WOOD TV8 - Grand Rapids News Reviews

by Drive Or Bike

I am grateful you carry the President’s Press Conferences but am greatly disturbed and upset that you apparently refuse to carry it all. You show part of it and in recent conferences have cut out doctors or other government leaders who are giving us needed information. I am not sure if you have decided whether or not that it is all relevant, but that should be for us to decide. We need the office of the Presidency supported and not undermined. We need to hear what our leaders are doing or not able to do. When you cut away from our leaders then your newscasters try to say what has just been said. In a coronavirus pandemic an hour a night or what is needed is part of your purpose in serving the community and nation. I turn to other channels to get more until they cut off the conference. Saying we can go search for the rest somewhere else does not cut it fo me. Please consider these comments seriously.

by Lovemesomemusic;)

PLEASE FIX!!
My phone (iPhone 11 Pro Max)is constantly lagging , as well as freezing up. It’s infuriating! I sincerely hope WOODTV8 will be fixed appropriately SOON!!
I’m a big fan of our local (NBC Affiliate) Channel, this app. It’s definitely “My-go-To” Channel for getting up to date, & reliable Local news, & weather! So when a TV is not an available option, I feel at peace knowing that I am never without ESSENTIAL news & weather updates!
Obviously without an App that’s consistent and reliable I lose that peace.
Again: PLEASE FIX!

by Ring6992

I upgraded my iphone and now I have to be careful when I swipe up to close the intro ad I end up closing WOODTV8 . Then I get to the story and after every paragraph there is an ad, I understand that ads are needed since WOODTV8 is free but my goodness do we really need 5+ ads a story? Then I get the issue where the ad takes up my screen and every time I try to scroll past it WOODTV8 thinks I clicked to see the ad and opens it my browser and I have to close WOODTV8 to get out of that loop. Easy fix is to just have a ad banner that stays at the top or bottom and just scrolls different ads, not to hard. The swiping to get rid of the intro ad can be a click button, solved…

by Big G29

I was quite irate when after a update when I click on a news link and instead of being able to have the option on clicking on the video to watch the news story, it now automatically plays, and there is no muting or stopping the video.

Before the update you could read only the news story and not worry about burning up data to watch the story.

Nothing pisses off a wife more at 4am when I wake up and look at my phone for the latest news when she just got home from a 12hr shift at 2am from working in the hospital and automatically the news story you just wanted to read only starts playing video.

by Caddisbug1994

WOODTV8 is garbage. Truly. Someone needs to say it. The advertisement that overlays the opening welcome screen (swipe up to remove) is beyond annoying. The volume of ads throughout the experience are painful. The strength of woodtv is your weather and your app makes it insanely hard to get any detailed forecast. WOODTV8 is horrible. Honestly… at the risk of sounding like a Karen you really should throw it away and start over - this is genuinely a worst-in-class user experience. It has been for YEARs (even with your old app). Think you need to hire someone who knows what they are doing.

by Katevanz4824

WOODTV8 used to be my go-to for local news and information around Grand Rapids, MI. Anything I might have heard about, I knew I could rely on this app for laying out the info clear, concise and helpful. Now, they have chosen the route of seemingly ONLY posting political information while very clearly indicating whose “side” they’re on...just like all the ‘big guys’ who are paid off to report only info that bashes their opposing beliefs. Really sad to delete WOODTV8 today, just miss the home-grown stories. WOODTV8 itself could use some help too, in case that’s what you came here to find out.

by Jdjwndjjsjs

WOODTV8 is now completely “stuffed” with app-slowing ads. Adding to the madness, many ads are duplicated numerous times throughout the articles. In fact, there is one big ad box that must be removed b4 even seeing anything.
There are also ad links to hoards of phony news articles that, to me, puts in question this news organization’s credibility. In short, WOODTV8 quality went from Excellent to Poor over the many years I have used it; disappointing to say the least.

by Listening In Holland

I love to watch News 8 on my iPad using the live streaming feature! I run into a lot of problems though with it just stopping, or fast forwarding, or going blank. Not sure where these issues are coming from. What I HATE about live streaming is when the program cuts to commercial and the ads blared at FULL BLAST!!!! Please, how about some volume control? I’m not deaf!!

by !:)39/!:6;&4

I really prefer to get news and weather info from channel 8, but there are way too many ads thrown in my face. I hit the x to get rid of them and an told "we'll try not to show that ad again" and the same one immediately pops up! Please do something about this. I come to get news and weather not see advertisements. If this doesn't stop I will go elsewhere!

by Stephenieh81

Getting to the weather is not as easy. The radar his horrible! I can’t get on WOODTV8 at work because it automatically starts playing videos. I can’t have that while I’m working. When you click on a story and hit the back button it doesn’t go back to the home screen. The upgrade has defiantly been a fail! I’d deal with it if I could at least get good weather info and not have a video come on every time.

