Hawaii News Now Reviews

I don't write negative reviews of apps, but in this case I must make an exception. Following the rewrite of HawaiiNewsNow in mid 2018, it has been much worse to use than before. Now, it is not even possible to click on an image and zoom in on it; videos do not play properly and sometimes even cause HawaiiNewsNow to forget which page you are on (when an unexpected full-page pop-over ad covers over the top of the player and the article and block everything, which you can only dismiss by clicking on a small X at the top of the advertisement which then loses your context in HawaiiNewsNow ); and also the front page listing of all of the stories is much more long-winded now whereas before it was a nice simple list of headlines which you could easily select.

It's a shame that what could've become a much better app has actually gone from a five star to a three star app in my opinion. I would say try another Hawaii news app (I have gone back to the KITV4app for now) and keep this one on the side in the hopes that it will be improved at some point in the future.

Very disappointed in the weather section of the HNN News app. Since installing HawaiiNewsNow, the weather section has worked maybe 4 times at the most. What’s up with that?!? Could it be that HNN wants us to also install their weather app? Why would I want to do that when I should be able to get the weather info I need from one app?!?

I’m also disappointed that there now seems to be no easy way to save an article. I used to be able to save articles that a friend on the mainland would be interested in and send them to her at a more convenient time. Now I have to share the articles before they disappear, and due to the time difference, she sometimes ends up receiving them at 2:00 or 3:00 a.m.!!! Not good, HNN!

This newer version is so disappointing that I’ve had to install the Star Advertiser app. I receive updates to the news much faster on their app. If the bugs aren’t fixed soon, I’ll be deleting the HNN app and installing KHON.

When I click to open HawaiiNewsNow - the circle of death starts spinning and I get a failure notification ... I think this started after the most recent update... fix it please...
and when I click on a “notification” I never can find the story... HELP

I have been experiencing issues with HawaiiNewsNow recently. Possibly caused by an update. As far as I can tell, HawaiiNewsNow now appears to be continuously updating in the background. The battery consumption charts show the background activity of HawaiiNewsNow is through the roof, accounting for more then 60% of my phones total power consumption. Outdrawing more power then actively used streaming apps based on time used. The streaming apps are only being used for a limited time, as opposed to HawaiiNewsNow continually being on in the background. Even with background app refresh being turned off, it is still doing things in the background and burning a ton of battery power.

The tile on the homescreen (like many other apps) has a red circle with a number in it showing you your number of notifications. However, UNLIKE most other apps, opening the program to see these notifications immediately shows you a giant ad, followed essentially by “Go fish”! There is no easy way to specifically see these notifications.

Update Aug. 13, 2021: tfyoder1’s review was a year ago, mine slightly newer. However after a year, NOTHING has been done to correct this behavior and bring HawaiiNewsNow inline with most others. Reiterating what I said above, HawaiiNewsNow is quick to throw up a (literal) red flag, then show you nothing but ads. Going to notifications doesn’t help; you still play “Go fish”. I’m lowering my rating and I’m about to delete this “Cry Wolf” app.

HawaiiNewsNow has a lot of issues starting with app refresh in the middle of reading an article that causes HawaiiNewsNow to go to the main page and then I have to look for the article again. Also when an article closes sometimes it’s very difficult to locate especially if I opened the article from a notification so it’s not necessarily on the front page. But my biggest issue is the ads. I don’t mind ads but when you hide an ad in the guise of a legit article that’s messed up. I saw an “article” about improving blood glucose in diabetes only to find out it’s a scam ad for a scam video to get me to buy a scam book. For a news local news app I would hope they wouldn’t try to sucker us for a couple bucks

The up to date notices catch my eye through the day and night. A quick glance at headlines alerts me to issues near and far which affect me and my loved ones. Often my curiosity is piqued and I delve in to learn more. If live video is slow or unavailable due to my location and connectivity, I read the articles. I notice updates are frequently added to keep us informed and entertained with the latest and most accurate accounts of issues as they unfold. It’s become one of my most used apps.

