BBC: World News & Stories Reviews

by Young_hyson

I gave it awhile to try and get used to the new ui but it’s just worse. I mostly have just used my news and the tabs are terrible. I got so much information quickly by seeing very small pictures and headlines grouped by custom topic. Now I have to do so much more scrolling and swiping. Often my screen is consumed ENTIRELY BY 2 STORY PREVIEWS while scrolling through the latest news. I don’t need preview pictures that large! Lastly the ads always seem to render after the content has loaded and there is no placeholder for the unloaded ad, creating an obnoxious shift in content once the ad loads and takes up pixel space. Please do something

by KashandBiddy

Save yourself the hassle of downloading BBC. I was hopeful that the recent update would fix the live stream problems, but nope. I get about 15 minutes of broadcast and then BBC pauses the stream and then ultimately crashes or hangs there expecting you to unpause it every few minutes until it finally crashes. Strangely I have had the same crashing issue of World Service on other apps too, so it is not specific to BBC, but more specific to their stream, which is now no longer worth trying to listen to due to how broken it is. I know that the world wants broken up news reports instead of a proper stream though.....oh wait. I have been having this issue for over six months and no amount of bug reports has seen improvements made. Others in the reviews report the same thing and the developers clearly aren’t capable of fixing it or don’t care.

by MrRawrz

When scrolling through articles, they will stack on top of each other occasionally and make it nearly impossible to click an article.

Even worse are the advertisements. Previously they just slowed down BBC to almost unusable rates. Now videos will automatically open without me clicking them as soon as they are scrolled into view, which I’m sure is against some rules somewhere. I even checked my app options and I have videos set to NOT auto open and to NOT auto play. You all really need to figure out your advertising problems in BBC .

by Botchybear

BBC focuses mostly on the distressing news throughout the world. It repeats it ad nauseum. There is so much news out there, it would be good for BBC to broaden its horizons. It gives a bit of news from the most "noisy" places (repeatedly), but fails miserably in wider coverage. If it's not bad news, BBC doesn't cover it. Except of course for the little Royals. Now that's cute. The main problem that I have with it is that if you want to read one of the stories and you happen to be way down in the column on the story, when you finish reading it and go back to the column it puts you all the way back up to the top of the column instead of where you were. That is extremely frustrating have to go all the way back down to the bottom of the column where you were!!!

by NYPC2

I’ve really gone off BBC lately. The content is still “OK” although is steadily being eroded with “soft news” stories taking the headlines from “hard news”. I suspect activists in the newsroom...

Also BBC itself has got a bit more annoying to use.

As with other apps, many elements are far too big. There is far too much scrolling involved. I wish there was a compressed view or at least an option to turn off or make the photos smaller.

The “menu” is now in exactly the spot where you’d be inclined to press a “home” button resulting in many unintended trips to settings. It’s also literally the word “menu” instead of the 3 bar “hamburger” icon that’s now an accepted standard.

...and the topmost news story is now butted right up against the red header bar with no border. Apart from it looking inconsistent from the other stories, it leads you to think that part of what your looking at is scrolled out of view, so inclines a user to pull down on it...

Like I say, still has good content, but it’s becoming more “annoying” to use...

by Sailingbrit

Some of the best journalism available however the ad designs are the worst I’ve seen. They frequently upset the layout of news stories and when playing before a video prevent the actual news video from playing.
Also please show the ‘content not available in your country’ message BEFORE the 30 second unskippable video ad. I’d happily pay for an ad free version to avoid this kind of nonsense as it really detracts from an otherwise great news service.

by Hansmolemon

I love BBC , great way to browse news but please just let me pay to get rid of the pop-up video ads. If you just scroll past one it automatically pops up and starts playing and if BBC is open even in the background it automatically starts playing audio if I hook my phone up to my car or Bluetooth and I have to force quit to get it to stop playing. This is so incredibly invasive and there are no preferences to turn it off. 5 stars once you let me buy an ad-free version.

by Tastybento

BBC itself is fine, but the stories are mostly negative angles on events or just plain negative events. For example, vandalism, deadly accidents, murders, hate crimes, etc. Politics comes in for it too where there are no positive stories on what the various leaders or governments around the world are doing, only negative or neutral ones. Unless you have a bulletproof psyche, the written content will get you down. Best to stick to the one-minute news video and just get the headlines. No wonder young people don’t bother with the news because it’s so depressing if you only read it from BBC.

by Dagdon

While I love looking over the articles, BBC has not been improved since its inception. It’s very annoying to scroll through the long list of available articles, find one to read, then when finished reading and going back to the list, BBC takes you back to the beginning and forces you to scroll again through everything that has already been scrolled through and read. I wish BBC would take you back to where you were on the list. There must be an algorithm for that, easily inserted into BBC program.

