OREGONLIVE.COM Reviews

by Jenny Alpha

As a paid subscriber to oregonlive, I downloaded OREGONLIVECOM hoping it would help me get around the issues I have on the oregonlive website of being asked to sign in for EVERY subscriber exclusive story (even when I’m already signed into the website). No such luck. Subscriber exclusives in OREGONLIVECOM (while signed in) more often than not, still prompt me to sign in, in an endless loop, until I just give up, decide not to read the story, and move on. I appreciate journalism and want to pay to help keep something I value afloat, but more than that, I just want it to work and not be a huge hassle. What’s the point of paying for content if I still can’t access said paid content? Also, the social SSO sprites on the sign-in pop-ups (on both the website and app) are misaligned so it’s difficult to know which icon to click on to sign in with those social SSO accounts. I’ve also tried creating a dedicated login and password for the site instead of social SSO and still get the endless sign in prompts. I’ve emailed your support about this issue on the website in the past as well. It’s incredibly frustrating that this is still happening months later on both platforms.

by Phonebird99

I love the Oregonian overall and encourage people to support it. I’m a paid subscriber.

What I don’t love is that to see content I’ve paid for, OREGONLIVECOM requires me to log in constantly. Each time I select “remember me” but this feels like a cruel joke to offer and not come through on. I rarely go through a day where OREGONLIVECOM doesn’t force me to prove yet again that I have paid to see subscriber content. Sometimes it occurs more than once in a day.

I have reached out to tech support twice but nothing changed. Tech support communication was also poor.

by Bjohnson007

If you have one underpaid and overworked web person, I apologize. But if this is how you represent a *former* Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper in this fine city, well shame. I subscribe to a half dozen newspapers and, by comparison, fall asleep every single time I click on yours. The design is old and flaccid but what really gets me is that you appear to chase breaking news with the enthusiasm of a slug. Your shrinking print paper is a joke but not nearly as much as your web *presence.* I get it, you don’t care and it really shows.

by MaskedKumquat

Video ads will play (with sound) when you scroll past them. This prevents one from listening to music or other content while reading their news. Other news apps let you disable auto play.

Fix this disrespectful feature, and I will install OREGONLIVECOM again. Meanwhile I’ll use a browser with an ad blocker enabled to access your site; I am sure the advertisers prefer that outcome, right?

by Linda Sue 2020

Your Covid -19 stories lack facts. The headlines are used to spread panic. The total diagnosed or died from this virus will always go up. It is impossible for it to go down. So let’s concentrate on daily numbers and the curve. Also how many people are diagnosed or die from the flu in recent past years. I think actual factual numbers. Stories that tell us things like has a perfectly healthy person with no known health history died from this virus? Well all heard about the governor of Connecticut talking about the baby dying from corona when in fact the medical examiner said there is many tests that need to be ran and may take weeks to determine the true cause of death. How can you all make the determination before seeing autopsy reports? Thank you for your time.

by Pdxmom2

As a digital subscriber, I read the Oregonian every day, but am not able to access subscriber stories reliably with OREGONLIVECOM . I’ve talked with support, deleted and reinstalled OREGONLIVECOM repeatedly, restored my purchase. At best, I can read one story before it kicks me out and I have to start all over again. Please fix OREGONLIVECOM . I also dislike the story list view—I want a curated front page that highlights the most important stories instead of a time-based feed.

by Doesn't Play Well With Others

Based on the news feed it seems the only thing Oregonians care about are dear Abby columns, the top ten houses for sale with finished basements, and opinion columns. Most of the news are a police blog- of arrests, and fires. There are occasional news stories of value, but too few. I am repeatedly disappointed by my sporadic visits to OREGONLIVECOM . I gave it two stars to give the web designers credit for functionality and the ability to research old articles- from when there was robust news reporting.

by LarryKHIO

I was wondering why my battery would suddenly die, and then checked the battery monitor. I had seven minutes of screen time and seven hours 58 minutes of background time. That’s too much background activity. I’m assuming it’s their ads tracking my location or something of that nature.

I like checking local news, but it’s not all that great of an app, there are a lot of ads, and the battery thing is a real problem.

by TyroneandMichelle

For all the tech talent in Portland, I can’t believe how basic OREGONLIVECOM is. The design and user experience is simply horrible. There is no front page landing design and all the articles appear as thumbnails next to adds that have the same format. For the largest newspaper in Oregon and when most people read their news digitally, you can do better.

by Paperfldr

When I click on a notification and am taken to OREGONLIVECOM to read the article, I am unable to close the article to read anything else in OREGONLIVECOM . I have to close OREGONLIVECOM & reopen it to read another article. And don’t try to find anything useful with the search function. Use a web browser instead of OREGONLIVECOM!

by Sandraj.

