CBS News: Live Breaking News Reviews

by Cougar0104

CBSNews is great for the fact that shows are available so quickly. However they are almost unwatchable unless you can watch uninterrupted. Anytime you need to step away, you have to reopen CBSNews and try to find your place, and then rewatch all the commercials up to that point. I end up watching multiple times more commercials than on a regular broadcast. I also had an issue where another video was playing in the background somehow so I had to stop the one I was watching, find my place again, rewatch 5 minutes of commercials, etc. In order for it to be usable, it needs to save progress and limit the number of commercials you have to watch on any given video. Something most other streaming apps are able to do without issue.

by GFelter

Let me start out by saying if I have an app that sends a notification about a topic and I touch the notification and am brought to several articles and not the notification topic I selected I will delete CBSNews from my phone.

That said I experience this with the CBS news app. I had a couple notifications from CBSNews and when I clicked them I WAS NOT brought to the topic the notification was for. To make matters worse I clicked the article I was interested in and was taken to a totally different topic. I selected another article I was interested in and viewed it. You guessed it not the topic I was trying to view.

Time is money and I do not have time to sort through poopy apps. CBSNews will be deleted. As a second remark generally it is highly likely a not so great app will have adverse effects on the phone as possibly battery drain or other issues. Goodbye useless CBS app.

by Ashley Stearns

First, I’m looking for a story that aired less than 3 hours ago. Doesn’t appear in the day’s banner videos, and it doesn’t appear in the crime section. There’re 2 stories from days past about singers Peggy Lee and Alana Haim - but the one about America’s Nelson Mandela, it’s longest-serving political prisoner, Leonard Peltier, just disappeared. My guess is that’s because the Uber-right wing CBS didn’t want its viewers to see the truth about how constitutional violations and lies told by the FBI contributed to Peltier’s conviction, which even his prosecutor, James Reynolds, is ashamed now to have had anything to do with. That, and the fact Peltier’s attorney, former federal judge Kevin H. Sharp, gave the interviewer as good as he got from her, and showed how the FBI’s persistent lies not only lack credibility to this day but also prove they are happy to destroy the constitution that protects each and every one of us for whatever biased vendetta they chose to pursue on YOUR tax dollar.

by 4Mikesell

I was just forced to update to version 4.2.3 of your app. I watch it on an iPhone 6. The previous version was fine. This version it’s not downloading well. It took a couple tries to watch overtime. I tried to watch the live feed and the speakers could not finish a sentence before the video and audio would freeze for a minute or two at a time. Finally I tried to watch a favorite, take out and it would never download just gave me a black screen with the play button but no video, no audio. No change when I pushed the button. Please work on this and create a new update very quickly as you have rendered CBSNews nearly useless at least on an iPhone 6. This update I will eagerly take but I really resent wanting to watch five minutes of some thing and being forced to wait and update CBSNews before I am allowed to do so. A much better method is to alert the viewer that there will be a forced update when they close this use of CBSNews .

by So Sad Right Now

Unfortunately, I have had to edit my previous glowing review to rant against the CBS News app update. What on this green earth happened? The previous app was great! Now I can’t exit out of the livestream without shutting the whole app down, I cannot go back to previously streamed pieces by timeline, and it’s really hard to find articles now. Whose idea was this? When something isn’t broken, you should heed that age old advice and DON’T FIX IT! But please do fix CBSNews now as it’s pretty much unusable.

UPDATE: There is a glitch now where the shows cannot be viewed in full screen mode on the iPad. It’s just black after the first few minutes. To view one of the shows, you have to view it minimized, which is a smaller view than your mobile phone. Glitchy glitchy!

by CmansAppReviews

I am unable to disable these obnoxious “Red Vs Blue” stream alerts that seem to constantly pop off on my phone at least daily. There should be some setting to disable these quasi-advertisements while still letting the real news alerts through. Unfortunately, there is not. Therefore, ALL alerts from CBSNews are getting disabled, and an otherwise decent news app will get almost zero usage given the much better design of USAToday, CNN, ABC News, WSJ, NYT, etc. Sad. If they ever provide the user the ability to actually customize which alerts are received, I’ll consider giving CBSNews another try. Until then, no reason to use this overall mediocre app given the numerous better options out there.

