# DW - Breaking World News — user reviews > 239 indexed App Store user reviews of DW by Deutsche Welle, rated 3.70/5 from 287 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/dw-breaking-world-news/id498833085/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/dw-breaking-world-news/id498833085.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 147 · 4★ 42 · 3★ 21 · 2★ 30 · 1★ 47 ## What do users think of DW? Overall sentiment: negative **Pros** - 📺 Good news coverage and programming - 🌍 Trusted source for international news - 🔍 Comprehensive reporting on global events **Cons** - 🐛 Frequent app crashes and freezes - 📱 Poor user experience and navigation - 🔍 Biased and one-sided reporting - 🔍 Lacking objectivity and balance in news coverage **Commonly reported bugs** - Notifications not opening the correct article - Live TV and video playback issues - Frequent login/logout problems - Outdated news content displayed **Most requested features** - Dark mode option - Adjustable font size - Improved Chromecast/AirPlay support - Better organization and categorization of content ## Newest reviews (17 of 239) ### 2/5 — Like many news apps: does not look at settings *2026-07-17* What can I say, it displays the news. But, if say you’re older and need a larger font size which you’ve set in your devices settings … well it doesn’t do anything with that setting. It, like many Web sites will allow you to zoom in and out. The problem with that is while the text gets bigger/smaller, the flow of the text does not change to conform to your devices width. The end result is for larger text is you are constantly scrolling the page left and right. From a usability point-of-view this is really bad. **Developer response:** Please send us an email to info@dw.com with all technical details: which device you are using and which version you have installed. Our technicians will take care of the problem. Thank you. ### 3/5 — “Can’t load content” *2026-06-10* I like to read DW every day, just to get a different view (i.e. not U.K. or U.S.) on world events. But increasingly often I get a blank page and a message that the “content can’t be loaded”. Why? **Developer response:** Please send us an email to info@dw.com with all technical details: which device you are using and which version you have installed. Our technicians will take care of the problem. Thank you. ### 4/5 — getting better *2026-03-19* still some issues/awkward design but over the months i’ve had it it’s been consistently improving ### 2/5 — Sudden reloads / breaks reading *2025-10-28* It’s virtually impossible to read a longer story because the app reloads itself in the middle of the reading and takes me back to the front page. I like the content and interface but this issue makes it barely usable **Developer response:** If deleting and reinstalling the app does not help the problem, please send a message to info@dw.com so that we can further assist you. Thank you! ### 2/5 — App jumps around constantly *2025-04-24* While i respect DW a lot as a news source, the app has a serious problem. It keeps returning to the top of the homepage, whether you’ve scrolled down on the page, or even gone to an article. It just keeps resetting every few seconds to the top of the home page… makes it impossible to read anything. **Developer response:** Thank you for your message and interest in DW. If deleting and reinstalling the app does not help the problem, please send an e-mail to info@dw.com so that we can further assist you. ### 2/5 — News alert links never works *2025-03-04* Great news organisation but poorly designed app. When I get a news alert and click it the link NEVER works. **Developer response:** Thank you for your message and interest in DW. If deleting and reinstalling the app does not help the problem, please send an e-mail to info@dw.com so that we can further assist you. ### 2/5 — Not great *2025-01-19, version 3.6.4* News often doesn’t update. Breaking news links often don’t work. Considering uninstalling. The era of German design excellence is clearly over. ### 2/5 — notificações não abrem *2025-01-15* o aplicativo nunca abre as noticiais quando clica na notificação… **Developer response:** agredecemos pela mensagem e interesse na DW. se deletar e reinstalar o aplicativo não ajudar neste caso, por favor, envie um e-mail a info@dw.com para que possamos auxiliá-lo melhor. ### 4/5 — Live-TV *2024-11-24* Why the Live-TV no longer plays in German? It was a good way to practice my German listening comprehension, and now it’s gone! **Developer response:** Agradecemos pela mensagem e interesse na DW! Os conteúdos televisivos em alemão foram interrompidos no início de 2024. Entretanto, você pode encontrar as ofertas de vídeo (em alemão) on demand: https://www.dw.com/de/alle-sendungen/programs-de E, claro, os conteúdos da DW Brasil estão disponíveis aqui: https://www.youtube.com/@DWBrasil/ ### 4/5 — Dark mode *2024-10-20* Every time I open this app it blinds