The San Francisco Chronicle App Reviews

Articles always „fail to load“. 9 out of 10 times I can not use the app meaning not being able to pull up and read any articles. When I go to the front page tab and click on any article, it always gives me the error message “article failed to load” and “try later”. I deleted and reinstalled the app a couple of times and it also doesn’t matter on what kind of iPhone I had the app I always have these issues. This app does not work for me at all and is one of the reasons why I will cancel my subscription.

Sf gate seems more interesting than this... I am surprised that SF Gate, even with it’s pervasively annoying pop up ads and videos, grabs my attention more than The Chronicle. I hope they will improve it. I cancelled my Boston Times for The Chronicle…of course the former is produced in a significantly larger and, perhaps, more dynamic city. I will likely continue to Gravitate towards the NY Times for real substance.

Clearly an afterthought. The iPad app is obviously low on the priority at the Chronicle. No one at the company reads the paper on it, or it would never be this bad. Unreliable offline use, no previously-read indicator, changing headlines, reloading while you are reading an article, no clear timeline for article availability, odd categorization of stories (business is “tech” but includes Oakland Tech basketball because of poor filtering)… the list goes on and on. To top it off, the feedback function is answered by what appears to be an outsourced company who doesn’t care, and the reader can’t submit a screenshot to show the issue because their email doesn’t accept attachments that large. It’s fine for reading articles if you don’t mind clickbait headlines and losing state all the time, but it’s pretty frustrating when compared with how the app was better a few years ago.

Room for improvement. I subscribe to the digital editions of several newspapers and magazines and the Chronicle app is by far the most problematic. I still haven’t figured out how to download an edition to read offline. I tried it again before getting on a plane this weekend and thought I had done it successfully. Wrong. I couldn’t find the pdf that I downloaded on my iPad. It’s likely user error but I don’t have that problem with my other subscriptions. The Chronicle app is also very “busy.” Buttons all over the place. Why so complicated? The Wall Street Journal has an app for the technology semi-illiterate like me. I rarely struggle with it. Also, the Chronicle app doesn’t work when using a non-US VPN connection to download the print edition. All my other publications work.

Almost great. I apologize for typos but the letters have become invisible. I’ve been reading the Chronicle for many years, first in print and now digitally.. My only real complaint is with the crossword as it just doesn’t work very well. I can’t enter an answer until II touch the board to shift it away from 1-across (on an iPad using Firefox) and it doesn’t skip past filled letters so I have to retype or manually jump forward. Not a deal breaker but annoying.

Jenny B. Years ago I lived in SF and got hooked on the Chronicle. Then moved to E Bay and still subscribed. Now I live 2 hours away from SF in a retirement community ( being 80 next B-Day) and get my Chronicle fix in my cell on the app. Best newspaper ever! Complete news stories, excellent editorial, good world news coverage, even the comics. Since it’s an app, it goes everywhere with me, even traveling world wide. Before Covid my husband, several family members an I went on a cruise to Northern Europe, Chronicle came with. Then we did the Mediterranean cruise and Chronicle came with me too. Hope Chronicle wins more awards, we’ll deserved in my opinion.

Review. Tired of the progressive political views - who is justin phillips to vent his own concerns? He is no political expert or experienced legislator Same goes for soleil ho - while Asian food is great - it is apparent that this is only food she tries - Oh and now she has joined in her opines with phillips? Her comment about “why is Kissinger still alive” was so inappropriate considering her immigration status (and that of her family) would likely be impossible without his efforts. But, again who is she to make such statements and how does that relate to her food critique? As disappointed with the editorial staff as with these pundits - I now get e edition only for benefit of reading obituaries of business acquaintances, friends and family. East bay times is far more balanced.

SF Chronicle. Due to the cost of the SF Chronicle being delivered at my house (after 40+years), I switched to receiving the paper online a few months ago. I also receive the East Bay Times online. The EBT is easier to read (click on any article and the article appears separately) while the SFC you have to keep zooming in/out and moving the article around. I find reading the SFC frustrating. The EBT is VERY easy to find and read older editions - one simple click. Yes one click. I had to write to the SFC and ask how to find older editions. The SFC wrote back with 8 steps and the website to look up older editions. Say what??? As a senior citizen, the EBT is a lot easier to read. I told my wife last week that I was giving the SFC zone more month before I cancel it for good. Please look up the EBT online and see how easy it is to read.

App needs work. Love the chronicle, but the app needs work. The worst problem is when you download an issue to use offline. I do this all the time. You need to keep the issue up because if you return to the home page or settings page, you can’t get back to the saved issue without an internet connection, which is presumably why you saved it in the first place. The screen is sensitive and if you accidentally touch the wrong place you’ll get thrown out of the issue and not be able to get back in, which also happens sometimes after taking a break. Also, on the home page it lists stories in the online edition but won’t let you read them except for one monthly. Hey, I’m a subscriber! It let me link my subscription but still won’t let me access the stories through the app, only the daily paper. To read the online stories I have to go sign into the chronicle site on my computer.

