Review Insights · App Store
WSJ: Exclusive News & Insights
Dow Jones & Company, Inc., publisher of The Wall Street Journal. · 552,010 ratings · ★ 4.7
4.7
★★★★★
552,010 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 70 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"news"
19 negative reviews mention this · 27% of all complaints
★★★★★ "This app NEEDS a low data option. App has too much garbage video and audio which auto downloads and auto plays. Makes it totally unusable and wastes battery and data. Use Apple News instead." - Lanoitarus
2
"been"
14 negative reviews mention this · 20% of all complaints
★★★★★ "What does it take to get it right?!!. Once again, there is a problem with the left column displaying on an IPad. This is an ongoing problem that has been going on for some time now." - Dispapointed
3
"content"
12 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Power drain. The WSJ content is terrific, but the app is terrible. It makes my phone hot and quickly drains the battery. They need to fix the app so that it works like it used to" - Tarpits2
4
"read"
12 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Absolute nightmare to manage subscription. I made the mistake of using the apple email forwarding functionality and it broke the WSJ completely. Unable to log in correctly, unable to read content I’ve paid for, and unable to transfer to my normal email. Support is non existent unles…" - Gioletsgo
5
"subscription"
11 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "I'm paying $22.90 for Marketwatch and another $5.95 for the WSJ. That's very expensive!. Why do i need two different subscriptions? I thought i was getting both + IBD + Barons! Please contact me!!" - financial analyst 4
6
"other"
10 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "I'm paying $22.90 for Marketwatch and another $5.95 for the WSJ. That's very expensive!. Why do i need two different subscriptions? I thought i was getting both + IBD + Barons! Please contact me!!" - financial analyst 4
7
"every"
10 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "App works okay but music always pauses when i open the app. App works okay but music always pauses when i open the app. Idk why WSJ feels the need to hijack the audio every single time when theres literally nothing playing" - AravindY
8
"article"
9 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "App is not functional. Subscription via Apple and every time I access an article it forces me to login again without giving me access to the article. The app is non-functional" - Ejb2014
9
"while"
9 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Drains battery. I like the content and thus choose to tolerate the app. It is a battery HOG. Uses twice as much juice as video calls. Last night my battery declined by 50% in just an hour. Pretty much the only usable way is to download an edition and turn …" - SevLev825
10
"articles"
9 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Failed institutional access. Need to go to the site each day to refresh access with my UNI. It’s not worth it for the two articles a day I read. Will recommend uni stop paying for access that doesn’t work" - Meh meh meh tree
11
"video"
8 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "This app NEEDS a low data option. App has too much garbage video and audio which auto downloads and auto plays. Makes it totally unusable and wastes battery and data. Use Apple News instead." - Lanoitarus
12
"work"
8 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Power drain. The WSJ content is terrific, but the app is terrible. It makes my phone hot and quickly drains the battery. They need to fix the app so that it works like it used to" - Tarpits2
📋 All 70 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
This app NEEDS a low data option
App has too much garbage video and audio which auto downloads and auto plays. Makes it totally unusable and wastes battery and data. Use Apple News instead.
WSJ is great, but app sucks.
So the WSJ is a fantastic news organization, with exceptional journalism. However, their app doesn’t even load anymore. It just sits at the WSJ loading screen and does nothing. I can’t believe I actually pay for this.
AI writing What’s News column again
Get a high school intern to write the what’s News column and maybe it will be intelligible
No BTC ticker?
No bitcoin ticker at the top
Audio button is annoying
I wish there was a way to disable the audio button. I keep accidentally pressing it.
I'm paying $22.90 for Marketwatch and another $5.95 for the WSJ. That's very expensive!
Why do i need two different subscriptions? I thought i was getting both + IBD + Barons! Please contact me!!
