Available In: App Store | Price: $1.99 & $0.99 per month |
We’ve been testing this app for a few weeks and it has finally hit the App Store. Breaking News Twitter account has almost 1 million followers. But if you don’t have Twitter, you can still get breaking news alerts to your iPhone via push notifications. The app is designed to push only major news but you can turn on low priority notifications to see all updates. Another great feature is you can select a time to ignore notifications. ALL PUSH NOTIFICATIONS APPS NEED THIS!!!
I have noticed that the push update gets to me a little sooner than my text alert from Twitter does. It seems to be about 30-60 seconds. When you open the app, you see a list of recent updates and you can tap on them for more info. When a link is posted, you can view it via the built in browser so you don’t have to leave the app.
One thing to note, this app is a subscription based app. The first month is free but to continue the service you will need to pay via in app purchase for a monthly subscription of $0.99 a month. If you choose not to pay, you will only get one major update a day. You can turn the push off if you’d like and just open the app manually. Five things I’d like to see added to this app is a simple refresh button inside the app, a “load more” option at the bottom of the news list, badge notifications, category specific notifications and a different notification sound. Right now it’s the same as the SMS sound. I’d like a kewl newsy sounding effect.
Overall, if you’re looking for breaking news pushed to your iPhone, this is the best app and source. They are always ahead of other news organizations.
BitMethod
A really awesome part of this app is the developer is from the same area as AppleiPhoneSchool.com, Des Moines, Iowa. I originally met the developer through local tweetups. He has recently started developing iPhone apps and had a local connection to BNO News and eventually built them an app. You can visit the developer’s website at www.bitmethod.com