# News24: Trusted News. First — user reviews > 323 indexed App Store user reviews of News24 by 24.com, rated 2.80/5 from 265 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/news24-trusted-news-first/id310970460/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/news24-trusted-news-first/id310970460.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 57 · 4★ 54 · 3★ 30 · 2★ 25 · 1★ 99 ## What do users think of News24? Overall sentiment: negative **Pros** - 🚀 Great app - 🔍 Keeps me updated on news - 🌍 Useful for expats - 📱 Easy to use **Cons** - 🐛 Crashes and freezes - 🔋 Battery drain - 💰 Too many ads - 🔒 Subscription issues - 📰 Declining quality of news - 🙈 Biased reporting **Commonly reported bugs** - Notification issues - Incompatibility with newer devices - Slow article loading - Broken in-app features **Most requested features** - Dark mode option - Offline reading mode - Customizable news feed - Improved article formatting ## Newest reviews (19 of 323) ### 4/5 — One flaw *2026-03-10* Good in most respects, but really annoying that it flips back to the top of the list of headlines when you go back to the home page after reading an article. It should take you back to the headlines at the position you were when you clicked on the article so that you can continue browsing from where you were, like all other news apps that I use, instead of having to search all the way down from the top of the home page to find where you were in your browsing. Would be nice to have a fix for that. **Developer response:** Hi emankin, So sorry to hear about your annoyance! Please use the “Report a Bug” feature under “Profile” in the app or email us at news24app@24.com with more details, so that we can investigate further. Thanks for reaching out – we really value your feedback. Best regards, The News24 Team ### 2/5 — Font is too small. Lots of frustration *2025-11-22, version 7.88.2025111909* The new version is terrible. The font is too small. All the whitespace on the side in landscape and portrait is wasted and the article font is too small to read for older readers. Why change it? Secondly every time an article is read and closed the app jumps back to the top - surely we the user wants to remain at the same spot in the scrolling where the article was opened - this is a terrible experience. Lastly why do you repeat main articles as you scroll down the articles. This is very frustrating and feels like you have underestimated the intelligence of the users. I am close to cancelling my subscription - I don’t want to scroll down and see the same stuff over and over again. ### 2/5 — Latest “feature” is irritating *2025-11-20* Since the last update, closing a news article shoots the home page back up to the featured/newest article, requiring a reader to scroll back down to where they were last opening articles. **Developer response:** Hi nugp0t, So sorry to hear about your annoyance! Please update to our latest app version 7.88.2025111909. Should your issues persist then please use the “Report a Bug” feature under “Profile” in the app or email us at news24app@24.com with more details, so that we can investigate further. Thanks for reaching out – we really value your feedback. Best regards, The News24 Team ### 2/5 — Website has less bugs *2025-09-10, version 7.83.2025090211* Would be a decent app except for two big issues. 1) Often certain tabs fail to load with a message saying “you are currently offline” when I am definitely not offline. 2) Many articles cannot be opened, as in when you tap them nothing happens. If I open an article above or below one of these and then swipe sideways I just get taken to the next article I can tap on and open. So there are some articles I simply cannot access on the app. These issues persist after an app restart and refresh. ### 3/5 — Annoying subscribe banner!! *2025-06-23, version 7.78.2025062010* I am a subscriber to News24 but still get the extremely annoying banner advert selling a subscription when I open up the app. It’s also not possible to remove the banner by pressing the X at the top right of the ad. I have to go out the app, reset it on my phone and go back in. I can’t just open the app and read the news without this irritating advertisement. I kindly request that as a subscriber, this feature is removed. ### 2/5 — So slow … *2025-04-22* “Live” articles take forever to open, even with the fastest internet connections. The same with news videos. I assume it is the ads loading which slows things down. I would have been great if there was a “read later” feature for offline reading of news articles, considering that I pay a subscription. I assume that the reason it does not exist is because you cannot load ads while offline. **Developer response:** Hi nugp0t, So sorry to hear about your annoyance! Please update to our latest app version 7.74. 