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Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

The Atlantic Magazine vs The New Yorker

The Atlantic Magazine 4.9★ · Free + IAP 70
Winner The Atlantic Magazine
The New Yorker 3.9★ · Free + IAP 55

The Atlantic Magazine offers a slightly better app experience with more reliable core functionality, despite its own issues, while The New Yorker struggles significantly with login problems and a broken search feature.

Full reviews: The Atlantic Magazine · The New Yorker

The Atlantic Magazine and The New Yorker both deliver high-quality journalism, but their apps present different challenges. The Atlantic's app is generally more functional for reading and listening, though it has issues with ads and some UI elements. The New Yorker's app is plagued by frequent login problems and a severely broken search function, making it frustrating for many subscribers.

Head to head

Content Quality tieR5R8R13R16
The Atlantic Magazine Users consistently praise The Atlantic for its intelligent, analytical, and well-researched articles, offering deep insights and strong investigative reporting R5R8. Some users, however, feel the content has become too focused on specific political topics or has a particular bias R13R16.
The New Yorker The New Yorker is lauded for its brilliant, essential, and high-quality journalism, with many long-time readers valuing its truthfulness and good writing . Users appreciate the varied and interesting content .
App Reliability & Stability edge: The Atlantic MagazineR6R7R12R18
The Atlantic Magazine The Atlantic's app has several reliability issues, including articles going blank or refreshing unexpectedly R6, freezing R18, and battery drain . Some users also report login issues and problems with recent updates breaking features like games or font display R7R12.
The New Yorker The New Yorker's app is severely hampered by persistent login issues, with users frequently getting stuck in loops, being prompted to log in despite having a valid subscription, or the app not recognizing their account R64. It also experiences crashes , freezing , and articles getting stuck loading .
Features & Ease of Use edge: The Atlantic MagazineR2R3R4R6
The Atlantic Magazine The Atlantic app is generally easy to use for reading R2, but lacks crucial features like adjustable font size R3R36, a functional search R4R19R28R39, and an article share button R6R19. Navigation can be difficult R4, and the audio player has issues with freezing, speed options, and control size R18R34. Users also desire dark mode for comments , a history feature , and Kindle compatibility .
The New Yorker The New Yorker app's search function is widely criticized as broken and unusable, making it impossible to find specific or older articles . Users also report issues with links not opening in the app , the crossword keyboard being too close to the screen edge , and a lack of organization for older crosswords . Some features like audio queues are missing , and navigation by category is not possible . However, it does save reading progress and offers dark mode .
Audio Experience edge: The Atlantic MagazineR17R18R20R34
The Atlantic Magazine The Atlantic offers audio versions of its articles, which users appreciate for accessibility and convenience R17R20. However, the audio player is described as poor, with slow responses, freezing, and inadequate playback speed options R18R34. Some users like the AI voice, while others prefer human readers R34.
The New Yorker The New Yorker's audio experience is a significant point of contention. Many users dislike the use of AI voices for articles, finding them robotic, monotonous, distracting, and lacking emotion, preferring professional narrators . The audio player also has glitches , limited playback speed options , and issues with not all articles having audio or the player simply not working .
Ads & Subscription Value tieR1R9R10R15
The Atlantic Magazine Many paying subscribers to The Atlantic are frustrated by the presence of ads, including video ads, directly embedded in articles, which they find distracting and unacceptable for a paid service R1R9R10R15. Some also feel the app is designed to maximize inadvertent ad clicks .
The New Yorker Paying subscribers to The New Yorker also express disappointment and frustration over seeing ads, including banner and sponsored content, within the app despite their subscription . The recent addition of unblockable auto-streaming video ads is particularly disliked .
Customer Support tieR1R49R64R85
The Atlantic Magazine The Atlantic's technical support is criticized for being difficult to reach, with users reporting long waits and getting stuck in bot loops without reaching a human R1R49.
The New Yorker The New Yorker's support staff is described as unable or unwilling to fix login issues, with users receiving unhelpful responses R64R85.
Pick The Atlantic Magazine if

you prioritize a generally more stable reading and listening experience, despite some UI flaws and ads, and value strong investigative journalism R2R5R8.