by ASB301

I have used BBC for years, and it’s part of my daily routine. BUT recently, there not only have been more ads (like the FedEx ones) which I am OK with, but almost daily, and usually at night, while my partner is asleep, annoying loud videos suddenly start, which I haven’t found a way to stop quickly, except by shutting down BBC altogether. Please eliminate this feature. It’s the best way to annoy this particular happy and long time user.

by Jim-73

I have limited vision. I love your news service. The updated App really in NOT an improvement. Highlighted text to speech is un believably fast. Wile it's not on other apps. It locks up regularly. It's not as easy to use as the odd app. I don't like it!
Why can't I just watch all the videos ?
I also have trouble with the first page which is to be important news but it is very hard to us text to speech.
Why do you refer to President Trump as. Trump. I don’t think it is proper educate. And shows a lack of respect. Not very British.
James Gage

by Nesta Mae

It’s an easy way to take in a different perspective. I like the stories that are longer and more involved and mostly about individuals going through trials or tribulations. I do wish that there was more substance because most of the articles are very short. Maybe provide links for further reading? I do appreciate how news stories are linked to similar stories. I also appreciate the mix of content (videos, news, in-depth stories, radio, etc.).

by Solarbear16

It’s nice to have a news source that has a broader perspective. I can get a variety of articles on US news, as well as a wide range of world news that’s unavailable elsewhere. Some reviewers complained that the news is “left,” but they don’t get that the rest of the world sees the current administration for what it is!

However... as others have mentioned, after reading most articles, BBC doesn’t return you to where you left the main page; instead it takes you back to the top, and you have to scroll back down to find your place. Annoying!

by OrchidDeb

To more knowingly be able to assess the neutrality of news reporting (which should be the gold standard), this rating should have been after one has read the day’s articles with, perhaps, a more critical eye.

Also, a simple 1 through five star system is ludicrous. In reading reviews, some focused on videos, some focused on bias, some focused on layout and presentation, some focused on breadth of coverage. It is easily possible to have perfect scores in one area, and atrocious in another. Does 3 stars mean great reporting, bad video? Or perhaps it means great video, poor reporting? What does the simple 3 star rating really mean, if anything?

by Bubbeleve

I don’t usually write reviews, but I’ve had BBC for about a year and all of a sudden BBC now lags and bugs out every time I open it. I cannot press into videos anymore, the advertisements always block an article when I’m trying to view it, and it takes me about 30 swipes upward to get down the page.

Though the news is “REAL NEWS,” some of the people writing these articles have some pretty awful spelling errors... and that’s bad-let’s be honest.

I hope one of the developers or admins will see this and make BBC better as it once was!

by HAL|9000

Best source for to keep up with US news and news from around the world. American news sources are SO inordinately focused on domestic news and Trump-idiocy news as to be boring and repetitive. Thank you.

Would normally give 5 stars, but for the frequent app crashes that have become the norm over the last few months. Multiple crashes during one viewing session of about 30-45 minutes.

Suggestion: When a new version fails to work properly, go back to a previous version that DOES work. Introduce newer versions only when they’ve been properly vetted.

by Dvotchka

Live stream often glitchy (like right NOW) .....

but overall a good app, I listen to the live feed every day and read a good many of the articles I find herein. One small glitchy problem: BBC does sometimes shut down for no discernible (to me) reason. Due to the lack of international news in the US main-stream media, I rely on UK and EU news sources such as the Beeb. And I am grateful to have access.

by DaBKLYNKid

Like all sources of News, it has its god and bad but then again that’s just what makes news what it is.......I do prefer fact oriented news which saves the writers opinion for the OPINION PAGES and I firmly believe that it is a Editor’s Duty to enforce such a policy, however today’s Media Outlets are more interested in getting a story out rather than fact checking. This condition runs rampart in the US and continues to cause great to grief. In general, folks want factual news and not ACOSTA TYPE BIAS.......whether it be directed at the Left or the Right.

by Rrrrbbb

It seems like a change has resulted in any video within BBC not being playable. This isn’t a geographic location issue as copying the link to story and opening it in Safari will result in that very same video being viewable.