Less Wall Street News, More useless news
They write more on non-business and noise than on what’s actually business news
Absolute nightmare to manage subscription
I made the mistake of using the apple email forwarding functionality and it broke the WSJ completely. Unable to log in correctly, unable to read content I’ve paid for, and unable to transfer to my normal email. Support is non existent unless you call them. Their support chat is basically a redirect function to other links within the same page. Will not spend another month of subscription on this garbage.
Deleting my account is also near impossible. They hide behind their privacy policies. Sure I guess it’s legal but scummy.
Deleting my account is also near impossible. They hide behind their privacy policies. Sure I guess it’s legal but scummy.
Keeps asking me to subscribe
I’ve been paying for a subscription but it only shows me free content a couple of times then only shows me a subscribe screen. I’ve synced the subscription multiple times but doesn’t work. Ive deleted the app and reinstalled… nothing. I’ve reached out to customer support multiple times, no response. App is a joke at this point and they are taking my money and showing zero content. Now trying to get a refund. Guess what, no reply.
App works okay but music always pauses when i open the app
App works okay but music always pauses when i open the app. Idk why WSJ feels the need to hijack the audio every single time when theres literally nothing playing
Everything is paywalled
Unless you’re paying for this a subscription, don’t even bother. Paywalls are around every corner and renders this app useless. Just include a subscription as part of the download price at this point lol
Wtf clickbait garbage
Not a serious source of news
App is not functional
Subscription via Apple and every time I access an article it forces me to login again without giving me access to the article. The app is non-functional
Sucks now
Since they changed the display to a small screen
With a photo of the paper above it. Stupid.
With a photo of the paper above it. Stupid.
WSJ fails journalism
WSJ owner abdicates journalism to political demons, choosing to offer multiple angles on well-worn Epstein releases rather than pursuing coverage of on-going economic and political fraud… sell out, sell-out!
Drains battery
I like the content and thus choose to tolerate the app. It is a battery HOG. Uses twice as much juice as video calls. Last night my battery declined by 50% in just an hour. Pretty much the only usable way is to download an edition and turn off network while reading. Then kill the app before it destroys your charge.
Serious lack of engineering excellence
iMessage thumbnail still doesn’t work. Can’t swipe from edge to go back. No caching, can’t read on subway. Who knows a text reading app can be so bad.
Ads take audio focus - unusable when playing music
Once again this app has been updated to the ads taking audio focus on the device even when muted. This completely knocks out any music app playing in the background.
There is no setting to stop it from happening.
This is a constant problem that gets fixed and then reappears in new updates.
This is why people are so interested in ad blockers at the device level. So bad for our country!
There is no setting to stop it from happening.
This is a constant problem that gets fixed and then reappears in new updates.
This is why people are so interested in ad blockers at the device level. So bad for our country!
What happened to What’s News?
Over the last few days What’s News makes no sense.
Bring back article TIME
Apparently aesthetics is more important than convenience or functionality. Put the article time duration back! You are providing news content, not creating artwork. Less is not more!
zoom doesn’t work when opening app on iPad all other apps work fine
The ‘2 Finger ‘ zoom on iPad should work but doesn’t
Failed institutional access
Need to go to the site each day to refresh access with my UNI. It’s not worth it for the two articles a day I read.
Will recommend uni stop paying for access that doesn’t work
Will recommend uni stop paying for access that doesn’t work
Trash
Got a subscription via Apple on a promotional rate of $7.99. Was never able to access and their customer support people were useless. Cancelled a couple months later so I’m out $16.
WSJ is now woke
After 30+ years of reading the WSJ, I can see it has gone from right leaning to balanced to woke. The WSJ sides with the protestors in Minneapolis instead of law enforcement. The WSJ does NOT call for the end of sanctuary policies that cause these problems. The majority support Trump and mass deportations. It’s “democracy”
Clap trap
Sorta a right wing free market excuse machine, 08 crash invisibility never mattered or happened machine or WAY BACK to the early 1900’s machine, or Murdoch propaganda, no longer American sold out by Americans machine, advertisement for corporate American miscreant business practices bent on the destruction of the United States with its own greed a real Australian coup of America….. but once in a while a worthwhile article…. Once in a while.
