The Intercooler’s new app is live! 

After months of hard work, our brand new, custom-built app is now live. As well as being a significant upgrade on the outgoing app, it’s an important next step for The Intercooler as we continue to grow our subscriber base and improve our editorial output. You’ll find all the benefits listed below and most subscribers should be able to enjoy them right away, but for some we may need just a minute or two of your time before you can get started.

It is likely your phone or tablet will have downloaded the new app automatically – indeed, you may be reading this on the updated app already. But if you don’t have automatic app updates switched on, simply head to the app store and search ‘The Intercooler’ where you can manually download the new app in seconds by clicking the Update button. The simplest way to tell if you’re looking at the old or new app is to click on an article. Only the new app displays image galleries within articles, which you can scroll through either by swiping left or right on the images, or by tapping the little orange dots underneath.

If you subscribe via the App Store, head to the Settings page and click the option that reads Link your App Store Subscription (remember to use your App Store ID email address when completing the form). Those who subscribe via the website will simply need to log in using their existing credentials – just click on any article or find the Settings page (look for the cog icon in the bottom row). If you have any issues at all, we’re waiting to hear from you – just email us at info@the-intercooler.com and we’ll answer your queries as quickly as possible.

So why the new app in the first place? Although the old app worked well, it was an off-the-shelf product over which we had very little control. Think of it like a specialist car manufacturer buying in a proprietary platform from some vast OEM: you can change its appearance and functionality a bit, but it will never be a truly bespoke product and it will always come with limitations within which you have to work.

In our case the biggest of these was that the app could not be properly integrated with our website. That’s all changed. This is now our app, built just for us. Its design is more in keeping with our other platforms, articles now carry many more photographs and your comments are fully synchronised across our website and app: comment on a story on one, and it automatically appears on the other. And no more searching around for your favourite writer’s stories: just click on their bio and you’ll see every story they’ve ever written for us.