How to return to the iPad view on WSJ app?

I was very distressed and disappointed by the new WSJ app (version 14). I emailed WSJ customer support and also left a review in the Apple App store. Here are the responses that I received.

You can contact

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Phone: 800-JOURNAL

Email: support@wsj.com

Online: https://customercenter.wsj.com

Twitter: @WSJ_Support

The developer response (WSJ product team) through the app store:

The update to our iPad layout is part of our broad and ongoing effort to create a more immersive platform and better showcase all of our great image, video, and graphics content. We hope you will find that the new layout strengthens the delivery of our content, and makes it easier to stay up to date with the latest news from WSJ. 

I don't understand how "the new layout strengthens the delivery of our content".

9/22/2023

Just go this from the WSJ

Dear Reader, 

We understand you have expressed concerns about the updates we recently implemented to the WSJ mobile app, including specific changes to the iPad experience. We greatly appreciate your feedback and we regret losing you as a valued customer. 

• Our dedicated team of developers, designers, and user experience experts have been thoughtfully working through solutions to address the concerns you've raised. We’re reaching out today to share that we are reintroducing beloved features, and implementing additional enhancements, to improve the functionality and experience of the iPad layout specifically. Readers can now update the app to enjoy the following features:A reintroduction of our vertical What’s News layout on the left-hand side of the screen
• Further design enhancements, including a more familiar layout that more prominently highlights the top story
• New navigation tools, including a "Sections" icon in the upper left-hand corner of the page
• A reader’s saved articles list, accessible from the MyWSJ tab, now syncs across both mobile and web

We truly appreciate your past support and loyalty as a subscriber. To show our gratitude, we’d like to extend a special offer for you to reconsider your subscription with The Wall Street Journal. Resubscribe today for 50¢ per week for one year. You can view more about this offer here. 

We’re always striving to improve our products, and the recent updates to our mobile app ensure compatibility with the latest iOS features, resulting in increased stability and faster load times for our readers. The new tablet experience provides readers with the latest headlines while also granting access to stories from the day’s print edition and WSJ's robust suite of photo, video and graphical content. 

In addition, the app now automatically downloads both the home feed and the Print Edition front page so readers can enjoy access to all of those articles, even if they are offline. Full Print Edition downloads will be available in the coming weeks, along with other features including layout optimizations for all screen sizes and orientations and easier navigation between articles. 

If you have any questions, please contact our Customer Service team at support@dowjones. 

Daniel B.

Chief Experience Officer 

[Edited by Moderator]

Interestingly, The WSJ staff just replied to my email inquiry. As it turns out, they are fair and are listening. Here is the reply:

Dear WSJ iPad user: 

In recent weeks, we’ve heard from many of you about the changes to the WSJ iPad format. We wanted to let you know that, in response, our team has been diligently working to restore elements of the app experience that you had come to expect. 

We deeply respect how much The Wall Street Journal is part of your daily news intake. We’re also grateful for your dedication to our journalism, as evident in your communication with our customer service team and colleagues. 

As a result of your feedback, popular features will return to the iPad experience, including access to previous issues of the paper, which will be available in the Print Edition section of the app later this week. This will join other recently reintroduced features, including:

• Navigation between articles by swiping left and right and access to other sections through the renamed “Sections” menu in the top left corner of the screen
• Improved layouts for larger devices and landscape orientation
• Offline reading available for today’s whole Print Edition issue
• Design enhancements in the Print Edition, including a more familiar layout that prominently highlights the top story, a reintroduction of our vertical What’s News layout, and updated previews that display the beginning of each article

Please ensure you’ve updated the app to access the above features. As a loyal WSJ subscriber, we deeply value your trust in our product, and we’re dedicated to making it right. In the coming weeks, you can expect to see additional changes to the iPad experience, including enhanced navigation, updates to the current article view and further design improvements to ensure we deliver a more holistic reading experience. 

We apologize for the inconvenience and the disruption these changes may have caused to your experience with the WSJ app. We will continue to make updates based on your valuable feedback. Thank you for your patience while we work to bring back the features you love. Our Customer Service team is always available at support@wsj.com. 

9/15/23 - Here's the latest response from WSJ Customer Service. They win and at the same time they lose. I guess I should stop reading a paper on business by folks who aren't truly interested in their own business.

Dear Tim,

Thank you for contacting The Wall Street Journal, we apologize for the inconvience that your experiencing.

