Leave a Review Wikipedia
One of my All-Time FAVORITE Apps… but
Let me preface by saying I love Wikipedia. I use it multiple times a day, and I donate yearly when that time rolls around because I feel the world is better for it. However, the actual app has a few things that I would like to see implemented. For starters, I wish that one of the icons on the bottom of the screen was for switching tabs, much like on safari, because I often want to look at another article but not lose the article I’m currently reading. The other thing is I wish they didn’t remove the “continue reading” widget they used to have, so if closed, I could just click the widget to relaunch into the article. If it had these two features I would give them 5 stars and more money at the yearly donation time.Show lesssuitguy25
EXTREME ZOOM!!!!!!
There are lots of little things that annoy me but most have been fixed or are very minor
But this is a HUGE annoyance: the zoom function.
Any app or website I have ever used, I can double tap, and it zooms in a predictable, reasonable amount that I am used to. I want more? I’ll just pinch to zoom in further if needed
On this app, every single picture you double tap doesn’t just zoom in a little. Oh no, if I double tap to appreciate the details slightly more, it will start zooming in until I can see individual hairs, then dust particles, then molecules. These become atoms, and then electrons. At some point, I am convinced I am peering at the quantum foam underlying reality itself
Exaggerating slightly, but it actually is ridiculous. I ALWAYS have to zoom back out because of how insanely deep it ends up going. It entirely defeats the purpose of double tap zooming, a quick convenient one-handed slight zoom. PLEASE FIX THIS
Otherwise, no complaints, good app, thanks for your work. The homepage could be more “Wikipedia-ish” and less “social media-ish”, and also there should be a way to view old edits without scrolling all the way (basically impossible to view edits atm unless they are recent). But overall nice comfy app, thank youShow lessjdjdjdnsjd
Wow it’s even worse than the UI Update to the Desktop Website
I will never understand why “mobile-optimized” or “mobile-first” means a terrible, unusable experience. I was hoping the app would have an easy way of selecting the Vector skin by default for Wikipedia pages—you know, the way the website used to normally look for the past 10 years before the terrible “mobile” update they rolled out. Currently the only way to view Wikipedia is to manually add ?useskin=vector to the end of ever url. What a pain. Or make an account, which I never had to and shouldn’t have to do. But gee, I didn’t know when I was better off! The app is so bad, with a fixed table of contents margin on the left third of the screen, it makes the website look good by comparison. No way to select what skin you want, in fact, you’re stuck between blinding white light mode or pitch black dark mode. Another typical disastrous design choice, Why can’t anybody make a neutral color that is easy on the eyes day or night anymore?
And don’t expect an easy way to read on a tablet/iPad. This version requires constant scrolling to read anything. Instantly deleted. Better off sticking with viewing pages in a web browser.Show lesstook the name I wanted
Love this! Easy to find Anything on Topics that You Need!
I find this to be very useful for learning about information you’re interested in and how easy it is for readers. The best approach to getting started in researching information without the hassle of going all over the place. This makes it easier for me to use anywhere else as well as home. I have always had trouble as a child with reading and navigation. I was dyslexic for most of my childhood. This has been the best way to navigate what you are looking for and saving information on your interests. Thanks so much to everyone involved in making this app available. Explore your world. Everything it is written in the main review section is accurate in all of its details.Show lesstwistedchic
Developer Response
Thank you so much for your thoughtful and positive review! We're thrilled to hear that you find the Wikipedia app to be very useful for learning about topics that interest you. It's great to know that the app has made researching information easier and more accessible for you, without the hassle of navigating multiple sources. We're particularly delighted to learn that the app has been helpful to you, especially given your past experiences with dyslexia. Providing a user-friendly and inclusive experience for all our users is one of our key goals, and your feedback reaffirms that we're on the right track. Your kind words and appreciation mean a lot to the entire team involved in making this app available. We're grateful for your support and encouragement, and we will continue to work hard to maintain and improve the app to meet the needs of our users like you. Please email our support email if you would like to volunteer in testing our new features! We would love to have you!A pervasive and systemic bias damages a great institution.
