SmartNews: Breaking News

Nothing has changed. I'm still having the same issues: I've used this app for years. There's always been a continuing issue where the article you're reading freezes and kicks you out of the app or bumps you back to the feed page and the article is gone. The links to watch videos lead me to error pages. I have to open online to watch it. After you've been reading different articles they start buffering and don't open so I have to read them online.

I used to really enjoy this app til I got an upgraded phone. Now the ads load up great (sarcasm)!! Ads are super fast! The article I'm trying to read keeps either taking literally 5 minutes to load because of all the d@** ads or keeps closing abruptly (I'm sure due to the ads). It's really ridiculous. Just because I buy an item once or Google search a product doesn't mean I want to be inundated by the proprietors advertising every time I turn on my phone or open your app.

Constantly freezes up! Almost with every single story. Sometimes, it freezes up after being on it 20 seconds. Tells me smart news is not responding -- close app or wait . Tried waiting for it-- never came back on. I am definitely thinking of uninstalling this app. This started happening so frequently in just this past month. I am extremely dissatisfied with it's performance. Tried all the fixes ( uninstalling and reinstalling latest version

Changing my review and not my rating. The app has become even more worse than before. Ads automatically play while reading articles, which would be fine at the beginning of the article, but the ads are after every 2 paragraphs. Video links don't play, some articles don't have complete text or the app freezes and kicks me out the page I was attempting to read.

I like your app but I'm really annoyed that your pop up ads have sound. I usually am listening to a pod cast while scrolling through your stories and articles and then this loud ,ubiquitous sound blows my ears out and Interrupts everything. Your article, my pod cast, my train of thought. I try to scroll down quickly and there it is again. I understand you want add dollars but it's so annoying that I'm about to delete your app. Keep ads, fine. Automatically come on with sound, sucks!

It's great to have all your news in one spot, super convenient. That's where it stops. The app is very unstable, constantly crashes and freezes. After it crashes and you open it back up, the article you were reading is gone. Loading times for articles are very inconsistent, either lightning fast or not at all. Very frustrating. Great idea, just need some better engineering.

07/2022: it has been freezing and then kicking me out of articles I am reading if it gets ready to update. When I go back in the article is gone. 09/2024: it has gotten worse. Articles take a long time to open, and when they do they only have the first couple of paragraphs and the rest is blank. Sometimes closing and reopening the article fixes it, sometimes not. Very disappointing.

Been using for years and always generally had a great experience. Super annoyed by the daily wrap...I just want evening notifications to display what I click on, but keep getting the wrap, over and over and over again. Also, I keep getting an ad paying in the background and I can't figure where it's coming from, it will also start multiple versions as if it's a round song.

Still glitchy. Crashes a lot. Refreshes on it's own, even when you are in the middle of scrolling and it takes you back up to the beginning. Commercials volume sometimes plays on it's own, so if you are listening to music while you read, good luck getting music to stay on. Despite all this, it still has the best format and has the potential to be the best news app. Can you fix all these things that are ongoing issues or sprung up in the face of the lastest update??

When I first rated this app it was a 10 in my opinion but it has really gone downhill from then!!! Pages don't load and you could be reading an article and all of a sudden the screen turns black and what you were reading goes away!!! I know it's not my phone cause it's new and it also does it on my brand new phone so it's definitely the app. Otherwise the content is great if you can finish reading the article!!!

I will uninstall if they keep having noisy ads. That's unacceptable. Otherwise the app is fine. I can't stand their ads anymore, have to wait too long even if not interested and then another ad comes up. I have neither the time or the patience for this. It is not hard to get news somewhere else. Will uninstall. Update 9/24 Getting worse every day. Focused on return, no longer on customer experience. Time to find alternative apps

Used exclusively for years, but done now. No more smart articles which cuts down the ads, so you now just have to scroll through all the obnoxious ads. Videos often broken forcing to load the article in a browser to view the videos. Ads play sound even when they shouldn't. App crashes often during the middle of reading an article, then it's just gone. I tell it I don't want a certain topic, but still get recommended those topics. No I won't screen record my experience, it's clear from everyone.

STOP WITH THE AUDIO ADS! HATE IT! Despite clicking the "never auto play ads" button, ads still auto play! I don't like being startled by ads or having my music interrupted by your ads! I'm fine with having the ads in exchange for a free app, but why must I hear them? If I have turn my sound all the down before opening the app, then I'm going to find another source for news. There are so many different sources, from all perspectives, all gathered in one place that is very easy to use.

The new update made things worse. Articles shut down all of a sudden, and ads play all of a sudden, and you can't find them to turn it off or mute it. App closes up out of the blue. When I click on articles, it just spins and won't load. I then have to use the drop box to select to read the article online. Please fix this or I will be forced to find another news source soon!!!

I've tried this app several times. Always uninstall it because it's basically unusable. This time, after the last update, the app will suddenly minimize on its own no matter what you're reading. When you open it back up of course it goes back to the beginning so you've lost the article you were trying to read. Also, now in the middle of reading an article it will suddenly minimize that article. At least then you can get it back. But whatever they've done to it it's almost unusable.

This app sucks now. Just as some reviews have explained, articles frequently won't open or only partially open. Very inconsistent! It might work ok for a short while if I restart my phone, but, only a short while. Was great when it worked. Don't bother imo. Update: this app will completely close while reading an article and then it's lost, or, it will jump back to the beginning of the article while you're reading multiple times. Frustrating af!

Keeps crashing, freezes. There's always an update but nothing changes. They updated this app on Sept 3rd and it crashes even more. I can't finish an article. Sometimes it will freeze a couple of times then it will crash and other times it will just crash. Some times it will freeze without the article coming up. I have deleted it and re-downloaded it and nothing changes.

I really like this app. Except that some of the articles are laced with profanity. And when I get a notification for a story, sometimes when I click on it ,it takes me to the daily wrap but it's not listed. . And worst of all is sometimes I click on a link and when it takes me to the article allowed audio commercial instantly plays and there's no way to turn it off anywhere. I end up just closing the app and going online to look up that news article instead.

Constantly freezing in the middle of an article, automatically going back to dashboard. Been doing it for months; either they can't or won't fix it. Well here it is 3 years later (08/03/24) and still the same issue with it constantly freezing as stated 3 years ago. There's been more than enough time to get this remedied but I'm thinking it's more about "won't" than "cant" straighten this out. Time to look for another source I guess.

It used to be great. Now it closes when I'm reading an article, or sometimes the article only half loads, or doesn't load at all. The constant updates do not help. I really love this app, so the smartnews team needs to work on all these issues or they're going to lose alot of people who use it. It especially irks me when I'm reading something interesting, and then all of a sudden it closes the entire app on me and when I try to go back on, the story is gone. Y'all need to do better. :(