LA Times Negative Reviews

LA Times App Complaints & User Negative Comments 2024

LA Times app received 33 complaints, negative comments and reviews by users. Have you ever had a bad experience using LA Times? Can you share your negative thoughts about la times?

LA Times for Negative User Reviews

✓ Unlimited digital access? Not!Although I pay for unlimited digital access, I regularly get error messages telling me that I’ve reached my monthly limit of free articles. The only solution seems to be logging on and off several times until the system resets itself. The help desk people send me the same boilerplate message each time I contact them, which indicates that others are having the same problem. It’d be better for them to fix the problem, rather than telling customers to solve it..PriusFanVersion: 5.0.1

✓ The only screen available to voiceover users is the welcome screenTraditional paper editions of newspapers are, obviously, not accessible to potential blind subscribers. The opportunity to access news via digital formats on my iPhone & voice over would resolve this issue. Unfortunately, this app is entirely inaccessible as well. .I can’t even sign-up as the app lacks navigation past the welcome screen. i would love the opportunity to read the paper at my convenience just as sighted subscribers can. I will happily acquire a subscription and update this rating should the LA Times choose to update their app to an accessible state! here’s hoping!!.Jaxi2Version: 6.0.9

✓ Can’t LoginStuck on “Need more information to continue” but then I can’t click continue.. I waited this out a few weeks in hopes it would get resolved but Still the same issue!! When trying to log in I continue to get this pop up message that I cannot get past.. I have tried using safari, chrome, mobile, desktop, mobile app - and the same thing happens. I tried logging in using apple, google, facebook... the same thing happens! It says "Almost There. Need a little more information from you" but nothing happens when I click continue (I tried this after opening the “terms and conditions” and “privacy policy” as well with same result). If I click the "x" to close it, it just keeps me logged out. I have an account, it recognizes I have one. I tried resetting my password, clearing cache, cookies and history on each browser. I know I am putting in right password because when I type in a random one it says “please enter a valid password”- so its prompting this with the valid email and password. I even purchased a subscription (even though I also get it on apple news plus) and I got the notification email for the subscription too.. I called the customer service and they said they put in a ticket.. this is ridiculous. Only happening with LA Times..NeeeenzzVersion: 6.0.30

✓ Ads in a paid app!Update: So I tried the app again after 2 years, but thanks to the ever-present ads and one of the worst and most arrogant privacy polices I’ve ever read, I’m really done. Update: Now - or maybe for awhile; I rarely use it anymore - the app launches your browser whether you tap an ad or not, and I most definitely did not. Great way to draw in subscribers. Not! I'm done with LAT. Not cool. I detest advertising and would pay a fee rather than use an ad-supported free version. So this was an unwelcome surprise. I'd even pay a reasonable subscription rate rather than have to look at ads. Bad move, LAT..OttermanVersion: 5.0.0

✓ Ask to subscribe when I’m already subscribedCan’t read many articles. It keeps asking for free 30 day trial, only option is to choose it, then a box comes up saying I’m already subscribed, which I know, I’ve paid every mont for a very long time, then it gives me a box that says error. Then only option is to not read articles just get screen asking to subscribe. Why have I been paying $7.99 a month to read the few articles and get that same 30 day free trial screen and then be blocked. Why can it only see I’m subscribed when I press Start Trial, why can’t I read all the articles. So frustrating. I want to support journalism, but I want to read all the articles I’m interested in too. I can send you screenshots to show you what I’m getting, I’d appreciate help on getting this resolved. And yes I’m signed in to the app, so it should have been able to know I have been paying the monthly subscription..Be Kind1Version: 5.0.1

✓ I just don’t use it anymoreI used to use the app constantly, even with its flaws, but as soon as they started the new format I find I don’t use it anymore and I just download the newspaper version. With big pictures it is harder to navigate to find what the important stories are. I like headlines so that can see at a glance the important news and stories and and pick from among them. The sections are on a small band at the top awkwardly listed horizontally, I don’t know if I can change the order to suit my usual preferences. The news app on my phone taking articles from multiple sources is similar in its use of pics, but much easier to use listing the four or five latest or most popular articles, but the proof is in my usage. When the change first occurred my brother railed about the new format, but I’d been such a long time user that I thought he was overreacting, but months later I just don’t use it. Send us a note if you change it. If there is a fee for it I will drop it..Real news believerVersion: 5.0.1

