# The Mercury — user reviews

> 62 indexed App Store user reviews of The Mercury by News Digital Media, rated 2.17/5 from 24 ratings.

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/the-mercury/id1104197339/reviews
- App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/the-mercury/id1104197339.md

## What do users think of The Mercury?

Overall sentiment: negative

**Pros**

- 👍 Access to news while travelling
- 👍 Can read paper before delivery
- 👍 Good access to Australian news
- 👍 Works better than other News Limited apps

**Cons**

- 🐛 App crashes frequently
- 🐛 Latest updates cause issues
- 🐛 Pop-up ads are intrusive
- 🐛 Cannot get rid of ads
- 🐛 Poor coverage of world/national issues
- 🐛 Subscription not worth the cost
- 🐛 Difficult to unsubscribe
- 🐛 Low resolution images
- 🐛 Navigation takes up screen space
- 🐛 Unintuitive zooming/tapping
- 🐛 Ads placed within articles
- 🐛 App freezes on stories
- 🐛 Blank white pages on some stories
- 🐛 Audio access stops streaming
- 🐛 Cannot return to main screen
- 🐛 Slow to open pages
- 🐛 Games/crosswords not accessible
- 🐛 Poor resolution/detail
- 🐛 Does not remember page position
- 🐛 Janky formatting
- 🐛 Slow to load
- 🐛 Daily edition not available early
- 🐛 Content is parochial
- 🐛 Badly written articles
- 🐛 Paying for ads
- 🐛 Comments section issues
- 🐛 Pending comments take days
- 🐛 Loading problems are common
- 🐛 Ads presented within articles
- 🐛 Ads disguised as news
- 🐛 Subscription not value for money
- 🐛 No access to previous issues
- 🐛 No exit from supplementary adverts
- 🐛 Clipping tool disappeared
- 🐛 Reduced screen real estate
- 🐛 Cartoons unreadable
- 🐛 Advertising inserts intrude
- 🐛 No full screen view
- 🐛 Quick flick to front page missing
- 🐛 Not compatible with older iPads
- 🐛 Unusable crossword on iPad
- 🐛 App uses excessive mobile data
- 🐛 Email with '+' symbol invalid for login
- 🐛 No search engine
- 🐛 Login/password wiped after updates
- 🐛 App hangs on opening
- 🐛 Server errors
- 🐛 Editing is getting worse
- 🐛 Advert over mid-page spread
- 🐛 No digital edition available
- 🐛 Subscription scam
- 🐛 Auto-charged without consent
- 🐛 Impossible to cancel subscription
- 🐛 Double dipping subscriptions

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Zoom not functional
- App not in touch with other apps
- Cannot comment or respond
- Latest update displays unremovable ads
- App has over 7GB of documents and data
- App takes audio, stops streaming
- Cannot go back to main screen
- App freezes when clicking on a story
- Blank white page locks up iPad
- App crashes on some stories
- Comments failed to load
- Comments disappear when clicking article
- Loading problems are common
- Ads presented within articles
- Ad for Jetstar headlined as news
- Does not remember page position
- App is very slow to load
- Cannot open next day edition without restart
- Online version not available until late
- Resolution is very poor
- Today's paper option has major fault
- App won't open, closes after seconds
- No access to previous issues
- No exit from supplementary adverts
- Navigation bars take up screen space
- Tapping is unintuitive
- Double tap to zoom is problematic
- Image resolution is low
- Cannot access the Mercury
- iPad stuck on previous day's edition
- Clipping tool has disappeared
- Navigation arrows take up screen space
- Low resolution pictures
- Zoom does not work as expected
- Photos are of poor quality
- Pinch and expand needed to read articles
- Cannot download papers, server problem
- Server error on other devices
- Error (0) when server is down
- Advert over mid-page spread
- No digital Mercury available
- App is not working
- Impossible to cancel subscription
- App is a scam
- Subscription scam, auto-charged
- No search engine
- Login & password wiped after updates
- Crossword is unusable on iPad
- App hangs on opening after iOS update
- App took 2GB of mobile data in an hour
- App crashing constantly
- App crashes and takes forever to reload
- Cannot login due to '+' in email
- App keeps crashing
- App is useless, constantly crashing
- App crashes after downloading paper
- App refuses to load, shuts down
- Keeps saying downloading but disappears
- Puts up an edition that is days old
- App is a dud, fails to load

