DER SPIEGEL - Nachrichten

SPIEGEL remains one of the most thought-provoking publications in Germany, where people from all over the world pivot for in-depth analysis of everything from politics to lifestyle and anything in between. Since its creation in 1947, its unmatched journalism has promoted transparency, accountability, and democratic values. But what amazes me about this publication is the worldwide accessibility of its articles and immediate translation to any language. A hurrah to a job well done.

The German language has a word for what happened here: verschlimmbessern. It means trying to improve something but making it worse. The new app is so much worse than the old Spiegel app, which in my opinion was pretty close to perfection. The new app uses too many webviews (with Cookie dialogs and sign in prompts), is confusing to navigate (go back to content overview is on the right rather than the left) and does not feel like a native iOS app anymore. I wish I could still use the previous app, which was so good at the one thing it did: Offer the Spiegel magazine offline.

This is NOT about content. Der SPIEGEL is one of the best news outlets there is. It’s about their new app. The old one provided a quick overview about the main news item. User friendliness, ability to navigate and quick access to the main news - all gone now. This new app is now one of many others, complex page with many categories that only show up if selected. In the old one they were seen when scrolling through. Old app got me to top new headline again when clicking on header. Not so any more. Big loss. Not using this much anymore. Quite a loss. I am not using it as often as I did. Was my go to news app first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening. Not any more.