✓ Search feature nearly uselessThe app looks good (easy on the eyes, not bogged down with a ton of multimedia and ads) but the search function is horrible! Most results are from 2 to 4 years old. I regularly see a headline on Bing or Google news from the LA Times and go to this app to read the article — but have a devil of a time finding the it. This even happens when I search for the complete article title?? Maybe they are just trying to simulate how we all once flipping through a newspaper to find something of interest to read. Fix the search and I’ll give it two more stars..Kdla100Version: 5.0.1

✓ Can’t get to premium contentSince day one I can’t get to premium content such as funny pages and daily crossword puzzle in user friendly interface that allows me to use keyboard on my device. And the layout in the iOS app (non enewspaper) is overwhelming. The pictures and ledes (I hope that’s the right word) are so gigantic navigating through the articles is a major chore. There must be some significant improvement to this app otherwise I will unsubscribe after the trial period. Also support while responsive is giving me a whole lot of boogie woogie and no resolutions. They told me to contact Apple. Good grief..BdroyeVersion: 6.0.45

✓ Recent update nearly unusableI love the la times. I’ve been reading it for nearly half a century. I prefer reading the enewspaper version rather than the “highlights.” Unfortunately, navigation is a pain. Although the tutorial tells me I can pinch to shrink/expand, in reality I can only expand (except on the pages view, where images remain tiny). I can’t get a “page fill” to scan my paper for articles. The default view means that I miss every article below the fold unless I pinch and hold each page after I swipe. Or, I have to scroll each page top to bottom after I swipe. It doesn’t remember my font size from article to article, either. I received a confirmation of my email complaint, but no improvement. Really, this is a five star newspaper, with a two star experience. The Los Angeles Daily News gets the app experience right, so I know this can be done. Please make this work..Screamer tamerVersion: 6.0.1

✓ The new app is buggyThis is a review of the app and not of the LA times journalism, which is excellent. Even with a fast internet connection the app fails to load images of articles as you scroll down on the home page. Often when I tap on an article nothing happens. Then, after several seconds when I start scrolling again, the article opens. To go back from an article to the home page is unintuitive. If you just swipe right nothing happens. You have to scroll up for a ‘back’ button to appear. You can press that or swipe, but frequently nothing happens anyway. And if you swipe over the area of an ad, nothing happens. Sometimes when tapping an article the page starts swiping and then freezes half way so now half the screen is black. Often at the top of the home page the LA times logo overlaps the menu bar making it impossible to read or select. If these bugs and unintuitive behavior were fixed you would have a great app with excellent journalism..NickWithANameVersion: 6.0.4

✓ Whoever is giving 5 stars is not using the same website and app as I amLA Times have very talented journalists, columnist and editorial staff; however my 5 daughter can develop a more stable and user friendly app. Can you just copy what the WSJ, NYT or WaPo are doing with their technology? I am getting to a point where I want to cancel my subscription and I feel guilty because I want to support journalism and the home town paper. I just clicked on the “local” tab on the app and top 3 stories were the same ... then I clicked on the “business” tab and top 2 stories were the same. Get it together....K.vedranVersion: 5.0.2

✓ AwfulThis amateurishly “designed” app is one of the worst of any U.S. newspapers. Compare it to those of the N.Y.Times or the (probably best) Washington Post. Way outdated stories lead off the graphically impossible home page, retro by about ten years, not to mention that checking for up-to-date world news usually leads to days-old local sports and other meaningless tabloid events. At the time of this review Catalonia is being ripped apart by riots, covered in almost real time by the papers mentioned above, and the top story in this app is “Ed Buck was known for his abrasive behavior.” As the once-great L.A.T. sinks into irrelevance, this app was dead and buried on launch..DavidPabianVersion: 6.0.6

