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Chicago Tribune App Complaints & User Negative Comments 2024
Chicago Tribune app received 40 complaints, negative comments and reviews by users. Have you ever had a bad experience using Chicago Tribune? Can you share your negative thoughts about chicago tribune?
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Chicago Tribune for Negative User Reviews
✓ Your database stinksI am continually annoyed that as a monthly subscriber - auto pay- I am continually asked for my password when I try to connect to an email story you have sent me. If I have the app and am a known subscriber, then let me connect without having to login! You have issues monetizing your online content so why make accessing difficult to monthly subscribers?! We are the people you should be bending over backwards to please!.Version: 5.0.1
✓ Unfriendly for offline readingI find this app remarkably tricky when trying to read the paper without an Internet connection. It is difficult to retrieve the downloaded copy and navigate through it to be able to read the paper. Compare how the Tribune app works to the WSJ app, which is so easy to read off-line. Please fix this app so we can read the paper when we are traveling, for example on an airplane..Version: 6.6.11
✓ Absolute garbageLong time print subscriber and unlimited digital access doesn’t work- they will not allow me to get on digital as it repeatedly doesn’t recognize me even though it shows me as logged in and full access?! Went through steps diligently... No help option anywhere and password reset is worthless as it still won’t get me in. Can’t spend another minute wasting my time with no option to get help anywhere on the site (I dare you to find a help/customer service link easily). Interestingly I still get emails and notifications every couple hours....Version: 5.4
✓ Search capabilitiesI like the online version right up and till the time I start to look for information on current news I’ve heard n the radio. The layout and graphic design is good and user friendly. However, search results come up with three year old stories, loosely related to the topic searched and not organized in any decipherable manner. The same holds true for finding a piece by a specific columnist. It’s very frustrating..Version: 6.6.11
✓ App generally bad and online crazy with ads and pop upsHave been a subscriber to Tribune for decades. The app has been glitchy for multiple years. Poor UI as compared to really professional sites like WSJ. Cannot currently read on app because it doesn’t scroll. Going to the browser is an awful experience of ads, pop ups, etc. almost unreadable. It’s too bad local journalism has to suffer because of under investment in the basic tools of media today. If it was free you might put up with the nonsense, but it’s not (it’s ok to charge, just don’t give me an inferior product that often does not work). Love the journalists. Dislike the presentation. Definitely not fair to the journalists!.Version: 6.6.6
✓ Fair to middlingSorry, struggled to find the right end to start. As to Trib itself, clearly not what it used to be. More worries about hedge fund take-over, which might lead to my cancellation altogether assuming all original content then gone, given all the *retirements* of credible and knowledgeable local news, arts, and sports reports over the last several years. As to App, ironically, not sure all stories from print editions make it on, or at least in an intuitively findable way. More annoying is the fact that certain articles (for local stories!) appear to open directly to the web page, which then are almost always blocked by a pop-up ad offering me a subscription to the Trib. My previous complaints about this resulted only in the advice that I reload the App. Problem not solved. Befuddled to understand why this would continue to be an issue for local coverage, as opposed to, say, all the reprints from New York Times or Washington post. I also subscribe to those and am not relying on the Trib to rely those to me..Version: 5.7.1
✓ Enewspaper issues on 12.9” iPadOn my 12.9” iPad Pro, the enewspaper skips pages when I swipe to the next page. Thus does not happen on my 10” iPad. The only solution is to turn on the “Pages’” tab on the bottom and click page by page. Also, I occasionally get a login prompt to access the enewspaper. When I enter my user I’d and password, hitting the enter or Login buttons does nothing. Very frustrating..Version: 5.7.1
✓ Version 5.0 is the Worst EverThe current Tribune app is unbelievably bad - layout and design are amateurish; key sections of the paper are missing; saved articles from previous version were not transferred; too much emphasis on photos rather than text & content; fonts are large and cannot be adjusted, although there is an option to do so. The company took a previously problematic but functional app and created a piece of garbage not worthy of the Chicago Tribune. Why couldn’t they simply have looked at the New York Times app for inspiration?.Version: 5.0.0
