Breaking News app review: just another news collection app

Introduction

In the news section in the App Store you can find loads of different apps from all kinds of news outlets from all over the world. Most people like their specific newspaper or news website, and stick with that for all their news. Others like to get a broader spectrum of what happens in the world, meaning they will either have to go through all different kinds of news outlets and find what they want to read about, or they can download an app that does this all for them. Breaking News by Vijay Anand is such an app, but is it a good one?

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Collecting the News From Different Outlets

One thing that Breaking News does well is collect the news. All the news that the apps collect from 12 different news sources from all over the world are shown in the navigation bar on the left-hand side of the app, and they all are time-stamped on when the article came in. When you tap an article, the main window of the app shows the news article, straight from the website of the outlet where the news comes from. This is quite a nuisance, as what this app offers is nothing more than a glorified browser.

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Other similar apps have implemented their own newsreader, while in this app you will just be looking at a smaller version of a page you can visit with the Internet browser of your choice.

 

Settings and Ads

The app itself can send you push notification that are based on the different outlets. If, for example, you want to get a notification when a new article is posted on the BBC website, the app can send you a notification for that, while ignoring the other outlets. This is all done from the settings screen, where you can also set the time you want these alerts to come in, and the sound for your alert. You can’t set the type of news you want to receive alerts on, which is a missed opportunity. You can also set the theme of the app, with a choice between black and white.

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In the bottom left of the app there is a constant ad, which is not really in the way, but in the browser window you will have to put up with the ads from the websites you’re visiting as well!

 

Pros and Cons

Pros

• A news collection of 12 of the biggest global media outlets
• Push notifications per outlet

 

Cons

• Basically a glorified browser
• No sharing options

 

Conclusion

This app does what it promises, but believe me, there are many apps out there that do a similar service but in a much better way. You might as well set up bookmarks in your browser for the 12 supported websites and visit them each day, which will save you around 3 MB on your device. The app is compatible with both iPad and iPhone, but you shouldn’t bother.