by Hazliz500

Tried to watch “Bring your own Brigade” on 4 separate occasions via the internet without downloading CBSNews . Miserable. Each time it died/stalled/gave me a black screen with no buttons/icons to try to resume. Terrible.
Downloaded app to try again. Viewing in CBSNews was working very well UNTIL 1/2 way through the documentary. After a commercial I had a black screen for at least 90 seconds then it started the audio but no video (sound without picture). Shut down CBSNews and reopened. I hoped to easily find the documentary and try to fast forward to the point that I left off. BUT there’s NO SEARCH FEATURE in CBSNews . How ridiculous is that? That is beyond frustrating! If you know what you’re looking to view then you should be able to find it easily, aka search.

by David B. Parker

I just came back to complain about this, forgetting that I already had several years ago. One well, I guess they don't care, but There's no need to change it:

In my few times using CBSNews it appears to be, for the most part, a solid and well-put-together news app. It has, however, a few things that bother me. The first is that I prefer to use CBSNews in portrait mode, and it works well in either landscape or portrait orientation. Unfortunately, when you play a video it switches to a full-screen horizontal view every time. Nobody wants to keep rotating their iPad for every single video so, please, give us the choice of switching only if we want to. Usually, for me, it's not necessary. Also, it would be great if we knew how long a video was before we hit the play button. Nice to know what we're getting into.

by 09876JuJu

I guess if I wanted a one sided biased news app for liberals this would be perfect. The morning news group does nothing but promote separation in our country by pushing all things non-trump. Regardless if they like our current president or not they should report and keep their personal opinions out of the story. I have watched this news show for many years and have now stopped due to this news outlets driven agenda. I have also stopped watching all other shows related to this network. Here is a tidbit of information, most people are not liberal ~ USA hating individuals. WE want fare balanced news without your journalist personal opinions influencing the story. What ever happened to journalist reporting facts instead of hidden agendas???!!

by Dr_tek

How about a “Previously Viewed” button with a list of each article that a viewer has opened? Maybe an option for those who don’t want that to opt out of or hide?

Rationale: Like so many other apps, it auto refreshes when you go back to it - even if you left it open.

Only problem is that we are busy people.

It may pop a notification at the end of my lunch break, which I open to an intriguing headline that I want to read.

But it’s back to work, and the phone is ringing, people are pinging me on Teams for assistance in between handling tickets (I’m in IT). Coworkers are stopping by to pick up a headset or cables, or to drop off failed equipment. Then I go to troubleshoot a printer that I can’t reach over the network, and before I know it, the workday is done.

Now I have an errand or two to run on the way home.

By the time dinner is consumed and the kitchen tidied, I’m exhausted and brain dead. 🥱 I have totally forgotten that article as I sit down to the evening news and reruns of MASH. 😴

The next day, I take my buddy (our dog) on our morning run, and remember the headline! 😃However, so much has happened in the interim that I can’t quite recall the subject. 🤔 When I get home, I open the CBS News app, and it loads to something else. 😩

by Interrupted User

The streaming CBS News App is excellent, if only I could continue using it. I updated with version 3.7.2 months ago. I verified this in CBSNews store, which prompts me to open (rather than update) CBSNews . When I do open, an annoying pop-up appears to prompt me to update CBSNews . Neither selecting cancel nor update allows me to use CBSNews . Cancel closes it, and update takes me back to CBSNews Store.
I detest pop-ups anyway, whose sole function is to keep users from doing what they intended. Not user-friendly.

