Scroll shudder
I loved the Tortoise app and branding so was excited to see what would be adopted once the Observer took ownership. There is one inescapable problem - the shuddering scroll. I'm running the latest OS on an Apple iPhone13 pro and this doesn't happen on any of my other apps. When I select the "reduce motion" toggle in settings I've noticed it remedied the problem but impairs the user experience for all other apps and interactions on my phone. Which makes me think the app scripts are buggy. Real shame as I can't enjoy the content at all. I'm not going to toggle the setting every time I want to use the app...
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Response from developer
Hi - Thanks for the review. The scrolling problem was a temporary issue that we've now fixed but sorry for any disruption to your reading experience. Please give it another try and let us know on subscribers@observer.co.uk if you're still seeing any problems. Thank you!
Lovely app from the wonderful newspaper, and great app support when needed.
I’m loving this app which is well set out and very easy to use. A great addition to the brilliant Sunday printed paper. I use the iPhone app, and have discovered the iPad version works fine on my Apple silicon MacBook even though it is not verified for macOS.
I had great support when I first loaded the iPhone app and it was failing to load news articles, podcasts or puzzles from the headline tiles. This was resolved by ensuring In-App purchases is set to Allow in iOS settings which is a small glitch I have reported.
The support page link in the app store gives a page not found error but the subscribers support email address is well monitored and prompt to respond.
I had great support when I first loaded the iPhone app and it was failing to load news articles, podcasts or puzzles from the headline tiles. This was resolved by ensuring In-App purchases is set to Allow in iOS settings which is a small glitch I have reported.
The support page link in the app store gives a page not found error but the subscribers support email address is well monitored and prompt to respond.
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Just a terrible app
This app has me on the verge of cancelling my description. This Sunday like many others I am presented with articles that consist of jumbled words, phantom letters and the repetition of text. One supplement that looks like it’s been poorly scanned into the app and another that won’t open. Given that print readership must be minimal it is frustrating that the paper is not designed for or fully taking advantage of the tablets most of us are using.
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Crossword and support issues
Sorry to report like this but the support link on the App Store page goes to a ‘Page not found’
Since the last update when you go to the Everyman crossword on my iPhone to resume a puzzle that you have started earlier the resume button is off the bottom of the screen and not accessible.
Also: I have the app on my phone and iPad. It saves puzzle progress on one device, why not both when I am signed into the same account?
Since the last update when you go to the Everyman crossword on my iPhone to resume a puzzle that you have started earlier the resume button is off the bottom of the screen and not accessible.
Also: I have the app on my phone and iPad. It saves puzzle progress on one device, why not both when I am signed into the same account?
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IPhone app not currently working for me but great app support working hard to resolve
I’ve upgraded to 3 stars because I am getting great and prompt support from the Observer app team who I hope will resolve things and get me to 5 stars.
My issue is I cannot load news articles, podcasts or puzzles - the links from the headline tiles just give a blank page with a spinning loading wheel. I’ve tried reinstalling and changing my subscription password. The PDF of the printed copy is working fine. Very strange. IPhone 17 Pro Max with iOS 26.4.2.
The support page link in the app store gives a page not found error but the subscribers support email address is well monitored and prompt to respond.
My issue is I cannot load news articles, podcasts or puzzles - the links from the headline tiles just give a blank page with a spinning loading wheel. I’ve tried reinstalling and changing my subscription password. The PDF of the printed copy is working fine. Very strange. IPhone 17 Pro Max with iOS 26.4.2.
The support page link in the app store gives a page not found error but the subscribers support email address is well monitored and prompt to respond.
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astonishingly good!
I am astonished at just how good the Observer app is. Have been using it as a subscriber for a fortnight; although I find the web page a bit irritating to navigate, the print edition option is a delight (works both landscape and portrait on iPad) and makes it possible to enjoy the aesthetic pleasure of the paper’s design. Greatly appreciate the save/ print pdf option. And having all of the supplements and the entire run of the (new ownership) back issues. Perhaps I’ve come along at the right time: if I’d known it was this good I would have subscribed earlier!
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Podcast Controls Stink
I LOVE the content but it doesn’t save your place if you back out of the app mid-podcast. I am constantly figuring out where I left off - so frustrating!
Page not found
After doing the Everyman crossword weekly on the Guardian website for years, Tortoise quickly put it behind a paywall. So I reluctantly subscribed to the observer so I can continue to access the crossword but half the time when I try to access it in the app it says “page not found, sorry”. When I click the link App Support in the App Store it also goes to “page not found, sorry” in the app - really annoying please sort it out. What am I paying for!