Poor Customer Service
This app has horrible customer service and glitches with its subscription process. I’m a paying subscriber and they’ve been blocking me with paywalls while they still charge me. Customer support, when you can reach them, just says it’s my problem. One of the worst customer experiences I’ve had.
Inept Developers
The app itself is antiquated compared to apps from WaPo, NYT, or LeMonde.
But what’s worse is that for over a year, if you hit the listen button on an article and leave your phone on a counter. 9 times out of 10 it will crash the app within a minute. It’s been over a year of this happening.
Other news apps if you click the listen button, you get a working app that will let you listen to the article all the way through even when your phone enters sleep. It then will go to the next article automatically.
And then you have the bright workers at the WSJ. We get a voice that reads the news like an automated operator from the 90s. But have no fear, won’t have to listen to it for long since the app will most likely crash.
I can understand an unfair comparison to WaPo as it was acquired by Bezos and he’d be able to leverage talented individuals for the app. But the NYT? Why does this app perform like a potato next to them as well.
Every time there’s an update, I hope that day will be the day I can listen to the morning news.
And every time I get proved an idiot for thinking the clowns at the WSJ are competent.
Context: I have the current phone. On current software.
But what’s worse is that for over a year, if you hit the listen button on an article and leave your phone on a counter. 9 times out of 10 it will crash the app within a minute. It’s been over a year of this happening.
Other news apps if you click the listen button, you get a working app that will let you listen to the article all the way through even when your phone enters sleep. It then will go to the next article automatically.
And then you have the bright workers at the WSJ. We get a voice that reads the news like an automated operator from the 90s. But have no fear, won’t have to listen to it for long since the app will most likely crash.
I can understand an unfair comparison to WaPo as it was acquired by Bezos and he’d be able to leverage talented individuals for the app. But the NYT? Why does this app perform like a potato next to them as well.
Every time there’s an update, I hope that day will be the day I can listen to the morning news.
And every time I get proved an idiot for thinking the clowns at the WSJ are competent.
Context: I have the current phone. On current software.
Article stopped loading and app became very slow
After a recent update, articles stopped loading. It takes several app relaunches to load an article. If I want to read more than one article, I need to restart the app constantly. Overall, the app got very slow and unbearable to use. If both issues aren't fixedb soon, I may need to request a refund for my subscription, as I can't read the news I pay for.
The surrender of the WSJ
The Wall Street Journal was once the gold standard of American business journalism. Today, it reads like a parody of its former self. Facts have given way to partisan talking points, with coverage increasingly indistinguishable from Democratic Party messaging and the fashionable dogmas of socialist, secular elites. Editorial honor is gone. Rigor is gone. In its place are shallow, unverified hit pieces aimed not at informing readers, but at harming Trump, Religious, children and scolding the country that built it.
I say this with real sadness. I have read this paper for nearly forty years, and watching its steady abandonment of intellectual honesty, economic literacy, and even basic respect for its readers has been painful. What was once a mighty institution now seems content to trade credibility for applause from people who would have mocked it a generation ago. The Wall Street Journal didn’t lose the battle -it surrendered. (Maybe it is the Neville Chamberlain of papers)
I say this with real sadness. I have read this paper for nearly forty years, and watching its steady abandonment of intellectual honesty, economic literacy, and even basic respect for its readers has been painful. What was once a mighty institution now seems content to trade credibility for applause from people who would have mocked it a generation ago. The Wall Street Journal didn’t lose the battle -it surrendered. (Maybe it is the Neville Chamberlain of papers)
40$ a month
Why would anyone pay $40 a month for the news in the age of technology. Most I’d pay is 10$
Mark your one year
If you don’t cancel your subscription, they will charge 43$ per month. A real shame.
