# Espresso: World news in a shot — user reviews > 417 indexed App Store user reviews of Espresso by The Economist, rated 4.80/5 from 17,140 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/espresso-world-news-in-a-shot/id896628003/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/espresso-world-news-in-a-shot/id896628003.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 15,080 · 4★ 1,755 · 3★ 180 · 2★ 35 · 1★ 90 ## What do users think of Espresso? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 🚀 Concise and informative news - 👍 Excellent content curation - 🌍 Global perspective - 🤓 High-quality journalism - 🔍 Balanced and objective reporting - ⏱️ Quick daily read - 🧠 Thought-provoking - ☕ Great morning routine companion **Cons** - 🐛 Audio issues (outdated, not updating) - 📱 Suboptimal user experience on smaller screens - 🔒 Difficult to unsubscribe - 💰 Overpriced for limited content - 🔍 Lacking depth compared to full Economist publication - 🗓️ Unable to access previous days' content **Commonly reported bugs** - App crashes or freezes - Content not updating correctly - Privacy settings issues - Inconsistent behavior across devices **Most requested features** - Offline content availability - Customizable content preferences - Integration with podcast players - iPad-optimized layout - Ability to access previous days' content - Improved navigation between articles ## Newest reviews (15 of 417) ### 2/5 — Okay but needs optimisation *2026-07-22, version 3.42.0* The app is feature-wise fine, however what should be a simple and elegant reading experience is marred by performance issues. The main issue I have is that when going between many screens the animation is very laggy. This is most noticeable when opening articles — the main point of the app — where it looks like it tries to generate the article while it’s opening, which will inevitably be inefficient. Better to pre-load the article before it’s opened, or let it open and then load it. It’s a design choice that makes the app feel sluggish. The main Economist app doesn’t suffer from this problem. ### 2/5 — Students should get full economist version. *2026-01-22, version 3.40.0* Espresso is a husk of the Economist. If a student was so interested to even find your newsroom, one might think loaning them the full economist for free would be worth it while they pursued a degree, once in the workforce they’ve got a habit of owning your subscription, so then they pay. But Espresso is clickbait scroll-y goo of a news app, embarrassing. ### 2/5 — Overpriced *2025-10-12, version 3.40.0* Espresso is some $79 bucks for just 4 or 5 articles daily, ie 1/3 the price of regular economist, but for much much less than 1/3 of the articles… and to pick the 4 or 5 free articles or just topics, you have to let the share your data…ie the one article you want to read, sorry not included in this app. ### 2/5 — Nice, unsubscribing very difficult *2025-09-28, version 3.40.0* Like the concept not enough value for money in my view. No self serve unsubscribe makes you contact support. Dark UX pattern is a bit disappointing for reputable company. ### 3/5 — App has degraded and increased 170% in price *2025-09-18, version 3.40.0* The content they provide in this app is still 5-stars. I’ve been subscribing to this app for probably 8 years, and for most of that time it has been rock solid. However, recently the app itself has been getting more and more buggy. Literally *every day* now the “subscribe” popup pops up, and I have to tap “restore subscription”, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t. Of course this decline in quality has been accompanied by a 170% price increase. The content quality is amazing, but the small quantity is not worth $80/year. Thankfully I’m grandfathered in on the old price. Please fix what used to be a great app, and charge a reasonable price! ### 2/5 — Surface level news *2025-07-19, version 3.39.0* I really like the Economist, but I can’t afford an extra $300 a year on top of my other news subscriptions. The content barely scratches the surface. I can get more information just from reading the notifications from my Apple News+ subscription. Don’t waste your $90. Get the Times or the Post. I already cancelled my subscription. ### 3/5 — Flaky app *2025-07-01, version 3.39.0* The app delivers great content, but it is not great at being stable. It logs me out randomly and if I’m on the plane and trying to read offline, it’ll disconnect if the screen goes off. The app could use improvement instead of me having to “restore subscription” almost on a daily basis. This is difficult if my internet is slow. ### 4/5 — Students get it free *2025-06-08, version 3.39.0* Been using this as a student. Used to subscribe to the economist but I can’t afford that with the way the economy headed. Still thankful for the espresso ### 4/5 — Video player *2025-06-02, version 3.38.0* The video player hasn’t been working on my app which is really disappointing because the content is so good and I can’t watch it ### 4/5 — Issues opening links *2025-05-22, version 3.38.0* It would be nice if I didn’t have to log in again on the Economist website when opening links in the app. ### 3/5 — Lightweight, but ok *2025-04-23, version 3.37.0* A daily news update from the economist is a great idea. Audio-delivery is very good. The interface is ok, but gets a little confused if you had not completed the previous edition. The goddamn idiotic trivia game that takes up 20% of the time is so out of place that it boggles the mind - I do not want another public radio time-waster. ### 3/5 — Content *2025-03-14, version 3.37.0* Although the goal of the app is evident in its name - the content is nonetheless a little too brief to be meaningful in my opinion. ### 4/5 — Excellent but problems with subscription *2025-03-10, version 3.37.0* Typically high standard journalism from the Economist however every time I start the app I have to restart it and check the subscription, often several times. ### 1/5 — Subscription through Apple not being recognised *2025-03-08, version 3.37.0* Very frustrating ### 4/5 — Valuable daily digest *2025-02-27, version 3.36.0* I find the content to be well-curated, balanced, timely and relevant with a nice dash of humor thrown in. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — App will charge without access *2026-05-14, version 3.42.0* Espresso’s ‘restore’ functionality is broken and will charge you without allowing access ### 1/5 — Does not recognize my subscription *2026-04-24, version 3.42.0* I have been a subscriber through the App Store for a decade now, and the app recently stopped recognizing my subscription, even though I’m still paying. ### 1/5 — Scammers — I’m paying for this app and can’t access the content *2026-04-04, version 3.40.0* I’ve been a subscriber to The Economist Espresso for years now. When the app works, it’s tremendous content and worth paying for. However, it’s been nearly impossible to access the content on a daily basis for a while now. I tried talking to their customer support team and they were useless. So, in the meantime, The Economist is taking my money without providing a service. Terrible, I’d give 0 stars if I could. They also tried to contact me after another 1 star review I left, and were no help there either. Awful customer service ### 1/5 — Bad data policies *2026-04-01, version 3.40.0* This will be a nuisance to unsubscribe from, constant emails with a bad unsubscribe policy. Difficult if at all possible to delete account, I regret downloading this ### 1/5 — Too Little content and impossible to unsubscribe *2025-10-10* Very frustrating **Developer response:** We’re sorry to hear you’ve experienced issues when trying to cancel, and we’d like to resolve this for you as soon as possible. Please email complaints@economist.com from the email address linked to your subscription and we’ll be in touch soon. ### 1/5 — Broken Login *2025-08-28, version 3.40.0* Have tried everything to login on this app but always get an authentication error. Works with my partner’s and my login on a browser but not once on the app. 1 star as it’s unusable ### 1/5 — Please fix the app *2025-05-30* How many hundreds of times will I have to click on “Restore Subscription”? ### 1/5 — Feedback within app???? *2025-05-12, version 3.38.0* Impossible to provide in app feedback because link does not work. Wonder why!!?? ### 1/5 — Login problems EVERY SINGLE day *2025-04-27, version 3.37.0* The app doesn’t recognise my subscription every single day. It takes multiple attempts to access the content. ### 1/5 — Paid *2025-04-06, version 3.37.0* Paid articles, misleading free app ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Very useful, but could be a tad better *2026-03-18* Very informative and efficient way of keeping up with news that matter. Now, the pictures on top of each article also looks interesting: it would be useful to be able to zoom in on them and better get a feel for what they depict. Also, being able to send some corrections or non-public comments could be of interest both for journalists and for readers. AI could help triage communications. **Developer response:** Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. We’re glad to hear that you’re enjoying our global analysis, and hope we will continue to be your trusted guide to business news, politics, economics and culture in the future. ### 5/5 — Perfect Match *2025-09-14* My new morning routine. I like it the app! **Developer response:** Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. We’re glad to hear that you’re enjoying our global analysis, and hope we will continue to be your trusted guide to business news, politics, economics and culture in the future. ### 5/5 — Essential for globally minded students *2025-04-05, version 3.37.0* It is no secret that a lot of media has declined in quality, reading level, and even passion to me lately. The Economist bucks the trend, and uses the fact that it doesn't need to sensationalise to make money to its fullest extent. It's fun, it's enjoyable, it's nuance, has great cultural takes and commentary, and it provides a depth that has seemingly vanished from so many other sites. I really recommend this if you're a student like me who is looking for quality content. (Espresso is free for uni students) ### 5/5 — Quick for a busy lifestyle *2025-03-24, version 3.37.0* I used to read the whole Economist but I switched jobs and didn’t have the time anymore. This is great. I still get updates on the most important stuff. I feel like I’m still connected to what’s going on in the world. ### 5/5 — A brief summary of the daily news *2025-03-09* I like that you can also watch The Economist videos **Developer response:** Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. We’re glad to hear that you’re enjoying our global analysis, and hope we will continue to be your trusted guide to business news, politics, economics and culture in the future. ### 5/5 — A smooth digital expresso! *2025-02-20, version 3.36.0* Expresso gives me the essentialist amount of information that I need to know for the day about the world’s political economy. Not too American, not too much information, and not too visually distracting. ### 5/5 — Best of the Best *2025-02-10* Best journalism ever **Developer response:** Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. We’re glad to hear that you’re enjoying our global analysis, and hope we will continue to be your trusted guide to business news, politics, economics and culture in the future. ### 5/5 — Essential part of morning routine. *2025-02-04, version 3.34.0* The only news you need. ### 5/5 — J’adore Espresso *2025-01-06, version 3.33.1* The Espresso is the perfect way to keep my finger on the pulse with the latest international news. It gives an intelligent, balanced, timely and concise overview of world affairs. ### 5/5 — Perfect amount of news for the day *2024-12-21, version 3.33.1* I needed a slim news experience that avoids the hang wringing or triumphalism in a lot of news coverage. The espresso app scratches that itch! --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-05.*