There is no other game in town, so yes, I have and use this app and consult Wikipedia multiple times a day. It is a monumental achievement that has added more to human knowledge than any hundred universities. However, it is transparently biased and dishonest. Wikipedia typically covers conservatives with hostility and skepticism. In contrast, it glosses over and minimizes much of the negative news related to liberal or left leaning persons or groups. Wikipedia purports to be neutral and that stated intention only makes the contrast with the actual encyclopedia all the more glaring. This is not Moscow 1960 and I should not be stuck reading Pravda or nothing. Please make a better attempt to appear neutral. We all have biases, myself included. Making a good faith effort to not lead with your biases would improve your credibility. Differentiate yourself from those politicized institutions that so many people, on the left or right, now wisely distrust.Show lessReflect101
Developer Response
Wikipedia is an encyclopedia written collaboratively by the people who use it, so its contents are constantly being updated and improved. Next time you spot something that appears to be inaccurate or missing information, you may wish to try editing too. Learn more about editing in the Introduction to Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IntroductionFar left
Don’t waste your time here, Wikipedia is quick to label conservatives as far right but won’t do the same to hippies like AOC which we all know she’s way far left but Wikipedia will never label her with that because they agree with her ideology. I had no idea Wikipedia was this far left and I made the mistake of giving them money when they contacted me begging for a dollar like homeless people do. Please don’t give these morons a dime they are not neutral they’re far left. This comes from a Mexican immigrant just in case they want to label me white supremacist. Now trying to post this review is nearly impossible unless I give them five starsShow lessBruno0999
Invaluable for the Exceptionally Curious
As a retired person with ADHD, I’m always looking for new things to learn to keep myself from boredom. I read news from many sources, and I love how I can select a word or phrase and “Look up” everything from definitions to short descriptions and then full blown encyclopedia-like entries. But better than encyclopedia after going through Wikipedia’s process of development.
This wonderful, valuable FREE source shouldn’t be taken for granted. Be sure to donate if you can. I just did (again). Motivated by remembering the old days of NOT learning. No time for the library and no budget for Encyclopedias: A whole set of awkwardly heavy books, rapidly outdated, making their high price outrageous. Wikipedia is genius by comparison. I thank especially the creators but also the writers editors etc who keep this going.Show lessKarenDiane33
Developer Response
Thank you for your review. Enjoy reading & keep supporting us :)Great app. Clean interface
I appreciate the reading controls to make it more comfortable for the eyes. I still have the issue with playing media files within articles but it’s not a huge issue. Usually just thing to play an audio recording since I do a lot of bird research and it would be nice to be able to hear the bird when they provide the audio sample. I don’t let it bother me since I can use other apps to do that. Overall I give a solid 4 stars for its ease of use and logical control layout and it is very stable.Show lessgoldfinch1976
A few suggestions
This is my go-to App for unbiased information on all types of things. That said, I think it could be better. All articles pertaining to nations and world regions should have a current map somewhere near the beginning of the article. This orients the reader and helps explain some content. I would also like a second map that shows the position of the country in relation to a larger area of the world: for example, a closer map of Qatar and a larger map of the middle east.
There are more pictures than there used to be, but beefing up photos and making sure they accurately depict the item being described.Show lessSeattle Deb
5 stars, 1 suggestion
i love this app. i write fiction for a living, and i use wiki daily. whenever i'm looking for something to spark an idea, i just pull up the app and use the random article function. and if there's a part of my book that actually needs to be realistic, then this app is my favorite research tool. it's also my go-to for days when i really want to read something, but am too burnt out to wade through a book. instead of scrolling through social media when im bored, i scroll through this app :) i love the way things are set up. it's like bite-sized brain food, and it's easy to bookmark stuff for later, follow up on the references (!), etc.
one feature i would love to see: a random article widget for my home screen. there are already widgets for wiki's photo of the day, featured articles, and "on this day in history." it would be fun to have a widget that's set up like those, but for random articles.
that being said, it's super easy to pull up the app and find a random article within seconds. just thought a widget would be cool :-)Show lessstressedmermaid
Developer Response
Thank you for your review. Enjoy reading & keep supporting us :) As for the feature suggestion point, we filled a ticket for your suggestion. If you're interested in following for more details and actions, you can check this ticket on our issue request tracking software, Phabricator from here: https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T318153
