I tried Artifact a few times. I liked the idea more than not liking it, but the worst part about the app was the reading experience. It was not surprising to see that it’s shutting down after a year. When you have an app or service where you don’t control the experience of your main feature, which in this case was reading articles, you are destined to fail. For the most part, media websites do not optimize or prioritize the experience of reading articles and make it nearly impossible for apps like Artifact and even Apple News to exist. Paywalls suck. And I say that as someone who wants great journalism to exist and for journalists to be paid for what they do. I should be able to read anything anywhere from anyone. Free the text.