me with the white. Please add a dark mode option. I’ve resorted to only using the app for notifications and using the website in reader mode for everything else. ### 1/5 — Не работает *2024-09-23* Для пользователей iOS в Appstore доступно приложение DW, где Psiphon уже интегрирован. Так вы можете продолжать читать нас в обычном режиме после активации прокси. - с включенным прокси просто голубой экран без единой надписи - со сторонним vpn загружается верхнее меню, остальной экран белый и ничего из меню не открывается ### 1/5 — Socialist to the core *2024-09-02, version 3.5.4* Bring back the DW of the past. Todays version is leftist to the core. The old version gave the facts and left the opinion to the reader. ### 3/5 — Ok only *2024-08-26* Great news/lifestyle content. But, every week I have to shutdown my iPhone to because DW has locked up again. I have a number of news apps, this is only one has consistently locked up on me. The developers seem uninterested in fixing it. After sending this review I’m going shutdown and then restart my phone so I can use the DW app. ### 1/5 — No news possible malware *2024-08-25* Neva down loaded this app! Running in apps always alowed! Was on the Home Screen. Couldn’t delete it! As I noticed it a few months ago! Tried numerous time with IT professionals! And apple to delete it out of apps always slowed! And it appears again after deleting it! And even changes bak to original dw breaking news! After dl newest one and running new apple 17.6 and resetting phone and factory reset! It is still running Does anyone else ever heard of this before ### 4/5 — Dark Mode *2024-08-10* O aplicativo é bom, mas seria ainda melhor se tivesse um modo noturno. Eu gostaria que todos os aplicativos oferecessem essa opção. Sigam o exemplo do App G1. Obrigado! ### 3/5 — Good reporting but: Needs dark mode. Often has typos. Terrible images quality. *2024-08-09* App really needs a dark mode. And also more spell checkers. Often times some words - and even organizations - are misspelled. Good otherwise. Also, for some reason the images they upload are often very low quality. ### 1/5 — Не работает *2024-07-31* И с впн и без и с прокси и без. Загружается, мелькает заголовок и появляется белый экран. Переустановку делал, не помогает ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — 🚫 CRITICAL BUG: "Top Stories in 90 Seconds" Does Not Play 🚫 *2026-07-13* The "Top Stories in 90 Seconds" video module on the English feed is completely broken globally. Attempting to play the asset throws a native Apple AVKit prohibited/slashed-circle icon (🚫). Core Issue and Visual Indicator Symptom: Initiating video playback fails immediately. The player UI displays a solid red slashed-circle prohibited icon 🚫. Technical Meaning:  Apple's native media layer on tvOS and iOS (AVKit / AVFoundation) recognizes the server-side streaming path container, but rejects it because the underlying target asset is physically missing, corrupted, or returning a malformed master playlist (.m3u8). Scope and Infrastructure Tested Location: United States and multiple global VPN endpoints Target Feed: English Language Edition ("Top Stories in 90 Seconds"). Cross-Platform Failure: Reproducible simultaneously on the latest versions of iOS 18 (iPhone) and tvOS (Apple TV). Network Isolation: Tested across standard US residential ISPs, cellular data networks, and multiple global VPN endpoints. Local Variables Eliminated: Full device reboots, application offloading, and complete app deletions/reinstalls fail to resolve the error. Engineering Takeaway Because the issue persists across entirely isolated networks, distinct hardware architectures, and global routing endpoints, this is NOT a local client cache issue. The automated publishing pipeline or CDN encoding script for the English "Top Stories in 90 Seconds" asset is broken at the source. Please escalate this directly to the mobile development / backend video streaming engineering team. **Developer response:** Please send us an email to info@dw.com with all technical details: which device you are using and which version you have installed. Our technicians will take care of the problem. Thank you. ### 1/5 — Avoid *2026-04-19* Doesn’t actually work don’t waste your money **Developer response:** Thank you for your message. If deleting and reinstalling the app does not help the problem, please write to info@dw.com so that we can further assist you. ### 1/5 — Israeli propaganda *2026-03-13* Now an Israeli propaganda platform and used only to amplify government policy, not real journalism. **Developer response:** As an international broadcaster, it is our mission to provide objective, balanced, and fact-based journalism. If you have a fact-based reason for a complaint, you may submit an official objection to info@dw.com, including the title of the relevant report, the specific passages you wish to challenge, and any corresponding counter-evidence. ### 1/5 — DW *2026-01-06, version 