Shady billing practices. I had a deal about 6 mo ago that expired and have since been paying more, and for some reason even more. That’s fair, I should have kept on top of it. BUT, there was no email notification, phone call, or notification of any kind. And for some reason it went from $10 a month to $15 after this, again with no notification of any kind. Classic newspaper business dealings. I wanted to support them, and would continue to do so, but this comes off as shady and TBH the quality of there has majorly demonished in recent years. It’s a real shame. I understand there’s a revenue crisis with papers in general but c’mon, at least be up front.

Can’t fine e-edition. Suddenly I stopped getting the E-edition email and link. Called the Chronicle 5 times and each time my was told they had linked it to my email and I would get it in the morning. Never successful. Nothing like calling each morning to hunt for your paper.

IOS?. I like the Chronicle, even though it has articles running for weeks and sometimes months. I can get over this inconvenience, and I sometimes find myself reading one after previously browsing over it. I have asked customer support why my IOS devices do not properly reload images after exiting (not closing) the App. I did not get a response. Otherwise, I am happy with the Chronicle App.

Informative but incredibly predatory.. The articles and coverage is fine, it’s on par with any other publication of this size. I take issue with their predatory business practices. I cancelled my subscription yearly subscription in the summertime of last year through the app. My subscription status changed to “no active subscriptions”, informing me I was successful. I was even called multiple times in the fall, encouraging me to restore my yearly payment. Come January of this year, I was charged the annual subscription anyway. I was very upset given the circumstances and tried to call their offices. I was given automated replies and responses, unable to reach an actual person to talk to. I emailed the publication as well with no response. Unsure of how I’m going to get my money back, and may have to contact my bank very soon. It might not be a ton of money, but it has become more about the principle at this point. Many news publications engage in this kind of unethical entrapment in an attempt to stop themselves from going under. It’s upsetting and hope this sheds some light for those who may be unaware.

Stop moving adds from appearing. Moving adds, flashing adds,etc.,are more than just annoying they introduce anxiety into a contemplative time of one’s day, the reading of the morning paper. Adds are part of the paper, but flashing adds centered at the top of the E print edition are insufferable. Please do something to make reading the Chronicle an enjoyable experience again. Thanks

The Best Way to Keep In Touch. Since our daughter lives overseas, we have joined her for a couple of months to reconnect in the waning (we hope!) days of the pandemic. It has been very comforting to stay abreast of the news both nationally as well as in the Bay Area. As an older person I love having the option to flip through the paper page-by-page as through I was sitting in my wing chair back in the Bay Area. It helps both of us feel connected to both friends and family on both sides of the world. Having the daily news sourced both locally and from SF gives us a broader perspective of world event.

I hope the Chronicle invests in UX, eventually. This app has a hopeless layout for daily readers like me. I’m constantly weighing unsubscribing. It is frustrating trying to find new daily content because they prioritize features and lists, and shard every section in too many topical subsections. As a result I've continued trying to read the e-edition, which they are rudely making harder to use. I subscribe to the NY Times, The Washington Post and the Athletic and all are a pleasure. The Chronicle is frustrating. The Chronicle needs a serious UX investment and reboot. God knows I hope they read the specific critiques here. I’ve tried to convey this unsuccessfully via other feedback channels.

Subscription feels more like donating to a charity. Back in the day when newspapers ruled, the Chronicle was at the top of the heap in the Bay Area. Never great, but adequate to cover major news events along with local stories. Unfortunately their digital transition has been poorly executed. The app is very clunky. I receive banner notifications of stories and when I press them it does not take me to the story. Instead it takes me to the “front page“ of the app and then I have to find the story on my own. Also, I guess they have much fewer reporters. Major news stories are either missed or show up days later. Two digital age tricks they have learned well is making it difficult to cancel subscriptions and flooding the App Store with fake five star reviews. Overall I’m surprised that the news organization is surviving.

Thank you so much Developers!!. Wow! Great work developers. I asked for a search function and you built it in!!! My son and I tested it out and it works better than the New York Times!! ( you can search by keyword and author. ) Thank you. Here was my earlier review: This app is fine. The content skews locally, exactly like we need living in the Bay Area. But where is the little magnifying glass that allows me to search for articles? This is 2020! Wouldn’t a search function be common sense?! Am I just missing it? I have looked all through the app. Truthfully you could direct me to SFGate articles too. Then you would retain my viewership and I would see the ads you have embedded there- thus creating additional revenue for the quality journalism to be found in this paper. Please?!