by Asdfghjklertyuuio

II also follow the news from WFLA in Tampa Florida.
They not only cover news from around stamps but also around the country.
At times they posted news from West Michigan that were not covered by WOODTV 8.
I wondered why would a station in Florida cover our local news when our local NBC station didn’t cover it.
There was also news about Jack Doles that WOOD TV 8 did not cover.

by Vto6143

Performance of WOODTV8 makes it almost unusable now on an iPad mini 2. Lots of forced advertisements, takes a very long time to load up, and then is very laggy. Can’t even get the weather to load. Maybe the iPad mini 2 hardware isn’t enough? But why would a news and weather app need so much power to run? Seems it is not optimized at all. Previous version ran fine.

by Steamboat911

I followed a weather alert from WOODTV to WOODTV8 on my iPad yesterday. It did not take me to the story but a page that had stories vaguely related to the alert. From there I could not get back to any kind of directory. It just seemed stuck. I finally had to just close out of WOODTV8 since I could do nothing at that point. This update’s about two weeks old so (I’m embarrassed to admit) this is probably first time I’ve used it. WOODTV8 use to work well. Now? I am giving you a very generous two stars for now. Fix this mess.

by Albion41

My Go-To station for news and weather has been Channel 8 for over 50 years. I know that times and audiences change and that means programming does too. The quality of the newscasters and the meteorologists rank very high with me. I just wish the “behind the scenes” personnel could pay more attention to what is on screen. Often the captioning is not accurate, and sometimes the person on air has to request the appropriate caption.

I know you probably cannot do anything about my other complaint. I’d rather hear the whole news/weather story in its entirety than to get it in disjointed snippets over the entire broadcast.

by Darin B L

Excellent app. for news, school closures and more. It seems the most recent update has added video auto play to news stories. It was startling. Be aware that there is a very clear setting that allows you to disable auto play.

by Neicee Fudd

Have been ‘with’ WOOD my entire life. (Over 45 yrs) and this is where I’ll stay. Never really read the paper, but always keep informed here @ news8. When I found out I could receive info via my fone, I signed right up. Never had any trouble or problems. 😊 Thank you!

by Miss My News

Many times the video is choppy and repeats multiple times. Other times the video is not available. I deleted WOODTV8 and reinstalled it to no avail. I love wood TV eight and the anchors and wish WOODTV8 was better! I miss the news!

by Hazeldad

June 2018: WOODTV8 has finally arrived. It works smoothly and seems to be quite stable. The interface is clean, uncluttered, and intuitive. There are a number of ads, of course, but they are not overwhelming or overly intrusive. This is a great source for local news and important developments such as the weather and school closings.

January 2017: I haven't reviewed WOODTV8 for three years now, but my previous comment stands. I don't find it as bad as some others, and I do find it a good source of information for local news. Weather reports in school closings are vital information for me. However, this latest update has crashed it. It opens and locks on the screen that says "fetching articles".

Jan 2014: Latest update is causing crashes. Can't use the weather button at all as it crashes WOODTV8 .

After some very bad versions, WOODTV8 finally works well. The UI is clear and works smoothly. Navigation is very good.

All in all this is now pretty decent app and good for local news, weather, and school closings.

by Joedejong.mister Horror?

I have no problems on WOODTV8 whatsoever but the one bug that I have is that every time I try to go and watch early morning daybreak or eight W. or news eight at noon when I watch the live video I love watching that I enjoy WOODTV8 big fan of wood TV8 love you guys I grew up watching wood TV8 and I love watching wood TV8 and it has all of the news and weather to watch and look out for! So keep updating and keep updating WOODTV8 and maybe add some more features in new features and I would love to have wood TV eight on Roku

by Ferrell I

I was getting really frustrated with WOODTV8 but the new upgrades have made a world of difference! Waiting through the ads SO tiresome and I considered trying another app. This change is fabulous!!

by VanMan58707758

Have made some improvements. Not having to watch repeated commercials with each video I click on. Still too many though. Sensationalism is still too high. Also 8 will many times report one side of a story. Get both sides and report “fairly”. What is reported as racism isn’t racism once all the facts are sought. Not in the best interest of the community.

by Chef 5819

Finally a platform that is as useful as it is informative. The crashes have stopped but the screen freezes every now and then. The redesigned home page is logical and intuitive. You’ve come a long way baby.
That was then. The crashes are back and the screen lockup’s are a new benefit.

by Vandrag

I like the news updates/notifications. But WOODTV8 isn’t setup in a manner where you see relative information in one place. I like the way it was organized before they revamped it. It also just shuts down on me sometimes. But I like the instant news notifications.

by Tz23sz

I have a difficult time getting the forecast to play and to update. Others I have talked to are having difficulty’s as well.

by CB Pma

I have not been able to get WOOD TV since July 4th!! I am going to end all TV viewing if not returned by the end of the month and listen to the Radio
I only watched News 8 for 27 years that’s when I moved to Grand Rapids

by Great To Save You Time

It’s a quick way for me to stay informed. They refresh their news updates constantly.