User Reviews for NewsBreak: Local News & Alerts

4.77 out of 5

1.1M Ratings

1 year ago, picky joe

MY OPINION

Hello I will take a minute to share my opinion of NewsBreak. One of the primary things I enjoy about this site is that they allow you to write you opinions on articles and stories. Most of the other news sites could care less about their readers opinion which is obvious if they don’t allow comments. Other news sites will allow you to comment if you subscribe to their rag. I personally do not like to be coerced into paying for subscriptions to sites that are not good to begin with. There are a few sites that post articles with a significant amount of misspelled words and grammar errors. You start to wonder who are these people writing the articles, do they not have spell check or they just don’t care about what they write. It makes me think that what ever they are trying to write about isn’t reliable. So far NewsBreak meets all the criteria and seems to do a through job at reporting the significant events all around the world. Great Job

2 months ago, og_buddy

Great app but not usable for senior citizens

My grandpa loves the NewsBreak app. I live in Virginia and he lives in Pennsylvania. Every week or so he calls me and tell me his phone isn’t working and I have to take a day off of work and drive the 6 hours to come help him. And every single time it’s because some weird Ad has popped up and he can’t figure out how to close the ad. It’s very disappointing that a news app has so many weird and unusual ads that my 90 Year Old grandpa cannot use the app for more than a few days without getting stuck on an Ad. You should add an option for senior citizens to verify their ID and disable ads if they are over a certain age. I’ve tried to teach him how to close the ad but every single ad is different. Some you close in the top right and some at the bottom. And some you have to wait 30 seconds to continue. It’s very disappointing that a News app does not cater to senior citizens and offer a one time purchase to disable ads or some way to disable ads for older people who can’t figure out how to close an ad. Other than that the app is great but it’s seriously disappointing how they try to take advantage of senior citizens. I have been with him when he has gotten some scam ads. Some ads telling him that he owes money or he has a virus. Do better NewsBreak. Cater to the people who mostly use the app. I bet over 50% of the apps users are older people and they have ads out the wazoo.

12 months ago, Arl410

Not a Real News Source

I downloaded this app because news stories from local sources often linked to articles here, usually articles by the local newspaper where they are not available to read online unless you have an subscription. At first I thought it was a pretty good source for a variety of news articles but have quickly seen that the entire app is like one big radio morning show with odd pieces of trivia and other off-beat news stories. Many of the articles come off as legit, but when you look closely, it’s clear that it’s all made up. Another issue is the rapid fire ads that are blasted in your face. One article I tried to read opened with some radio station’s banner across the top of page, a video ad adjacent to the banner and another on the lower part of the page. While trying to read the headline to see if I clicked on the right article, a screen filling ad for the same radio station that already had taken up almost half the page with banner and video ads shockingly popped up. I tried to close the pop up ad but it opened another full screen ad first so I had to close it then the other ad. Frankly, it’s just a constant visual assault that is frustrating. So if you like mostly fake (unverified) news, radio station morning show approach, and constant sensory assault from an app, this is the app for you.

2 years ago, TT20002000

Deletes anti racist comments and leaves racist comments up

I think it’s funny how I always consistently see extremely racist slurs and statements commented by many people, but any time I comment something in defense to these racist comments, my comments just disappear? Honestly, I leave nastier comments on different topics (people being sexist, etc) yet those aren’t deleted.. but every comment I have in defense to racism is always deleted? I’ve made sure to not include any sort of hateful vocabulary many times before, and they’re always deleted. So much is wrong with this. If you can delete my comments or prevent them from posting, you could easily do the same for these racist comments that I’m feeling the need to respond and defend in the first place. Don’t make me feel wrong for defending unnecessary hate. You’re wrong for supporting it. All those hateful comments and users all ignorantly comments the things they do because of apps like yours. Because you’ve made it obvious which side you’re on, and they love it. An app like yours shouldn’t have biases, but it’s obvious that you care more about supporting the hateful space you’ve created rather than making smarter business decisions. Just like I say to everyone I comment to, karma is real and whatever you think that makes you feel oh so untouchable is the exact reason you will receive the karma you deserve.

4 years ago, Hev Dawg

What you’re really getting

A feed of article headlines and pictures ranging from what Kim kardashian wore to bed (and you’re not gonna believe the reaction) to more serious presidential news. All taken from a diverse spectrum of prestigious news organizations to rinky-dink news outlets I am unfamiliar with that with the click of a story, you are instantly redirected to their news page. The reason for my rating, is that I wanted a more selective group of stories by which I mean I have no interest in knowing “Pregnant Katy Perry looks stunning in no-makeup selfie amid quarantine” or any “no cover” topics in my mind and have no way of weeding out of my feed. Nor do I enjoy when I (admittedly) don’t check first and am redirected from the app to the website of a news source most would find unsuitable for a work setting . Furthermore on the rare occasion I find a story I wish to look into, I click the link, the page nearly loads, crashes, automatically begins reloading, crashes a second time, when I am then left with a dimly lit, gray, blank page, and yet again no interesting story. With my options reduced to worthless page fillers and an eternity of refreshing only to never be able to read the article that made it worth the bandwidth used downloading this app in the first place, I fully intend on uninstalling the second I post this warning.