Just Add WSJ.com to Home Screen Instead
The app eats my battery like no other app and makes my phone hot. The scrolling seems to be pretty jumpy and unpredictable lately.
I’ve ended up adding the WSJ.com webpage to my Home Screen and having it “Open as a web app”. Boom, problems solved!
I’ve ended up adding the WSJ.com webpage to my Home Screen and having it “Open as a web app”. Boom, problems solved!
Wsj app make my phone HOT!
iPhone 15 Pro running iOS 18.7. Phone immediately heats up when using the WSJ app….. no other app causes this. WSJ app can easily consume 30% of my battery with just a single casual reading session.
**** Update Oct 4,’25. After the recent WSJ app update (14.50.0) 34197 it seems like the high battery consumption and burning hot phone has been improved…..WSJ still consumes a lot of battery but less than before….App still hangs periodically then just gets itself “unstuck”
**** Update Oct 7 ‘25. I am now on iOS 18.7.1. App is now worse than ever…. Hangs frequently and now I have to force close the app. There are now also video based Ads that cannot be paused.
****Update Oct 20, 2025.. Updated to 14.51.0 with no improvement.
**Update Nov 15 ‘25. Big backslide with the 14.53.0 release! My phone gets really warm again and WsJ is again consuming tons of battery. Has used 21% of my battery in about 20 minutes of reading
*** Update Dec 20 ‘25. Now at iOS 26.2 and WSJ 14.56.00…. Phone gets hotter than ever! WSJ seemed to have fixed the hot battery issue only to break it again….
WSJ….. turn off this auto-play garbage!!
WSJ Developer…. It would be nice if your release notes told users what was fixed rather than “…. Fixed minor issues”.
It seems that no one is reading or responding to feedback on the app here. I’m going to try reaching out to the editors via email…. Someone at WSJ needs to know how awful the app is and how upset customers are.
**** Update Oct 4,’25. After the recent WSJ app update (14.50.0) 34197 it seems like the high battery consumption and burning hot phone has been improved…..WSJ still consumes a lot of battery but less than before….App still hangs periodically then just gets itself “unstuck”
**** Update Oct 7 ‘25. I am now on iOS 18.7.1. App is now worse than ever…. Hangs frequently and now I have to force close the app. There are now also video based Ads that cannot be paused.
****Update Oct 20, 2025.. Updated to 14.51.0 with no improvement.
**Update Nov 15 ‘25. Big backslide with the 14.53.0 release! My phone gets really warm again and WsJ is again consuming tons of battery. Has used 21% of my battery in about 20 minutes of reading
*** Update Dec 20 ‘25. Now at iOS 26.2 and WSJ 14.56.00…. Phone gets hotter than ever! WSJ seemed to have fixed the hot battery issue only to break it again….
WSJ….. turn off this auto-play garbage!!
WSJ Developer…. It would be nice if your release notes told users what was fixed rather than “…. Fixed minor issues”.
It seems that no one is reading or responding to feedback on the app here. I’m going to try reaching out to the editors via email…. Someone at WSJ needs to know how awful the app is and how upset customers are.
STOP the Auto-Play Videos and Ads!
PLEASE provide an ability to stop auto-playing videos in the app (which I access mainly from an iPad). It is annoying and distracting. I pull up an article to READ it - not to be assaulted by a barrage of audio and video.
Same for the auto-playing video ads. They are tacky and make the app look and feel like a third world bazaar.
Navigation remains clunky, with some navigation at bottom of page and some at top. No other app I’ve seen uses this mixed method of navigation
There is a lot of “jerkiness”, especially looking at sections of articles, where the list spontaneously moves up or down for unknown reasons (I suspect it’s ads or surveillance of users). The app also crashes frequently.
All in all, the app is very weak and frustrating. I find myself enjoying the content, but cursing the app, every time I bring up the WSJ on my iPad
Same for the auto-playing video ads. They are tacky and make the app look and feel like a third world bazaar.