by GRANNIE41

Outstanding reporting by the most professional reporters. I COMMEND this app FOR GIVING VIEWERS TRUE NEWS.
THANK YOU!! JOAN. I live in Illinois now. Still love this app. That said...I was very happy with the old app. Maybe it’s a case of, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. I find this new app confusing. It was overwhelming the first time I opened CBSNews . The old app was easier to navigate. Scroll down and view what news story I wanted to read. Then I could pop into the live news whenever I would see what was being reported live. I do like the larger print. Guess this “old dog” will just have to learn some “new tricks.” Thanks this app. Joan, in Round Lake Beach, Illinois

by Stlormy

It’s a great app. I have always loved CBS news. Of late, it seems more like a tabloid. The Megan and Harry thing has been so over done and I don’t feel like it should be part of world news. Also Governor Como. Knock it off, Trump has done far worse things and I don’t see him being crucified for what he did to women like the governor has. The women involved, have a choice, if you don’t like the heat get out of the kitchen. Tell the person that you think is abusing you or assaulting you that it’s inappropriate and you will go to the media. If it’s that traumatic. Quit the job and MoveOn. My opinion

by Jetta JJ

This is actually a Zero star rating not a five star. As our country deals with the massive invasion of hundreds of thousands of people crossing into our country illegally (like that means they are breaking the law, as in criminals) where is the coverage? CBS news has sadly become a joke. With crime and a host of other problems dividing and destroying our country from within, is it really the time to allow hundreds of thousands more into our country? Where is the coverage? With Covid finally coming under control, is this the time to allow thousands more into our country who logistically can’t be adequately tested or treated? Where is your coverage? How about more coverage on this immediate threat to our country! Where is the honest daily coverage of this threat to our country? Come on CBS, how about an agenda of informing the public of this issue!

by Fan Of Good News Reporting

I’ve never written a review before in my life. Never! But I had to in light of how impressed I am with CBS’s news AP, that I’ve been using over a year. I remember when CNN used to offer headline news every 30 minutes. This was great because we live in a 24/7 on-the-go world. Unfortunately CNN discontinued this service years ago. Thank you CBS for providing this up to the minute live news streaming. It’s quality reporting. It’s balanced reporting. It’s clear that you’ve spared no expense to make this a top rate outlet for keeping up with local and worldwide news. And here’s the kicker- it’s free!!! Thank you. This is great!

by Terry M 1234

I love CBSNews . Love the reporting. Love being able to minimize and use the picture in picture mode (PIP). Love being able to read emails, check Facebook or Twitter, or play games while listening to the news (sometimes playing games is the best way to watch the news). Then if something comes on that I want to see, I can enlarge PIP, or even go back to app for more detail very easily.

Unfortunately when I upgraded my iPad the other day, the PIP keeps crashing. It minimizes, then just disappears. I am able to use PIP in other apps. I have tried rebooting my iPad and reloading CBS News app.

Please fix so I can continue loving CBS News.

by Gnarlygeek

I first encountered CBSN as part of PlutoTV and was impressed by the news anchors, complete coverage, presentation format, and a comfortable level of advertising support. After purchasing my first iPad last year, I was excited to find that CBSN had this dedicated app. I enjoy both the live coverage which streams very well on all public and private WiFi networks that I use. As another reviewer has said, CBS gets it. They have the right balance of access and advertising. They do not trivialize the content or presentation to some mythical short attention span streaming customer. Walter Cronkite would be proud to be associated with this team and CBSNews.

by Aegsh

I’ve been watching CBSN for a few years now and I enjoy their style of reporting. CBSNews used to have CBSN radio integrated. I wish they’d add it back for the times you just want to listen, not watch.
The other thing that is sorely missing from CBSNews (probably the biggest “deal breaker for me”): notification settings. Don’t get me wrong, they don’t send ten million notifications or anything, but apps like CNN have customizable options to choose what you’d like to receive and how often. This is really important for someone like me who doesn’t like clutter on their phone. Once they add this feature I’ll be happy.

by Stanleydog99

I’ve been using CBSNews since it became available. I love being able to see what is going on in other cities vs just nationally. Also like seeing congressional hearings (CSPAN requires cable) and live COVID updates from the nation’s governors. That it’s free compared to other national outlets is even better as I can’t afford cable. From, for example more diverse stations like CNN, MSNBC. Enjoy anchors too, especially mornings. They also do nice news investigations available on CBSNews . Only complaint is that it sometimes looses its feeds right in the middle of a report, sometimes for hours and switches to another city. It’s not my local bandwidth so not sure what the problem is.

by Rfrancis1969

Let me be completely honest here. Most of my cable news viewing is on MSNBC. I love their primetime line-up. As good as the opinion and analysis is on shows like All In with Chris Hayes, and Rachel Maddow show are, in the end, all of cable news including MSNBC, are political opinion and analysis programming.