HawaiiNewsNow truly deserves zeros stars for its watch live and notifications. The watch live is based on a browser and I constantly have to refresh it to get it working - it does not seem to play nice with iOS. The commercials will also come on at random times and then I will need to refresh again to get the live content, if I am able to at all.
Traffic notifications will also not bring up any content if you click on them. It will bring you into their app to the traffic page, but there will be be mention of the accident/incident they notify you on. The notifications are worthless since there is a line limitation and their message gets cut off.

I have used HawaiiNewsNow for years, but questioning whether to continue. The supposed new upgrades have left me baffled. Being offered categories of the content isn’t new but the ability to read a piece and return to the list is non existent. It goes back to the the opening and requires multiple clicks to start over after EVERY article read!? There is no return click available, it feels like a devolution to use it. So drawn out to go through the chosen category that I will likely drop HawaiiNewsNow. It has changed but not upgraded!!!

Highly recommend just using the HNN website over HawaiiNewsNow—since the last redesign it seems slower and filled with even more ads. The news content itself, which is of high quality, annoyingly seems to be randomly thrown together in one place with little to no strategy for viewers to easily find they’re looking for.
If all you want to see the latest video surf/weather update, you must either use their website or spend 15 minutes of searching & watching ads on their even worse HNN weather app.

HawaiiNewsNow on the other hand makes me crazy. I know HNN is a good source for local news, but HawaiiNewsNow is seriously glitchy. It doesn’t keep track of where you’ve scrolled, so if you read an article, it’s a crapshoot whether it will pop you to the top or save your place when you come out. Also, too many of the alerts redirect from HawaiiNewsNow to a web browser for live updates. 1) Those videos have played for me maybe twice and after an ad, so if someone is speaking live, I miss part of their speech. 2) I’m not always in a place where I can listen to audio.

Please FIX HNN Push notifications : Very frustrated with behavior of screen push Notifications links to unrelated stories on Web Live Stream instead of specific story on HNN phone app itself ... no options to change preferences to have push notifications to open the story within HawaiiNewsNow . It’s been this way since I installed it in 2015... please fix this!!!!

Yep, just like everyone else, HawaiiNewsNow is horrible. I can’t even get to the news stories because it’s behind a video ad that won’t close, after it plays, if you tap anywhere in the top 1/3 of the screen to try and access the “top stories” link under the ad, the ad just replays over and over.

Think about that… more effort went into making sure HawaiiNewsNow works for advertising than the effort needed to simply bring you the news. That should tell you where they’re priorities are.

Deleting HawaiiNewsNow as soon as I post this. Bye Felicia, you greedy girl.

I give it two stars just for existing. But it’s annoying when I get a notification for news and when I click on the notification it takes me to HawaiiNewsNow but nothing about that article is there. This happens the majority of the time. Even if I click on “News” the article usually isn’t appearing there either. When someone gets a notification of a news bit, shouldn’t clicking on it take you directly there so you can read it? This means the news on HawaiiNewsNow is very delayed and not in sync with the notifications. Please fix!

HawaiiNewsNow is pretty awful. First of all the grammar and spelling mistakes rampant in the articles are laughable. When you download HawaiiNewsNow to read some news or watch a video. You have to watch an advertisement. EVERY TIME!! Sometimes HawaiiNewsNow freezes after the advertisement then you have to close HawaiiNewsNow and watch another 15 to 20 second advertisement. Not to mention along the bottom of HawaiiNewsNow you’re constantly getting spammed with pop-ups advertising the latest nonsense. HawaiiNewsNow is more about generating money and cash flow than actually presenting you with news and information.

With family on Maui and our being in SoCal, HawaiiNewsNow brings such peace of mind. We are able to keep up with all pertinent news and weather concerning our land of Aloha. Using HawaiiNewsNow helps keep our love of Hawaii just that much closer to our hearts. It also helps us know what our Hawaiian family is experiencing. We love HawaiiNewsNow 🤙🏽❤️

I use HawaiiNewsNow daily for all my news and weather updates. When I get an update and click on it it opens a safari window with a screen that has nothing in it. I want to know if you can get rid of that. It’s useless.
It asks me to open HawaiiNewsNow to get live streams and updates.

It’s time to drop all the liberal news edge reporting, And just report the facts.
Not opinion.
We - the public can make our own determination of what we won’t to trust and call news & Goid Information. Not hyped up stories pushing your
One sided game plan.

