPo. I don’t think this is a phone issue because my WSJ alerts have still been working fine. Also last comment is that I like the WSJ app’s long home page where I can basically scroll through 40 or so articles and get caught up. The same process in the WaPo app cuts off much more quickly, just some food for thought for the developers. I’ll finally say that I like that alerts are compiled in a list vs. disappearing in the WSJ app.

We are living in very strange times. The President of the United States has stated he knows more about science than his scientists, more about intelligence than the CIA, more about justice than the Justice Department. He takes the word of foreign dictators and historic enemies of the United States over his own advisors. If any of this is pointed out, he describes the report as “fake news” and mainstream journalism as “the Enemy of the People”.

Meanwhile, much of the rest of the world landed in Bedlam as well. Great Britain is cutting ties with the Continent in a manner apparently designed to cause the greatest harm to its own citizens. France is seething with protesters wearing yellow traffic vests. Venezuela’s badly run leftist government is being overthrown, possible by a US Government supported coup (shades of Salvador Allende).

And the globe continues to warm, weather continues to harshen, and the seas continue to rise.

The only way we have a clue about all this, the only way that we have any idea of what’s happening to our government and our world, is through good, honest journalism. The Washington Post in one of the nation’s finest purveyors of the truth, at a time we desperately need it.

Truth dies in darkness.

Love all your reliable confirmed legitimate news coverage. Appreciate the emails updates. Thank you Press! If it wasn’t for you we would be headed for a dictatorship no doubt. Thank God we have the Press, thank the Press! I think at this point in American history we should have a national holiday entitled National Free Press Day! Seriously. Thank you all you reporters for doing what you do Day in and day out, our great nation depends on you MORE THAN EVER! I get most of my news online and not Facebook or Twitter. I will never have a Facebook account because I will never want my political actions based on money served up by parties opposed to true democratic principles. That being said once again I congratulate you for all you are doing for America. Thank you!