jaredsinclair.com
I'm a registered nurse. I make apps for nurses.
I live in Nashville. Contact me on gmail at jaredsinclair.rn
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Open Letter to The New Yorker’s iPad App Development Team
The iPad app for the New Yorker could be great, but as it is now, it isn’t.
First, the Newsstand version of the app has been very disappointing. The app is not downloading new content automatically. I’ve updated my iPad to a fresh copy of iOS 5. I’ve downloaded and redownloaded the New Yorker app several times. I’ve ensured that “download content automatically” is enabled in the Settings app, and kept my iPad powered on, connected to AC adapter power, and connected to a reliable, persistent, wifi connection to the internet. The only “content” that is automatically downloaded is a fresh cover to the magazine’s app icon. I launch the app, see that there is a new issue available, but I cannot view it without downloading it. What was the point of migrating to Newsstand if it doesn’t fetch new issues automatically? Currently, the tin mailbox outside my house fetches new issues more easily than my $650 iPad.
Furthermore, downloading a new issue is an enormous hassle compared to other iOS apps that fetch similar amounts of content from a server (Instapaper and Reeder, e.g.). It won’t continue to download new issues if the app leaves the foreground. The app not only stops the download, but purges it’s progress, forcing the download to begin again from zero when I try again. Not only that, but the download sizes are enormous by iPad standards: 150MB per issue is ridiculous for content that is primarily text-based. The size of the average download, combined with the fact that background downloading is either broken or impossible, is sloppy and unprofessional compared to the effortless experience of Instapaper or Reeder.
Lastly, the iPad app adheres too closely to the paper magazine’s format. What makes the New Yorker “The New Yorker” is its fantastic content, not its paper medium. Use the iPad’s unique strengths to rethink what the New Yorker experience could be. Simply plopping a bloated magazine UI metaphor onto a touch screen is not the answer. Your great content deserves a great app. I expect better from you guys. Thrill me, surprise me, turn me into an evangelist for the New Yorker. Don’t make shit. Be the best. Make something so great that I’m writing letters like this to Instapaper and Reeder instead of you guys.
With tough love,
Jared Sinclair
