Sowetan app update promises faster screens and tighter account security

Sowetan has pushed out a new version of its mobile app, and the publisher says the release is aimed at the two things readers notice most, how quickly screens open and how well the account behind them is protected.

The update is live now on both the Apple App Store and Google Play. In its announcement of the release, Sowetan said the work behind it centred on performance, with load times on the app’s key screens coming down.

That is the part most readers will feel first. An app that opens a story without a wait is the difference between reading on a taxi ride and giving up before the page fills. Sowetan has not published a figure for the improvement, so how much faster the screens actually are is something users will judge for themselves once they have installed the new version.

The release also changes how the app handles notifications. Sowetan says the new push system is meant to surface only what matters most to the person holding the phone, rather than pushing everything the newsroom publishes.

On the security side, the publisher describes enhanced controls intended to better safeguard account data. Sowetan has not set out in its announcement which controls are new or how they work, so readers who want the detail will have to look inside the app’s settings after updating.

For a South African news app, that security line is not a small item. Readers sign in, save stories and hand over an email address to keep up with a title they trust. Anything that hardens the account behind that relationship is worth having, and the publisher has put it in the release notes as a headline feature rather than a quiet fix.

There is nothing in the announcement about a change to the price of anything, about new paid tiers, or about the app’s editorial product. This is a maintenance release with three stated aims, speed, notification discipline and account protection.

The practical step for existing users is simple. The update is available in the App Store and on Google Play, and phones set to update automatically will pick it up without anyone doing anything. Everyone else can install it from either store.

Sowetan has framed the release as its best app experience yet, which is the kind of line every publisher writes on update day. The claim that can be checked is narrower and more useful. Load times on key screens are down, notifications are meant to be more selective, and account controls have been strengthened, all according to the publisher.

What the announcement does not carry is any figure, any date beyond the release itself, or any account of what was fixed under the hood. Readers who want to weigh the update against the version on their phone will have to do it by using it.

The Enquirer will keep an eye on how the release performs for South African users on the networks they actually use, and will report what the publisher says about it as more detail emerges.

Source: Sowetan, An important update is coming