Have had the OregonLive app on my IPad for several years. A useful source of news. However, in the past week or so, it no longer will open. When I click on the OregonLive icon, within about 10 seconds, I’m taken back to my initial screen page. Have closed OREGONLIVECOM out/deleted it and restarted it from iCloud several times now. Still no luck. This all started just after your redesign. What do you suggest to allow me to get back the Oregon Live on my iPad? Rating would have been higher, but for this recent glitch.

by Krs Architect

I like format and content, but since they added subscriber content only articles it NEVER remembers I am a paying customer and I just logged in so I have to log in for every subscriber article. Doesn’t seem to remember me and this happens on iPhone and iPad. The fact it doesn’t have Face ID along-in doesn’t help. Arrrrrrrgh!

by MESSY_S.E.'s_K-Kru_6211

I do love the fact that OREGONLIVECOM is so informative and very much locally sourced, but I think it’s just as bad as good that it sends me updates at horribly early and inconvenient times. Change that fact and I’d give OREGONLIVECOM a five star all day long. I’ve also been thinking about how much I loved turning the page of a crisp Oregonian newspaper. That’s the worst part of the new age of information c I believe what I read here on OregonLive 100%, and we all can admit it is so hard to trust any of the big news channels. Stumptown until the grave!!!

by Midsantiam

They replaced most local updated news with advice, sports, and articles about places to worsen your obesity with expensive food and justify your alcoholism with beer and wine bars.

Occasionally they do good in depth articles about abuses of our shifty politicians on both sides of the spectrum.

Unfortunately they seem to have gotten rid of most of their reporters, so when something big does happen, they won’t be equipped to cover it.

I sometimes miss the comments, but I think they made me irritable most of the time anyway. I’d rather not know how many racists there are around here.

by Followed Instructions

The latest update introduces dark mode compatibility, more attractive, easier-to-read text, and seems to have solved the prior issue of ads covering content. Unfortunately it also introduces new problems: 1. Signs me out each time I close OREGONLIVECOM , even though I opt to stay signed in. I have to sign back in and restore purchases each time I open OREGONLIVECOM . 2. Images and captions are cut off - no heads on people!, not clickable, and no zoom/pan. I hope that the developers will restore OREGONLIVECOM ’s functionality soon, because I support local news with my subscription and continue to value the Oregonian’s reporting.

by Fgjfsfbcdhkvdfjjg

Just updated to version 4.0. 3.x had its bugs, but I prefer its interface. And 4.0 is so fragmented. Articles about Fort Hood, Chuck Yeager’s passing, a Biden appointee, and a few about national coronavirus issues (vaccines, study findings, etc.) were among the 20 most recent articles in the Oregon section. Important, but not local. Meanwhile, none of those were in the Home section.

Version 4.0 has potential, but it’s not there yet.

by Jack Ellison

Slow to load. Landing page has all these letters to the editor, not the main story news we are looking forr

by WhatALovelyDay

I feel like The Oregonian does a fantastic job of completely researching and investigating news prior to reporting. I will say that some of the opinion articles need to be reviewed more closely for grammar mistakes, but I think that’s true throughout the industry and isn’t limited to The Oregonian.

Are there ads on OREGONLIVECOM ? Yes. Because investigation and reporting costs a TON of money and since we are all downloading a free app to get our news, they have to get money from somewhere. If you don’t want ads on your free news app, buy a subscription to a print newspaper and encourage everyone around you to do the same. Otherwise, deal with it.

by Deconstructive

I’m a self admitted news junkie. I appreciate getting the news in a similar format as in print. I still miss print, But I have to admit that I read the news on the go and in the format you present it to me.

by Sjineug

For over 30 years I’ve enjoyed the Register Guard in Eugene. Since they’ve been sold (formerly locally owned) I’ve come to rely on the OregonLive/ The Oregonian for local news. I know I’m not alone in this. My hope is that the folks at OregonLive will grow to understand that their subscriber base has grown and respond with even more coverage of Willimette Valley issues.

by NoFanofThisApp

Unless you are just aimlessly browsing, OREGONLIVECOM is pretty useless. I’ve searched for specific articles from the print edition—even days later—and used title keywords, reporter, unique last names, etc. Results that appear are typically years old, as if that is all that is indexed. At a minimum, why can’t I search on reporter’s name and find everything they’ve written? Ugh.

by Aaron Pdx

I would like to be able to more easily see all relevant news from chosen user defined categories when I open up OREGONLIVECOM . As it is, the category filtering process is cumbersome at best. I just leave it at the default.

Latest version super slow to load feed and stories (admittedly, I am on iOS 10.3, so that may play into the speed issue).

by Crossbow6

I really like the O-live app and check it out everyday. I really like the comments that people leave with the various articles. Keep up the good work O-live. 👌😊

by Apohiache

This is where I get my news, weather and sports information.

by FoRPDX

Sometimes it takes Oregonian researchers to publicly uncover citizen issues. I’ve noticed that good results often follow their journalists. I’m a grateful PDX citizen. Thank you Oregonian.