✓ Cancel cultureMcMahon-you are a coward. The moving of Kass’ column to a place in the paper where it is an obvious reaction to his writings on Soros and Madigan suggests you are under their influence rather than unafraid of exposing their acts. Soros is a socialist and his motives are so far left leaning, his success would destroy the country we know, turning it into what was East Germany. Madigan has enriched himself at the expense of the people of the State of Illinois to the extent of nearly destroying the once great state. The state has a few death throes remaining but there is little hope left. A whisper of that hope is Kass and you’ve buried his column where fewer will read it and his voice will be stymied..Version: 5.6
✓ App Scrolling Article ProblemIt’s very frustrating as can’t scroll down to read any article. I tried delete and reinstall app with sign in but problem remains. I have paid subscription to the eNewspaper for past couple years so this app is now useless. I’m on iOS 16.1 using iPhone 12. The exact same problem occurs on my iPad Air with OS 16.1 More insult to injury is this Chicago Tribune App current version 6.6.6 states “Fixed article scrolling on iOS 16” which is false. This app shows released about 1 month ago. Since read a lot of people are reporting same problem for weeks, if this is not fixed within one week with App new version release, then I’ll cancel my subscription and switch by obtain local news from Chicago Sun-Times..Version: 6.6.6
✓ If you like “Ads”This version is better than the previous version but that is really not saying much! I prefer the digital edition of the newspaper. This is why I subscribe. I can get it on the go and enlarge the paper for easier viewing. Unfortunately, access to the “eNewspaper” is buried under two levels. Navigation to the “eNewspaper” is not easy or intuitive. The eNewspaper is still bloated with ads. There are pages of ads that are not in the real paper and ads that pop up (reducing viewing space)..Version: 5.0.1
✓ Very 1980’sApp is very poor. Am a subscriber and loading digital edition of paper is very antiquated - wont load automatically and ad loads in top of screen which i cannot remove. need to bring this app into the 1990’s at least!.Version: 6.6.10
✓ Dual subscriptionsIn 2010 I purchased a digital edition subscription to the Chicago Tribune via the App store. On October 2019 I called The Tribune to cancel my subscription. The Tribune then offered me a 1 year promotional subscription for $1.04. I accepted that offer. Now one year later I called the Tribune regarding the subscription price after the one year promotional subscription. They extended the subscription for another year at the $1.04 price. I have since learned that for a year October 2019 to October 2020 I had been paying the App Store/ITUNES $5.30 per month for an additional Chicago Tribune digital subscription. In this age there is apparently no communication between the ITunes/App store and the Chicago Tribune which should have noted my dual subscriptions to the same subscriber using the same personal information. BE AWARE OF YOUR PURCHASES THRU ITUNES/APP STORE !.Version: 5.6
✓ Cumbersome and not kept up to dateWhile the ePaper part seems to work, over the past couple months the app has become mostly unusable. Puzzles don’t work - says it cannot connect without active connection even though connected just fine to read paper. Now, articles accessed from home screens won’t scroll. Can only try to scroll from photo. Text and margins seem to have no scrolling ability. Sending feedback for support is useless - told to delete/reinstall or buy a new device (current devices are support apple products)..Version: 6.6.6
✓ Why is this app so badIt’s 2023. Apps shouldn’t have fundamental navigation and formatting problems. I like to read the news on my iPad in landscape mode, and advertisements within this app will squish certain paragraphs of text against the right-side of the screen. It also seems like this app forgets who I am on a semi-weekly basis, forcing me to login again and again and again. Finding news stories of certain topics, both current and old, is not something easy to do. I also have the New York Times and Wall Street Journal apps, and those are my preferential sources for news. Navigating this app is just a maddeningly frustrating experience, and I only use it as a last resort for a local story..Version: 6.6.16
✓ Horrible App to try to read the Digital EditionI’ve complained to the Tribune countless times about the inability to read the enewspaper on an ipad. When the “paper” is pulled up, it’s impossible to navigate to the bottom of the “page” with the end result being that you cannot read about half the newspaper. Now, I cannot even swipe to the next page. I have to use a keyboad and click on the next page arrow. It’s awful and not getting any better. I’m about ready to quit as a subscriber..Version: 5.7