Part of My Quality & Fun of Life!. I have loved the SF Chronicle since I discovered it as a freshman at Cal in 1951 - and that’s been a long run indeed! From following and smiling at the “Women’s Green Sheet” as my then boyfriend & later husband called the Society Pages, to news of “war and pestilence” as well as human interest, political views, and having several of my Letters to the Editor (Beat my husband!) published, I have lived with & loved The Chron. Now of course the Obituary Section holds increased though reluctant interest - a full life cycle of experience! Onward! Joan Mather

Almost there. I appreciate the search function added earlier in the year. A glaring issue remains with the refresh rate, though it appears not to refresh in The middle of reading a story as I believe it used to. Most news apps I’m familiar with can hold a page in place when the device is paused, or even when exiting the app and coming back later. (the Guardian app is a good example.) This holds the place the reader last encountered. The SF Chronicle app refreshes the story in either case, going back to the top. This is especially difficult to work with in longer articles. Think bus commuter, or work break reader. Please add this common function to make this app much more usable.

Convoluted payments, and blocked content. I really want to like this app and support the Chronicle, but the app and payment process is a mess. I paid for a subscription (renewed, actually) in the app using Apple Pay. The app shows it’s liked to my email address. I can access and read most of the co tent with the app. The election guide endorsements open in a web browser, not the app. However, it seems that app access does not grant you web access to the content. So, any content they choose to open in a browser rather than in the app is blocked behind a different paywall than the one you opened by paying in the app. I called the app customer service department and their systems see my account but say my subscription is expired. Their system is a mess.

You cannot bookmark articles for later reading!. Content is great but I cannot believe the app cannot do a simple thing like bookmarking an article so that you can read it later. You can email the link to share an article then copy that URL from your email program onto a note taking program or send that email to yourself. It’s such a basic feature I cannot believe that Hearst didn’t think about this.

This Vermonter LOVES the Chronicle. I moved to CA from Vermont in 2014 when my first grand-child was born in Benicia. I was gifted the Sunday Chronicle delivered to my front door for my birthday one year. My favorite day/time of the week was Sunday when I could share the comics with my now 9-year old grand-son. I ended up moving back to the Green Mountains two years ago, and finally gifted myself with a e-subscription to my favorite newspaper.

Lack of muscle. I have read the Chronicle my whole life, I was always happy with the content, the opinions, SPORTS, Datebook and other sections. But recently, the Chron as been “gutted”, same names of the content, but now the content resembles the spirited San Mateo Daily Journal. The Journal is good at local news, opinion and sports, to the extent it can afford to, But it is not one of the Biggest papers in California, The Chron is but it doesn’t act like it. Respectfully, the weekend sports section, is not news worthly, it is a collection of old stories. The best two months of the year for sports was always September and October, - not wanted to make you guess, pennant races in baseball, fall sports galore - high school through professional football, and all of the other sport which began ramping up for the begging of basketball and other winter sports. To me honest, your Sports section is a total embarrassment- given the cost of a home subscription, expensive! - I expect more than what you are trying to convince us is a “great paper” because it is not, not anymore. Time to up your game, figure it out. Times change but something’s remain, people what honest, high level content - professional and thought provoking and local. I hope you leaders of the Chronicle can bring back the joy of a great newspaper to the Bay Area. Brian Kelly San Mateo

Terrible design flaw. This app is frustrating to use. You can’t tap the top of the screen to be auto-scrolled back to the top, which Apple built into iOS. You have to tap the screen to make the SFChron logo appear then tap that. But worse is if you screen shuts off or you leave the app even for a second, you lose your place in an article and are auto scrolled back to the top. Why would they do that? It makes reading articles terrible, which makes the app worked. I’ll be canceling my subscription once my cheap trial is over.

App review. Couldn’t be a worse experience if the Chronicle were trying to scare off its steady customers. I was unable to open it for three days last week for reasons never given. Efforts to contact the Chronicle were awful. At one point, someone without authorization tried to sign me up for a paper subscription. Got resolved after about a week, but these problems recur regularly. As for the app itself, full of stale news.

Other newspaper apps are much better. One might imagine that the leading newspaper from the country’s (world’s) tech capital might have a suitably great mobile app. Sadly, this is not the case. Other major papers do mobile seamlessly, so it’s not like this is a hard problem to solve. Half the links in the app will open a new browser window to the SF Chronicle website where I’m not logged in. The interface is clunky in general and seems to regularly forget I’m indeed a paying customer. At their digital subscription price, this product needs to be much better.

Subscription. I pay for it and when I see articles online I wish it might prompt to open the app on mobile where I’m already logged on instead I have to log in on the mobile browser. I like it just somethings that would make the subscription better for all with these kind of conveniences

SF Chronicle. I did not realize how much I missed living in the Bay Area. I left during Covid for him multitude of reasons, but now that it’s been four years, I miss the Bay Area and the news about her. I am enjoying my SF Chronicle subscription at the introductory rate so much that I’m pretty sure I will continue to subscribe because I need to know what’s going on in my adopted city.