4 years ago, Foodhurtsme

App needs a search and filter feature

App is pretty good, but needs the ability to search the headlines for keywords. Also needs a filter so that certain sources may always be omitted from results, e.g. always exclude CNN, etc. Also, the ability to mark story categories that you don’t want to see anymore would be useful. Say a story pops up about sex or gender issues, and you just prefer not to see those type of stories anymore. Also, big ads which appear as if they are stories are repeating or often shown. It would be nice to mark or tag the ad and say “I’ve seen this, I’m not interested, please don’t show it to me anymore thank you”. The app is surprisingly fast and responsive. There are so many news apps out there, this one seems to distinguish itself by it’s responsiveness — its very fast. The big ads appearing as if they were stories is an interesting take on generating ad revenue, but they are not obtrusive (at least in 2 column landscape mode on an iPad since real stories appear on the left, while the ads feed appears on the right column with other real stories.) The app needs more features as I have mentioned to make it more appealing.

3 months ago, xxxxxPokemon

The most random stories and hateful people.

I’m going to keep it short. I got this app to see crimes and news stories in my area. I hardly get any crime stories or breaking news updates, and if I do, it happened a week ago and I’m late to it. I don’t want to hear about a celebrity that lives 1000 miles away from me, I want my local news. Secondly, this app seems to have attracted very hateful, rude, self-righteous people. I see tons of racism towards all immigrants, black people, Asians, all from a bunch of white people (I am white myself) and I have had to delete my account because I have to hold myself back from replying to idiocy and hate. It’s all there is on there. I support free speech, but this is hate speech on every single news story. My suggestion, there NEEDS to be moderators on all of these news stories comments, and if that isn’t possible, get a censoring system. Seriously, I think I may have to delete this app and search for a similar one because I can’t deal with the comments. I am only human and want to see what people are saying, and they always seem to have a way to bring race or politics into a story about a cat. It’s insane.

4 years ago, Gini D in Texas

Good for a fast read.

I started out loving this app. It was great for my local news. It gave stories sometimes first, sometimes those I couldn’t get elsewhere. I started using this app in February. By April it started having so many bugs it was barely useable. If you actually get linked to a story shown, and then want to follow on to another shown below, it won’t follow the link. So then you think ok, I’ll open it in Safari, but then you get the first story and can’t find the one you wanted to read on the homepage of that news outlet to which have been directed. It is terribly frustrating. This app has the potential to be one of the best news apps for local news and has done a great job of keeping readers up to date on the corona virus and its ramifications in my area. But it is not quite at being fully integrated. I end up loving and hating it at the same time. I admit to being a news junkie so I always want to read MORE. Developer, please, bring this to the next level. For those who want a fast read of generally what’s happinging in your area, give this a try.

4 years ago, jbzagabe

The Best App Right Now

Everything about this app has been what I should have expected expect only one tiny thing. I’ve been using this application lately because of Coronavirus news, and to be honest, I don’t complain, but as I just noted earlier, if you guys can just add this one feature, it will be helpful for not only me, but maybe for many others out there. I think you should add a search field especially for countries and/or cities, so people can search for specific locations/country to get the news they want to know first. Many among us are separated from our families. Therefore, for those who are concerned, their first intentions when they open your application, they intend to look for news about the countries where they came from for their loved ones if covid-19 has worsened or not. This is before anything else. But again, I love you your application and I use on daily basis.

3 weeks ago, rufpusu

Preys on people’s fears

The app itself isn’t bad, but the advertising is faked to exploit people who are vulnerable. There was an ad for this app I saw where an elderly woman claimed there was an active shooter on the loose, while hiding under the blankets. Not to mention there were fake gun shots edited into the video, as if the shooter was in her home. Then the women claims the only reason she was informed about the shooter was through this app. Honestly, older people without a lot of knowledge on technology could really fall for this and feel like they have to get the app, or else something terrible will happen. Young kids also easily fall for this. Please be mindful about who your effecting with seemingness harmless clickbait. You’d think all you’re doing is deceiving people into getting your app, but think about people with past trauma relating to gun crimes. An ad like this could easily effect someone that was really involved in a shooting. Whoever is in charge of advertising is obviously an imbecile, or under 14. I ask you to take down that ad, and any similar ones. Also be extremely aware before posting something as harmful as this. Faking claims as serious as an active shooting can be punished by law.

4 years ago, WanderingGrace14

Has potential, but hostile comment sections are causing me to delete the app.

This app has potential. I like being able to quickly get news without going to Twitter or somewhere else. It’s a quick click. For the most part articles sent to notifications have been relevant (although the frequent click bait stimulus articles have been annoying). However, the comment sections are horrible. For some reason racist, anti-mask Trump supporters have flooded this app. They leave awful, aggressive comments and harass anyone who has a differing opinion. I have attempted to have civil conversations in the comment sections (and have seen others attempt to do the same) and we have only been met with aggressive hostility. These comment sections either need to be deleted or need to be heavily moderated. I haven’t seen an option to report comments either. So unfortunately, I will be deleting this app to protect my own mental health and caution others about downloading it. It’s draining. Keeping up with the news can be draining enough, but the hostility in the comments is disgusting. I will be checking out other news apps and am hoping to find one that hasn’t been overrun by hateful bigots.

3 years ago, Feliz HodgePodge

Decent

I do like getting notifications throughout the day and that I can control how many notifications I get and when. I wish the comment sections weren’t so toxic, but free speech *is* good to have. It’d just be nice to see more respectful discord and less trolling happening, but alas. I thought there was a search function, but I can’t find it for the life of me. It’d also be nice to search for stories you are looking for especially when you open the app & it displays a story just to disappear a second later. That’s frustrating. It would be nice to see less depressing stories. I like keeping up with world, national, local and events, but don’t necessarily want to be inundated with depressing information all day long. I also like that it attempts to stay non-partisan. I prefer my news to be non-partisan so I can make my own decision, but also like seeing opinions from the left and right to better understand people’s positions. It is nice that there is a scale in your settings so the algorithms can try to give you want you want. All in all a good app.

4 years ago, NikiD88

So, I have a friend I’d like you to meet...