For real journalism, there is nothing offered on cable TV. This is where CBSN enters my daily news intake. The reporting is solid and thorough. We get real news from around the country and around the world. This is hard-hitting and in depth journalism.

On days with no big-breaking news, particularly no big political breaking news, the cable news anchors look lost. On CBSN I can get thorough high quality journalism from real reporters in the field, wherever in the world they find news. It doesn’t all have to be the latest bombshell news, the latest big tragedy, and so forth. News exists, even on slow news days, and no one delivers it to you like CBSN in high quality professional journalism.

An Enthusiastic Five Stars!

by Retired2lake

I prefer to read my news rather than watch a video. I can read it at my own pace, or skim it to hit the main points. If I’m in a public place or in bed with my wife, I can still read news without disturbing others. There are numerous reasons why reading news is preferable. Need to add an indication which articles are video only, or include a filter so I can exclude the video only articles. I suspect CBS does this because it’s easy, they don’t have to write or document the article. Better yet, include a written article with every video so the user can determine how they want to get their news. Used to be my go to news app before the last update, now I no longer use it.

by One Yogi

I have been using CBSNews for years as a main go-to News app fir 10 years. The collection of bookmarks I had are completely gone in an instant of an update. The white on black type is minuscule and fatiguing to the eyes. All of this creates zero loyalty total and tech fatigue. Those bookmarks were referred to and shared with online groups frequently. Thanks for thinking of the end user. At. All. CBSNews now looks like every other app out there and took away what was valued most with no warning.

Update: what some of the sizing was adjusted, the spacing of the type still was not. Please work with a designer to get a correct and useful to end-users. CBSNews still stalls regularly on video play.

by Nichollspete

Over all, CBSNews is pretty good but for CRYING OUT LOUD, could we please see a news filter?!? I don’t know of a single news app that let’s the user decide what news they do not care about. For instance, this royal wedding crap. Really. Don’t. Care. I’m getting notification after notification. STOP!! PLEASE! A royal wedding has ABSOLUTELY NO BARING ON MY LIFE AT ALL. Plus, I’ll still hear about it when I manually check the news. I don’t need notifications about it or see it when I open CBSNews . I can’t wait for when she gets pregnant! UGH. Children are born every day all day long but because the parents are royalty my notifications are gonna get taken over by it!!

by J1328

Unlike some other news providers, CBS tends to keeps the news front and center, while covering a wide range of topics. Most other providers will skew the news to one political side or another, or engage in endless ‘family setting’ type of conversations that basically make the news people the big focus. The reporters and personalities should not be making news. Just present it to us, please. Don’t want to know about your new dog, husband, baby, favorite coffee, etc.

by Ksullie17

Normally I watch CNN and MSNBC, with CBS low man on the newsfeed totem pole. I truly didn’t expect to like CBSNews. Oh boy, was I pleasantly surprised. CBSNews works perfectly, no glitches. Viewers can watch live news continuously, read the latest news, select stories to view, or choose from a variety of CBS news programs and specials. The political news is fair and unbiased. I particularly like to watch a daily program called “Red & Blue” and the CBS Evening News. CBS has become my Go-To location for news and information. You won’t be disappointed.

by JM.54

I have pretty much been an ABC news watcher. Lately though, I have noticed less and less real news on their channel. Everything seems to have an opinion attached or even worse, just a feel good fluff piece. I’m looking for straight forward, tell me the facts, and move on. I really feel I’m getting this from you. Your app is every bit as good as ABC. I had almost given up on watching the news but now I once again look forward to it. And your local affiliate is just as good. Walter Cronkite would be proud of you! Thanks

by MikeOlinger

I normally stay with CBS during a normal night at home because I do enjoy their choice in the programs they air. Also when there is a developing news story I can depend on VBS to stay that story while the news is being made and there are normally updates on such stories as often as there are new facts emerging. That is all I can ask from a. Network. This is not to say other networks donor do a good job. I simply enjoy CBS because of the well rounded programming.