2025042115. Should your issues persist then please use the “Report a Bug” feature under “Profile” in the app or email us at news24app@24.com with more details, so that we can investigate further. Thanks for reaching out – we really value your feedback. Best regards, The News24 Team ### 2/5 — Ads are Incredibly Frustrating *2024-07-01, version 7.61.2024053016* I was very happy to take out a subscription are support journalism and News24 which I’ve been reading for free for years. However, I completely understand that ads are needed to support view viewing. But I would have thought that paying subscribing would be freed from the relentless ads in articles. I find myself inadvertently touching ads which then take me to their website, that I end up just giving up and stopping reading. I’m at the point where I may just give up my subscription. The ads in articles are way over the top; there is a huge ad almost every paragraph. I would quite honestly rather pay slightly more each month to have all ads removed, although this shouldn’t be necessary with a paying subscription. The ads do absolutely nothing for me except to detract from the experience. Incredibly buggy too - have to force close and reopen the app multiple times per day. ### 1/5 — Waste of time. *2024-04-05, version 7.57.2024031210* You now have to subscribe to read anything. Waste of time. ### 1/5 — Useless *2024-01-26* I have always found the quality of the journalism in this app very questionable. But in spite of the excessive amount of advertising I have kept it as there isn’t much else for SA news available. But now everything is also behind a paywall, so I have deleted the app. In addition it seems to track everything you do. Summary: greedy and poor quality. **Developer response:** Hi Htcpt, Sorry to hear about your annoyance. However, we rely on advertising to be able to provide you with a great, news-reading experience. For Editorial issues, please use the “Editorial Complaints” feature under “Profile” in the app or email us at George.Claassen@media24.com with more details, so that we can investigate further. Thanks for reaching out – we really value your feedback. Best regards, The News24 Team ### 1/5 — Pay to read anything *2024-01-22, version 7.55.2024011107* Very poor that one ha to subscribe and pay to read the “news” now. Considering how biased the news from Media24 is already, making you pay to read an article is taking things to the next level. What ever happened to investigative journalism where events are simply narrated and brought to the publics attention instead of dictatorship journalism whereby editors only publish articles that pick a side to manipulate peoples opinion on sensitive topics. Too much influence from first world petty politics instead of focusing on what we as South Africans care about. Editors also failing to reply to emails, why put the email on the footer of the article then ? Sad organisation this. ### 1/5 — Pay to read *2024-01-09, version 7.54.2023120610* Previously all exclusive articles were marked with “for subscribers” and you could avoid them if you were not subscribed. Now they removed the tags and you can’t see which are free articles and which ones are for subscribers while scrolling. 90% of all articles you click on are now for the subscribers and if you have the time or patience to look for it, you can read the 1 daily free article. I am all for adds and the subscription service, but changing everything to “subscribers only” is a bit far. I am giving it a 1 star because there was no warning or communication as to the changes, they just went ahead and did it, you scroll and go through numerous articles to find 1 that you can read for free. How else am I going to read the prestigious articles written by award winning journalists, articles such as “Jennifer Aniston turns heads with updated version of her iconic Rachel haircut”? ### 1/5 — Very little free content *2023-12-23* There is very little point in downloading this app unless you are paying the subscription, there have been less and less free articles to read recently. I gave up and deleted it. **Developer response:** Hi Norma Peckham, News24 will no longer indicate which of our journalism stands out above the rest, which is why you will notice the red 'for subscriber' tags are now gone. All of it will comply with our high standards of what constitutes quality journalism. Breaking news stories and rolling live updates on major events will remain free, while the bulk of our reportage will now be exclusively available to subscribers. To get a better sense of our elevated subscriber experience, you can try out our 14-day free trial. Best regards, The News24 Team ### 1/5 — Format and integrity issue with News 24 *2023-12-20, version 7.54.2023120610* The app has become a donkey ### 1/5 — Becoming almost unusable *2023-12-05* As a South African expat, I always used News24 to keep up with the news back home. Now virtually every second news story is for “subscribers only”! If they are now phasing this into a subscription based service, then will no longer be using News24! **Developer response:** Hi Anonymous290481, News24 will no longer indicate which of our journalism stands out above the rest, which is why you will notice the red 'for subscriber' tags are now gone. All of it will comply with our high standards of what constitutes quality journalism. Breaking news stories and rolling live updates on major events will remain free, while the bulk of our reportage will now be exclusively available to subscribers. To get a better sense of our elevated subscriber experience, you can try out our 14-day free trial. Best regards, The News24 Team ### 1/5 — Auto play ads for paying subscribers *2023-11-25* Over the last few days I’ve been getting annoying auto play full screen timed video ads take over my screen for every article I ready. As a paying subscriber I was paying not to be bombarded by Ads. This was fine, they got more and more, I took no note as long as they didn’t invade and take over my screen. Now this is just the last straw. Your model needs to respect paying subscribers a little more. Fix this and I will renew my subs and revise my rating. **Developer response:** Hi jasonbillion, So sorry to hear about your annoyance! We are investigating the issue and will hopefully resolve it