In this day in age.. where all news is biased. A friend of mine shared one of your articles. So I do the natural thing. Download your app just so I can read it. Even allow the “push notifications.” Because, As rare as it is, I actually, genuinely, still want to hear what people have to say!!! I really enjoyed this channel for a few days. Fast. Direct. To the point. And then. As we are known to say in the south. “Welp?”. (Sarcasm inserted). I know I’m a nobody and I am just a little tiny review. And maybe I’m just fed up like everybody across the nation is for so many reasons. Ya know. I guess for what it’s worth. I’d just like to see a small news company be the change. The one that speaks all sides. Actually fact checks. All sides. Real is what people want in this digital driven age. People are afraid of the truth. They don’t always like it. But whether they know it or not.. people respect it. Thank you. Disclaimer. I do not troll the internet, nor am I some new self proclaimed activist or wannabe. I think I’ve written 3 reviews for anything in my life. Just felt the need to vent or whatever. Or at the very least. Maybe give someone a good laugh. Maybe I should like many people. Just get a diary. Welp!

2 years ago, Keeping the peace MJW

App needs to be shut down and under investigation

You get 1 star for sharing the news and that's it! This app only does one thing right and that's report the news. But please explain to me why there's no consequence to the racist comments you allow in the comment section? There shouldn't even be a comment section!! This isn't FB or IG nor Twitter!!! The comments are so vile I'm convinced this app is ran by extreme racist. The comments are so bad against blacks and other minorities mainly blacks it's disgusting!!! Theyre so racist they assume it was a black person who did the crime and make vile comments only to find out it was a white person. Fake names crazy profile pictures. They openly use nasty racist words, threats, harrassimg people in the comment section. We report them and nothing is being done about it. If you won't fix it (disable or filter the comment section) and have rules then I guess it's time to get people to cancel this app and get it shut down!!! Share the news and THAT'S IT!! Nothing else is important!!!! You can save the same Copy and paste response you dish to the other reviews about the racist comment section. Your agenda is clearly seen!!!

4 years ago, DPHANTOMS97

I like this app but...

I like the news, I like being able to track the virus cases in my city and I like being able to track the protests. Of course there are some repetitive articles, but this app doesn’t report the news it compiles it in an easy place for us all to see. What I really hate about this app is the community, doesn’t matter what article you go to you’ll find terrible terrible bigots in the comment section. These comments really need to be moderated, and a lot of those people really should be put on a watch list. They think because they’re just sitting behind a phone screen they can say what they want, but that’s not how it is. Everyone needs to learn that the comments they leave effect people, it’s not what you meant to say it’s how other people perceive what you say that matters. Some of these comments are just so heinous and terrible skewed towards incredibly racist undertones and even sometimes it’s so blatant you’re just surprised. If we’re talking about the actual app though, it’s pretty great, but I think you should disable the comments seriously.

11 months ago, NF428

Racist App

Irresponsible News App…because of apps like this is the reason racism is still a thing…most all news is targeted toward brown people with tan people being the suspects…I don’t see reporting on brown on brown crime, never see Asian, Indian, etc crimes…this app is like watching the news, but worse…because of who runs this app (a racist) we are only seeing what they want to report on…even the adds target hate toward people with tan skin…news shouldn’t be focused around race whatsoever, all crime should be reported on, with an emphasis on all the missing…I wish we could all come together, and focus on the brainwashing the government and apps like this one are perpetrating on all Americans to hate each other…if we hate each other, we can’t focus on what the government is doing and stealing from all of us!!! All our brothers and sisters need to come together and find the common ground on we’re our focus should be, because if this keeps up racism will be a side note when we become a 3rd world country with all the rich politicians, and Hollywood stars moving to other countries, leaving us here to kill each other over clean water, and bread!

7 days ago, Grace_lovscookies

I don’t get it but it’s awesome

So like here’s an example if you’re hiding under your blankets, why is your flashlight on and why are you recording and here’s another ad and why is the woman sitting on the couch with her boyfriend/husband and her door is wide open. Here’s another example if two girls are going to a bar like of course there’s gonna be danger there. It’s a bar. I’m glad you warn people about the dangers around them. I just don’t get why you post ads whenever you’re hiding from a criminal? That’s all but still I love this app because where I live, there’s currently a lot of crimes but like why post ads if you’re hiding like I’d be hiding in the basement with all of my belongings terrified texting the police or my mom or my friends so like I don’t get why you post ads if you’re hiding? I know I said that a bunch of times I’m sorry but still this is a great app. That’s all for this review.

4 years ago, tatum.buckley

good for news, bad for comments

i love the news break app and was introduced to it by a friend in march when covid was getting serious in the US, for more information. i love how you can have local news and national news alerts and covid stats in one place. however, there’s a few issues that need to be fixed. the comment sections on topics, specifically regarding trump and covid, there is insane radicalization and fake news being spread around in the comments and their replies. these comments spew hate and false information that is very dangerous. it is irresponsible for news break to not being filtering or disabling comments right now, especially since it is a literal news app. i have seen literal death threats to government officials, false information, and even more misinformation about the covid vaccine. it is so important that news break does something about this comment section because radicalization and misinformation about a vaccine that could save thousands of lives is very dangerous. i don’t want to go to check my news in the morning and see trump supporters spewing hate and threats and false information.

