# SmartNews: Breaking News — Read in English or Spanish

> Curated news from trusted publishers, personalized to your interests. (iPhone/iPad app by SmartNews, Inc..)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/smartnews-breaking-news/id579581125 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [SmartNews, Inc.](https://appshunter.io/developer/579581128)
- Category: News, Lifestyle
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Rating: 4.60/5 from 928,581 App Store ratings · 1,586 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 12+
- Requires: iOS 17.0 · 239 MB
- Languages: American English, Japanese
- Released: 2014-10-01
- Data updated: 2026-08-29
- Monetization: free with in-app purchases
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/smartnews-breaking-news/id579581125/reviews.md

## What is SmartNews?

We combine the best of quality journalism with expert curation to help you stay informed—and feel good while doing it. Discover top news from premium publishers in one app: Bloomberg, The Atlantic, USA Today, TIME, The Huffington Post, Bleacher Report, Quartz, The Verge, LAT, VOX, AP, Reuters, Buzzfeed, and Fast Company.

Read news in English, Spanish, Chinese and more! Translate any article in your feed to your native language for easier reading.

SmartNews rewards you for staying up to date. Earn points every day by reading articles and exchange them for gift cards from your favorite brands or donations to charities you support.

Key Features

Translation: Translate articles into Spanish, Chinese, and more with one tap to read in your native language.

Rewards: Earn points for reading articles and completing daily missions, redeemable for retail gift cards or charity donations.

Local & Travel: Get informative stories and location-based updates on government, traffic, weather, and politics wherever you go.

Politics: Prepare for elections, polls, and debates with stories across the political spectrum.

Quality: We partner with thousands of trusted publishers for premium, balanced news.

Entertainment: Discover top movies or TV shows with your favorite actors.

Sports: Catch breaking news about football, basketball, golf, tennis, soccer, and more.

Health: Discover the healthcare news that impacts you all in one free app.

SMARTNEWS IN THE PRESS

“Browse headlines quickly, customize your channels, and read the news offline. SmartNews is an excellent free alternative to other popular news apps.” - CNET

AWARDS

Winner: 2025 May Award Contest - Best Mobile App (Best Mobile App Awards)

Best Local News App: 2024, US (Bestapp)

Best News Aggregator: 2023, US (Lifewire)

Best News App: 2023, US (AndroidCentral)

REVIEWS

“Better than Feedly or Flipboard. Love it!” — Joe C.

“Much better than the new version of Apple News.” — Donald B.

“Been using Google News, but this is better. Much easier to share.” — Nikki H.

Terms of Service
Please read and confirm these terms before using our services: https://www.smartnews.com/terms/

Rewards Disclaimer
You must be a legal resident of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia. The Program may be offered only in certain geographic regions in the US and may not be available in all jurisdictions. SmartNews may limit, restrict, suspend, or discontinue Program availability at any time in its sole discretion.

The merchants represented are not sponsors of the rewards or otherwise affiliated with SmartNews. The logos and identifying marks are trademarks of and owned by each represented company and/or its affiliates. Visit each company's website for additional terms and conditions.

## Key features

- Curated news feed
- Local news updates
- Politics and election coverage
- Entertainment and sports news
- Health and wellness articles
- Trusted publisher content

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**Subscriptions**

| Subscription | Price | Period |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Ads-free SmartNews | $4.99 | per month |
| Ads-free SmartNews | $3.99 | per month |


## Chart rankings

- #18 in Top Free · News (US App Store)

## What do users think of SmartNews?

Overall sentiment: neutral

**Pros**

- 💯 Excellent news app
- 🌐 Wide variety of news sources
- 🔍 Customizable news feed
- 📰 Comprehensive news coverage
- 🔖 Useful feature to save articles for later
- 🧠 Smart news curation

**Cons**

- 📢 Excessive and intrusive ads
- 🤖 Biased or unreliable news sources
- 🔄 Frequent app freezes and crashes
- 🔋 High battery consumption
- 🔍 Lack of customization and filtering options
- 📌 Inability to remove unwanted news sources

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Notifications not working as expected
- Articles not loading properly
- Scrolling issues and lags
- Inconsistent app behavior across devices

**Most requested features**

- Ability to permanently block unwanted news sources
- Option to view news in chronological order
- Improved local news coverage
- Offline reading mode
- Enhanced sharing capabilities

## Recent user reviews (10 of 1,586)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/smartnews-breaking-news/id579581125/reviews.md

### 2/5 — Popups again

*2026-08-25, version 26.8.30*

Mostly garbage news sources these days. And full page popups are back. Nope nope nope. Delete.

Update: 
Developers respond to requests, so that's nice. Wanted to be able to block specific publishers to try and limit the fluff and sure enough they added the feature. 

Current issue keeping me from using the iPad app at all now, and to some degree the iPhone as well, is the damn gamification popups. I'm sorry but if people need some reward for just reading the news perhaps news isn't your thing. In an effort to get people to read more they actually have me reading significantly less. Probably not the outcome they were going for. Gonna have to have a toggle to turn it off before I'm back to using the app much.

### 1/5 — Jerusalem Post

*2026-08-24, version 26.8.30*

30% of all articles come from the (genocidal) Jerusalem Post. "Smartnews" took their dirty money, so you can't block them.