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Needs some work
This app needs some serious work. Firstly, why can’t the listen section remember where you were up to? If you have to stop listening part way through and come back later, it’s as if you’d never listened at all so a pain to find where you had got to. Maybe as well note which episodes you’ve listened to, like every other app does.
Also if you turn the phone to landscape whilst reading an article all the text disappears.
Finally the support link on the App Store goes to page not found!
Content is great though. Love the investigative podcasts in particular.
Also if you turn the phone to landscape whilst reading an article all the text disappears.
Finally the support link on the App Store goes to page not found!
Content is great though. Love the investigative podcasts in particular.
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Great App
This app is so easy to navigate. The layout allows you to read the headlines and summary and with one click to load the full article and all images. I also subscribe to the guardian digital app which is really clunky and when you do get to open the full article, the images are missing. Well done digital team at the Observer!
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It’s back!
So after my derogatory review of the app and the discontinuation of the paper version from the beginning of Feb, I got a response from the developer saying the paper version will again be available from the 1st March. And it is. And it’s good!
Good job, and I’m very happy and relieved to have my Sunday mornings back again. Thank you.
Good job, and I’m very happy and relieved to have my Sunday mornings back again. Thank you.
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Very disappointing
I’ve been reading The Observer on the Guardian Editions app for years and loved it. When Tortoise took over, there was a huge improvement in design, journalism, everything. BUT, now The Observer has left the Guardian Editions app, I am forced to use this app and it’s dreadful, compared to last week’s final issue with the Guardian.The wonderful design of the printed paper has disappeared - it’s just another list of articles like so many other news apps. What a disappointing drop in quality of the reading experience. I’ll try it but I don’t think I’m going to be using this for long. And the menu items at the bottom of the screen - only just showing the tops of the icons. Very very poor. Tortoise’s reputation just plummeted in my eyes.
UPDATE
The printed edition is now there and after a couple of weeks of false starts on the iPad, it now seems stable, so I’m happier. Still not keen on the layout and structure of the app, but the print edition has the features that I liked before.
UPDATE
The printed edition is now there and after a couple of weeks of false starts on the iPad, it now seems stable, so I’m happier. Still not keen on the layout and structure of the app, but the print edition has the features that I liked before.
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Big improvement
The app felt a little basic when they first launched it, but they've improved it loads since then. I love the colourful design, and although I've never really 'got' why you'd read a digital PDF of a newspaper I'm actually really enjoying this new laid back way of reading news in an app. The podcasts are brilliant. Bravo!
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Needs a lot of work
Where to start? As things stand it is hopeless. Screen rotation doesn’t work. The PDF (the thing I actually want) doesn’t have the article zoom-in ability it had in the Guardian app, making it hard to read. It is also difficult to navigate, the drop down only gives page nos. rather than sections I can jump to. The rest of it is endless piles of articles that have no obvious coherence or point. Thankfully I got it half price, I’ve stopped using it and won’t be renewing.
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Even worse
The new Guardian app was bad, but this takes it to a whole new level.. You cannot even get a full page view on an iPad, just a pdf of the whole two pages in impossibly tiny to read text. Yes I can read individual articles via the “web like” interface, if I can find them. Truly shocking
Generally fine but
This works fine for accessing the new observer content but if you want to turn your iPad upside down (as I do to charge it often at breakfast time), the app won’t flip. So I stop reading the observer and switch to other apps that do flip at that point. This is pretty basic functionality.
Keeps freezing
I would really like to continue reading the Observer and have just forked out for an annual subscription, but each time I try to access the print edition the app freezes. Extremely disappointing and made worse by the lack of an obvious way to contact the paper. So here’s a bad review, which seems to be the only way.
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Ruined my Sundays
This app does NOT replicate the paper or make any attempt to. It’s just like most other news apps. Unless they go back to how it was when on The Guardian app I will after 40 years of readership, abandon it. Can’t believe that was their aim. I have it free for a year - way too much at that price. Ruined my Sundays.
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Really disappointing
Having read The Observer in the Guardian app for many years, this is a real disappointment. Your choice now to seems either to read the paper as a pdf (no saving or sharing of articles) or as a series of full-screen articles (with no obvious way to find your way through that day’s paper). I’ll give it another couple of weeks, and IAM really loathe to say goodbye to some Observer columns I really like, but I have already downloaded The Independent app as a Sunday alternative.
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Cannot open printed edition
Printed edition opens very rarely. Usually crashes app. Very frustrating. Especially after forcing us off the Guardian editions app which worked seamlessly.
