AI IS INDIFFERENT TO HUMANS! I notice frequently that when you sort rating by “most recent” that preciously well rated apps are getting low ratings. What has changed recently? They’re all using AI to mange subscriptions and app design thus rendering both inconvenient and inefficient. After decades of reading The Atlantic, today it won’t find my paid subscription with Apple. So I reluctantly cancelled. Attempts to solve this sent me into the usual circular AI forest where my queries are not acceptable to them. Such a waste of time AI causes. I call AI artificial indifference. ************ REVISION: wrote to Atlantic and they did respond(I m not sure if it was a person. But before rambling thru the steps, I removed the app from my iPad and reinstalled AND IT WORKED! Should have tried that instead of wasting an hour trying other ways. I still hold to what I said above.

I love the Atlantic. If I tell you I‘ve been reading it since James Fallows was a rookie, a few of you may know how long that’s been. A long time. The Atlantic has successfully negotiated the transition to the internet when so many of its peers have stumbled. The magazine still offers top notch long form journalism and the past few years it has tried to resurrect its role as a venue for high quality fiction and poetry, too. The web site is a treasure trove of innovative commentary and news that complements “newspaper” sites. The politics, economics, and science reports are invaluable for me. The problem is the app. I recently tried to renew my subscription through it, but the app would have none of that. I had to cancel and resubscribe, I discovered after a long and particularly unenlightening exchange with customer service. These days the app just forgets my subscription information every few days and I have to go through a rigamarole to get it to allow me to see anything. Customer service says to delete the app and reinstall it. They point out that a will lose my list of saved articles when I do that. I’d say, “no problem, I only have a few articles on my saved list,” but how do I re-save them after I reinstall? There is no search feature to allow me to find them. My advice: read the Atlantic, but do it from the website!

We’re on the App Store, not a journalism review forum so I won’t go into the Atlantic as a publication. Undeniably, they do world class journalism. The app on the other hand? It’s had several glaring annoyances for so long it’s starting to seem intentional: 1) Most notably - no search (or impossible to find). At this point it seems intentional. It’s baseline functionality that users have been requesting for a LONG time. Just read the reviews. I don’t always use the app to see what their algorithms thought I should read or to launch a lengthy expedition through their “Sections.” If I’m looking for an article or author it should take me seconds to find a list. I can’t fathom an argument against this feature 2) strangely strict curation. No way to build a feed off your favorite author or topic (don’t get me started on Sections) 3) Sharing. I am a longtime subscriber and have the app which is tied to my subscription. Same for several friends and family. Why would the Atlantic app share a story link which only opens in Safari…which usually hits me with the paywall??? I already subscribed. I already signed in. Send me to the freaking app you brag about in your digital subscription feature list!!!!!!!!! I truly hope someone responds and points out features I overlooked. Otherwise I may downgrade to print only. Why pay for digital access if the app is this frustrating?