### 1/5 — Video “option”

*2026-08-24, version 26.8.30*

I have seizures and I can’t be exposed to constant flickering content. There’s no tab to stop them so I may have to stop using your app.

### 1/5 — Very Prejudicial

*2026-08-20, version 26.8.30*

I am deleting your app. Very Pro genocidal entity. Can’t digest it, so throwing it up.

### 3/5 — Over heated

*2026-08-18, version 26.8.30*

I like it but it heats up my phone for one. And another thing, it goes to another page when I haven’t clicked on any page

### 2/5 — Too Biased

*2026-08-17, version 26.8.10*

SmartNews seems very biased in their news coverage.  SmartNews must really despise Donald Trump with a negative slant on every news story related to him.  Was hoping for better.

### 1/5 — App kills battery

*2026-08-17, version 26.8.10*

Is this running background processes? Using this app causes the phone to get hot and it is unclear why.

### 1/5 — Memphis

*2026-08-17, version 26.8.10*

Memphis TN is located in Shelby County,TN. You are including “Shelby County” info that is not in Tennessee. You need to Re-write your program so that does not pick up Shelby County outside of Tennessee.

It is getting to the point that so many of your articles are being blocked by my Secutitu sidtware I don’t know who to trust on  anymore

### 2/5 — Ads

*2026-08-16, version 26.8.10*

So many news stories that are really ads, and it’s gets worse.  They also added gamification…trying to reward you with meaningless points for reading which, coincidently, started with the last update that brought us more not-news.  I should point out that the 4.6 rating (Aug 2026) is probably from old reviews when the app version that I liked was customer friendly.

### 1/5 — Dumb and irrelevant news.

*2026-08-16, version 26.8.10*

The worst news site on the web.

## Frequently asked questions about SmartNews

### What does this news app do?

This app combines quality journalism with expert curation to help you stay informed. It allows you to easily curate your news feed based on your passions and topics of interest, providing access to top news from premium publishers.

### What are the key features of this app?

Key features include a curated news feed from trusted publishers, local news updates on government, traffic, weather, and community events, and in-depth coverage of politics, entertainment, sports, and health. You can also discover travel tips and plan vacations.

### Is this app free to use?

Yes, the app offers trustworthy breaking coverage for your area for free. While the core news delivery is free, it does have in-app purchases, suggesting optional premium features or content may be available.

### What kind of news can I find on this app?

You can find a wide range of news, including breaking stories, local updates, politics (elections, debates), entertainment (movies, TV shows), sports (games, teams), and health (wellness, mental health). It partners with thousands of trusted publishers for balanced news.

### Who is this app for?

This app is designed for individuals who want to stay informed with quality journalism and personalized content. It's ideal for those interested in a broad spectrum of news, from global events to local happenings, and who appreciate curated feeds.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 26.8.30 — 2026-08-18

- Performance improvements and bug fixes to enhance your reading experience.

### 26.8.10 — 2026-08-03

- Performance improvements and bug fixes to enhance your reading experience.

### 26.7.40 — 2026-07-28

- Performance improvements and bug fixes to enhance your reading experience.

### 26.7.30 — 2026-07-21

- Performance improvements and bug fixes to enhance your reading experience.

### 26.7.20 — 2026-07-13

- Performance improvements and bug fixes to enhance your reading experience.

## Apps similar to SmartNews

| App | Rating | Price | Category |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [CNN: Live & Breaking News](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cnn-live-and-breaking-news/id331786748) | 4.8 (1,664,114) | Free | News |
| [NewsBreak: Local News & Alerts](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/newsbreak-local-news-and-alerts/id1132762804) | 4.8 (1,380,808) | Free | News |
| [FOX News: US & World Headlines](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/fox-news-us-and-world-headlines/id367623543) | 4.5 (534,805) | Free | News |
| [USA TODAY: US & Breaking News](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/usa-today-us-and-breaking-news/id504631398) | 4.5 (241,594) | Free | News |
| [Google News](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/google-news/id459182288) | 4.6 (226,227) | Free | News |
| [NBC News: Breaking & US News](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/nbc-news-breaking-and-us-news/id319740707) | 4.7 (150,700) | Free | News |

## More apps by SmartNews, Inc.

- [NewsArc](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/newsarc/id6741568397)
- [Wanderland: Map for Explorers](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/wanderland-map-for-explorers/id6777894687)

All apps by SmartNews, Inc.: https://appshunter.io/developer/579581128

## Related topics

[news games](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/news-games) · [news aggregator](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/news-aggregator) · [smart news local breaking news](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/smart-news-local-breaking-news) · [smart news](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/smart-news) · [video news](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/video-news) · [smart news app](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/smart-news-app) · [news reader english](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/news-reader-english) · [top news](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/top-news) · [mixerbox breaking news alerts](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/mixerbox-breaking-news-alerts) · [kfvs news](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/kfvs-news) · [easy korean news](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/easy-korean-news) · [the best news ever](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/the-best-news-ever) · [spanish news language](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/spanish-news-language) · [kagi news](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/kagi-news) · [free news apps nba](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/free-news-apps-nba) · [free news apps stock](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/free-news-apps-stock) · [one tv news](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/one-tv-news) · [worthy news](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/worthy-news) · [tifosi essen](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/tifosi-essen) · [bbc news mundo](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/bbc-news-mundo)

---

*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 2026-08-29.*