**Most requested features**

- Fix zoom functionality
- Sync app usage between devices
- Improve coverage of world/national issues
- Get rid of intrusive ads
- Allow commenting and responding
- Purge cache to free up space
- Prevent app from taking audio
- Allow return to main screen
- Improve page loading times
- Make giant crossword available online
- Allow access to all games with subscription
- Improve resolution and detail
- Remember page position when leaving app
- Improve formatting
- Improve loading speed
- Fix comments section loading
- Fix pending comments publishing
- Stop ads from interrupting articles
- Fix app freezing on stories
- Fix blank white pages on stories
- Update homepage photos
- Fix app crashes on some stories
- Make comments section functional
- Improve user interface for tablets
- Improve resolution of cartoons
- Restore clipping tool
- Allow full screen view
- Improve navigation
- Improve zooming functionality
- Improve image resolution
- Allow access to previous issues
- Provide exit from supplementary adverts
- Fix navigation bars taking up screen space
- Make tapping intuitive
- Fix double tap to zoom behavior
- Allow printing of crossword at usable scale
- Fix 2-page view and advertising intrusions
- Ensure articles are confined to one page
- Fix app compatibility with older devices
- Make crossword usable on iPad
- Fix excessive mobile data usage
- Allow login with '+' in email address
- Implement a search engine
- Prevent login/password wiping after updates
- Fix app hanging on opening
- Fix server errors
- Improve editing and advert placement
- Make digital edition available earlier
- Fix subscription cancellation process
- Stop auto-charging without consent

## Newest reviews (15 of 62)

### 1/5 — Rubbish

*2022-08-30, version 7.32.1*

Paid for a subscription? Too bad you can’t use it! It’s absolute rubbish, janky formatting at best and all round utter trash. 
Though, considering the garbage website I suppose I shouldn’t be too shocked.

### 1/5 — Creepy app

*2022-08-04, version 7.32.1*

Places heaps (5GB+) in ‘other’ data on iPad. Just lately (08/22) very slow to load.

### 1/5 — VERY FRUSTRATING

*2022-01-26, version 7.30.1*

I cannot open the next day edition without having to close the app and then reopen it!
Also, why is the online version (via the app) not available until way after the hardcopy is delivered by the ‘man in the van!’
The Age (a much larger paper) is available by 1am, The Mercury isn't available on line until at least 5-6am!
The content of the paper is parochial, has badly written articles and I don’t want to pay good money to read all the advertisements!
NAHHH this is a waste of money $28 a month???? I DONT THINK SO!

### 2/5 — Disgraceful  update

*2021-11-12, version 7.30*

The Mercury ought to do an article on the update, how it was designed, who reviewed it etc.  The sought of article they would write if the government released a terrible update.

### 2/5 — Resolution

*2021-10-30, version 7.30*

Is very poor and you can forget about detail,and the paper version even worse 
As a long term subscriber if this is not fixed I’ll be be cancelling

### 2/5 — Backwards app

*2021-10-16, version 7.30*

The old app which suited the tabloid format worked well. The “new improved version “ (not) may be OK but the today’s paper option has a major fault. It is impossible to read an article when there is some advertising insert or, as with the Sunday Tasmanian, the comic section is ruined by the Escape section. This was not the case before. I do like the newer clipping and sharing function but this fault detracts. The today’s paper aspect is important has a significant amount of information that’s unavailable in the headline grabbing part.

### 1/5 — So frustrating!!

*2021-10-12, version 7.30*

Have deleted and downloaded this App so many times, and it still won't open. Just goes to the first screen for a couple of seconds then closes. Have used the App for years . This has happened only in the last few weeks. Ggrrrr!!

### 1/5 — What a hopeless app!

*2021-10-10, version 7.30*

Upgrade is the wrong word for what has happened to this app.
- no access to previous issues,
- no exit from supplementary adverts except by reloading the app.
One star is over-generous!
An online subscription to The Mercury via this app is definitely NOT value for money!

### 1/5 — Improve the layout

*2021-10-09, version 7.30*

If articles including cartoon section is spread over two pages please don’t place advertising pages between. Makes it very frustrating to then flick back and forth

### 1/5 — Downgrade not upgrade

*2021-10-08, version 7.30*

Endorse other negative reviews
You need some new app developers , its woeful
The new section at the bottom of they page has been developed by someone on large screens , it reduces the room for reading on a tablet
The resolution of the cartoons (the best part of the paper) is terrible and unreadable
The clipping tool seems to have disappeared.
All in all a pretty good app has become pretty ordinary (cr)app

### 1/5 — A backward step part 2

*2021-10-07, version 7.30*

Anytime there is an article over 2 pages makes reading difficult. Today, Thur 7 Oct, a finance article continued after 8 pages of ads.  There is a need for a 2 page view and as this is a copy of the print version editors need to ensure that if there is a 2 page view advertising inserts don’t intrude.  If there is no 2 page view then articles need to be confined to one page, rather than several articles spread over 2 pages.

