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

SEPTA vs The Philadelphia Inquirer

SEPTA 4.4★ · Free to download 0
Winner The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer 4.6★ · Free to download 40

The Philadelphia Inquirer app is plagued by significant technical issues, making SEPTA the better choice by default, though SEPTA's reviews are not provided for a direct comparison.

Full reviews: SEPTA · The Philadelphia Inquirer

The Philadelphia Inquirer app, despite its highly regarded content, suffers from frequent crashes, slow loading times, and navigation difficulties, leading to a poor user experience. Without reviews for SEPTA, a direct comparison on app performance is impossible, but The Philadelphia Inquirer's app issues are severe.

Head to head

Features edge: The Philadelphia InquirerR5R7R8R10
SEPTA No reviews provided for SEPTA to assess its features.
The Philadelphia Inquirer The Philadelphia Inquirer app offers timely news updates and the option to read a paper facsimile R8. Users appreciate the coverage of local and national news, sports, and specific sections like real estate and food reviews . However, some users find it difficult to navigate, especially on iPad, with issues like comics loading one at a time and inconsistent scrolling R5R7R10. There's also a desire for features like following specific authors and better integration of newsletters and links .
Ease of Use tieR5R7R10R12
SEPTA No reviews provided for SEPTA to assess its ease of use.
The Philadelphia Inquirer Users find The Philadelphia Inquirer app difficult to use due to navigation problems, such as inconsistent scrolling and format changes R5. Some describe it as unfriendly, especially on iPad R7. While some recent updates have made it easier to operate and navigate , others report it's hard to read on iPad and that the replica edition no longer sizes correctly R7R10. The app also has issues with ads that are too sensitive and open accidentally, disrupting reading R12.
Reliability edge: The Philadelphia InquirerR1R3R4R9
SEPTA No reviews provided for SEPTA to assess its reliability.
The Philadelphia Inquirer The Philadelphia Inquirer app is widely criticized for its poor reliability. Users report frequent issues such as pages not loading or loading extremely slowly R1R9, the app suddenly closing R3, freezing , and general glitchiness R4. Some users experience articles not loading after clicking notifications and an overlay of a second newspaper R49. These problems are described as happening weekly or even daily R3R4R48.
Price/Value edge: The Philadelphia InquirerR21R33R37R40
SEPTA No reviews provided for SEPTA to assess its price/value.
The Philadelphia Inquirer The Philadelphia Inquirer app is free to download, but access to most articles requires a subscription R21R40R46. Users express frustration with this paywall, especially those who previously paid a one-time fee for the app R40. Some feel the content is not worth the monthly fee of $9.99 , especially when free news sources are available R37. There are complaints about ads still appearing even with a paid subscription R33.
Support edge: The Philadelphia InquirerR29R33R48R49
SEPTA No reviews provided for SEPTA to assess its support.
The Philadelphia Inquirer Users report significant difficulties with customer support for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Activating a gift subscription took nearly three weeks of phone calls R33. Canceling a subscription is described as intentionally difficult, with no online option and a multi-step phone process R29. Issues reported to the tech department, such as the overlay problem, have gone unfixed for months R48R49.
Pick SEPTA if

Pick SEPTA if you need a transit app and there are no reviews indicating significant issues, as The Philadelphia Inquirer app has many reported problems.

Pick The Philadelphia Inquirer if

Pick The Philadelphia Inquirer if you prioritize high-quality, objective local news and sports reporting for the Philly area, and are willing to tolerate significant app performance issues and a subscription cost R8.

Evidence note: No reviews were provided for SEPTA, so all comparisons are based solely on the provided reviews for The Philadelphia Inquirer. This makes it impossible to give a fair, two-sided comparison for most dimensions, and the 'winner' for each dimension is based on the presence of issues in App B versus the absence of information for App A.