Do t try to influence or change the store to make one side or the other sound it’s being played.
That’s why I get part of my news from Civil Beat Honolulu. And all the other local
News secondary to them.

They stand out to have the balls to call out the local Government, when they see problems with
Fare and honest values. Fact finding points and
Put the feet to the fire, on obvious problems.

Not the attempt to bury real news !
And throw in a Happy / feel good story.

Save that for the dumpster!!

I have many complaints abt HawaiiNewsNow one of which is when I get a notification abt a breaking news story and try to tap it to read the story, it acts like it’s going to open HawaiiNewsNow initially but then immediately switches to open a webpage with all the top stories, and I can never find the one I was trying to read about. Plus weather info is limited and no Doppler map option. Come on HNN app developers, you can do better.

When the “traffic” tab is open there’s nothing about traffic, just other news stories. Why have tabs if all the news is just sorted randomly?
Example: I received an alert about a road closure but when I click on the alert it only takes me to the main page and I can’t find anything about the traffic alert or road closure. (This happens a LOT.)

I appreciate all the news and information your app provides. I have one major gripe regarding HawaiiNewsNow . The notifications for news articles, when clicked to open and read, do not open the article. Sometimes I cannot find the article that caught my attention, especially if I click it immediately after getting the notification. If I wait a few minutes, the article becomes easier to find in the body of the news feed. I don’t believe that is intentionally the way HawaiiNewsNow ’s experience is intended to flow, but if it is intentional, then it is a somewhat of a systematic waste of time, taking much longer to get the information that originally prompted the click, and sometimes not at all. Please continue providing great content. Please consider looking into the issue.

I agree completely with this critique! I understand you need ads but when I click on HNN (esp. when it’s “breaking” news why do I see ads/msg saying you’ll be back soon? I can get quicker news from MSNBC, CBS, etc

I enjoy reading and keeping up to date with what is happening in Hawaii. I have been saddened watching the changes on the beautiful island. Hawaii being run by Democrats. High taxes, crime. We are heading back to Hawaii now and in January and that will be our last time. Your Senator Hirono was an embarrassment and not very smart. Definitely no Aloha for her and a sad example. We have been coming to have for 30 years and it is just not the islands we use to know!

HawaiiNewsNow is terrible if you want to live stream the news. It is very glitchy and cuts out all the time. And that’s only if you’ve been lucky enough to get it to play the news at all. Sometimes all you get are ads, punctuated by dead airwaves, then more ads. HNN really needs to hold HawaiiNewsNow developer to a higher standard and make sure that their content is properly delivered to eager content consumers. I give HawaiiNewsNow one star because you can’t give zero stars. DO BETTER HNN.

After the new software update, I havent been receiving notifications. I thought maybe it was my new upgraded iPhone XS, so I deleted HawaiiNewsNow and redownloaded HawaiiNewsNow , and still it doesn’t work. I Checked my phone notification settings AND also within HawaiiNewsNow alert settings and all are switched ON. I’m frustrated and annoyed bc I’m dependent on alerts for any important news updates in my area. Pls fix it now.

I have really liked the HNN app and watch live news coverage every morning, but they just updated it and changed the format. Now it is sterile and difficult to use. Where is Sunrise and some of the other special coverages? Also less pictures and videos. Go back to the old format!

HHN is the best news crew on the network!!! I look forward to hearing and watching you every day!! Especially online!! Your app is easy and fast!! Love you guys!!
Much aloha for all your hard work!
Roxann Williams

When I am reading the news an ad just pops up same with the weather it is annoying.
That is the only issue with HawaiiNewsNow I think should be taken away.
Of the ads popping up like this.
Than I have to reread it again.
Trying to find where I left off at.

HawaiiNewsNow is good keeping people updated and when something happens BUT when the notification pops up about a story and you touch it to read the story you are most of the time lead to the homepage; and the story you wanted to read isn’t even on there! So annoying.

I appreciate that HawaiiNewsNow keeps me updated with notifications but it’s nearly impossible to watch live. After streaming for less than five minutes, it completely freezes & won’t restart even if I pause to let it buffer & this is happening on LTE. Please fix this issue to make HawaiiNewsNow useful.