### 1/5 — Rubbish

*2021-10-04, version 7.30*

What a rubbish update.  No full screen, no quick flick to front page. Won't even work on wife's older IPad. Thought these updates were going to be backwards compatible. No star.

### 1/5 — This “upgrade” is simply abysmal!

*2021-10-03, version 7.30*

To claim that this is an upgrade is farcical...it’s a downgrade!

The navigation bars take up unnecessary screen real estate preventing full screen view of a page. What was wrong with tapping at the top of the screen to make them slide in? Apple Books does it, so does Kindle, and so did the previous version.

And as for tapping...what an unintuitive mess! Tap once ANYWHERE on a page and the text view opens, unlike the previous version where you double tapped on the headline. And hold your finger on the page for too long and the same thing occurs!

Want to zoom in to be able to read the now smaller page? Double tap on the place you want to enlarge, but unlike the previous version and every other app that supports double tap to zoom, the page zooms to the top left corner. Even worse if you are in double page landscape view and double tap anywhere on the right hand page: it zooms to the top left of the LEFT HAND page! But wait...in some sections, especially the classifieds and Tributes, it works as expected!

Of course, an important part of a newspaper is the pictures. In this new cramped layout, it has become even more necessary than before to be able to zoom on them to see the subject clearly. Good luck with that: the resolution is so low and the jpeg compression so heavy that it is impossible to much other than pixels and artefacts. As a retired graphic artist who regularly produced material for this and other publications, I would be advising my clients to spend their dollars elsewhere.

If this is the best that the Mercury is going to offer, especially as they have just increased their subscription price, I can only assume that they have decided to drive their digital readers back to the paper edition. 

The digital edition was originally distributed through Press Reader until News Limited withdrew their publications and produced their own lower quality version. Since then it has progressively worsened until surely it can’t get any worse.

Fortunately, there are many other ways to obtain news.

### 1/5 — Upgrade doesn’t work for me

*2021-10-02, version 7.30*

Since Friday I haven’t been able to access the Mercury.  My iPad is stuck on Thursday.

Strange I can still access the advertiser and herald Sun.

Get your act together asap otherwise I will cancel my subscription. 

No news day

### 1/5 — App upgrade disappointing

*2021-09-30, version 7.30*

Disappointing upgrade and once again over engineered. Change for change sake. Why create unnecessary controls to navigate the paper when it eats away at screen real estate? Two year olds can swipe and is natural. The biggest issue is the low resolution pictures. Can’t believe it. What a backward step. It’s obvious the printed edition is on the way out and this upgrade doesn’t make the digital version much of an option. Access to more attractive papers is just a click away these days. Good luck holding readership.

## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated)

### 1/5 — Zoom not functional

*2026-02-09, version 9.12.1*

I can no longer zoom with the new version

### 1/5 — The Mercury, not in touch with other The Mercury apps.

*2025-12-20, version 9.11.9*

Using the same app on my iPhone does not equate with use on my iPad.
Whilst the iPad does let me online for comments on various topics, the app on my iPhone says I am not a member and when I do try and change that I am told I am a member!
I am still not able to comment or respond to articles.

### 1/5 — Poor coverage

*2025-05-11, version 9.8.0*

The homepage of the digital edition is more like a wellness  gossip column rather than a newspaper. Stories about world issues, important national and local issues are given low priority or absent. Fortunately we can download the paper edition, do online puzzles, share stories from the daily paper and print out material. The digital edition has no attraction compared to other newspaper and news apps. Almost not worth paying a subscription.

### 1/5 — Never works properly

*2025-03-12, version 9.7.8*

Latest update just displays pop up ad about recipes that you can’t get rid of. No point subscribing if I can’t read anything!

