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Ugh. The flashing ad at the bottom is fiercely annoying. We pay enough for this paper to enjoy an ad-free app. The ad and extra navigation tools take up screen space in the new app and the iPad browser edition. I will most likely cancel the subscription since the reading experience is so unpleasant. The Statesman just can’t seem to get the browser or app versions correct. I have subscribed in print and online for years and continue to be disappointed. Statesman: Take your cue from Washington Post and NYT apps. The new version as of Feb. 2020 is another epic fail. The Statesman just can’t seem to get it right. The page forward arrow is too close to the search button. The pages constantly refresh. Double pages are too small to read. Choosing the fit to screen option to read one page at a time won’t set permanently. You have to choose it every day. At least the extra ad overlay is not as conspicuous. And don’t get me started on the browser version. Completely unusable. Ugh.

Living in Austin, a city known for creating great apps and software, it’s embarrassing that our local paper has so completely failed in this app. I regret even purchasing a subscription after a few painful weeks of using this app. They seem to be stuck in this world of thinking that trying to mimic an actual paper newspaper experience is something desirable. It isn’t. Even when you use the HTML5 version it’s just awful. Formatting issues, taxonomy issues, constantly having to zoom and pan your screen from one article to the next. It’s terrible. When comparing to things like Apple News this thing feels like it was designed in the 1990s. I so wanted a decent source of local news and I am completely disappointed in the Austin American Statesman’s failed execution and delivery of that. This app can’t be saved. They should re-factor the entire thing. Hopefully with new tech and UX leadership before they embark on that.

We live in a tech town - please hire someone who can design a decent app. Just when you figure out how to make things work, they change again. The new app that debuted in the spring was an improvement, you could simply tap the “Fit” button and then move around the page. After only a month that option has disappeared. In addition, when my daily email arrives, I can no longer simply tap on the edition. I have to sign into my account each day. I am SO frustrated that I’m ready to cancel my subscription! Please stop trying to reinvent the wheel and simply talk to other better newspapers and learn what they’re doing right.