11 months ago, my nickname is TV

5 stars

The newsbreak app is super good for me because I like to know what’s going on and I like getting notifications and you also don’t know you can choose not to get notifications if you choose not to get notifications and Ignant tell you about a whole bunch of things like for Mia to notify me about hurricane Italia in shootings and stuff that’s going around in my neighborhood and my place so I love it is my favorite app so far in it a lot of people like it us whole lot and that’s why I gave it a five star rating because I can choose not to get notifications up at hardest said that and they get their notifications come really fast and it’s super cool to have the app so that’s what you should get it Also most people really love it and I like it because sometimes it notifies me when I really want to know about something that’s going on

2 months ago, jbing78

Used to be good

This used to be a great app for up to date news stories. The news part has become like Facebook with all the untrue stories. There are clickbait headlines, it’s very irritating when you read a captivating headline and click on it just to realize the story has nothing to do with what the headline states. You also get a lot of fake stories some of them had circulated Facebook many times before appearing on this app. These developers of the app should have installed a program that fact checks before posting. My husband uses a news app called pennlive and he doesn’t get the fake stories and most times he gets updated local news long before I do on this app. It’s sad that what used to be a 5 star app has gone down hill . People need to be skeptical and keep an open mind. I remember when people used to say if it sounds to good to be true it probably is , well if a news story sounds fake it probably is. I would have to say I would not recommend this app anymore to anyone if you want to read real news stories.

8 months ago, ThomasAtl79

It’s great but….

It’s a good app, that I unfortunately had to delete because every breaking news moment sent to my phone or watch was about one particular ex president. Every. Single. Notification. I tried blocking political/ news. Nothing, as if it tried sending me more nonsense. Don’t get me wrong, political news is important, but these articles went overboard. Opinion pieces & junk news. I wanted local news which it claimed to have, if u dig on it’s app. It’s really not a face I wanted staring me down on thanksgiving, or any other day 15-20 times a day. It gets 3 stars because if you love him like a taylor swift Uber fan does then this is for you. Unfortunately I do not need to know when the man get out of bed and makes a tweet and forgets a period or an explanation point and somehow that’s breaking news. I stopped even reading the app, which I preferred over the Apple News which I ironically pay for. So we will stick to that since I can block both news and news sources I do not want to hear from.

3 years ago, gaige2

Racist company

Yes a lot of ppl of color now know for a fact this company is 100% racist. Ppl of color can mimic a white person racial comment Word for word And the comment FAILED TO POST BUT the white persons comment post like a sleeping new baby. SO WHAT DO YOU CALL IT? Many ppl of color has done this word for word a a white person racial nasty comment and guess what the little box comes up FAILED TO POST!!! I’ll update my review when we ppl of color see that your trying to stop us from being called all racial names by your white posters A GOOD IDEA IS TO FORCE THEM TO USE A REAL NAME AND PIC JUST LIKE FACEBOOK DOES NOW AND IF THEY HAVE NO ACCT FORCE THEM TO HAVE ONE IN ORDER TO POST THEN YOU CAN REALLY KNOW WHO THE PERSON IS? We ppl of color are so tired of even a story of a infant turned and call black this or blk monkey baby that YES WE GET ANGRY BECAUSE YOUR COMPANY FAILS OR WORDS BACK TO THEM AND THEY CONTINUE TO CALL US INHUMAN NAMES EVEN GEORGE FLOYD DEATH THE WHITE PPL ARE ALLOWED TO SAY BLK DEAD AS N HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN MURDERED OH AND THEY CALL ANY STORY ABOUT A MURDERED CHILD AND THE STORY YOU JUST WROTE ABOUT THE CHILD IN DETROIT THAT WAS TAKEN FROM THE PARENTS AT GUNPOINT THEY BELITTLED THAT BABY LIKE A ANIMAL SO YOU SEE UNTIL YOU HOLD THIS RACIAL ISSUES ACCOUNTABLE WE HAVE TO SAY TO ANYONE THAT WILL LISTEN ITS ALLOWED

2 months ago, Logan500

Worst “News” App on the Planet

I have no idea how this thing allegedly has received so many 5-star reviews. All it does is serve up “stories” obviously written by AI, that ALWAYS have a ridiculously sensationalistic headline that doesn’t match anything in the actual story. The pattern that every story follows is this: A DEFCON 1-level sensationalized headline, followed by a story that meanders for several pages through mundane info that has nothing to do with the insane headline, with maybe, if you’re lucky, a final incredibly thin connection between the headline and some completely innocuous fact. Example: A headline about Dolly Parton supposedly being under extreme security and heavy police presence after a “shocking revelation”, followed by a story that meanders through explaining who she is, talking about how she grew up, how she acquired Dollywood, how her husband has Alzheimer’s and so she’s stopped touring, blah…blah…blah. FINALLY it reveals the big “shocking revelation.” Are you ready for it? It’s that she’s planning a concert soon, and there is security at concerts. That’s it! And EVERY so-called story on this app is exactly like that. What a piece of junk.

3 years ago, boi sup

News for the Woke and Vacuous

This app will alert you to breaking local news sometimes, which is useful. Precisely because that news is breaking, this feed cannot, of course, be fairly faulted for its lack of detailed coverage in those situations. What I find downright annoying, though, is the so-called "progressive" spin of so much of the news coverage, much along the same nauseating lines as Yahoo! News and MSNBC. A secondary drawback is its over-emphasis, IMHO, on some of the basest elements of mass culture. If you prefer your daily dose of saccharine blue pill mental analgesic, then perhaps this is the echo chamber for you. You'll also be among the first to learn when soap opera stars marry or when sports stars re-sign with their teams. But if your sense of personal integrity and commitment to the truth have led you to choose the red pill, instead, despite its bitterness, then you'll look elsewhere for your information, though perhaps holding on to this site, too, for an occasional taste of the swill others are swallowing.

4 years ago, jkfs23

Four stars but maybe five?