✓ App For Non Literate MoronsThe LA Times has dumbed down its app to the point where it is an insult to its readership. Do you want to scan through the headlines for an article? Good luck with that. This app is all about giant color pictures, which you have to scroll down down down down to find an article you may be interested in reading. If you go to the topics page, it is somewhat possible to flip through the paper and see what might be of interest. However when you get to an article, it is scrunched into a ridiculously skinny right hand column, and there is no way to get a full-screen view. My only conclusion is that the tTmes considers its readers to be morons who prefer to look at gigantic color photographs Instead of headlines, news and analysis. Thank God I also subscribe to the New York Times and Washington Post, who have set up their apps to serve the needs of people who actually read the newspapers. I can only hope that this is a sad, pathetic relic of the TRONC mismanagement of this once excellent newspaper, and that the new publisher will swiftly relegate this awful embarrassment of an app to the garbage heap where it belongs..CowanbungaVersion: 5.0.1

✓ Old news is always the top storyWorst news app ever. I have the paid version and it shows old news constantly. The same stories stay on the app for days, and they stay at the top when you open it. Even after I’ve clicked and read the story it stays at the top of the app for days. The app is also loaded with huge ads. It’s impossible to scroll over them without opening them. There also doesn’t seem to be an easy way to search. And the tabs that sort the news show the same stories over and over. Select local and see a story. Select California and you will see the same top story. Select nation and you guessed it, same story. This app is terrible and makes me miss reading the old paper version. There are much better news apps such as the New York Times..SeazapVersion: 5.0.2

✓ Cannot stay signed inThis is the most frustrating app I have. Every month I’m charged for it, and every time I go to it after the first 5 articles per month I hit the pay wall and am asked to subscribe or sign in. At this point I used to go to settings and ‘restore subscription’—almost every time. Now there is no more restore button. LA Times says subscribe, just 7.99 per month. I’m charged 4.99 through the App Store. So, if the Times wants to raise the price, I get that. But are they just going to lock me out until I cancel my 4.99 subscription and sign up again? Because the App Store seems perfectly content to keep charging me. I really hate this app. Love the news. Hate the app..MoonlocksVersion: 6.0.5

✓ Sends You to App Store to Buy ThingsI thought it was a glitch at first, but this version keeps automatically launching the App Store to try and get me to buy other third-party apps. What a horrible revenue model..MctoonishVersion: 2.5.1

✓ Balanced ReportingI was born and raised in Los Angeles. The politics and news reporting has changed to a point that since the LA Examiner closed I believe in the mid seventies, the Times is the primary source of news and has become a point guard for the left in LA. With the exception of Steve Lopez, there is little objectivity in the papers daily reporting of news world, national and local. I’m a moderate republican, not a big DT fan ( although much better than that lying Hillary ) but I see very little that’s fair particularly, your editorials. Occasionally you have a guest writer that’s more balanced, but not often . It’s all about selling papers and making money. Your paper feeds to the liberal populous in LA and Calif, so it’s not a surprise. I subscribe to you’re digital paper because I still enjoy your sports page and what’s happening in the California Section. I’m not a supporter of John Cox, but your endorsement of Newsom and his EXTREMISM shows your true colors.Casa HBVersion: 5.0.2

✓ Really good, but could you guys add something more to it?I like this app, I use its every single morning for digesting current events. But please, could you guys add a playback speed option in the media section of this app? Could you guys allow us to change the speed of the videos please to 2x? And could you guys also add that to the podcasts too? It would be a big help, as it would allow me to consume more, in a shorter time frame. My commute is not that long, and sometimes episodes from the LA times podcasts are longer than my driving to school or to work, meaning that miss out on some info. News is supposed to be brief, and to the point. If I wanted in depth analysis, then I’d read the whole articles..Beck HerreraVersion: 6.0.33

