The Wall Street Journal. 12+

The reading format and layout is still better than most of the other digital subscriptions I read, but the latest updates move it backwards in some ways. Pictures blink or reload several times when moving through the issue and it loses my place in the issue when returning to read more. The annoying ads issue seems much better, so thanks for that improvement.

Update April 2018 - still the best news available, but it’s losing ground. Pricing has gotten very expensive, and the daily iPad editions load very slowly after the latest Apple software update. I have to open the app twice to see content. The first time just spins with no content for far too long; closing and reopening displays content on the second app open. I’ve deleted and downloaded the app several times to see if that helped, but it didn’t.

Update April 2019 - I’m experiencing app crashes several times a week; the app just unexpectedly closes while reading an article on my iPad. Transitions from pages and sections are slow and jerky at times even with 100G WiFi download speed; it is smooth when I turn off WiFi and view the issue without all the background activity that must be going on when connected. Also, I learned that saved articles on show on the device on which saved - I can’t see saved articles on my iPhone that I saved on my iPad and vice-versa.

The latest version of the WSJ app has many excellent features. I like very much the real time updating of current news. The insertion of video embedded within articles adds a lot of texture and detail. It is extremely useful to have links to supporting material highlighted in blue allowing a quick trip to scan the related article.
I have only two complaints. First: many of the articles have animated memes or images that constantly alternate between one image and another producing pseudo-animation. This may be intended as an attention grabber, but it is also highly annoying and distracting. Seeing motion in ones peripheral vision tends to take the reader’s attention off the text and back to the animation. I have to resort to covering up the animation with one hand in order to continue reading.
My other complaint concerns full-page advertising appearing in a several page article. The software resists swiping past the advertising to the next page of the article. I realize that this is done so people like me can’t simply breeze past ad copy that they don’t wish to look at. When I had only the print version of the Journal, I could easily ignore the advertising copy. With the online Journal I have to fight ad copy that refuses to yield to a page-turn gesture. I don’t like paying more than $400 a year and find myself forced to look at something in which I have no interest.

I'm a 77 year old lifetime newspaper reader and have online subscriptions to the Washington Post (print as well as online versions) and NY Times as well as the WSJ. I download all 3 every day and wander through them getting the flavor of the coverage and the opinions. I would prefer to be able to download the print version of the WSJ so I could see the placement of articles the way I can with the WP but the WSJ app comes reasonably close. The strength of the WSJ app is the ease of scrolling through to find and read articles in each of the various sections. When all articles are simply shown in long scrolling lines placed willy-nilly on the screen, it is harder to sort out the "news" from the "opinions." It's hard enough to read news articles filled with speculative words like "could" or "might" mixed in with what actually happened. The WSJ is making an admirable effort to keep its news coverage balanced and factual and its opinion section fair. I appreciate that in today's hyper-polarized media environment.
BUT, the tech end is quirky. I don't like having an article disappear in the middle of my reading it. I don't like the fact that I then have to start over with the app to get back to where I was. SURELY YOU CAN FIX THAT!