Changed my rating to 3* from 1*. The app has an issue where it didn't like certain characters in passwords even though I could log on to the website with the same password. I have notified The Atlantic support team. The app layout looks nice and clean. It is missing some functionality which I have in other news apps - therefore giving it 3* 1. No ability to save articles for reading later / offline reading 2. No ability to search for (older) articles 3. No dark mode Hopefully future versions will add these capabilities and I will update my rating at that point.
Reviews for The Atlantic
← Back to The Atlanticit worked at first. but now, a lot of the time when i click on an article i want to read the page turns white... no information. that's kind of a bummer. i've only had the subscription for a month or two. edit- almost every article i click on now is unreadable. i've updated the app twice. i guess i should think about uninstalling it and requesting a refund.
Atlantic is great mag. But the app has some issues. You can not share/gift an article from the app. I have to go to the regular website to do this; which is very inconvenient. The irony here is that if I could share/gift articles more easily, more people would likely sign up for paid subscriptions. Go figure???
To echo some other comments - Android Atlantic subscribers had to wait a long time for an app, and the wait was not worth it. No search function, links from email/web do not open in the app, and no ability to manage your subscription within the app. I'm sure there are other things missing but I deleted the app within 5 minutes of opening it so I didn't look around beyond that. Really frustrating.
I'm glad they finally updated the interface and features to be more robust like the iOS version but it's insanely glitchy. It's always 1 step forward 2 steps back for The Atlantic's digital service. Maybe one day they'll get things together but it's still unacceptable to spend so much on an annual subscription and not get basic access working properly.
Notifications don't work properly on Android (Galaxy z fold 5, latest android build). It's been a problem for years, but I'm finally complaining about it. You tap a headline notification, and it opens the app to the last article you read... Then your notification is gone and you have to go search for the article on their main app screen. Basically the notifications are useless except to tell you what articles are available. It's up to you to find the article if you want to read it.
Several downsides to this bare-bones app: There is no way to open an Atlantic article in the app from anywhere else - browser, other app, etc. You have to either log in on each individual app or go to this app and search it. Frustrating for a subscriber. Also, I recently upgraded my phone and found that none of my Saved articles show up in my Atlantic app now. They are still saved to my account on web (whew) but the app just doesn't show them. Other bugs too, but I'm out of room.
Edit: A CS rep reached out to me, and gave me a temporary password so I could log in. Not the most streamlined process, but it does work now. // I just subscribed to the Atlantic online using my Google account, but it doesn't look like there's any way to log in to the app with my Google account, so this app is completely unusable for me. Only keeping it installed so I can get notifications about new articles - looks like I'll just have to search for them online if I want to actually read them.
Huge miscommunications between notifications, previously opened content, etc. Let's say I click a notification and it manages to take me to the advertised article (not always the case), then I'm reading it and get distracted by something IRL and come back 20 minutes later. That article is nowhere to be found. Takes me back to the latest headlines (the one I was reading has somehow disappeared) and even if I type the headline word for word in search, it will NOT come up. App is just a mess.
It would be super awesome if every time I got a notification for an article, clicking on the notification actually brought me to that article. Instead of the one I was previously reading. Or the homepage, which somehow never has the article that was on the notification. Or the actual name of the article is so far removed from what came up in the notification it's impossible to find. I love the Atlantic's articles. When I can actually find the ones I'm looking for.
The app is just okay. user interface is pretty bad and extremely simplistic lacking the features of the other big news magazine apps. you don't seem to be able to save articles or audio for offline access. also, when listening to an audio article, the playback speed is only adjustable in .5x increments, making this feature mostly useless. The Atlantic is the best news magazine, but they might have the worst app out of them all.
From a content delivery perspective, The Atlantic app is great. I appreciate that it picks up where you left off in an article. Unfortunately, they rely on Google to serve ads, and these are some of the dumbest ads that I've ever seen. I get that outsourcing ads to Google is easier than striking deals with companies (which The Economist does), but it makes using the app obnoxious. I may go back to using the website so I can block this stuff.
Excellent in-depth articles. Most of the time this app "remembers" (even across two days) what article I was reading as well as where within it, which is a rarity with Today's apps. However, within the same day, when I re-focus on this app, it displays a blank screen, and I must look for the article, if I can remember what that article was titled.
Generally really enjoyed the app. The last update with the games is a struggle. Clicking on games takes me to the website to subscribe, so then I sign in but it doesn't take me to the game. After clicking around on the site, I was somehow able to access the games...but I can't remember how and haven't been able to access them since. It's definitely not by clicking the games icon
Barely adequate app: good for recent issues as long as you're online. You get a list of 10 current articles and a breezy font saying "That's all." (There's no link to previous months.) Click an author profile and try to read one of their older pieces? You're sent to the browser where you must log in to your subscription. And don't bother searching. It can't find reasonably recent Atlantic articles cited by other publications, by author, keyword or exact title.
Taking away the normal share option was not appreciated. I often opened interesting articles listed in the app mid-article, immediately shared them to my browser, and then went back to the one I'd been reading. It was my workaround so that I could read more articles, without losing my place. Now I can only share as a gift, which means searching for the article in the browser, and that's too much. I'm just not going to do all that; I'll read fewer articles and more books.
I consume most news and entertainment through apps. I have subscriptions to multiple news outlets and The Atlantic is by far my favorite. But this app is MADDENINGLY glitchy.... constantly freezing, forever logging you out and refusing to recognize you when trying to log back in. I have to close the app multiple times per day to resolve freezing and, several times per month, delete the app and re-download to log back in. Very disappointing.
There's an issue with the app. The GUI is such that it's no longer possible to access my account profile or saved articles because the button is now over the wifi/network/batttery icons on my phone. Boo. Useless to my account or read anything saved. Now, cannot login at all... Originally through Facebook and getting an error message. A pretty expensive publication to have no access, even online.
The Atlantic has such good articles! Of the 4-5 publications I subscribe to, this is the one I read the most. But what I really enjoy is, if I stop reading an article, and go back to it later, the app remembers where I stopped and scrolls forward so I can pick up where I left off! I love it! thank you for fixing the issue with inability to open my saved articles.
Missing a KEY feature. The Atlantic ads always show up in my SM news feeds. It was one of the main reasons I became a subscriber. However, when I click the link from the ad, it doesn't take me to read the article in the app! I have to go hunt it down through archives or search feature. It's so, so annoying that it won't open links in the app automatically. It was the whole point of subscribing. I'm shocked there isn't an "open in app" option to set as default. 👎