The Boston Globe ePaper

“Words can't describe just how bad this app is. Downloads get hung up so that one can be waiting days for issues that never show up. The Globe should be embarrassed that it's name is associated with this piece of junk. Don't buy it.” I wrote the above review several years ago and have been assured by the Globe that the app will be improved. Now, two years later, nothing has changed, and it’s still a pig. More often than not, the paper’s already slow down-load never finishes, and I say the hell with it, and never get to read the paper. How the Globe allows this to happen is incomprehensible. Ok, it’s September, 2018, two years after I wrote the above reviews. The new app is out, and I find it much improved. In fact, I’m now reading the Globe again. The only downside is a somewhat inconsistent page turning when I swipe left, but that may be my technique. It took a while but the Globe May have mended its ways.

Update: New app is vastly improved. Thanks for listening, Mr. Henry. How do you delete previously read old editions? Btw - Alex Cora is a nice upgrade, too! Up at five no e-paper yet again. Writing this at 6:15 still no e-paper. Did the usual delete and reinstall of app - still no luck. Yesterday app crashed froze my iPad and caused me to do yet another delete and re-install to get paper. Oh, if only I could get the hours of my life back that I've spent messing with the worst app I have ever used. Please Mr. Henry, think about your customers and their experience!

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I get that some people like this faux paper layout of this app but really it is cumbersome for most users and lags in comparison to the NYT, WSJ and the WashPo. Having to decide whether to download an edition or not as the first pop up when coming to the app is annoying and wastes time. Clicking into a story causes it to go in a non mobile friendly layout where the pictures do not flow well with the story. It is also difficult to scroll from story to story, rather one has to flip through each page of the paper like it is a physical paper. I am going to go out on a limb and guess that most mobile readers do not need to replicate the flow of a physical paper in order to appreciate the stories. I am going to unsubscribe to the Globe because I primarily read my news on mobile and the experience is just disappointing and frustrating. Please modernize this app and ditch the physical paper replication.

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I thought the previous e paper addition was bad but I think August 2018 new improved so called e edition is totally horrible. Everything about it is bad especially for people like me who are visually challenged. Before at least one could read paper in large type. Now all you have really bad zoom capacity which is not only in adequate but with the slightest touch crashes. It is in grey type, the menu is unreadable in very smallwith no capacity to increase it. Is The Globelll trying to get rid of subscribers?I have subscribed to The Globe for 30 years and I'm now considering having to cancel my subscription which I have admired and values. Please fix this mess!

The new app that appeared in mid-August 2018 is hugely improved. It's now the best newspaper app that I'm aware of. In the past the Globe had two big advantages: it looked on the screen the way it does on paper, and the whole edition downloaded once, so that it could be read offline. But navigating the pages was often a chore, especially on my slower 3rd generation iPad. Somehow all those problems have been fixed. Now it's a breeze, easier than paper.