Ruined once first class newspaper. Over the years the paper has had a noticible decline in the amount of substance and quality of its product. A lack of fact based reporting along with more articles written as an opinion instead of actual reporting has ruined a once high quality newspaper. I can’t trust the newspaper to be objective in its reporting and often have to fact check the article from other sources to find the reporting misleading or lacking in its journalistic intgrity. I’m sorry to say the only thing they tend to print trustworthy are the obits and sports.

Please fix your digital newspaper. I have the Chronicle delivered daily and have for a very long time (about 40 years). But a lot of people don’t. You really need to study the papers that do online well (aka NYTimes). Unfortunately yours is travesty. What in the world is the diff between the Chronicle and SFGate? Where do we find a search function in either edition? I get news alerts that open nothing when I click on them. Please keep up w the times.

Constant reloading and repeat articles. While reading an article the page constantly reloads itself (to provide still more ads) and this makes it extremely frustrating to use. Since we users already pay a subscription fee to use the dang app we shouldn’t be forced to wait all the danged time for fresh ads to download which then re-download the entire article. They also re-use a whole heck of a lot of old articles that appeared days (sometimes *weeks*!) previously. Lastly they need to gray-out or otherwise somehow indicate articles previously read. When my current subscription expires I strongly doubt that I will renew it because I am just so fed up.

Crossword experience needs improvement. It’s not rare for the crossword screens to fail to load and just show a blank white screen. I get that sometimes there will be server errors or whatnot, but at least show an error message to that point. The user has no idea what’s going on, will it eventually load? Has it already errored out and just not bothered to tell you? Poor app developer decision.

Good coverage, slightly glitchy app. Great news coverage for the most part (except for their strangely anti-union stances in some ostensibly neutral articles). Unfortunately, the app can be a bit glitchy. When I switch to another app and come back, it reloads the article I was reading such that I lose my place. Sometimes, it switches to another article altogether.

Talk about being NOT user friendly. This app is pretty bad. I searched for their puzzles section, not just crosswords, and it’s not listed on the app. I can find it on their webpage after several clicks. It also will not sync with Apple News and can’t change my subscription email to be the same as Apple ID. Very difficult to find cancel function unless you call them. Their whole online presence is pretty bad. They need to look at NYT and LA Times for functionality. I will not be renewing this subscription.

Good luck trying to cancel your subscription. I’m a Bay Area native, but currently live out of state. I still enjoy keeping up with Bay Area news and sports, and the app generally works fine for that. However, I’ve found it nearly impossible to cancel a subscription after the promotional offer is up. There is no way to cancel a digital sub without a phone call, and the number only stays open until 2:30 pm PT. And when you do call, no one answers. It is easier to get ahold of your state Unemployment Dep’t! I sent an email to complain, and the reply was filled with lies and false information on how to cancel using a web browser - which does not even give the option. Despite all my efforts to cancel, my sub is still active. This is obviously the intent of corrupt management to make it as hard to cancel as possible. I finally had to call my credit card to block future charges, and might even have to close the card to guarantee it won’t be charged again. These types of unethical and fraudulent business practices should not be allowed on the app store!

Terrible app. Why must I constantly—as in each and every time—link my subscription to this app?? I get an email from the Chron referring me to an article of interest. When I use the link to the full article, voila! Can’t read it. Unless I go through the multiple-step, tedious and unnecessary process of linking my subscription. Using the very same email address the Chron used to send me the suggested article. For *years.*. I would like to support San Francisco’s only daily paper, and the hard-working union journalists, photographers, and printers who work there, but I have had it. Done.

Love the paper - app could use some improvement. All that great local reporting in convenient app format. I wish the integration between the app and the website worked better (or were replaced.) The app has a separate login from the website and regardless of how many times I follow the link account prompts it just doesn’t work. I can open stories from the app itself but opening a story from social media is just impossible.

Chronicle. One has to scan story titles and typically more than half of the articles have been in previous editions. Some of the articles stay in there for a week. In the hard copy there are no repeat articles. I assume this is done to make the paper appear to have more content. I find it annoying. And I miss box scores for the various sports to see who is playing, where certain players are hitting in the batting order, free throw % for the game, etc.

Bring back e-edition. This latest incarnation of SFGate is clumsy with lots of duplication and old content replete through the pages. I loved the old e-edition which was a mirror image of the actual paper. You could scroll page by page as if you were reading the actual paper. This version, the Front Page is muddled with subtitles and a few pix. It’s unclear where the big stories are! The Local section is often a repeat of the Front Page. Scroll down and you’ll find old articles from days or weeks before that I’ve already read. It’s frankly boring and lacks any pizzazz. Bring back the e-edition.