✓ EmbarrassingI have contacted the trib multiple times over the past year to try to find someone who can respond to a glaring issue connected to all the “links” in the app launched from images of sections - sports, obituaries, opinion, etc. Every one (and there are many) links to a page asking the user to open the app (which doesn’t resolve) and otherwise promotes the ability to subscribe or log in (even though I am already logged in). This amateurish app could be fixed by an 8th grader with minimal tech chops and the fact that the problem has persisted for over a year is completely unacceptable. I suspect the formerly powerful Tribune is headed to the journalism trash heap. There are many other issues but why bother mentioning them since there is no inclination to address them..Version: 6.0
✓ You can do better"There are plenty of good news apps, this isn't one of them. For a subscription service I expect more." It has been a year since I wrote the original one star review and sadly to say the app has gotten worse. The new redesign moves the banner ad to the top of the enewspaper view and steals much of the reading pane. Combined with constant app freezes and slow refreshes and it is almost unusable. Do yourself a favor and save your subscription dollars for a media company that understands how to build an app..Version: 5.2
✓ Very disappointingI’ve been a Tribune subscriber for over 30 years and a digital subscriber since this app first became available. Until the past couple years or so it was mostly good; however, the app has changed and now I can NEVER get through a single issue without turning a page and having it bounce back several pages, repeating randomly and often. Have to call up the menu and select a section (Business, Sports, etc.) so it will reset (sort of) but then re-occur after a few pages. This happens no matter which device I use - I’ve tried several different iPads. It is extremely irritating and I now actually dread reading the Trib. I’m seriously considering changing to any of the other news sources (Google, Apple, USA Today, etc.), all of which work flawlessly. GET IT RIGHT CHICAGO TRIBUNE - it shouldn’t be that hard..Version: 5.7.1
✓ Improvement?Hardly. Now one needs to maneuver several steps to get the paper. Then one one does it’s no longer a paper "look". What happened to the original look? It looked and acted as a real paper does. A step backwards. A re-review. Getting even worse. Loaded with paid ads now. Why? I subscribe to the print paper so I’m paying already for the ads in that. Download is horrid. Print becomes almost unreadable, especially at the back of the paper and especially on a day with a large edition e.g. Friday’s/Sundays. You really need to fix this.Version: 5.0.5
✓ What a difference the update makes!I wrote a one star review of this app a while back as it was nearly unusable. Articles would not open, links were broken, and the search feature was useless. I thought it only fair to update that review in light of the tribunes efforts in updating their app. They have done a really nice job. The app is smoother, every article that you tap on opens, and the links to other articles and information seem to work. A minor complaint is that the ads are a bit intrusive and take up a lot of physical space. However, they do not cover up the content like they used to in the past, so I suppose that is a win. All in all a major improvement and far superior to their past product. Thank you, Tribune!.Version: 5.0.1
✓ Frustrating to NavigateAs a paid subscriber, I would expect a little less advertising. Even if that can’t be the case, the way that the app is laid out and the way that the ads load, you constantly lose your place since the ads and images load slow and then move things around on the page. One second you could be about to click the story you want to read, then an ad loads and you’re clicking on something completely different. Then you hit back to go back to the article selection and you start the whole process over. Searching for an article is also brutal (not a problem exclusive to the app - the website is just as bad). Even if I know what I’m looking for - say aldermanic endorsements, searching for that phrase doesn’t bring up anything related, or it brings up prior year and not the current year. Last, the lack of a digital edition of the paper where I can see exactly what the paper looks like if I received it in print is beyond frustrating. It’s difficult enough to find the stories of that day vs ones that have been posted for days, but not being able to see what the front page stories are for a given day as a paid subscriber just makes no sense..Version: 6.6.10
✓ Needs a way to show billing informationI love the Trib like any good Chicagoan, but they really need a way to show you your subscription details and your billing charges. It’s nowhere to be found. They don’t email you any confirmation of payment or how long your subscription is supposed to last. You can’t even change your billing credit card, address, nothing. Everyone else does it; I have no idea why this is so hard to do. I am considering cancelling because of this as much as I don't want to. Hey Trib, fix this please!.Version: 5.2
✓ Scrolling Issues ContinueThe version history notes that the scrolling issues with iOS 16 were fixed but I can assure you they gave not been fixed; unfortunately, this single issue has caused the app to become unusable as the articles can no longer be read within the app. This needs to be fixed ASAP. Other than that, the app works fine and is easier to navigate as compared to the website..Version: 6.6.6