We understand how frustrating the new update and format can be. At this time we wouldn't be able to bring back the old version. We do offer an alternative application called "WSJ Print Edition" this application might bring back some of the look and feel of the older version of the main application. We did submit your feedback to our VOC/Voice Of Customer system. We do value all our feedback from our customer's.

If you have any further question's or concern's please email us back or give us a call at 1-800-JOURNAL.

They're not stupid. This was a business decision. I'm sure it was expensive to maintain the app and they've made a business decision to stop. They are counting on most of you to migrate to other forms of the paper and absorb other losses.

For me, that iPad app was the synonymous with the paper. They killed it. If they lose enough business, they may change their minds. I'm certain they're going to sit on this for days, weeks, months to see how many people re-subscribe and just get past this.

If you want the app back, you have to cancel and not go back until the app returns. If there a not enough of us, then it was a good business decision.

i have the same issue on my 5th Gen Ipad Pro 12.9. When i finally got thru to a L2 support, they revealed that the app is managed by a third party and that it currently only works on the 6th gen models. in my experience this holds true as my wife has a 6th gen and the app works correctly.

i have had this problem in past updates to the app and it has gotten corrected with the next revision.

heres hoping because what we got isn't very useful!

Zooel, I also get to read the Journal from my wife's iPad as she did not have APP Auto update feature ON, so still using Version 13.30.0 Build 44122. I sent an email to wsjsupport@wsj.com Friday Sep 15 and received the following reply yesterday.

Email Subject was: Special Offer Applied: We've Heard Your Feedback about the Updated WSJ App and iPad Experience.

Dear Reader,

We understand you have expressed concerns about the updates we recently implemented to the WSJ mobile app, including specific changes to the iPad experience. Our dedicated team of developers, designers, and user experience experts have been thoughtfully working through solutions to address the concerns you've raised.

We greatly appreciate your feedback as a valued subscriber, and to show our gratitude, please enjoy one month free of your current subscription, on us! No action is needed from you, the offer has been applied automatically to your account. After this free extension, you will continue your standard billing schedule.

• We’re also reaching out today to share that we are reintroducing beloved features, and implementing additional enhancements, to improve the functionality and experience of the iPad layout specifically. Please update the app now to enjoy the following features:A reintroduction of our vertical What’s News layout on the left-hand side of the screen
• Further design enhancements, including a more familiar layout that more prominently highlights the top story
• New navigation tools, including a "Sections" icon in the upper left-hand corner of the page
• A reader’s saved articles list, accessible from the MyWSJ tab, now syncs across both mobile and web

We’re always striving to improve our products, and the recent updates to our mobile app ensure compatibility with the latest iOS features, resulting in increased stability and faster load times for our readers. The new tablet experience provides readers with the latest headlines while also granting access to stories from the day’s print edition and WSJ's robust suite of photo, video and graphical content.

In addition, the app now automatically downloads both the home feed and the Print Edition front page so readers can enjoy access to all of those articles, even if they are offline. Full Print Edition downloads will be available in the coming weeks, along with other features including layout optimizations for all screen sizes and orientations and easier navigation between articles.

You can always find the paper by using our WSJ Print Edition app, which provides a week’s worth of issues and is available for download in the App Store. There are also additional ways to browse the newspaper online on our website.

If you have questions about these changes or anything else about your Journal experience, please contact our Customer Service team at support@dowjones.com.

Daniel Bernard

Chief Experience Officer

I used the link to update my iPad and it is not what I was used to or expected. Also, I am not interested in in the WSJ Print Edition App, it is pitiful compared to Version 13.30.0. I want access to the current issue and the last 6 issues, just like I had before this ridiculous update. This the the 4th App update issue I have dealt with in the past month: Adobe updates for their Reader and Adobe Bridge are causing me problems, as well as Quicken and now WSJ. I just do not understand why updates are not tested better than they are. Guess I am getting old and cranky.

They won’t. They ended the iPad layout and disbanded the composition team because they think that there are not enough iPad subscribers to bother.

