National Geographic - How NOT to do an update.

One of the most lasting memories I have of my early childhood is flipping through my parents’ collection of strange, yellow-framed magazines that they kept in the living room. I couldn’t read at the time, and even if I had been able to read, I wouldn’t have understood a word since they were printed in English, but I was completely enthralled by the images and the maps printed in those magazines. I would later learn that the magazine in question was National Geographic, and I’ve been fascinated by it ever since, although I was only an irregular buyer. Still, I see why the magazine has such a stellar reputation. The articles are more often than not thought-provoking and interesting, and the presentation is top-notch. The images are often simply spectacular, as are the illustrations and maps. 

However, it was not until around 2016 that I really took an interest in the magazine. It had always been one of the more expensive magazines you could buy, both back in Germany and here in Ireland, so the thought of subscribing to that magazine had never really crossed my mind. That changed when I met a friend and former colleague of mine on a flight from Amsterdam back home to Cork. We ended up being seated just across the aisle from each other and she mentioned to me that she’d taken to reading the online edition of NatGeo, and that she’d actually subscribed to it. Following that flight, I looked into it myself, and found that the subscription was actually a steal, so I went for it myself.

Things don't look too bad from this perspective. But make no mistake. That look is deceiving!

At the time, I was glad I did. The iPad app was just gorgeous, the magazine looked fantastic on it, reading it was a pleasure, and images, maps, and videos just fit together nicely. There were some issues with it, namely around logging in. Also, videos would only play when you were connected to the internet. There was no option to download them for offline viewing. Still, the overall package was really impressive, and I absolutely enjoyed reading it for quite some time. Then came 2017 and 2018. With the death of my parents, I had other things on my mind, so renewing my National Geographic subscription wasn’t at the forefront of my considerations. 

It was only in March 2019 that I subscribed again. The price was still a steal at 20€ for a digital-only annual subscription. However, after downloading the app, I was sorely disappointed. What the HELL had happened??? Gone were the videos, the great quality maps and images, and the comfortable writing flow of the app. What had replaced it was little more than a PDF reader with a rudimentary zoom function. In fact, the only thing that had remained from the original app that I’d fallen in love with back in 2016 were the login issues, the one thing I could have done without. The app was also locked into landscape mode on the iPad, making it even harder to read the articles or really appreciate the stunning images.

THIS is what you currently get when going for a NatGeo subscription - A PDF reader!

Full-Page ads are naturally included...

What’s worse is that apparently, this drastic reduction in features is restricted to European customers. Readers in the US and Canada were treated to a much improved version of the original app at the same time that the International version was castrated back in January. Now, I understand that you may want to restrict a completely new version of an app to a certain marked for testing, in order to work out the bugs. However, replacing an app that is generally working for the rest of the world with a castrated pdf viewers is completely unacceptable, particularly given the fact that there has to date been NO communication on ALL of this by National Geographic. Their social media accounts are still the usual photography, nature and science circle jerks.

The reviews on the App Store speak for themselves. And to be honest, even one star is still too generous.

All this is nothing less than a major kick in the face for paying subscribers outside of North America. I can understand that organisations based in that part of the world can be a bit ignorant of international matters, however an organisation that rightly prides itself on its cosmopolitan perspective should strive to do better. In fact it MUST do better. The current state of play for their digital subscribers is an insult to readers, and an equally grave insult to the name, and the tradition of National Geographic!