Pick The New Yorker if

you are a dedicated fan of The New Yorker's specific brand of journalism and are willing to tolerate significant app frustrations, particularly with login and search, to access its content .

Evidence note: The Atlantic has a significantly higher number of ratings and a much higher lifetime rating, suggesting a broader base of satisfied users despite the app's reported issues. The New Yorker's lower lifetime rating and numerous recent negative reviews highlight severe, persistent app problems that impact core functionality for many subscribers.

Frequently asked

Do I see ads even with a paid subscription?
Yes, both The Atlantic Magazine and The New Yorker apps display ads, including video and sponsored content, even for paying subscribers, which many users find frustrating and unacceptable R1R10R15R40.
Can I adjust the font size in the app?
The Atlantic Magazine app currently lacks the ability to adjust font size, which is a significant complaint from many users, especially older readers R3R36. The New Yorker app reviews do not explicitly mention font size adjustment, but focus on other UI issues.
Is the search function reliable in either app?
No, the search function is a major weakness for both apps; The Atlantic's search is described as archaic and unable to find articles even with exact titles R4R19R28R39, while The New Yorker's search is widely considered broken and unusable, often returning irrelevant results .
Do the apps offer audio versions of articles?
Yes, both apps offer audio versions of articles, but with different user experiences; The Atlantic provides audio, which users appreciate, though its player has performance issues R17R18R20R34, while The New Yorker uses AI voices for many articles, which many users dislike and find distracting .