Digital Chronicle. Easy to use and it is enjoyable on the move. The digital Mon thru Saturday and then a traditional, regular Sunday paper is delivered is a good deal. Unfortunately the customer service is not good. 4 time I called them to tell them what I ordered, yet they are still delivering regular newspapers each day. I paid $312 for what I ordered yet when I check on the billing the $312 payment is acknowledged but they say I have a balance of $270 which is apparently for a full 7 day a week delivery of a physical Chronicle What gives? KOB

Great but would like some tweaks. I am very enjoying this app and it’s almost perfect. I would like to be able to rearrange the headers at the top of the app “front page, culture, politics, etc” to better reflect my reading priorities and preferences. Additionally, I have noticed one glitch. When I have been reading an article and I have scrolled down to somewhere in the middle or rear the end, if my phone then goes to the Lock Screen as I take a small break, when I then open my phone the app pulls me up to the beginning of that article, loosing my place. A small bug but still room for improvement. Otherwise the app is great!

Love getting daily updates of local and National news. The SF Chron has been my go to for news and entertainment since I was a child growing up in the Sunset in The City. Even then, it was a fight among us to see who got to “The Pink Section” first to see how weekend plans would shape up. My own family in the East Bay reads it electronically now, but it’s the same go to for quick updates on local and national events and of course, entertainment in the Bay Area! Thank you, SF Chronicle!

Frustrated. The updates made in the last year and recently have not been improvements thus far. It used to be, if I was in the app and left it open to check a notification in something else and then went back a moment later, whatever I was reading was still there for me to continue. Now, it’s gone and goes back to the home page. (It didn’t used to.) The comics in the app are not updated timely. Very frustrating. I want to read all the comics in the morning all together. Sometimes none are updated or just a couple are. It is supposed to be that if you touch into an e-edition article, it will open up the article for you to read individually. Sometimes it doesn’t do that on some articles and it never does it on the Dear Abby column. Again, many frustrating items.

Miserable. I have nothing but problems trying to read the Chronicle on the app on either my phone or iPad. I have spent lengthy periods on the time on the phone with customer support where I repeatedly will change my password on the website and then use it to try and get into the app. It will work for one day and then it will tell me either that I am not a subscriber or that my subscription has expired. Nothing seems to work. And promises to have tech-support call me have not happened. Fortunately my subscription expires this month and I’m just going to let it go. It’s not worth the hassle. I can’t believe the Chronicle can’t do a better job providing online news.

Clunky & lacks basic features - like search. As a Chronicle subscriber, I would like to click on a news story link from Twitter and be able to read this in the app. Not only do links from social media fail to open correctly in the app (the NYT and WashPo apps work), there is no search feature to find the story one was reading. Sad that the app for the paper of record in SF, the nexus of the global technology industry, is so technically challenged.

THE UPDATED APP IS AWFUL. The recently updated app of the San Francisco Chronicle is really awful. The previous app was really fantastic. The updated app is annoyingly difficult to maneuver around. The only way to go into a specific section now is to go into the upper right hand corner, where the three lines are to click that and then click the section that you want to go to. The previous app you didn’t have to do that. You just clicked on the section that you wanted to go to at the top of the page. Also on the previous app, it was very easy just to scroll from page to page using your finger on the iPad. Now, if the page is enlarged, you can’t scroll from page to page. You have to set the page back to the original size. Very annoying! The original app I would give five stars absolutely fantastic way to read the chronicle. This new app if I could give zero stars I would, but I gave it one star. Very disappointing!! Please go back to the original app. The updated app is not at all user-friendly.

Good source for Bay Area news but is buggy. I have two e-news subscriptions: New York Time for national and world news; SF Chronicle for local SF Bay Area news. The Chronicle’s national and international news coverage is not what it used to be and gets skimpier each year, whereas is local news coverage is good. This app is buggy and it takes the developers longer than they should to fix bugs, especially when the app just fails to deliver content.

Doesn’t work…even though I’m logged into my account. I have lived in the Bay most of my life and while I greatly appreciate local news and was once a paperboy for the San Mateo Times and my parents still get a paper copy of the Chronicle I never have. I’ve subscribed to the NYT electronic version in the past and quite enjoyed it. So, when I saw a deal that they were offering a promotion that was 6 months for .99 I figured I’d give it a try. Well, I downloaded the app and created an account and paid. Now, it somehow tells me I’ve reached the total number of free stories for a month. So, something weird and super wonky is up.

San Jose State sports. I’d like to see more coverage of San Jose State football. You cover this controversy about the SJSU volleyball team every week, but nothing about the season that the SJSU football team is having. They hosted the #12 team in the nation last week with two of the most exciting players in college football, and nothing in the Chronicle. Spartan receive Nick Nash is the top receiver in college football.

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Local news now!. I love getting my news through the Chronicle app. It gives me everything I need with quality writing and interesting local color. Its reliable and trustworthy. I appreciate having the Chron on my phone.

Some great investigative reporting. I subscribe to the chronicle due to its occasional in depth features about local San Francisco issues. Recent series about homelessness and drug dealing stand out. The app works well. Wish there were a way to save articles and also wish they had a certain number of articles to gift each month.