Navigation remains clunky, with some navigation at bottom of page and some at top. No other app I’ve seen uses this mixed method of navigation
There is a lot of “jerkiness”, especially looking at sections of articles, where the list spontaneously moves up or down for unknown reasons (I suspect it’s ads or surveillance of users). The app also crashes frequently.
All in all, the app is very weak and frustrating. I find myself enjoying the content, but cursing the app, every time I bring up the WSJ on my iPad
Ugh! - where is today’s WsJ
Can’t share via iMessage anymore. I can’t take all the video! Let me turn it off. If it’s worth watching I will.
Super glitchy…. When is today’s edition going to drop. This app gets worse with each release. Turn off all the video. If I wan to watch, I will. If I wanted a video news channel, I would have the WSJ.
After many months of this new app version, and repeated updates, it continues to be an inferior experience to the prior version.
For each item an update attempts to address, another feature or functionality is broken or lost. When are we going to have the ability to read the print version while offline again? When will I be able to load the current print version without having to launch the app, close and launch again (often 3 or 4 times), waiting for 20 or 30 seconds each time to see if it will work?
The developer response to the overwhelming frustration with the version launched last summer and the persistent promises of improvement suggest no one on the development team is capable of creating and improving this horrible product. This app should have been kept in development until you figured out how to make it work.
Super glitchy…. When is today’s edition going to drop. This app gets worse with each release. Turn off all the video. If I wan to watch, I will. If I wanted a video news channel, I would have the WSJ.
After many months of this new app version, and repeated updates, it continues to be an inferior experience to the prior version.
For each item an update attempts to address, another feature or functionality is broken or lost. When are we going to have the ability to read the print version while offline again? When will I be able to load the current print version without having to launch the app, close and launch again (often 3 or 4 times), waiting for 20 or 30 seconds each time to see if it will work?
The developer response to the overwhelming frustration with the version launched last summer and the persistent promises of improvement suggest no one on the development team is capable of creating and improving this horrible product. This app should have been kept in development until you figured out how to make it work.
Doesn’t open anymore
The digital version on the WSJ used to be a pleasure to use. The months long “improvement” process has resulted in significant slowing of the app as well as bizarre relocations of search functions back and forth across the page. Now, it simply won’t work. I have deleted and reinstalled the app but it remains nonfunctional. Fortunately, I still have the traditional newspaper. Addendum: so the app now works again but still has very frustrating features. For example, when it opens, it displays the previous day’s edition, not the current one. Second, it remains very slow to open page 1 (tho possibly not AS slow as it was). Articles are opening more consistently-previously, you could try to open an article and it would just freeze-that seems better. Fact remains, what was a smooth running, reliable and pleasurable experience has been significantly degraded. They keep talking about “improving” the product but if they were serious, they would go back to square one.
Addendum:
They’re at it again, fiddling with the app and making it extremely frustrating to use-it freezes, cuts out and slows to a crawl. After reboots, shut downs and restarts it reverts to the older version of the app which works flawlessly. You think there’s a lesson in that? Very disappointing.
Addendum:
They’re at it again, fiddling with the app and making it extremely frustrating to use-it freezes, cuts out and slows to a crawl. After reboots, shut downs and restarts it reverts to the older version of the app which works flawlessly. You think there’s a lesson in that? Very disappointing.
Ads in a paid sub
You gotta be kidding me. I pay a subscription and you add ads!
Gets stuck scrolling
App worked fine before but now it gets stuck while scrolling, difficult to read articles without the app hanging and sometimes needing to be reset. Need to fix this bug!