soon. Thanks for reaching out – we really value your feedback. Best regards, The News24 Team ### 2/5 — News 24 *2023-10-25, version 7.50.2023100914* Virtually every article is now closed ‘for subscribers’. I’ve deleted the app today - it used to be a good way to keep up with SA news. ### 1/5 — Get better editors *2023-10-24, version 7.50.2023100914* I finally decided to delete the app after being unable to distinguish between articles for subscribers only and those available for free. This led to me opening about ten consecutive articles that I couldn't read. It's quite frustrating! The obvious solution would be to subscribe, as I understand it's an effort to generate more revenue. However, I have no intention of paying for news 24. The app's spelling and grammar issues are atrocious. Furthermore, I've encountered instances where articles seem to have been written over an extended period, resulting in tense inconsistencies that make it hard to follow. To make matters worse, nearly every article contains around three typos. It's truly disappointing. I'd prefer to subscribe and invest my money elsewhere. ### 1/5 — Unable to unsubscribe from emails. *2023-10-18, version 7.50.2023100914* I recently relents and started a subscription with News24. The subscription worked for a day. Then I was unable to get the app to give me subscriber stories. I reinstalled the app. Logged in, no go. I then ended the subscription on apple. As it is of no use. The real frustration has been the unsolicited emails. I never signed up for them. I have attempted to unsubscribe to emails, yet they continue to arrive. It’s very frustrating. I do believe in paying for good journalism, but this is just too much. I will be sourcing my news elsewhere in future’ I recommend you do the same. ### 1/5 — storky *2023-10-14, version 7.50.2023100914* Becoming a waste of time. Seems just about every news report one has to subscribe to now Not worth it!!! ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Inaccurate Reporting *2026-04-21, version 7.92.2026041605* Many of the articles are anti US. ### 1/5 — Dreadful *2026-02-03, version 7.89.2025120512* I renewed my subscription and paid but some reason every time I opened the App, it told me to subscribe. When I clicked subscribe it told me I was already subscribed. The support was completely useless. I have abandoned all attempts to try and resolve this. ### 1/5 — Not as good as it should be *2025-06-11, version 7.77.2025052713* Why not make the interactive part a bit more user friendly? Why can’t I see all of the comments I posted in a simple, easy way? If I want to check whether a comment was actually posted and left up after moderation, or see what responses there were, I need to find the article, and then scroll through the comments till I find mine (or not). It is a glaringly obvious, simple fix and just makes your app seem a bit broken. Why don’t/won’t you simply sort this out? ### 1/5 — On the decline *2025-02-27, version 7.70.2025021708* News24 seems to be on the decline—the quality of news and frequency of posts aren’t what they used to be. Additionally, I’ve been unable to view comments for months, constantly receiving the error: ‘There was an error contacting the comments server. Please try again…’ (I am based outside of SA). I’ve reported this issue, but nothing has been done. As a paid service, it really needs to improve. ### 1/5 — Okay, but biased. *2025-02-07, version 7.69.2025020410* All my opinion: The app itself is fine. This is not aimed at the devs. You will get news regarding SA, but as with all things MSM, they have tons and tons of implicit bias. It's actually incredible the amount of misinformation being spread. They sow division and hate, even if they fully belive they are doing the right thing. Check the comments, most people paying for N24 vehemently disagree with them. The only reason they keep on paying is to have a platform to express their displeasure with our government and get some factual news every now and then. N24 does not even try to hide their bias due to how big of a player in the space they are. If you live in SA, get your news from multiple different sources. ### 1/5 — Stick to the browser *2024-09-08, version 7.62.2024070312* Terrible app. External links only open in the in-app browser which is broken. Often I cannot exit an article once I’ve opened it. You cannot open YouTube links at all. ### 1/5 — News24 - Cancelled *2024-07-30, version 7.62.2024070312* As a long time supporter of both the web and app, time has come to cancel my subscription. The app has become an add market, with the adds taking more screen space than the actual news. I understand the need for multiple revenues, but running add campaigns are better left for non-subscribers and not your paying base. Today was the last time for me to click on an annoying add while trying to scroll, sub cancelled and back to free news on the web for me. ### 1/5 — Too expensive *2024-07-01, version 7.61.2024053016* I’m deleting this app. There’s zero news unless you pay a subscription. The same news can be viewed for free on either the apps: IOl, EWN, SABC, etc. ### 1/5 — Terrible Commercial Strategy *2024-06-11* This has become the most frustrating App to source news from. Over the past years the App has slowly migrated from free accessible news articles to almost most articles being for subscribers only. As an international reader seeking to read about developments in South Africa, it has become increasingly difficult to find articles available to all, instead of a select few. I’m not willing to pay