I love this app for having local news but some of the news outlets won’t let you read their articles without a subscription, namely the Minneapolis Star and Tribune and the Virginia, Minnesota news paper and the Hibbing Daily newspaper. I am asking you to check with the news outlets you use to see if they require a subscription or not. If they don’t I hope you will drop them because it is annoying to read a headline only to go in and find out you can’t read an article unless you pay for it. There are so many free news outlets online that I can’t imagine any news outlets not offering free reading of their news. Also, the app keeps sticking in place when I try to scroll to read the news. Sometimes this happens repeatedly and I cant do anything when it freezes up like that so I have to leave the app.

4 years ago, Drew Mclean

Repetitive posts

I like this app for the fact that I can can pretty current local news. The biggest down side is that there is a repetitive almost and onslaught to just make a news break about the stimulus check. The post are over and over saying when you will get your stimulus or how much you will receive them but when you pay attention there really is no update at all. It seems like it is just making people who have the app anxious or aggravated that we don’t have the stimulus check yet. If there is not a real actual and factual update then don’t post a news break stating the same speculation reworded. Your only making your users more and more impatient for the stimulus. I never see a repetitive post about anything else. I hope this is not politically motivated because this is not news if there is no actual updated news to report on the same subject. I don't want to delete this app because it is good for local news like is previously stated but I will if I keep getting flooded with the same non-news post about the stimulus.

4 years ago, James880893

Great when it works

I love the fact that I can see all the news stories in one place instead of trying to look all over the web for them. However, I also deleted this app due to the many glitches I have encountered which cause frustration when there’s a story your really interested in reading. I’ll receive a notification for a news story, and after clicking it, the app will open up. Then 9 times out of 10 I’ll click to open the story and nothing will happen. I have to close the app and then reopen it, then try and search through the articles to find the one I received a notification for. Since I tapped the notification, I’m not able to tap it again. I usually just give up and go search google. The same thing tends to happen with the stories I might be interested in that show when scrolling to the bottom. The first link might work, but the rest won’t work at all. Of course when I go online to use the news-break website, I always end up getting redirected to open the app for the article.

11 months ago, SeanFhear3

Great if you like trivial clickbait and political spam.

This news feed can be tamed a bit over time by giving negative feedback to bad articles or by blocking bad posters. However there are too many of these, perpetrated by large outlets spamming their political agendas and by individual contributors spamming their social agendas. Which is great if you like endless climate alarmism, imaginary sob stories, and stale sophistry about social issues. One can easily identify which social and political issues are being either pushed or vilified by Big Media. A minority of articles are real news, however they must be screened one by one, which gets tiring. Edited to add that I’ve been informed by the developer that they are working to reduce low quality contributors. I will improve my rating from two stars to three pending my evaluation of their most recent update. Edited to add that the problem is getting worse rather than better. Every day one has to wade through a spate of new irrelevant posts and misinformation to get to the real news. Mediocrity appears the norm for their ‘independent contributors’.

3 years ago, Ekkthroi

Local News cam be found elsewhere without the dubious articles

At first it seemed convenient. I live in NYC and sometimes just the sheer density of it all can drown out some truly local news. And it was sometimes handy that covid info was readily available in the app. But whether it’s just by circumstance or design, the feed shows a pattern of peppering real news with dubious reports and some outright disinformation. I’m not talking about the NY Post that’s a highly opinionated, politically charged tabloid-it’s always been a part of NYC’s landscape and their inclusion in the local coverage is understandable. I’m talking about truly blatant misinformation about covid, vaccines and politics, and from “news” sites no one’s ever heard of. It’s not clogging the feed, but their occasional appearances make it almost more insidious. It may be just their algorithms doing this, but as it’s already just another tech firm trying to capitalize on others’ content, I don’t like it and don’t trust it. Better off following a couple of local newspapers and TV stations in your area since that’s all they’re really doing.

1 year ago, brice_hidaway

Extremely bigoted comments

I just deleted this app but when I first downloaded it, I actually liked it at first as it sent news from a variety of sources. What I did not enjoy was that there were no anti-racist, anti-lgbt, or anti-xenophobic (and literally anything else alike) comments. Everyone has their opinions and even if I don’t comment myself, I like looking down there to see what people think of certain events. At some point in time, I realized that there were almost no comments that were non-bigoted. It really seems like this app is deleting those comments and encouraging racist people who are all types of “-ists” to keep commenting stuff that not only make other people uncomfortable but were to the point that they commented that wanted to physically harm others. That’s my spiel. I hope you know you’re disgusting and encouraging hate in America by doing this, NewsBreak. You’re a company and I know you’ll never change your ways but to whoever reads this and you know you’re contributing to that, I hope you know you’re making this world a worse place.

5 months ago, GADog5

Good for Local News

I have used the app to keep up on local new since we do not have a local TV station coverage. We also had not taken a newspaper at the time I started using the app. This app is very liberal and Democrat written focused news at the state and federal levels. You will not be able to get an unbiased news story on this app so you have to use a skeptical filter to glean what useful crumbs of true are present in the story. Also be prepared to scroll over huge pop up stories unrelated to what to wanted to read. Then there are the frequent auto scroll up to the beginning of the story if you take to long to finish reading the story. I have also seen an increased use of AI generated stories that repeat info in the article. Click bait titles abound with multiple soured stories about the same subject and written at different dates. This means that you may be reading old information that shows it uploaded just a couple hours ago. Summary is that you have to mine for the facts.