✓ Poor performance - banner ads steal screen real estateThe latest version of this constantly deteriorating application has move the constant banner add from the bottom of the screen to the top, (apparently the owners think we are paying for the ads as the first, most important thing in the app). Now the ads decrease the screen real estate and viewing area by 1/6th, (I don’t remember getting a 16.7% rebate on my subscription), making it even more difficult to read the actual newspaper articles. The ads also slow down the performance of the app going from page to page. With management and design decisions like those behind this application, it is no surprise that fewer and fewer people are reading newspapers, even their electronic versions..Version: 5.2
✓ Too many glitches; ads are frustratingI’m a subscriber for the 7-day newspaper, too. The app locks me out way too often, saying I’ve reached my limit if free articles, even as it acknowledges that I’m logged in. The enewspaper frequently fails to advance to the next page or the previous page, especially between sections. You cannot share a specific article — what’s that all about??? The ads are frustrating, given that I’ve paid to subscribe. I much prefer the digital WP and NYT..Version: 6.0
✓ Pathetic appApp is pathetic. Check out Wsj app to see one that excels. Have been complaining for years as I’m sure thousands have. And you do nothing. And talking to customer service in the phillipines is a joke. They read off a script and do nothing. App functions poorly. Doesn’t work to download for airplanes. Even when on line difficult to get up the e newspaper which many like to read as it is the more traditional format. Your company should be embarrassed for the product you put out..Version: 5.6
✓ Difficult and Frustrating to Use. Constantly having to re-login for each and every articleI find it extremely frustrating as a 7-day delivery + full digital access subscriber to use this app. Frequently, I will be logged in, click on an article, and instead of opening the article natively, the app will open a new browser window. The browser can’t tell I’m already logged in on the app, so it says I’ve reached the free article maximum. So I log in again inside the browser and read the article. When I want to go to the next one, or select a link inside that article, A NEW BROWSER OPENS! And guess what? I’ve reached my free maximum again because I’m not logged in the new browser window. I’m a paying customer, I shouldn’t be constantly locked out. Chicago Tribune, you need to have your articles open natively inside the app. I don’t have these same issues with the New York Times app..Version: 5.7.1
✓ Pop ups make it almost impossible. Miss old trib.Every time I attempt to click on an article I somehow have imperceptibly grazed an ad which immediately opens up to the web browser and that ad. I downloaded the app today because I am so frustrated with the Tribune website which perpetually tells me that I need to be a subscriber to view the article, which I am. I don’t know why I keep having to re-login to the Tribune website to view articles when I don’t have to do this for the Wall Street Journal or New York Times or Washington post. I just want to get local Contonde. I am sad at how downhill the Tribune has gone in terms of Contonde and the app and website. Both used to be so much better..Version: 6.5
✓ Latest update made enewspaper sluggishThe enewspaper view is now slow and sluggish. Pages load much more slowly than before and the app crashes regularly. Is this due to the ad header bar at the top of the page? One annoying enewspaper glitch: if you open an article to read, hitting “close” advances you to the next page in the enewspaper instead of returning you to the original page. Some pages have multiple stories so either readers have to page back — or miss the other stories altogether. I’m a longtime Trib subscriber and switched to digital 2 years ago. The latest app update has been a huge disappointment..Version: 5.2
✓ Purposely Crashing?It took me a while to figure this out, but the only reason I can come up with for this crashing as often as it does, is because they are doing it on purpose. My theory is that they are charging advertisers by page views. By consistently crashing the iPad app and then taking me back to page one, I need to go page by page to get back to where I was pre-crash. Probably getting five page views per use just from me. Or it is the worst app of all time and anyone associated with developing it should hang their head in shame because it is an awful piece of s&*t.Version: 6.6