Frequently asked

Is The Philadelphia Inquirer app free?
The Philadelphia Inquirer app is free to download, but users typically need a paid subscription to read more than a limited number of articles R21R40R46.
What are the main issues with The Philadelphia Inquirer app?
The main issues with The Philadelphia Inquirer app include frequent crashes, articles failing to load or loading very slowly, freezing, and difficulties with navigation and ad placement R1R3R9R12.
Can I cancel my Philadelphia Inquirer subscription easily?
Users report that canceling a Philadelphia Inquirer subscription is intentionally difficult, with no online cancellation option and a multi-step phone process required R29.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 50 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 Philadelphia Inquirer 4/5 · US Hard to navigate: Trying to read the newspaper online is challenging. You start reading in the newspaper format and scrolling through pages. Suddenly you can’t scroll and have to advance the page with a click in the upper right corner. Then suddenly the newspaper format changes and there is no obvious way to switch back.
  2. [R7] The Philadelphia Inquirer 1/5 · US iPad use: Difficult to read on iPad. Have to read comics one at a time for example. Where do you people get your ideas for so called improvements? I,m done with your unfriendly updates. You even make it difficult to send a comment.
  3. [R8] The Philadelphia Inquirer 5/5 · US Essential!: A must have to keep up with Inquirer coverage! The updates are timely and there is still the option to read the Inquirer of school with the paper facsimile- perfect!
  4. [R10] The Philadelphia Inquirer 1/5 · US Ad for ipad: They faced out the replica edition with no notice and now this app doesn’t size to an ipad screen. Could they antagonize subscribers any more!
  5. [R12] The Philadelphia Inquirer 3/5 · US Sneaky Ads: Ads within the articles are extremely sensitive and when the reader attempts to scroll through, they accidentally open the adds. In addition, many of the adds are sized in a way that you cannot scroll past without touching them. Super distracting to be reading an article and have to jump back and forth from an ad that “accidentally” opens in a browser. Seems like they’ve done this on p
  6. [R1] The Philadelphia Inquirer 2/5 · US Good paper. Bad app.: The Inquirer is an important regional paper that does high quality investigative reporting. Unfortunately the app is really poor. Much of the time the pages won’t load or will load extremely slowly such that I don’t get to read the paper. The other two newspapers to which I subscribe very rarely have such problems. They need to fix this.
  7. [R3] The Philadelphia Inquirer 3/5 · US App suddenly closes repeatedly: The Inquirer app has had all kinds of issues over the years but, with one exception, is much better than it used to be. But at least once every day while reading the digital Inquirer, the add just suddenly closes and I have to re-open it (and it reopens at the first page rather than my prior location). This happens at least once every day and still happens after I u
  8. [R4] The Philadelphia Inquirer 2/5 · US Glitchy App: The Inquirer app is at best a 2 star app given the number of glitches the user experiences on a weekly basis. Most of the glitches are related to opening the story to read, which doesn’t work once or twice a week.
  9. [R9] The Philadelphia Inquirer 3/5 · US I love the inky but the app is buggy: The app is pretty, but it crashes all the time and articles take forever to load. Please fix!
  10. [R21] The Philadelphia Inquirer 1/5 · US Can’t read articles: I don’t need to subscribe to another thing. Would be nice to read news articles without having to pay for it.
  11. [R33] The Philadelphia Inquirer 2/5 · US Bad business practices...see enclosed...: Digital Subscription Purchased a one year digital subscription as a Father’s Day gift. There was no way to activate the subscription on our side. Took us nearly three weeks of phone calls with the inquire to activate the subscription. Advertisements Entire reason for the subscription was to remove the advertisements from the service, in addition to acces
  12. [R37] The Philadelphia Inquirer 2/5 · US Old news posing as new. I deleted the App. Charging monthly fee - ridiculous: Better news on channel 3, 6 and 10 news and it’s free
  13. [R40] The Philadelphia Inquirer 1/5 · US Paid for app - now they want a subscription.: Years ago I purchased this app back when there was a one time charge. Now I’m being informed I need to subscribe in order to read more than a certain number of articles.
  14. [R29] The Philadelphia Inquirer 1/5 · US The Inquirer has intentionally made it impossible to cancel your subscription: This is a serious warning: they will not let you cancel your subscription. There is no way to cancel, other than to call a particular number. Yes, in 2021, there is no way to cancel online.If you manage to get through to a customer service agent, they will tell you that they are not the one that can help you and pass yo
  15. [R48] The Philadelphia Inquirer 1/5 · US Don’t bother: Doesn’t work reliably. Two editions imposed on each other. Now happening more than 50% of days. Tech Dept has been “fixing” for more than a month.
  16. [R49] The Philadelphia Inquirer 1/5 · US Fix this problem!: For several months now when I open the Inquirer there is a second newspaper overlayed over the top half of the page. Why hasn’t this been corrected? I reported it several months ago.
  17. [R46] The Philadelphia Inquirer 1/5 · US Website limited clicks before required to pay: The actual website requires payment. Not worth it. Other options available. Google search the article name and readi it some where else that doesn’t charge.

Synthesized from 50 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store