ETA. After a response from BBC developer they indeed seem to have fixed this now. I have amended my rating to reflect this but have left the original issue posted for transparency purposes. Good job and thanks for the fix!

by KarateGirl22

Tons of other reviews have touched on the pros and cons of BBC, so I’ll skip right to my peeve. When I’m in an article and I swipe left to right, I want to go back to the list of articles (headlines), not the previous article in the list! I didn’t tap that article because I didn’t want to read it. I don’t want to have to tap the tiny little back arrow in the top left corner. I WANT TO SWIPE. This is a stupid design. Going article to article right to left, fine. But get me out of article hell left to right.

by Huntington84

Love getting the news from around the world. And the format is by far the best as far as news apps go! But I do occasionally wonder if what I’m reading about other countries are as leftist-slanted as the reports on Trump are. They don’t give him a break! As horrible as they make him sound, when he’s really been quite impressive, I wonder if the rest of the world is also happier than they’re sometime made out to be here. I guess take it all with a grain of salt and realize that people want drama and bad news. So news outlets deliver.

by Kitanocho

I learned to live with BBC and appreciate the good things while ignoring those I didn't care for. BUT now you have added a stridently loud ad that unexpectedly bursts into noise as I scroll down an article. No way to stop it except exiting app. This one may prove to be something I literally cannot live with.
PLEASE remove this intrusive ad.

Bring back the old app. This one is pedestrian -- in trying to look like everyone else, you have lost what made you unique: order. Why do I need another news app that looks like all the rest?

by Jkegs.

Great reporting. This is my goto source, but I have some qualms. The biggest is the annoying tendency of BBC to refresh to the top of the page whenever it wants as I’m scrolling through and reading various stories. By the time I get to the end I’ve had to find my place again several times.

2nd issue is that sometimes I come across articles that are a couple sentences long with no real plot or story. No video or links either. Just strange and somewhat frustrating when I start to read it because it sounds like an interesting topic.

by Bill-tong

I assume BBC takes articles written for the English market and edits them for the American market which is fine. However, in the process of doing so there seem to be some glaring errors that could be easily amended. I fail to believe this would be allowed under direct Beeb governance.
Proof reading seems to have been thrown out the window along with spell check. Simple things that are actually quite important in an app like this.
Anyway, content is good and somewhat impartial.

by Podkayne 42

Fine, balanced reporting: check. Clear, grammatical, properly spelled & punctuated prose: check. (Getting hard to find in Leftpondia. Bless the Beeb.) Easy navigation: check. Customizable topics focus: check.

Readable font: not so much. I don't know what the font is called, but it makes me squint. It looks very stylish and modern; 20 years ago I might have loved it. But the sans serif font is so fine-lined as to appear pale gray on the white background, a low-contrast combination that strains the eye. I searched in vain for controls to adjust the display. I followed BBC support link, but was directed to use my iPad’s controls. Well, really. I already did that and I’m still having trouble. Besides, iPad’s “smart invert” option screws up photos.

Ironically, when I read about a playground for kids with disabilities, the text display was in a nice bold white font on black ground—very high contrast and so easy to read! Now why not let me choose that all the time?

In a perfect world, I would also get to choose specific fonts (Bookerly, anyone?), foregrounds, and backgrounds. (I am fond of yellow on navy blue, but your mileage may vary.) Someday....

So, developers, you lose two whole stars for making it hard for me to use your otherwise five-star app.

by JNC23x

Great app for content; not so much for quality user interface. Even though settings are set to never auto-play video, video commercials do indeed auto-play with annoying sound immediately starting. Shame on the program for allowing that.
The practice of always going back to the top of the list when returning to it is also lazy programming just because the list is now different from what it last was as the user entered it. If I want to see “new news”, allow me to refresh it manually. Otherwise find the article where I was (reinsert it into the master list if it is no longer there) and allow me to see the rest so that I can choose which one I want to read next.

by Dymnbak

Good news app, but better before the update. The ads are almost as bad as cable television in the US, but a good ad blocker gets rid of all of them. Some think it's slanted but apparently they read the "Citizen Kane" papers controlled by the trump cult. It's world coverage is the best I've seen for any news agency and the articles are well written even though some of them are repeated too much. The articles on the destruction on the environment are frightening but to the point as we continue to send the human race in oblivion.

by Sawtheoriginal

Goes for weeks without changing. Often isn't even about the Queen. You may not be interested in royalty, but your readers often are.

Thanks a LOT! The queens horse story is the most lame of all!

Christmas week: you appear to have hired someone for this feature who understands the American fascination with British royalty and have up-graded your coverage.

by DaveyRavey79

Great quality news with customized news feeds. As an expat in the USA it’s good to get more worldly news. But it has a small yet annoying thing. When you are reading an article and go back to the news listing you are sent back to the top of list. This is annoying as you have to then scroll all the way back to where you were. I’ve used many other news app and none have this and returns you to the place you were before. Not major but wish they would fix it