How to read The Independent's new iPad Daily Edition

Letter from the Editor: What you lose in the tactile beauty of newsprint, you gain in user-friendly navigation

The Independent digital app has user-friendly navigation and clever features

“So there is to be no more sitting up in bed reading The Independent”, began the email to our Letters Editor, “nor in my armchair by the fire. (We were amongst your first readers, all those years ago.)

“I don’t want to sit at my computer at my working desk, but I do have an iPad. So, before the 26th March, can you explain very simply & clearly how we oldies can ‘read’ your paper on our iPads. We old dogs MUST learn new tricks & must NOT grumble at modern technology – which is incredible! So, please tell us how we will be able to continue to read The Independent. Loyally, Patricia Stewart, Essex.”

I emailed Patricia and asked if I could use her email as the basis for this column, as a great number of you regular readers have asked for just such an explanation. So here goes.

Our Daily Edition on the iPad is, almost ludicrously, free for the first month via the App Store. If you own an iPad, there should be a blue button for the App Store on your Home Screen. Click on that, and search for “The Independent Daily Edition”. Once this comes up, you should have an option to “INSTALL”. Once you click on that, you’ll be asked for your Apple password, which is the one you use to buy any app from the App Store.

Or, it’s free for TWO months if you sign up via our website. Just go to www.independentsubscriptions.co.uk, fill in your details, then download it from the App Store (as above).

Then, for those taking up the two-month offer, tap the Independent eagle icon that has now been added to your tablet. Once this is open, tap the “Account” icon on your tablet (top right corner of your screen). Enter the email address and password you used to sign up. Click on the cross in the top right corner. And that’s it. After your trial ends, it’s £2.99 a week, or £12.99 a month.

What you lose in the tactile beauty of newsprint, you gain in user-friendly navigation and clever features like adjustable font size (how I wish we had this in print!). From our point of view, we are freed from the legacy means of production and distribution, which – with your help in signing up as customers – gives us the resources to invest in world-class journalism. From your point of view, it’s significantly cheaper than the printed version, and you’ve got it automatically downloaded at 4am each morning.

I realise all of you treasure print, but I hope you can be persuaded to try our iPad app, because it is superb, contains all your favourite writers and elements, and if you sign up, the quality and heritage that have built our reputation over three decades will reach more people, not fewer. Most importantly to me, Patricia, loyal readers like you will be able to sit up in bed reading The Independent for years to come.

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