You cannot bookmark articles for later reading!. Content is great but I cannot believe the app cannot do a simple thing like bookmarking an article so that you can read it later. You can email the link to share an article then copy that URL from your email program onto a note taking program or send that email to yourself. It’s such a basic feature I cannot believe that Hearst didn’t think about this.

The Chronicle is difficult to log into. I have found the Chronicle difficult to log into through my paper subscription. I hamade multiple attempts to reach out to tech support on multiple occasions and received only one, not very helpful response.

San Francisco Chronicle. Love the e-edition where I get an actual newspaper to open and read. Several stories catch my eye on the e-edition that I would have by passed if presented in the computer - line by line - format. Well worth the price. If I lived where I could get the print edition, I would.

Dark Mode Needed. I enjoy the articles, the sports coverage,and the columnists. But this app can be hard on the eyes and desperately needs a dark mode. All of that glaring white space makes it difficult to read. It would also benefit from an internal way to adjust the font size.

This app is junk. Keeps telling me I have no subscription when I have one for a 6 months. “Customer service” is outsourced to somewhere in Asia where the persons answering have poor English skills and make you repeat over and over what you’re calling about, then can’t resolve the issue because they don’t know what they are doing. How ridiculous that an organization based in the hub of tech can’t get a decent app built… like they don’t have access to developers??

Good content but needs viewing Needs improvement. Too often I find a good article I want to read on my pad … to find it is too small to easily read and enjoy. So frustrating for seniors whose eyes are not as good as they once were. Allowing a zoom feature would do the trick and about half of digital subscriptions allow this capability. So why not the Chronicle?

Local News Delivered. The Chronicle remains one of the reliable places to get quality journalism focused on local events, politics, culture and food. It’s principal contributors have an understanding of the region and history of the area that bring context and nuance to the reader. I appreciate it as thoughtful publication that adds valuable insight into the region with professional integrity.

Depth of reporting. The newspaper provides basic coverage of local events, but the reporting often is surface-level and incomplete. Many articles lack meaningful investigation, context, or follow-up, leaving important questions unanswered. I and I imagine other readers are left wanting a deeper understanding of the issues being covered. As a local resident, the paper serves as a useful source for headlines. Stronger journalism and more in-depth reporting would greatly improve its credibility and value to the community. Check out what your competition at the SF standard are doing

Devoted.. I’ve been a subscriber since the 1970’s. Yes, it’s changed. But, I still read it from cover to cover daily. In-depth local coverage is top notch. Admittedly I get news from a number of other places as well. All are invaluable. I love the comics! And the Sunday edition. Long may you run.

News notifications never recognize my subscription. No matter how many times I link my subscription info to the news notifications I still get stopped after 3 articles per month. Phooey!

App is flaky. After a recent app update, I was knocked out altogether. Then when I tried to sign in from scratch, I was told my subscription was not valid. I was able to log onto the website and my subscription is definitely paid up. Uninstalling and reinstalling got me in but sections, notably comics, are not being updated. This is my primary means of access and my attempts to get someone on the phone have been unsuccessful. If this doesn’t get better, I may just cancel altogether.

Frustrated. The updates made in the last year and recently have not been improvements thus far. It used to be, if I was in the app and left it open to check a notification in something else and then went back a moment later, whatever I was reading was still there for me to continue. Now, it’s gone and goes back to the home page. (It didn’t used to.) The comics in the app are not updated timely. Very frustrating. I want to read all the comics in the morning all together. Sometimes none are updated or just a couple are. It is supposed to be that if you touch into an e-edition article, it will open up the article for you to read individually. Sometimes it doesn’t do that on some articles and it never does it on the Dear Abby column. Again, many frustrating items.

Fine, but must be better. Invest more in the app. It’s slightly better than Mercury Times app, but less enjoyable than other news apps like LA Times. One suggestion: let me start reading an article, lock my phone and deal with other things for a while and still come back to the app and continue reading the article. (See New Yorker app.)

Talk about being NOT user friendly. This app is pretty bad. I searched for their puzzles section, not just crosswords, and it’s not listed on the app. I can find it on their webpage after several clicks. It also will not sync with Apple News and can’t change my subscription email to be the same as Apple ID. Very difficult to find cancel function unless you call them. Their whole online presence is pretty bad. They need to look at NYT and LA Times for functionality. I will not be renewing this subscription.

Can’t fine e-edition. Suddenly I stopped getting the E-edition email and link. Called the Chronicle 5 times and each time my was told they had linked it to my email and I would get it in the morning. Never successful. Nothing like calling each morning to hunt for your paper.

Decades of Amazing Reporting. When I think of the Chronicle I think of what a reliable news source they are. I think of Herb Caen and all of their wonderful editorialists. I think of the hard work that has gone into being there for us year after year with sincerity. Thank you S.F. Chronicle!! ! !

