App Profile: FRED Economic Data

Jon Ike

Rating: 3/5

It is very nerdy but I absolutely love to have my fred data handy and ready to pull out for quick conversations about the economy. My biggest problem is how clunky, buggy and unreliable the app can be. For example, I tried to show my friend a CPI chart that I had made on the PC with CPI Less housing and Core CPI. But when I went to show the graph on the expanded horizontal view, it bugged out and did not show half of the data. I wish that this app got a good overhaul or at least regular bug fixes.

No Full Disclosure

Rating: 1/5

I have used Fred for years for data. It is incredible the data they have available. Yet, the only reasonably efficient way to use it is the website. They have an Excel plugin that could be/should be fantastic, but is buggy and they state that it is “available but unsupported” and not to be updated. No kidding. The mobile apps could also be great, but you have to ask if they ever tried to really use the iPad app. On the opening page, there are several thumbnail charts, too small to read what they are . It cannot be used in landscape mode, which would in most apps spread them across the wider space in a larger size. So you have click on a charts to see what it is, but then it is formatted in a huge image that puts axes off the page. It can rotate to landscape, but is still inappropriately formatted. The refusal to rotate continues when you look at the list of data series in categories, so the text is almost microscopic. In contrast, the website works well and renders the other api’s pointless endeavors. For such brilliant data geeks as the St. Louis Fed (and that is a sincere complement) these apps are an embarrassment. SOMEBODY among all those great analysts should be able to direct the app designers to put together a useful product. (PLEASE update and fix the Excel plugin! It would really facilitate serious analysis, not just chart gazing.)

please-enter-a-nickname

Rating: 2/5

Text is too small and inconsistently sized, chart captions are impossible to read on the home screen, and there’s a lot of wasted screen space in my iPhone 13 Pro with the bottom third of the screen being completely empty. I feel unhappy, overwhelmed, and lost trying to get information out of this app. It feels like it was designed on a computer then shrunk down to a mobile phone screen. The user interface is out of date and does not adapt to larger screens. It’s time to completely rethink your strategy for this app.