3 months ago, Pinklight

Only news app I use

Thank you for providing up to date news. Just wish it had bigger print. Can there be dark background on EACH of the articals ?? I’m truly spoiled by this news app. Thank you. Thank you for responding to me by e Mail recently. ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️ Still my favorite 😄 need larger print. Hurts eyes & get headache when I read a lot of articals. Thanks Rate again: it’s now May 2022 I still like it. They send and stories to my email & get notices. Local news & world & military... there are a lot of choices on news you want to read about. The only thing is POOR ARTICALS WRITTEN BY POOR WRITERS & some old news. MY #1 need is LARGER PRINT than the scale they offer. But the authors need to report facts & in timely manner & stop using click bait. Other than this .. this is a great app. I use it every day at least 4-5 times. ENJOY👍😂 :0)

2 years ago, Dsim259809

Love app, hate notifications…

I love this news app. It’s very informative, and keeps me up on my local news. What I don’t like is the notifications… I go through and clear the stories I don’t care to read, and the ones I’ve already read, and any that don’t interest me. They return the next day or within a couple of days. This morning I had 62 notifications for stories that were written as far back as 7 days ago, that I had already cleared because I wasn’t interested in reading them. How about fixing it so if I “clear” a notification I’m not interested in, it stays off my notifications… I really don’t want to turn off all the notifications. Other than the notifications, I do love and enjoy this news app. I recommend it to people quite a bit. Keep up the good work.

2 years ago, Ladylonglocks

Yet Another NewsBreak Fail

I previously wrote a review complaining how even if you opened an article in Safari the page would remain in a NewsBreak container, making it difficult to share the legitimate link without jumping through hoops. That review has mysteriously disappeared. Now you can't open articles in Safari AT ALL, and that is just unconscionable. Restricting people from being able to perform normal functions for no other reason than to drive traffic to your own site is a really bad look, and makes the app useless for anything other than reading headlines in notifications that do nothing more than inspire you to search the web for the legitimate articles. Zero stars until you restore some semblance of normal functionality. You have now ensured I will NEVER share a NewsBreak link for any reason. Nobody else should either. Let people use the Web as it was intended and stop trying to control them for your own self-serving interests. I have saved this review so I can repost it in the event it also disappears.

3 years ago, Fun too great

No more

This is an up dated review. Originally I only gave it 3 stars and here is why: I really used to like this app. I could get a synopsis of new stories or I could read the entire news story itself. However now there are ads appearing in the middle of the stories and they cannot be read I’m going to delete this app and I’m going to tell everybody I know not to get it until this is taken care of it is ridiculous. So frustrating to get in the middle of a sentence and then have the stupid car ad or some other ad in the middle of the rest of the story. Please take care of this problem. HOWEVER — I received a response from the developers thanking me for my review and I am now updating to 5 stars. And I want to thank the developers for being so responsive! I wish they all were.

2 years ago, Blkdmndz01

Great way to stay on top of current events

This app allows me to stay up to date with my local news as well as national news. I am also able to read articles from newspapers and news channels in the locations where my distant family members reside. I also love the ability to like the article helping the app to recommend more stories similar to it. There is also the ability to comment or respond to comments made by others. Unfortunately, there are often times lots of arguments in the comments due to difference of opinion. There should be a feature to report very offensive comments and the user be suspended for a period of time. Just be aware if you make comments rather good or bad, someone will likely counter it for their shameless entertainment. I usually pay those comments no attention. But overall the app is really great.

1 year ago, Quadplyr

All about the ads…

They replaced the “Following” tab with a “Videos” tab now. I don’t want to watch videos. I want to read articles from sources I follow and not what you force on the feed. I follow those sources because they aren’t LOADED with ads, they’re local, and I can actually read them. Now, what’s the point of following my preferred sources when I can’t even find them? Super frustrating. The vast majority of “news sources” on this app are overflowing with ads. To the point where they aren’t readable. Even the opening splash screen for the app itself is misleading and invasive. BTW, for you newbies, there used to never be an opening ad splash. You used to be able to just, you know, READ THE NEWS. Advertising in this app has gotten out of control. This app used to be my go-to news source. Frustration and disappointment is all I get now. I am so done with this thing. How I wish there was an app out there that actually lets me read the local news I care about and not the drivel that comes from corporate media. 😡😤

4 years ago, ecrispen1223

Great app

This app is perfect to keep up with local news and other topics of interest. I love the push notifications and would give it a five star if it wasn’t for one frustrating glitch. Whenever a notification of a story pops up on my phone, and I click on it to read, the story opens for a brief second and before I can click on it to read, the app refreshes it’s stories and I can’t find it anymore. I’ve resorted to seeing if I can beat the refresh moment..so it’s part of the fun. But seriously can you make it so that the notification actually open the story directly? There have been times I wasn’t able to find it and had to resort to searching on safari or just not reading it. This app is wonderful and that glitch doesn’t take away from its great features. There isn’t another app like it that I can find, so I will make it my go to. Thanks for developing it. Great work.

8 months ago, Fancy4Yahshua

It gives you what you look at and lies.

If you watch on fires then it focuses on giving all stories on fires whether it’s made up or real. If you watch something on whatever subject just one time then that’s what they send you over and over. Besides it’s a bunch of made up stories, and it’s completely bias on the side of evil and wickedness. It’s like watching a made up horror flick continuously like as if it’s real life. They want people to believe this garabage. Although some tragedies happen like this it’s not as constant as they are trying to make it. And a mom gets her children back from the state( which by the way you cannot trust to do what is right anymore) and make out like she was so wicked to her children but the only negative comment they could say was she had food and wrappers in her car. Really? How stupid! I want the true side of the story from all involved. I want to know why her children were in several different foster cares and how the foster care parents were treating them and why if she is so wicked, all 8 children went to be with her. From Arkansas to California. And it’s hard to believe the story is even true, why would she flee to California knowing those perverts are worse than anywhere toward children? Why wouldn’t she go to the mountains and ask a nearby country off grid person to help her? Or Go to an Amish community. Or go to a desert community? I’m tired of all these lies and twisted evil garbage. WASTE OF TIME and CONSCIENCE!