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R5] The Atlantic Magazine 5/5 · US Well done!: It is a pleasure to read articles with intelligent, analytical content! I have never been disappointed!
  2. [R8] The Atlantic Magazine 5/5 · US Good reporting can be hard to find: The Atlantic, like a few other outlets still provides news and analysis the way we remember it from several storied outlets and publishers. Less bias, more fact-checked and vetted sources, and intelligently developed features and opinions.
  3. [R13] The Atlantic Magazine 1/5 · US Disappointed: They have become a mouthpiece for corporate neocon lies
  4. [R16] The Atlantic Magazine 1/5 · US Trash: I consume Media at a voracious speed. I tried The Atlantic because I was looking for different viewpoints. I am personally centrist politically, I do not align myself to a particular party, and I’m not a fan of the current administration and their policies and their foreign policies. But as I read these articles from Keegan and others, the vitriol, the inability to just write facts with may
  5. [R6] The Atlantic Magazine 3/5 · US Needs improvement…: There are several issues with this app. First, there is no article share button, you have to go to the website, which makes zero sense. Second, I often get a blank page while reading an article, and I have to click back to the main page and click on the article again. Finally, if I go to another app and return to the article, it skips ahead and I have to scroll back to where I w
  6. [R7] The Atlantic Magazine 1/5 · US The latest update breaks games: I can no longer share and complete a crossword with another person. This latest app update has completely broken this feature. Please fix as this was the main reason I subscribed to your app.
  7. [R12] The Atlantic Magazine 3/5 · US Update messed up fonts!!!: I recently opened my Atlantic app to find that all the text went from regular to bold. I think this corresponds with a recent app update. iPhone 17, most recent system. Really destroys the reading experience.
  8. [R18] The Atlantic Magazine 3/5 · US Mostly OK, but a poor audio player: The magazine’s content is great. This app is mostly fine. But as a way to listen to magazine articles it is not good. First, responses get slower after each article and eventually the app freezes and has to be restarted. Second, it needs some playback speeds between 1x and 1.5x. Third, the playback controls need to be bigger.
  9. [R2] The Atlantic Magazine 5/5 · US Easy: Good writing available quickly and convenient with iPhone.
  10. [R3] The Atlantic Magazine 3/5 · US Give your readers text size adjustments!!!: One of, maybe THE dean of thoughtful topical writing, can’t seem to provide what virtually every half-baked news source does … give its readers the ability to adjust font size! Your average subscriber, I’d guess, is not 20 years old. Provide dynamic adjustable display sizes now please. It’s vital. The Atlantic is an outlier in its inability to keep
  11. [R4] The Atlantic Magazine 1/5 · US App needs a rewrite: Great articles. Horrible app. If you see an article on Facebook you can't navigate easily to the article in the app. I tried the app search feature typing the exact name of the article and it didn't appear. I tried using the authors name and couldn't find it easily. The navigation and look up seems archaic.
  12. [R17] The Atlantic Magazine 4/5 · US Love audio version of stories: The Atlantic’s use of audio versions of its articles helps with accessibility to the articles.
  13. [R20] The Atlantic Magazine 5/5 · US Great app: Great listening. Informative news.
  14. [R34] The Atlantic Magazine 1/5 · US Audio queue broken! Have the programmers tried using this app?: Thank you for the great journalism! The audio queue is truly terrible. Please hire someone who has used any podcast app please (Apple, Overcast, etc) Stories don’t clear out, impossible to move them around, etc. etc……. This app is Great for reading, and love the audio, just wish ALL stories had audio. I like the Ai voice, but l
  15. [R1] The Atlantic Magazine 2/5 · US $100 Subscription Contains Ads: Content aside (-4.7 bias from AllSides), which y’all probably know going into a subscription, the platform contains ads directly embedded in its articles on the app. Unsubscribing after less than 1 hour of use. Edit: dropping star rating after attempting to interact with technical support for about 40min. Never got to a human and entered multiple loops with the hel
  16. [R9] The Atlantic Magazine 3/5 · US Annoying commercial: Stop with the AI commercial from pwc!!
  17. [R10] The Atlantic Magazine 1/5 · US Subscription?: You pay for a "subscription", and yet, the articles are littered with TEMU Ads. among many? = W R O N G ! ! !
  18. [R15] The Atlantic Magazine 3/5 · US Great articles, too many ads: Advertisements every few paragraphs in an article I PAID to read are not acceptable. The Atlantic isn’t the only digital magazine to suffer from this issue, but video ads are extra distracting and annoying.
  19. [R49] The Atlantic Magazine 1/5 · US Subscribing: Unbelievably complicated; too many “bots”
  20. [R64] The New Yorker 1/5 · US Online Service Stinks: I've been having problems logging in using my still valid subscription for over at least two weeks now and their support staff is either unable or unwilling to fix my issue. I keep getting asked to renew my subscription and the link to reset my password has disappeared.
  21. [R85] The New Yorker 1/5 · US Garbage: You have your users screaming at you for years about this app’s incredibly poor sign-in experience, and constant sign-outs. Your solution so far is to have some firm respond to reviews like you’re just hearing about it and an email to support will clear things up. It won’t, you need to actually make a decent app.
  22. [R40] The Atlantic Magazine 1/5 · US Ads with a paid subscription??: Constant ads while you’re trying to read an article, all while PAYING. What a joke
  23. [R36] The Atlantic Magazine 3/5 · GB Minor complaint: Text of articles is too close to the left side of my iPad screen, almost off the edge, making it a bit hard to read. Also, Cannot find a way to increase text size.
  24. [R19] The Atlantic Magazine 2/5 · US Search!: Wish I could search for articles. And wish that if my friend texts me an article it’ll open in the app and not safari (which never keeps me logged in) It’s also difficult to share articles from the app
  25. [R28] The Atlantic Magazine 2/5 · US Great journalism, piss poor app: Journalists are not programmers. We know that. But, this app is just a failure. When every scroll takes several long sentences and the search function can’t find a phrase you have no choice but to read the article in your web browser or chop down some trees for the printed release.
  26. [R39] The Atlantic Magazine 3/5 · GB Great content, irritating design: Fantastic journalism of course, but it’s annoying to use. First and foremost the app doesn’t automatically open when you open an Atlantic link in Safari. Second is the newsletter-style homepage that shows a mix of new and old content. It’s a nice idea but I would prefer a curated list of recent content like a normal website homepage. Also, no search function and

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store