✓ Content good. Digital platform awfulOf all of the paid subscriptions I have LA Times is the most aggravating. It repeatedly refuses to recognize my paid subscription, esp. when using a link from social media or the web. Customer service is a joke. They just shrug and say, oh well, just log in. It won’t log in. Then it is “oh you but this through a third party.” I pay LAT with Apple pat. That is a third party provider now? Just dumb. Too bad, bc its a good paper. But I may have to stop subscribing if they can’t fix this problem ongoing for a year..LtbesqVersion: 6.0.2

✓ LA TomesI’ve lived in Los Angeles for over twenty years and subscribed in good faith as a resident - citizen - refugee of this great city only to find that 1) the la times is obnoxiously out of touch with its “readership” aka dummies like me who pay subscription rates for no real insight that can’t be gotten from other news sources, gives me certainly no voice. The times editorially and now thru the email marketing and app that automatically subscribes at way more than what you thought-I expected 9.99 but still cancelled due to bull#%* content and corporate point of view. Only to find out app sign up can’t be canceled (via same as sign up or email), but after catching that I’ve been charged $15 per month when I haven’t logged in, not accessed their site in any way in over a month - funny how their algorithms on their side don’t ever say a word about your engagement. Not what I want from my “local” paper- I’ll stick with New York Times, the Atlantic & The HOLLYWOOD Reporter, thanks Tribune for your corporate takeover of a paper that should have been the voice of the west..KatWalk65Version: 5.0.3

✓ Really bad bug and horrible tech supportIt pains me to have to write this bad review since I like the LA Times. Recently the app has become almost impossible to use. All the hyperlinks are super sensitive and are not bounded by their text. If you scroll through an article, you keep getting thrown to the links. It’s super annoying and makes it really unpleasant to use. I communicated with customer service about this around six times and they were totally 100% useless (I’d use harsher words if it were allowed here). They never put me in touch with tech support, who presumably would be less clueless. LA Times, for goodness sake, get your act together folks..CaliforniaNiceVersion: 6.0.6

✓ News junkie says skip the LAT appThe L.A. Times has still not developed an iPad app. This is a (still mediocre) iPhone app made big. If, like me, you read your news on a landscape-oriented tablet, the presentation is absurd. The app was updated one week ago, so I downloaded it anew, but it’s the same. I read four newspapers all on my iPad — LAT, NYT, WaPo and WSJ — and this app is by far the worst one. I use a shortcut to the web site instead; not ideal but functional for the front-page stuff. But this app is so bad that I delete it from all my devices just so I don’t open it by mistake..The Slow Motion TouristVersion: 6.0.26

✓ Still a loserThe App rarely displays articles from the print edition that match my interests. The Search function often cannot find articles - and the newspaper display is not a reliable way to share articles with friends. Links in emailed newsletters do link to my phone’s browser, but when I go the next step to view an article in the App instead I see the Top News section - and the article I want to read is nowhere to be found. The App displays multiple Headlines of identical articles within a given Section. This has been true for years; little improvement. LA Times should start over and build an App like the one offered by NY Times..Leapin' landslideVersion: 5.0.3

✓ Filled with bugs.This app continues to underperform. There are so many problems with reading the electronic edition of the paper. If you get today’s paper to display and then download it, as soon as you go offline the paper will revert to a previously saved version from several days ago. This defeats the entire purpose of downloading the day’s edition. I’m the new version when viewing today’s paper as the page displays it looks good with sharp text and vivid graphics and then the page renders fully and the contrast goes away and the text and photos are washed out. The e-edition is just filled with bugs and unfortunately what I want the app for..Rat KVersion: 6.0.42

✓ Just ehThe search function is really limited and bad. Even if you have exact headline sometimes articles are just not there. Furthermore, there isn’t an “open in app” button on the mobile site version of any articles. These two things combined make reading a story/article I see mentioned or linked to outside of the app basically impossible. Great reporters and pieces, just wish the app was better.Owl<3cityVersion: 6.0.46

✓ Cannot choose reader view or printIn the LA Times app, the quick view articles on the home screen do not allow you to choose the iPhone reader view or print. Being able to easily print articles I want to keep is important to me. I also like the iPhone reader view. The app allows you to do those things in the e-newspaper view. If you exit the app and access the site from the web those options become available for the quick view articles..Zetta777Version: 6.0.35