Content is fine but app is not great. The SF Chronicles content is fine, but this app is definitely not high quality. There are some weird features like an article refreshing if you move away from the screen - meaning if you get a text or phone call mid article you lose your place. Sometimes it also just opens a random article when you open the app. Not nearly as good as the NYT, WSJ, LA Times apps.

Access. I find it aggravating to read stories. I am always asked to log into my account, then I have to type in my email, last name and phone number. The NY Times just allows me to tap on the icon and I am in.

The end of local newspapers. Unfortunately our Chron is on life support and probably won’t exist in 5 years. I can’t believe how bad this paper that I’ve been reading for 70 years is disappearing. Online has destroyed our local news. Who will monitor our local politicians?

Opening push notifications is still broken. Breaking news is the primary reason I use this app, and tapping on breaking news push notifications is still broken. For a while they wouldn’t load the article at all, but now they load the article in a broken viewport. For example, a wide landscape article will render in a portrait viewport and you’ll need to scroll horizontally to read… or vice versa. You’ll get a tiny portrait viewport if your phone is in landscape mode orientation.

Irritating refresh. This app has the irritating design fault that it refreshes during the reading of a long article. The refresh makes you lose your place in the article. Bad engineering! Content is great though. Especially the in depth articles.

Love the content, hate the app. Happy to pay for the content, but the app is SLOW. Jolts and freezes regularly even on wifi, reloads the page at arbitrary times while you're reading (and if that happens while you're offline after loading the page, you lose the ability to read it at all). I'm guessing it's the app loading ads, trackers, etc, which is annoying since I actually pay quite a bit for a subscription.

Great Paper. I just love catching up with the SF and Bay Area news. I grew up in the area and live there until 2000 when my parents decided to move to Las Vegas . At 40ish I moved with them. So this app is great to see everything that is going on since I used to get the ‘real paper’. Thank you.

BEST NEWSPAPER. I lived in San Francisco for many years while I was in the Navy. I live in Nebraska now, but missed reading ‘the Chronicle.’ I am still a huge fan of the Giants, the Warriors and the 49ers. The Sporting Green is phenomenal. The newspaper excels in professional journalism and it takes me back to the city I love every time I read it.

Great paper but worse app. I wish they would invest some money into their app. It is too bad because it is such a great paper. On the iPhone, there is no back button so once you click on a story, you are stuck there. The e version is nice but hard to read on a phone. There is also a bug in linking a digital subscription to the app such that when you log in it shows no subscription.

Not as good as the website. After trying the app briefly, I’m back to using the website, which is good. The app has very weird scrolling behavior, where if you drag down it scrolls normally but if you drag up it zooms up and the slows. It also doesn’t seem to show the same front page content as the website today, and the website’s content ordering and layout is better.

App review. Couldn’t be a worse experience if the Chronicle were trying to scare off its steady customers. I was unable to open it for three days last week for reasons never given. Efforts to contact the Chronicle were awful. At one point, someone without authorization tried to sign me up for a paper subscription. Got resolved after about a week, but these problems recur regularly. As for the app itself, full of stale news.

Yesterday news. I have read the chronicle since I was a young boy, 58 years. I can’t believe how this publication has failed to deliver the current news of the day. Even the sports scores do not get into the paper. The web site is the most unstable site I have used. You ask for the paper version and it keeps taking you to the text version. It always freezing and very wonky. It is so frustrating!!! The chronicle should change their name to “Yesterday News” Mark Charles

Stop moving adds from appearing. Moving adds, flashing adds,etc.,are more than just annoying they introduce anxiety into a contemplative time of one’s day, the reading of the morning paper. Adds are part of the paper, but flashing adds centered at the top of the E print edition are insufferable. Please do something to make reading the Chronicle an enjoyable experience again. Thanks

Old paper boy Eloy k. 1955 at age 16 ,I was lucky to deliver the CHRONICLE in Parkmerced. At that time I loved to read Herb Cain and the GREEN SHEET which got to attached to the 49ers and Seals . Unfortunately my parents moved to Millbrae and in the years following I moved to L.A.👎Now I still have a home in Saint Francis Woods and subscribe to the internet version of Chronicle and enjoy it every morning

Chronicle review. I have read the paper for decades, but trying to do so on line is regularly a frustrating challenge. For example, I opened today’s paper and when I later returned to finish it, it suddenly was Saturday’s and I couldn’t get it to change back to today’s. It is beyond annoying to have to repeatedly deal with one issue or another far too often to simply read the paper on line.

Stories are blank!. Often you can see the titles, but clicking into the story yields a blank page. Or you’ll get a few screens in and then it blanks out. Yes, I am a subscriber. Probably ad-related, but waiting does not change things. Fail.

Horrible app. Can’t even change my credit card info. Says I have no account, which I do, and then shows the credit card payment screen for exactly 2 seconds, whereupon it disappears, and takes me through another endless loop that never works.

