# Root - Debate & Discuss — News, debates & real opinions > Debate app for news and questions, fostering structured conversations and community engagement. (iPhone/iPad app by Marcus Holloway.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/root-debate-and-discuss/id6761019717 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [Marcus Holloway](https://appshunter.io/developer/1887340650) - Category: Social Networking, News - Price: Free - Rating: 5.00/5 from 2 App Store ratings - Age rating: 12+ - Requires: iOS 15.1 · 36 MB - Languages: American English - Released: 2026-05-09 - Data updated: 2026-09-06 - Monetization: free - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/root-debate-and-discuss/id6761019717/reviews.md ## What is Root? What do you actually think? Root is the debate app that turns today's news and biggest questions into real conversations. Take a stance, share your reasoning, and see how your thinking compares to everyone else's. What's new in 1.4 Root now has a Community tab — where users like you drive the conversation. Submit your own debate questions, browse what the community is discussing, and join live rooms to debate in real time. Community questions Have a question you want Root to debate? Submit it from the Ask tab. Add an inspiration source — a Reddit thread, YouTube video, or anything that sparked the idea. Questions go through instant AI review and are live within seconds if approved. Live Rooms browser See every active Breakout Room across Root in one place. Search by keyword, filter by topic, and jump straight into a live AI-moderated discussion without having to find the question first. How Root works Pick your stance — Agree, Disagree, or Neutral on any question Share your reasoning — add context, tag your perspective, cite a source See the breakdown — how does the community actually split? Go deeper — explore the top reasons on each side, drill into the arguments, join a live Breakout Room to debate in real time In the news Root surfaces real articles twice daily and turns them into debate questions — so you're not just reading the headlines, you're weighing in on them. Tap any headline to read a summary before you respond. For You Your personalized feed mixes weekly curated questions, news-driven debates, and community submissions matched to your interests — all in one place. Trending See what's generating the most discussion on Root right now across all question types, ranked by real engagement. Breakout Rooms When a question gets heated, jump into a live AI-moderated discussion with other users. Real conversation, structured debate, no pile-ons. Built for thinkers Root isn't social media. There are no likes, no follower counts, no algorithmic rage-bait. Just questions worth debating and a community willing to engage seriously with them. ## Key features - Take a stance on debates - Share reasoning and cite sources - View community breakdowns - Join live AI-moderated discussions - Submit custom debate questions - Browse trending and curated questions ## Frequently asked questions about Root ### What is Root? Root is a debate app designed to turn news and big questions into real conversations. It allows users to take a stance, share their reasoning, and see how their thinking compares to others. ### How does Root work? Users pick a stance (Agree, Disagree, or Neutral), share their reasoning with context and sources, and can then explore community breakdowns and join live Breakout Rooms for real-time debate. ### Can I submit my own debate questions on Root? Yes, Root has a Community tab where users can submit their own debate questions. These questions undergo AI review and are live within seconds if approved. ### What are Live Rooms on Root? Live Rooms, also called Breakout Rooms, are live AI-moderated discussions where users can debate a question in real time. You can browse and join active rooms directly from the Live Rooms browser. ### Is Root suitable for younger users? Root has an age rating of 12+, making it suitable for teenagers and older users who are interested in engaging with news and complex topics in a structured manner. ### Does Root have ads? No, Root does not contain advertisements. The app is designed to focus on serious engagement with questions rather than ad-driven content. ### What devices is Root available on? Root is available on iPhone and iPod devices, allowing users to engage in debates on the go. ### How often is Root updated? The latest version of Root is 1.4, which was last updated on June 6, 2026. This indicates a relatively active development cycle for the application. ## Version history (last 5 releases) ### 1.5.0 — 2026-09-01 Root 1.5 includes minor updates to question formation to prevent duplicate question and articles from appearing in the news section. ### 1.4 — 2026-06-06 Version 1.4 brings the community to Root. Community tab - Ask — submit your own debate questions, add an inspiration source, get instant AI moderation - Questions — browse and respond to community-submitted debates - Live Rooms — see every active Breakout Room across Root, search and join directly More improvements - Welcome guide for new users — a quick intro to how Root works on first launch - Related questions now appear after you respond to a news question - Neutral stance fully supported in Breakout Room closing reflections - Stability improvements and faster feed loading - Share a question — links now open directly in the Root app ### 1.3 — 2026-06-01 Version 1.3 brings the news into Root. - In the news — daily feed of debate questions pulled from real articles, updated twice daily - Article summaries — tap any news headline to read a summary before you weigh in - For You now includes news questions matched to your topics - Trending shows the most-discussed questions across all of Root - Stance buttons now appear before responses, top reasons after — cleaner debate flow - Performance and stability improvements ### 1.2.1 — 2026-05-20 What's New in 1.2.1 New: Neutral stance Not fully convinced either way? You can now respond as Neutral alongside Agree and Disagree. Neutral responses have their own Top Neutral reasons section, and the stance bar now shows all three perspectives. New: Response tags Add optional context to your response with tags like Personal experience, Professional context, Cultural perspective, and more. Tags appear on your response and surface as the most common tags across top reasons. New: For You feed personalization The For You tab now shows only questions from your selected topics, making your feed more relevant to what you care about. Improved: Question cards Top reasons now show a preview before you respond, with additional reasons revealed after you share your take. Your response is now shown in a collapsible card to keep the card tidy. Improved: Weekly notifications You'll now receive a notification when new weekly questions are available, taking you directly to the Weekly tab. Improved: Sources Sources used in Root responses are now labeled correctly, and navigating back to the original response works reliably. Bug fixes and stability improvements ### 1.1 — 2026-05-13 What's new in 1.1.0: - Stay signed in when your connection drops - New "Forgot password" flow with secure email reset - Faster top reasons — they now appear as soon as responses are gathered - Delete all and swipe-to-delete on notifications - Better breakout room chat scrolling - Improved onboarding with helpful tooltips - Updated password requirements and show/hide toggle - Cleaner question card display - Refreshed About page - Various bug fixes and stability improvements ## Related topics [political debate](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/political-debate) · [discussion](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/discussion) · [sided debates](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/sided-debates) --- *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 2026-09-06.*