The Desert Sun

I subscribed to the online edition of The Desert Sun in 2020 as the pandemic pushed us indoors and local news was of paramount interest. I continue to support it with my subscription because it’s important. But it’s almost to the point that I can’t read it. How many times does one have to log into a mobile app? Why aren’t my credentials cached? If I’m not blocked from reading “subscriber content,” I’m prompted multiple times to log in (i was pushed to write this review after being asked to log in three times), and then I have to navigate the ridiculous captcha puzzles (really? Captcha on logins? If you want to discourage brute force login attacks, use a WAF and lock accounts after three failed attempts). And the constant home page refreshes! I want to go back to the front page when I read an article, but swiping right just sends me to the previous article, and if I use the back arrow at the top of the page, I have to wait for the page to refresh, and then I must scroll back down to find the next article I want to read. The app seems to think it’s an email app, and a glitchy one at that (why force me to browse through every story? Is that personalized? This isn’t a printed newspaper! I scroll up and down for content and swipe right to navigate back). The app worked great for years, but now its “new user experience” is absolutely terrible. I don’t need personalized news in the app. This is the Coachella Valley. The news is always the same: there was a truck crash somewhere, a body was found in Indio or Desert Hot Springs, a bicyclist was hit by a speeding motorist, there’s a pride event, a golf event, a tennis event, high school sports, an arts event, a food or music or film festival, and road closures due to wind & sand or flooding. I love the local news. Stop complicating it with crappy programming and poorly considered UX.

Every time I open this app, it tells me that I need to pay for a subscription to the sun. I already do and there’s no place to login. And then when I go to settings to login, I have to click on pictures of motorcycles or cars or bicycles are traffic lights it’s ridiculous.

Too bad there isn’t a 0 star option

I get the paper copy of the newspaper and I also primarily read the electronic copy on my iPad. I have been doing this for a number of years. Last week when logging on to the electronic copy I got a warning saying it appeared I did not have a subscription. after trying to get logged on for several minutes I got disgusted and read my paper copy of the newspaper. I then went to my computer and logged onto the website and logged on to the Desert Sun and after that was able to get it on my iPad for several days. Now again todayI logged on and got a message saying I did not have aSubscription. This is very frustrating what’s wrong with your website and what do I have to do to be able to read the electronic copy.

The new e news format for the Desert Sun is very disappointing. We use to read it almost like a real news paper. Now, there are just highlights with lots of pictures; sort of like a tabloid. Multiple requests for better options or how to direct me back to the old format (if it exists) resulted in no response. I have now canceled my subscription effective at the end of this month.

The Desert Sun endorsed Greg Wallis over Christy Holstege. Wallis went on to win by 85 votes. Would he have won had the Desert Sun not endorsed him? The Desert Sun is controlled by a national organization that doesn’t care about our community, and are happy to endorse candidates that want to take away our civil liberties. Therefore I’ve cancelled my subscription. I will get my local news from the Palm Springs Post instead.

I check in to the Desert Sun every day but rarely do you folks add new stories. It’s a continual sameness. What’s going on?

This isn’t the page format that I don’t like and that I can’t change! If this can’t be changed I WILL CANCEL MY SUBSCRIPTION AND GET THE LA TIMES.

I want to report a missed delivery, or view my vacation hold and there is no option. “My Account” navigation or help does not exist

News notifications I want. Not sports.