4 years ago, dzwsag

Local News

I love reading local news when I am not at work. Bigger papers do not cover important news in my community and I need to be informed to feel comfortable living in Islip. I grew up in Islip at the time when the only local news was the Islip Bulletin which we had a subscription for at home. With the internet and great reporting, your “newspaper” has improved my quality of life because I feel less isolated from my community. This is very important during the COVID outbreak and for the aging population of Long Island who may not get out of the house as often as they did when younger. I hope that you continue to inform people of news, jobs, and events. I also want to congratulate you on a job well done and give you my best wishes for the future! Thank you all for your excellent work which is greatly appreciated!

3 years ago, Punkinsmasher

Would have given 5 until they made this 1 change

I really enjoyed this app because unlike most others, it’s not an echo chamber of the same side of the isle stuff over and over again. They are a little left biased somewhat but that’s just because of how awful the media is minus a small percentage. But..now they want you to sign in using google or Facebook or to create an account so they can continue to track your speech. I used to be able to comment anonymously without needed to sign in with one of my accounts but not anymore. You can still upvote and downvote comments but you can’t comment yourself anymore. Which wasn’t how it always was and I like it that way. If anyone says something inappropriate or threatening, you can still report it and you would do that even if you didn’t have an account with a user name before. But not anymore and that’s a major drawback for me.

4 years ago, yungstud

Avoid the comments

Update 2: It appears the devs have allowed the blocking of news sources soon after my first review. You earned a star! Still, those comments are terrible though... Update 1: This app needs to disable the comments section completely or at least give people the option to disable it themselves. They are worse than Facebook. Probably equally as bad as Twitter. Though I admit I’m not on either anymore. People say the most vile, hateful things to each other and about the world in general. It really detracts from the purpose of staying up to date with current events. Original: I love that I can just get the top news stories and local headlines. However, I’m tired of accidentally clicking on certain news sources. There are certain ones I want to block and never have my data affiliated with, yet there is no way to do that currently. Please fix that.

4 years ago, iohcnivek

ads and irrelevant stories

I checked out this news app after having refrained from using one for over two years because it is #1 in the news category in the app store. I deleted it after 2 minutes. It's littered with ads, and the built in browser is clunky. The amount of information you'll obtain in a few swipes is miniscule because news headline links take up an entire page. Terrible UI design. If you need news on your phone, do yourself a favor and buy an adblocking app like 1Blocker and add the safari bookmarks of reputable news sources like Reuters to your iPhone's home screens. You'll get no ads, you'll be able to CHOOSE the sources you want to read from and overall will be a more active digester of the news. Why anyone uses these ad infested hunks of UI garbage is beyond me. Don't download. They also sell your digital soul to the devil and God knows to whom such a small little company like this sells your data to. They also have no option to delete your account through their app. Sus.

4 weeks ago, Inthegarden

Hearing Aids and the KSTP APP

I love your app! It’s the best Minnesota new app except for one thing. Some of your commercials come on so loud that I have to throw off my hearing aids as fast as I can! I like the volume loud enough so I can hear the news but the noise decibels of several of the ads are so very loud that it hurts my ears. One of those adds have the quote, “The only thing we overlook is 694.” The entire add makes me want to cry because it is interfering with how I correct my hearing disability, which is using my hearing aids at a comfortable level for me until these adds come on. Can’t you have some kind of warning that an extremely loud add is coming on in 10 seconds so I have time to turn down the volume of my phone or iPad or remove my hearing aids? I need the volume high enough to hear the content on your app but this and a few other adds hurt my ears and I’m afraid they could cause further hearing loss. Please do something because this is the only thing I have against this app. I would rate it 5 if this was changed.

3 years ago, SMOKIE3914

UPDATE ON REVIEW!! LINKS ARE BROKEN/OPEN UP!!

IF I COULD GIVE IT A “ZERO” NOW I WOULD!! UPDATE: This program has gotten worse vs. better over the two weeks. It got to the point when I click on the notification area to read the news report that I wanted, the screen would come up blank!! But, when the article that I want to read does show, I still can’t finish reading the full article/news report I wanted, the links are still broken/won’t open up!!! OLD REVIEW-WAS A 3 STAR THE GREAT THING’S: I love the news stories that is available to read, especially the verity that is there. I like the way the program remembers what type of news you like & updates you on these areas of news that a person likes to read. I especially like the categories on how the news areas is set up. I use the application a lot, since I have the notification’s on news areas that I like to read. NOW THE BAD THINGS: I would have given the program a “Five.” But, I am getting annoyed that when I want to read the news notification that I set up “I am not able to do so!” The link at the bottom of each part of the news story won’t open up most of the time. You only get to read the “Teaser part of the news only & not the whole news story!!” I usually have to shut the program down & reload it, before the news extensions/links will work. But when I do that, I can’t find the story that I wanted to read in the 1st place, when I had to restart the program! Please fix this problem & I will update my review.

1 year ago, Richdawood

Some good, some bad

It’s a nice layout, the main/top stories are presented nicely, and overall pleasant to look at, but the fake Clickbait articles are awful & plentiful. Some of the editors don’t seem to try with actual content and rely on misleading headlines to generate a click. It makes the experience of using any news app less trustworthy. It also seems that the keyword or “cookies” system is broken, just because I clicked a random article about roller-coasters or bacon, it does not mean that I want 100s of news articles about that targeting me forever. I find myself going through the headlines but afraid to click as to not generate a cookie on a topic that I’m not interested in. Overall it can be an entertaining app to use, and there are some reliable articles but the whole thing is over saturated with fake news and click-bait type of stuff, bringing the overall experience down.