Uses too much storage
This app is
flawed for several reasons that the developers should be able to fix: 1. The app runs hot and drains the battery more than any other app on my iPhone. 2. The app uses 2GB+ of storage even when there are no saved articles - and there is no way to clear the cache (the only way to remedy the issue is to delete the app periodically). 3. Every time you navigate to another app (e.g. Safari), the WSJ reloads and you lose the article you’re reading and where you are in the article. This last one is especially egregious because Apple has a standard way for applications to be coded to “hold their place” when you navigate to another iOS app. For reference, I have plenty of storage and memory on my iPhone and this problem only occurs with the WSJ app.
flawed for several reasons that the developers should be able to fix: 1. The app runs hot and drains the battery more than any other app on my iPhone. 2. The app uses 2GB+ of storage even when there are no saved articles - and there is no way to clear the cache (the only way to remedy the issue is to delete the app periodically). 3. Every time you navigate to another app (e.g. Safari), the WSJ reloads and you lose the article you’re reading and where you are in the article. This last one is especially egregious because Apple has a standard way for applications to be coded to “hold their place” when you navigate to another iOS app. For reference, I have plenty of storage and memory on my iPhone and this problem only occurs with the WSJ app.
App crashes on every use
What a happened to app stability?? It not hangs or crashes on every use!
SLOW Please fix backend!
The newspaper is great! But the app is the most inefficient, slow, computationally hungry app on the App Store!
Please work on your backend, the ui is fine. It makes the app unusable and drains battery quickly.
Please work on your backend, the ui is fine. It makes the app unusable and drains battery quickly.
Frog in a pot
Feeling like a frog in a pot. WSJ app keeps getting worse. Distracting videos, ads, bad updates. Par for the course. We never jump out even while paying $500 a year! Such ingenious profiteers they are….
App has been buggy for weeks
The app seems to freeze constantly - mostly when you’re scrolling past video. It’s often jittery and laggy at times too.
Paid through December 5th - stopped working in October
Will not allow me to access news I paid for. Apple/ WSJ say the subscription goes through December 5 - I’ve been locked out of access since October. Demanding a new subscription: $349 for nine months of news.
Spy App
Uses your mic to provide ads even without permission!
Great content, not great app
Great content - I read it every day, but the app becomes more and more glitchy, freezes, and eventually crashes the more you use it 20-30 minutes). This is infuriating for full priced subscription to WSJ.
Poor app design, but great news coverage
The wsj news coverage is great, but the app keeps getting worse. It used to display many stories at once but now only shows about one at a time requiring unnecessary scrolling. I don’t care if they change the default look, but should give users a way to go back to the old format if they want.
Freezes up while scrolling
Been going on for weeks. Latest update did not fix.
Good content; awful app
Three things.
One, the app freezes whenever I scroll. I suspect it’s because it’s loading as content or videos.
Two , give me an option to prevent videos from autoplaying. I don’t want to watch your videos; I want to read the articles. This isn’t some Buzzfeed and I’m not a child. Don’t treat me like one.
Three, push notifications for breaking news also send feature article notifications. These are categorizing separately in notifications settings but not distinguished in execution.
One, the app freezes whenever I scroll. I suspect it’s because it’s loading as content or videos.
Two , give me an option to prevent videos from autoplaying. I don’t want to watch your videos; I want to read the articles. This isn’t some Buzzfeed and I’m not a child. Don’t treat me like one.
Three, push notifications for breaking news also send feature article notifications. These are categorizing separately in notifications settings but not distinguished in execution.
Going the wrong way
Navigation that plays hide and seek. Videos that want to play, but don’t start at the beginning when you tap unmute. And lowbrow ads, despite me accepting all cookies and clicking on the good ones. This is not curated.
I accept that I’m a bit old-school, but this is not beauty in the objective sense of the word. I downloaded this app in 2011. It’s not ascending.
I love the reporting, but this app keeps getting worse.
I accept that I’m a bit old-school, but this is not beauty in the objective sense of the word. I downloaded this app in 2011. It’s not ascending.
I love the reporting, but this app keeps getting worse.
+ 20 more in the clipboard copy
Sentiment summary
94%
Positive (4-5★)
2%
Neutral (3★)
4%
Negative (1-2★)