I was told today by WSJ Support it is Version 14.0.2 Build 9052 of the app that caused the problem. Also told the app updated automatically when I updated to OS 16.6.1, my iPad is an iPad Pro (9.7 inch) I bought Aug 2016. My wife has a newer iPad I bought her this last Christmas, it is a 9th generation. She had not updated the OS and is still running 15.6.1 and Version 13.30.0 Build 44122. When I open the WSJ app on my iPad I get only the latest news. Instead of having Menu in the top left corner I only get 3 horizontal lines. Also I see Home, My WSJ, Print Edition, Crosswords, Profile at the bottom of the opening screen. On my wife's, when she touches the Menu a side bar opens and Home, My WSJ etc show at the bottom of the side bar. A couple years ago I quit getting the actual paper because of delivery issues. I then tried the iPad version and liked it, however now I feel I am not getting delivery again. If not fixed by end of month I am unsubscribing.

I just got this email from WSJ, there is hope....I hope

Dear WSJ iPad user:

In recent weeks, we’ve heard from many of you about the changes to the WSJ iPad format. We wanted to let you know that, in response, our team has been diligently working to restore elements of the app experience that you had come to expect.

We deeply respect how much The Wall Street Journal is part of your daily news intake. We’re also grateful for your dedication to our journalism, as evident in your communication with our customer service team and colleagues. 

As a result of your feedback, popular features will return to the iPad experience, including access to previous issues of the paper, which will be available in the Print Edition section of the app later this week. This will join other recently reintroduced features, including:

• Navigation between articles by swiping left and right and access to other sections through the renamed “Sections” menu in the top left corner of the screen
• Improved layouts for larger devices and landscape orientation
• Offline reading available for today’s whole Print Edition issue
• Design enhancements in the Print Edition, including a more familiar layout that prominently highlights the top story, a reintroduction of our vertical What’s News layout, and updated previews that display the beginning of each article

Please ensure you’ve updated the app to access the above features. As a loyal WSJ subscriber, we deeply value your trust in our product, and we’re dedicated to making it right. In the coming weeks, you can expect to see additional changes to the iPad experience, including enhanced navigation, updates to the current article view and further design improvements to ensure we deliver a more holistic reading experience. 

We apologize for the inconvenience and the disruption these changes may have caused to your experience with the WSJ app. We will continue to make updates based on your valuable feedback. Thank you for your patience while we work to bring back the features you love. Our Customer Service team is always available at support@wsj.com.

Sincerely,

Daniel Bernard

Chief Experience Officer

Dow Jones

Hello Lacajunhelp,

For assistance with adjusting the display properties of that particular app, you'll want to reach out to the developer: How to contact an app developer - Apple Support They would be in the best position to help with troubleshooting their specific app.

Take care.

Four days ago, not sure if anyone has seen this, I found it on a google search tonight, WSJ posted a video stating that “The WSJ Live app is no longer supported and will not be updated”. I’ve been a WSJ subscriber for a while. I don’t want to unsubscribe but this new version of the app really is horrible. I read it on both my IPad and IPhone. I miss holding my phone in one hand and swiping through the articles with my thumb. Now I have to use two hands. I feel like I’m reading the New York Times app.

I've included an image of what I'm from the latest update. The "fix" that was rolled out did not bring this feature back. I love to select a section and be able to change between issues. This is what makes the app usable. The latest version takes this away and the Print Edition does not supplement as it would take several selections in order to accomplish what I could do with one.

Like your readers have stated, bring back the features of your older version. Clearly what you've done with the latest changes aren't being received well by anyone.

A system update on my iPad resulted in an update in the WSJ app on my iPad. I now absolutely HATE IT!

No, it is not about reluctance to change. The app now displays like online in a browser or iPhone. Display is vertical not horizontal. Constant scrolling down is much less convenient than the easy swipe on the previous iPad version. Only way to see edition by date is to view as a paper version. I discontinued the paper version years ago!

Search apple support pages and you’ll see 12 pages of similar negative feedback. Look at the updates lin the Apple App Store and you will see recent attempts at fixes. Very apparent that the change was not well thought or executed. Somebody should be fired!

Terrible, awful, unnecessary, Just plain BAD. Why did the WSJ ruin a great app?

I finally got an answer from WSJ customer service pointing me at the print edition app. It's essentially a copy of the print edition so you have to turn the page, then zoom in to finish an article. If I wanted the print edition (which I used to have) I'd buy one. I don't have print because WSJ can't deliver it reliably. Not sure which of their marketing geniuses came up with that one. (Maybe they hired some folks from Budweiser).

Anyway, the print edition app is a very poor substitute for the old iPad app. I went ahead and cancelled my subscription out of pure disappointment. Hopefully enough subscribers will push back and they will restart what was one of my favorite apps.