✓ LA Times is great, app is terribleSo frustrating. LA Times will not recognize you as having a paid subscription through this app. So when you click on a link, say on Facebook or Twitter, the app will not open to that article. You have to then log in and find that article. Also you get countless emails from LA Times asking you to subscribe to the paper no matter how many times you respond “unsubscribe” (because you are already subscribed through Apple). My suggestion is you subscribe through LA Times’ web site first then download the app..ZumagioVersion: 5.0.2

✓ Seriously? Unexpected audio in adsWhen I sat down this morning to read the LA Times like I do every morning I was shocked to not only find and audio ad coming at me, but also discover it would not turn off even when my phone was in silent. Really LA Times? Who thought this was a good idea? You realize no one is going to appreciate a surprise video ad with sound first thing when they get their day started. Please find more creative ways to save your publication other than making the experience worse for paying customers. Thank you..CoaWarrenVersion: 5.0.3

✓ This app has improved greatly, but still some issuesThe resigned app is a joy to use and read, except in one area: eNewspaper navigation. It’s terrible. Rather than the text of the article scrolling, the entire article window tries to scroll and it “bounces.” Moreover, if there is an ad, you often can’t close it even if you click on the link to visit the advertised product or service. I vastly prefer reading the news on my iPhone and iPad to the physical paper or the website. I hope the developers straighten out these little friction points. My older review: I see articles in the paper that I want to read in the app and it sometimes takes a Herculean effort to find and get to them on the app (the website is basically the same in this regard). Please make it easier to find articles by organizing the information better and making navigation and search better..IPersuadeVersion: 5.0.2

✓ Gray picturesI have been writing emails to the support staff for this app for multiple days now. I really they must have outsourced their tech support to a group of people who don’t actually use the app. The problem is that most pictures on the enewspaper load twice and become gray and washed out. I have been trying to explain this problem to them but they don’t seem to get it. They have asked me to upgrade the app but I already have the latest version available. The version they are quoting me is version 5. something but the latest app store version is at 6. something..WillH2008Version: 6.0.42

✓ App not Fully Synced to Apple Accounts?I am a subscriber via iTunes. I am able to access the app and read all the articles in the app. But the app also doesn’t seem to (fully) think I have an account—the articles are open to me but I don’t show as a logged in user (if I created a unique password I don’t remember it and reluctant to try to create a new one as it might break the syncing that does seem to be working). What’s annoying is that when I read articles outside the app (using Google News and/or Chrome, for example) it’s assumed I don’t have an account and I have an article limit. I’m invited to set up an account through Google..Annh89Version: 6.0.10

✓ Outdated ArticlesAs the newspaper of record for the western United States, the LA Times provides high quality reporting and analysis on major national and world news, as well as stories that the big NYC and DC news organizations overlook. This app has been improved in 2019, so those stories are now easier to find and the reading environment is more enjoyable. However, the app still has two major issues. The first is that there are still too many outdated articles—some of them are months old. I would like to see all articles from the past 24 hours in each section; certainly nothing more than two days old is appropriate for a mobile app, which I expect to be current events. I withheld another star because the app is missing a couple of keys features of its major competitors (NYT, WaPo, WSJ). One, you cannot customize the menu. This isn’t a big deal, because the menu layout is easy to navigate, but it it would be a nice feature for those of us who like to see certain sections up front. Two, the app is still missing a “Today’s Paper” section. All of the other major papers have a section in the app that lists the stories in the order they appear in the paper. This feature would be much easier and faster to navigate than an e-edition, especially on a small screen. Other than these two oversights, this is a great app and content..KantEvenVersion: 6.0.10

✓ Just OKYou can view articles offline, but pales in comparison to the full web version. Its basic as it doesn't include Science, Technology, Environment, Asia, Celebrity etc all available on the full online version. I get more from reading Yahoo and NYtimes rss feeds. So not enough for me here..Pg1122Version: 2.2.0

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