✓ 2nd RateSuch a squandered opportunity. I waited years for the re-emergence of what was once the voice of the "Center" in the U.S.--only to see what came about was a bland, tedious super blog misfiring "paywalls" at users who are already subscribers. It is a shame it is a misdirected, clumsy hodgepodge with so little depth or uniqueness. Now the new “Owners” of the Tribune have so packed all versions and issues of the Tribune with ads we can barely read a story as our computers and mobile devices freeze and jump as more and more ads pile into our view. An assault on our intellect. The only greater waste is the Chicago Tribune's beautiful sister the L.A.Times with an identical application. She and the Tribune are still ready to re-take their places as great media organizations of the world. Are there more Bezos' out there? Otherwise the Chicago Tribune will be just another rag packed with ads and will be no more..Version: 5.3
✓ Terrible Update (Jun 2019)Such a terrible update that it caused me to uninstall out of pure frustration. When headline or breaking news push notifications are clicked on from the Notification Center, it opens the app, then immediately opens Safari, where it asks me to sign in to my digital account, even though I’m signed in on the app. Then, when I close safari and open the app, it’s a crapshoot as to whether the story associated with the notification even appears on the app! I’m not sure what others are so jazzed about with this new update, but it’s made the app completely unusable for me..Version: 5.0.1
✓ One measly starEvery time there’s an update, I think, “Great, they’ve fixed the bugs!” Sadly, it seems the upgrades are only to load MORE ads — which seem to be the root cause of all the freezing and crashing in the first place. Seriously, it takes longer to page through than to read. And don’t even try to use the search “feature” — once used, there’s no way to exit. For a large-market publication, this app has lots of room for improvement..Version: 5.5
✓ AggravatingI get notifications that present interesting stories I'd like tp read, so I click on them. The app opens and immediately covers up the story telling me I have used up my free stories and asking me to initiate a free trial. I am subscribed. I am logged in. If I click it closed, I see my story and all the things I have paid access to, but it is so irritating I mostly just close the app. It happens every time. I keep hoping an update will fix it, but so far no luck. I will cancel my subscription soon, without a fix..Version: 5.7
✓ I don’t have facebookTotally useless. I bought a subscription and it won’t let me log in to the app without a Facebook account and then it won’t let me read any articles unless I login with Facebook. I refuse to have a Facebook account and I wasn’t told that was a requirement until after they had my money. Online customer service is impossible to figure out and calling customer service has a 5 hour wait time. Only way I can figure out to cancel is to call. DONT SUBSCRIBE!!.Version: 5.3
✓ Keeps getting worseHow can your app keep getting worse? I never used to have a problem opening the app or downloading the enewspaper. Now it opens and just hangs for what feel like a minute. When if finally opens the enewspaper just keeps circling and saying loading. Today it never opened. When all this worked why did you make downloading so difficult? In the past I have selected the edition selected all pages then save it to Apple Books and sometimes no pages save or only the fist pages. It usually take 3-4 tries before I get it downloaded and saved. How can you app get worse instead of better with each new version?.Version: 5.0.1
✓ Promotion simply doesn't work !I have signed up this morning for your promotional 6 mos for one dollar. I have given my credit card # , received confirmation by email , downloaded the app and was promised "full digital coverage", but did NOT receive it. Both on my computer and phone , it simply has not allowed me to read more than the"free" articles, telling me "thus is the end of your free articles."It even allowed to choose my areas of interest and showed me the articles pertaining after I paid, but can't read any of them. This is very discouraging and simply makes me wish I could just get a paper copy delivered, since the offers don't work. Don't tell me I did something wrong cause I followed all instructions explicitly..Version: 6.6.11
✓ Battery drainWith a recent update, it drains my phone’s battery if it’s left in the background. Checking the battery stats confirms it’s using up a huge percentage of the battery, even when I’ve only actively used it for a few minutes. That on top of the horrible organization of the app, which others have described. I guess they know there’s no alternative for comprehensive local news. If there were, I’d drop this app and subscription immediately..Version: 5.6
✓ Seems to get buggier with each iOS updateSince iOS 13 was released, my e-edition viewer will only display EVEN or ODD-numbered pages of any particular issue. The only remedy, and it’s a very clunky, awkward one, seems to be tapping the “pages” option and selecting each page individually from the line of thumbnails along the bottom of the screen and then wait while they load on the main screen. That is, if they load at all. For a $28/mo digital subscription, I am very disappointed. If it wasn’t for Mary Schmich, Rex Huppke and Eric Zorn, I would seriously consider canceling. Please, please FIX THIS!.Version: 5.3
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