4 years ago, Mama3worksAThome

The truth about Parler

It’s this simple, Parler does not atop the truth from getting out, which SOO many people want to see happen. They don’t want people to know about what’s REALLY going on, just whatever suits there narrative, which is simple- FAKE NEWS! On Parler you are free to be yourself, have total control of your own posts and who comments. I have been using it for a little over a month and I’m so thankful to meet soo many other patriotic people who are awakened to the truth behind what’s happening and why. We want you to think for yourself, and in order to do that you must be given all the information. Even that which you don’t want to believe is true. The truth isn’t always pretty, but there is so much beauty and love that you can’t see also because some people don’t want you to! Here you can. Here you are welcome.

5 days ago, pinky1123211**

The crime map is wildly inaccurate

OK, be aware the crime couldn’t be any more wrong I know this because I work in white plains in a civil service job, I get to have a police radio with me so I hear everything that happens in white plains or everything that has to do with white plains police I know for an absolute fact there is at least one alcohol violation, one grand larceny that’s a theft by the way today alone in some of the residential parts of white plains there are a lot of domestic disturbances. I was doing my job and driving back to the office and I got a report over the radio one night of somebody throwing furniture around their apartments and it did domestic dispute of some kind. This map is not accurate anyway maybe for the bigger cities but not for smaller cities out in the suburbs I could see OK maybe this might work for New York City but not for places like white plains which is a lot like a mini Manhattan. You’re gonna have a much better chance finding out what’s going on in your city if you get a police scanner.

4 years ago, Surgikalstrike

Great amount of news with strong liberal bias

News Break has a great deal of strong liberal bias. I realize News Break uses outside sources for news, that said, please consider a conservative source such as the Daily Wire, etc. Fox News no longer qualifies as conservative. I really like News Break other than the aforementioned bias. I also realize the presidential administration is changing. I think it’s important to point out that 49% of the country identifies as conservative. I know several people who have deleted this app due to the strong liberal bias but I hope my comment will be heard and I can avoid deleting this mostly useful app. Also many states don’t have COVID lockdowns and many states including my own don’t require masks to be worn so getting hourly COVID updates is tantamount to getting the snow report when you live in Hawaii. The bottom line is for every strong liberal talking point can you at least mention a strong conservative talking point?

4 months ago, mtntech

Mostly pretty good, sometimes not timely

My main complaints: ▪️any headline saying “breaking“ that hasn’t been updated in 24 hours should probably not be offered up by the algorithm, or at least prioritized low ▪️the ads that newsbreak injects into articles are out of control: too many overall. banner ads that block the top and bottom third of your screen. Endless, pop-ups, and insertions, many of which are ill behaved. Makes reading news (the whole purpose) exceedingly challenging. I’ll give back another star if they pull the reins in a bit on this. ▪️they remove important images from articles, often making them pointless to read. ▪️they don’t quite have the concept of “local” nailed down. If you are local to a county named eg Florida or Texas, you will get news from that state. If you live in a city with a common name, like Wilmington or Springfield, you will get wrong news.

Description

Get daily news and events sent straight to your phone, because small news makes a big difference to communities! Keep up to date with current events, live local news, business news and more! Small news makes a big difference! NewsBreak is your #1 local news app for current events, free live news, business news, and more. Download today to stay up to date on all things local! Local news is different. NewsBreak believes that local news helps bring neighborhoods together around the unique stories they share in common. And only local, small news has the unique ability to meaningfully inform the decisions we make throughout the day. What’s the weather like in my area? What about traffic? What important events are happening nearby? Join NewsBreak’s growing local news community and see why over 45M people across the U.S. have helped make us the nation’s #1 local news app! And remember - we don’t just do local! Local breaking news, sports news, trending national & international news – NewsBreak’s got it all. Get everything from sports updates to national news headlines sent straight to your phone while coming together with your neighborhood to share in interesting conversations related to local news in your area. Join the 45M+ locals across the U.S. that trust NewsBreak as their #1 local news app! NewsBreak Features: Local News Highlights • Get a curated daily briefing on local news, traffic, events, local weather, and more. • Live stream news on local channels: follow local news, events, and activities. • Get local weather reports and traffic updates at a glance. Breaking News, National and Local • Both small news and breaking news, stay up to date with our current news coverage • Daily news highlights delivered straight to your device • Browse national news headlines and read comprehensive, in-depth stories. • Use the discovery engine to discover stories from over 10,000 trusted sources. Personalized News Feed • Get the stories that matter to you with a highly personalized feed, relevant to your likes and dislikes. • Get coverage on the news that matters most to you, including sports news, business news, tech news, and more • Keep up with the latest coverage of important news and events, nationally and locally.! • Our news aggregator collects and delivers the news that matters to you. • Get news alerts customized to your tastes. Your Community News • Find local eats, small news updates, deals, shop openings, and more ahead of time. • Read personal and vivid stories from our local news writers and content creators. • Treat us as your personal newsstand, magazine collector, restaurant reviewer, and more. Create Civic Value - Support the Cause • Use NewsBreak to revive the local news ecosystem and support small publishers. • Increase local story volume and geographic coverage to stimulate local storytelling and community power. Follow or Block the Trend - It’s Up to You • It’s totally cool to stay on top of some topics, or totally hate them! • NewsBreak allows you to follow what is trending, or completely block some topics you don’t appreciate. • You can laugh, share, think, cry, upvote, downvote, comment, reply... • NewsBreak is a free ground that welcomes you to express emotions & opinions. Download NewsBreak today to stay informed on local news, national headlines, and world news! Better informed, better life.