for a subscription as I have no need for regular access from abroad which is why I believe the commercial strategy taken to a subscription model applicable to all readers amusing. This has alienated me and I’m sure other international readers. I’m not to return but seek my news of Sub Saharan news elsewhere **Developer response:** Hi liebenj, News24 will no longer indicate which of our journalism stands out above the rest, which is why you will notice the red 'for subscriber' tags are now gone. All of it will comply with our high standards of what constitutes quality journalism. Breaking news stories and rolling live updates on major events will remain free, while the bulk of our reportage will now be exclusively available to subscribers. To get a better sense of our elevated subscriber experience, you can try out our 14-day free trial. Best regards, The News24 Team ### 1/5 — Most news now hidden behind a paywall. *2024-04-16* UPDATE- Download the ***IOL News app*** So much better! My second review of this app. Whilst the journalism has always been mediocre at best it was a site where I could catch up on news back home. Then they flooded the feed ads and now pretty much every article is behind a paywall. Why would anyone pay for shoddy journalism? Luckily other options are available so now deleted this app. The new updated app is absolutely shocking! You can only see 3 articles per screen page the rest is all ads! (And the majority of articles are littered with grammatical errors and spelling mistakes) **Developer response:** Hi Telmewhy, News24 will no longer indicate which of our journalism stands out above the rest, which is why you will notice the red 'for subscriber' tags are now gone. All of it will comply with our high standards of what constitutes quality journalism. Breaking news stories and rolling live updates on major events will remain free, while the bulk of our reportage will now be exclusively available to subscribers. To get a better sense of our elevated subscriber experience, you can try out our 14-day free trial. For Editorial concerns, please use the “Editorial Complaints” feature under “Profile” in the app or email George.Claassen@media24.com with more details, so that we can investigate further. Best regards, The News24 Team. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Great app but… *2025-12-11* Love app, but please develop a dark mode for night time readers. **Developer response:** Hi Budgiefluff, This sounds like a great idea! We have this on our roadmap, so watch this space… Thanks for reaching out – we really value your feedback. Best regards, The News24 Team. ### 5/5 — News 24 *2020-05-21* There’s a golden rule in life: If it ain’t broke, DON’T FIX IT ! There was nothing much wrong with the original version. The new version is rediculous. **Developer response:** Hi eggy-peggy, So sorry to hear about your annoyance! Our team has done much research and put in long hours to create an improved app experience. Please give it some time and we are sure that you will appreciate the improvements soon. Thanks for reaching out – we really value your feedback. Best regards, The News24 Team ### 5/5 — Freezes *2020-04-22* I’ve recently downloaded and my experience has so far been less than ideal. The app freezes every time . Update- app has worked well for the last few days. No more freezing. **Developer response:** Hi there, Sorry to hear about the freezing of the app. Please update to the latest version in the App Store (v5.1.1034) and this should be resolved. Best regards, The News24 Team ### 5/5 — Well done *2020-02-21* Update: Congratulations, a developer that listens and responds. 5 stars for that, in this day and age. Thank you and well done **Developer response:** Hi there, Sorry about that! We added landscape mode again, so please update to v5.0.861 and make sure you start the app in landscape mode. Best regards, The News24 Team ### 5/5 — News 24 *2019-09-20, version 4.0.10* Great one-stop for South African news. ### 5/5 — Update *2019-04-20, version 4.0.0* Keeps me updated on all current news in South Africa. ### 5/5 — Sylvia *2019-04-15* Great to keep up with the news, well written, great articles. Also, love the recipes. ### 5/5 — Refreshing Latest News on iPhone *2019-02-26, version 3.9.9* Up and till a few years ago, while using iOS, the App would refresh automatically when re-opened, in other words, the latest news would be accessible when the App is opened. However, starting a few years ago, the App doesn’t always (mostly not) refresh, forcing me to have to re-start my iPhone X. I’m honestly not sure if this pertains to iPhones only. Would love to hear if this is a general issue with iPhones? ### 5/5 — Irritating erroneous ???? marks *2019-02-22, version 3.9.9* For months I and thousands of viewers are constantly irritated. by a typist making mistakes when preparing the 9 News 24 slots on DSTV. I have counted up to 22 and 37 question marks inserted instead of correct punctuation marks per slot! Every possible punctuation mark becomes a question mark! How can such an incompetent person be allowed to continue doing a job so hopelessly inadequately without being sent home to sit on his /her veranda and rather do nothing? This happens, although on DSTV, under your banner, and you should look, see, agree, and hopefully, STOP It ! Dr. Jaco van Zijl ### 5/5 — Th *2019-01-31* I find the news very useful being overseas and not having access to other SA news News24 is very informative and updated regularly. --- *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 2026-09-12.*