IndyStar: Indianapolis Star

I subscribed on my iPhone and paid for a one year subscription via the app and iTunes Store on June 04, 2024. Apple shows the paid subscription and sent an email for confirmation of the subscription and a receipt for payment via my Apple Card, but I am unable to view subscriber content a month later. I have contacted both Apple support and IndyStar support. Apple had me delete the app and re-install it and try to restore the purchase but nothing works. Apple points the finger at Indy Star and says only IndyStar can activate the subscription. IndyStar points their finger at Apple and says they show no payment and no subscription. Both tell me to contact the other and both say there is nothing they can do. Others seem to have the exact same issue. So, you would think someone would look into this, fix the subscription and restore purchase issue and make their customer accounts work together. Very disappointed in both Apple and IndyStar over their inability to communicate and resolve a simple subscription issue.

I buy my subscription thru the Apple ITunes or App Store. I find now that my phone lists me as having a subscription thru October, but the App will not let me view ‘subscribers only’ content. This is the third year this has happened. I delete the app and in-subscribe for a few weeks or months then download it and am given an option to try a special offer to subscribe for a low rate. I have done this the past two years and will do it again. I have found this works, but I have not found an honest way to move past the issue. I called the IndyStar help line and that was no help. Nowhere did I show up in their records, so I was told. But as I said, I have used my iPhone apps to subscribe several times. Research online suggests my experience is not unusual.

As a Hoosier now living out of Indiana, I am glad for this app. I especially enjoy being able to see a replica of the print version of The Indianapolis Star. (Forgive me, but as an alumnus of what might’ve been called “IndyNews,” the forced contraction phrase “IndyStar” simply does not easily roll off this newsie’s tongue.) I wish the app had better access to The Star & News archives — especially for paying subscribers. I also wish the app did not embed so many advertisements and unrelated editorial content into articles. Readers are distracted enough in their lives. Must they be distracted while concentrating on an article? Finally, as an old time daily reporter and news consumer in Indianapolis, I wish the app simply had much more editorial content. The paucity of staff writers at The Star is painful to witness and affects the effectiveness of this app.