### 1/5 — At the end and last page, cant go back to main screen, so lousy

*2023-05-13, version 9.0.6*

Why can’t I return to the main screen after reading the end of the last page,  the back key not functioning, went to App Store to reload and takes it back to same last page,  also when it comes to a few pages on it takes a long time to open the next page ,  can’t do the giant crossword online, download the games app and giant crossword not there,  also have to pay to play other games and can only play one crossword per day,  we pay for the newspaper we can play all games, so why does the digital app game we have to pay again despite paying the subscriptions for the paper, unhappy customer

### 1/5 — Latest update

*2023-04-16, version 9.0.1*

What’s happened with the latest update? Like others have noted the app now freezes when you click on a story. The app is no rendered pretty useless!

### 1/5 — New update has a huge bug.

*2023-04-10, version 9.0.1*

I see you had an update to the app 5 days ago.  Ever since then , if I click on a story in My News area up comes a blank white page that locks up my iPad.   I have to double click on the page to close it down and reload your app again.   
Please fix.   
How about updates to your main page too.  Sick of looking at the Tasman Bridge and a Ducks Bum.   Surely you can update that photo monthly, with readers photos.   You’ve had that photo for years.  It’s not that good!

### 1/5 — App crashes on some stories

*2023-04-05, version 9.0.1*

This latest update makes this app terrible to use. Some stories load others crash the app. Not great considering I pay a subscription to use it!

### 1/5 — Clumsy and frustrating

*2023-01-08, version 7.32.3*

This app is the pits. Loading problems are common. But the worst part is that even though the magazines and ad inserts are there to be opened separately they are also presented in the the course of reading the ‘paper’. This means that if they are present midway through articles you might have to scroll forward multiple pages of ads before you can continue reading. It’s obvious why they do this but I resent the fact that they, to all appearances, offer a choice which in the end is no choice at all.

### 1/5 — As Ads as News

*2022-12-26, version 7.32.3*

26 Dec 2022 PM. Ad for Jetstar’s loooow price Headlined as news.
Was this a paid news item??? Bad news: bowls club not opening next Friday.

## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated)

### 5/5 — Travelling

*2021-09-29, version 7.30*

we are able to read the Mercury paper first thing in the morning instead of having paper copy delivered at lunch time.  Great to have this app to keep in touch with what is happening back home while we are travelling.

### 5/5 — Is subscription worth it?

*2020-08-27, version 7.25*

Great access to all news around Australia. As a former Tasmanian who now lives in Queensland it is good to catchup on all the Tasmanian news as I still have family there. Very easy to read on the iPad and you can also download the paper in its printed format for us oldies.

### 4/5 — A good, working app

*2021-05-24, version 7.27*

This app is the standard News Limited app and works so much better than the new one introduced in Melbourne and Brisbane. PLEASE do not let The Mercury be forced to change to that horrid, unworkable new format.

### 4/5 — Good app but with one flaw

*2019-03-26, version 7.12*

The app works well, news and articles displayed well, but the crossword is unusable on iPad. Fix this and it’s a 5 star app

### 3/5 — Reading paper online.

*2022-11-06, version 7.32.1*

When I read the Mercury as printed online, if I go off the page to check my mail or similar, it does not remember what page I was on. This is very annoying. It does not do this on your sister paper The Herald Sun, or even the Australian to which I also subscribe.

### 3/5 — Is new app an improvement?

*2021-10-01, version 7.30*

Not sure why we had to have the new app. It has some good features and seems to load the paper quicker, but some features not as good. It no longer supports clips so can’t print the crossword anymore at a usable scale. Also the stupid navigation arrows take up too much of the bottom of the screen.

### 3/5 — Search?

*2019-11-19, version 7.22.2*

Why can’t I find the search engine for the app? I was looking for an article I saw before and I just can’t find it.

### 2/5 — Purge cache needed.

*2024-10-24, version 9.6.5*

My iPad mini 6 says the mercury app has over 7 gig of documents and data.  That must mean everything I have ever read has been saved.

### 2/5 — App takes audio

*2024-10-14, version 9.6.5*

There’s been a few updates and the audio on my phone is accessed by this app when opening it. As a result streaming (eg radio) is stopped. Most inconvenient.

### 2/5 — What’s happening at the Mercury?

*2023-01-17, version 7.33.0*

My first beef is with the Comments section. Of late I have been getting the message “Comments failed to load. Please try again later”. Also, when comments are indicated for an article, as soon as I click on the article the comments disappear. Very frustrating!
Then, when I do respond to a comment, and it’s several comments from the top, the response can stay there as a PENDING for days sometimes. Obviously the adjudicator never looks below the top couple of comments. If this continues to occur I will cancel my subscription of five or six years! I’m not prone to wasting time in writing comments for them to never to see the light of day!

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*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 2026-09-21.*