Tinyview Comics

This app just wraps a web view of the site, with no native navigation elements. I was unable to find a search bar, and navigating comics is painful. There doesn’t seem to be an easy Next/Back system, but rather some links to other comics in the series at the bottom that may or may not be populated. As others have mentioned, requiring notifications in order to follow comics is a nonstarter (thankfully you can disable them again after following). More annoying is the unfunny comments at the bottom of every comic. They can’t be hidden, and they ruin every punchline. Finally, it crashed after about 20 minutes of use. I bought a premium membership, but based on this experience I’ll probably read a few more comics and cancel it.

Creators need to be paid, and when Dan announced in the Patreon email that the strip was moving to Tiny View, I followed and subscribed. It’s a fine little app with a couple of ridiculous vexing choices. First, if you want to have an account and get some sort of benefit, you need to enter a phone number. Nope. We already have a relationship through the App Store. I don’t give my phone number to anyone I don’t believe has a reason and permission to call me. What’s up with that nonsense? Then, if one wants to “follow” a strip, a balloon appears, demanding, “You need to go to Settings and allow Notifications.” No, I don’t. And I won’t, since you demanded it. Perhaps I’d respond differently to an invitation to be made aware when my favorite cartoon has new content for me. That’s different, isn’t it? Perhaps in future versions, they will be more respectful.

I love reading comics on the app! Some of my favorite artists are here, and I’m glad to be introduced to other artists’ work that I hadn’t seen before. The interface and the design is user friendly, and it helps that there are no distractions/ads as is usual with other social media apps. Just wanted to leave a quick suggestion for the app moderators; it’d be really helpful to bookmark our favorite comics under a single tab for each artist!