3.6.7* Was ist los mit dem App von DW? Ich habe es immer sehr gern gehabt und möchte es behalten und es funktionierte sehr gut. Aber auf einmal gibt es Störungen, wenn ich eines der Videos sehen möchte. Es ist dauernd unterbrochen und ich habe eine schwarze Fläche und kein Video. Ich habe es gelöscht und neu aufgeladen, aber die Unterbrechungen kommen wieder. Und es dreht sich im Kreis im Kreis und im Kreis zum Wiederaufkaden und nichts kommt dabei heraus. Was macht ihr bloß mit dem ansonsten richtig gutem App? Bitte repariert das bald ganz fix und sehr schnell. Ihr seid meine Nachrichten und Informationsquelle für Themen die mich wirklich interessieren. Ich will auch alle Videos sehen, die ihr im App habt. Denn das DW in den USA habt ihr uns ja weggenommen. Liebe DW, bitte behebt im App, was fehlerhaft ist. Gutes Neues Jahr 2026 für euch in Berlin wünsche ich euch. ### 1/5 — Не работает *2025-10-10* Не работает **Developer response:** Thank you for your comment. If you are in Russia, please take into consideration that the government blocks our content, so it is necessary to use some censorship bypass measure such as VPN. ### 1/5 — German language app now useless *2025-08-05* I really enjoy the DW German language class (Nicos Weg) but (a) I am logged out every time and (b) if I attempt a course, I get an error message “status feedback” something went wrong please try again later. Not very motivating and very frustrating. Please could you fix **Developer response:** Thank you for your message. Please write to info@dw.com so that we can further assist you. ### 1/5 — buggy *2025-07-05* Tapping a notification should go directly to the article, not the front page or anywhere else. It’s not that hard. **Developer response:** Thank you for your message. In this case we suggest deleting and reinstalling the app. If it does not help the problem, please send a message to info@dw.com so that we can further assist you. ### 1/5 — Notifications *2025-03-18, version 3.6.6* Notifications don’t actually open the story. Major fail. ### 1/5 — Good reporting but: Needs dark mode. Often has typos. Terrible images quality. *2024-11-06* App really needs a dark mode. And also more spell checkers. Often times some words - and even organizations - are misspelled. Good otherwise. Also, for some reason the images they upload are often very low quality. I am updating my review to one star because in addition to the above complaints, DW always asks if I want to enable cookies even after I have checked the box. Every single time I open the app. This is annoying. Also, it repeatedly asks me if I want to show 3rd party info even though I always click “yes, always show 3rd party info”. They really need someone to clean up their app!! Please!! ### 1/5 — App worked for a while *2024-09-23, version 3.5.4* Now no pictures, can’t go to direct stories or country. I uninstalled then reinstalled. This made no difference ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Nervig *2025-01-24* Wenn die App nicht geöffnet ist und man auf eine Überschrift im Widget tippt, wird nicht direkt zum Artikel geladen, sondern in eine Endlosschleife. Wenn die App allerdings schon mal auf ist auf dem Handy, dann kann man völlig problemlos zum gewünschten Artikel springen. Sobald das behoben ist, gerne fünf Sterne. **Developer response:** Vielen Dank für Ihre Nachricht. Sollte eine Neuinstallation der App nicht helfen, wenden Sie sich gerne mit der Problemstellung und technischen Daten zu Gerät, IOS-Version und App-Version an info@dw.com ### 5/5 — World News and social news videos *2024-10-01* Best news ### 5/5 — Mr.Wissam *2024-09-20, version 3.5.4* البشير شو ♡ ### 5/5 — Good programs.Current events *2023-11-01, version 3.4.4* I like the Rev, tomorrow today, fitness and eco news programs. All available on demand ### 5/5 — Dark mode please *2023-04-04, version 3.2.5* Great app …great programs… just include dark mode feature in settings please. ### 5/5 — Muito bom *2023-02-10* Está de bom tamanho ### 5/5 — Picture in Picture, HECK YES *2022-10-29, version 3.1.9* With free access to the live stream through picture in picture mode, the DW app is now far superior to the BBC app. I love being able to watch the news while doing other things. The interface is still great. DW, you rock as always ### 5/5 — Russia *2022-03-04* пожалуйста, отправляйте уведомления, они проходят еще… ### 5/5 — Klasse App *2022-02-23* Übersichtlich, gut strukturiert, leicht bedienbar und gewohnt hohe Qualität der Artikel. Einen Vorschlag hätte ich aber: einen umschaltbaren Dark-Mode. Der weiße Hintergrund ist relativ unangenehm für die Augen wenn man in einem schlecht belichteten Raum liest. ### 5/5 — Impressionante! Conteúdo de ótima qualidade. *2022-02-07* Fico muito triste em ver poucos downloads. Conteúdo sem custos e ainda muito bom. Sempre atualizados. Obrigado por isso DW! Gostaria de saber como posso contribuir. --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-07.*