I appreciate the Chronicle. I have been a subscriber for decades. The paper keeps me updated without sensationalism about SF, the Bay Area as well as national and international news like no other source. And I absolutely love the comics, Dear Abby and Miss Manners. I love the Chronicle and we are fortunate to have such a great newspaper in today‘s times. Please keep going, Chronicle. You are a highlight.

Paywall is extremely annoying. I am a paid digital subscriber but each and every time I click on a link in my email to a story I am hit by the paywall. It seems like the app has stored 5 or 6 user names and passwords and I rarely hit the right combination. Sometimes I can get in by going directly to the app. Sometimes I just give up. I am about to cancel my subscription out of pure frustration.

Love the Chron. I have loved the Chron for over 50 years. Keep up the good work. Please have more diversity in the Sunday Datebook. It shouldn’t just be about white people. I have suggested to the editor to have a Sunday Datebook with no white people and let’s see what the response will be.

Read it for the last 65 Years. Always checking local news first. Back in the day, I’d read their columnists first, they were part of the Chronicle’s DNA. Herb Caen, McCabe and Susan Sward, were among the many whose articles I’d read daily. They need to bring back a Police reporter who can get more details. Currently it is somewhat shameful your articles have no meat. Bill Wallace and Bob Popp were outstanding.

Great reporting. We get the SF Chronicle each Sunday and enjoy its reporting by expert writers who know their business well and effectively present poignant topics in the many well-organized sections. The paper is delivered in a protective plastic bag to our driveway by a very reliable person conscientiously without exception.

Chronicle frustrates. Why is it that the leading newspaper in the tech capital of the country has such a poor application. I read the New York Times and the Marin IJ every day. I try to read the chronicle. It continues to highlight articles written weeks or even months at the top of sections. Just give me an app that reads like a newspaper. Preferably TODAY’S newspaper. They need to scrap this failed app and source or develop an app that provides a positive user experience.

Definitely making improvements that allow me to enjoy it more. Much more frequent updates and articles stay around longer so you can catch them later and a broad spectrum of topics

Good coverage, slightly glitchy app. Great news coverage for the most part (except for their strangely anti-union stances in some ostensibly neutral articles). Unfortunately, the app can be a bit glitchy. When I switch to another app and come back, it reloads the article I was reading such that I lose my place. Sometimes, it switches to another article altogether.

Mediocre and frustrating app. SF Chron folks, you can be doing so much better. The content has a jumbled timeline where days old articles appear as Top of the News. The “Top” of the news is actually placed at the way bottom of the page. And there is no search function that I can find. I appreciate the special tracker pages and breaking news compilations for fires and COVID. But from a news content standpoint it lacks cohesion and clarity.

Sf gate seems more interesting than this... I am surprised that SF Gate, even with it’s pervasively annoying pop up ads and videos, grabs my attention more than The Chronicle. I hope they will improve it. I cancelled my Boston Times for The Chronicle…of course the former is produced in a significantly larger and, perhaps, more dynamic city. I will likely continue to Gravitate towards the NY Times for real substance.

Still clunky and freeze-prone. The Chron app is still unpredictable and is often very difficult, if not impossible to manage. At least there is now a search function. My comments are based on using different Apple products, all up to date. It often freezes and crashes, in spite of some improvements. Some articles run for weeks! Why? The “paper” is shallow, redundant, and disappointing.

Good basic access but could use improvements!. I appreciate the basic access to excellent SF Chronicle journalism at a reasonable price. Fantastic writing and writers. I could use more info graphics but just a suggestion. My recommendations to improve the app: 1. Add a “Saved Stories” or “My Chronicle” to bookmark stories for later. Often one may see an interesting story via notifications but not have time to read on the spot. Even free apps like CNN have this feature. 2. Make the top level navigation movable/ customizable. Restaurants is the second nav option and not something I check regularly. Thanks! Bourke in Walnut Creek

Crossword experience needs improvement. It’s not rare for the crossword screens to fail to load and just show a blank white screen. I get that sometimes there will be server errors or whatnot, but at least show an error message to that point. The user has no idea what’s going on, will it eventually load? Has it already errored out and just not bothered to tell you? Poor app developer decision.

Chronicle is disappearing before our eyes. Coverage of sports on weekend? Gone from e-edition Late afternoon or evening sports results: gone Ability to see box scores on the online edition? Gone For sports fans, the quality of the S.F. Chronicle is greatly reduced. Time to cancel and get sports news from sources that are prompt and thorough.

Many articles failed to load. For the past few weeks, there were many articles especially in the Datebook section failed to load. There is no explanation whatsoever. This is extremely frustrating! I have sent a email via the apps. No reply. Please fix this. We paid for the subscription and we should be able to read articles. I am a loyal sf chronicle reader so please I am very disappointed with this. Please fix it.