Real store listing. Store data comes from public listings; the assessment type and evidence coverage are labeled on this page.
Appworthy

Columbus Dispatch: Local News

Breaking News + eNewspaper

USA TODAY Co., Inc.
Review signals only
Download on theApp Store
App Store rating4.3★2.5K ratings
PriceFreeListed price
Age12+Store age rating
Size193 MBiPhone download
CategoryLifestyle
DeveloperUSA TODAY Co., Inc.

At a glance

Full report

Review signals only — 1 user-reported signal. Review signals, not findings. Nothing here is an assessment.

Review signals 1

From review signals only, 18 Oct 2026.

The store currently lists version 8.13.2, updated 2026-09-26.

Preview

Screenshot 1Screenshot 2Screenshot 3Screenshot 4Screenshot 5Screenshot 6Screenshot 7Screenshot 8

Store screenshots supplied by the developer.

About this app

The Columbus Dispatch is your top source for breaking news in Columbus and Ohio. Stay informed with our in-depth coverage, timely updates, and comprehensive reporting on the stories that matter most to you. From local events to statewide issues, we are committed to delivering the news that impacts your community.

We’re here because we believe that local journalism is valuable – from simple things like weather reports that let you know you’ll need a jacket today to in-depth investigations and the latest news right on the app.

We’re our community’s trusted storytellers. We’re here for it.

WHAT WE’RE ALL ABOUT:

• Impactful insider coverage of Ohio politics that keeps your state, county and city governments in check.

• Journalism that makes our neighborhoods better by celebrating the good, solving the bad, and investigating the ugly.…

From the developer’s store description.

For developers and the curious

The full report

The evidence, sources, measurements and versions behind every label above.

Findings and evidence

No findings published
No findings are published for this listing. These are review signals, not findings: nothing here is an assessment.

Review signals 1

Recurring themes across the reviews we scanned. Each links to what reviewers report.

What reviewers report

417 reviews read · 1 review signal

417 reviews scanned. These are signals from public reviews, not findings. Nothing here is an assessment.

Aggressive ad load

Review signal, not a finding

14 reviews · 3.4% of reviews scanned

Too many ads — I pay for a subscription yet get constant pop up ads.

3★ · App Store · 2026-04-01

More of a magazine than a newspaper — I was a subscriber to the print edition for many years. Currently it’s really more of a magazine than a newspaper. It only covers items from more than 24 hours ago. They regularly cover the exact same…

2★ · App Store · 2025-05-02

Too many ads — Old app was much more readable. This app includes ads after almost every paragraph, often the same ad consecutively multiple times. The app is almost unusable. It’s so annoying I’m thinking about canceling my subscription.

2★ · App Store · 2025-04-15

A sampled review illustrates one person’s experience. It does not establish a finding on its own.

Measurements

5 measured · 3 not assessed

Supporting measurements. They are not a complete list of possible harms or positives. “Not assessed” means we could not measure it — never zero, never a pass.

From store data and reviews

Developer replies to reviews
Replies to fewer than 1 review in 20
Price in the store description
States no price and billing period
Cancelling, in the store description
Does not say how to cancel
Themes reported by reviewers
No theme reported
Counted from the reviews we have read for this app. "No theme reported" means no theme reached our reporting threshold — it is not a finding that nothing is wrong with this app, and we do not say it is.
Five-star share of ratings
65–79% five-star
Arithmetic on the stores' own published rating counts. It says nothing about why the ratings fall where they do.

In the app package we scanned

No package has been scanned for this app, so nothing is published about what it ships. That is an absence of evidence, not a finding.

Sensitive permissions
Not assessed
No package has been scanned for this app
Analytics or tracking SDKs in the scanned package
Not assessed
No package has been scanned for this app
Advertising SDKs in the scanned package
Not assessed
No package has been scanned for this app

Measurement vocabulary 1.4 · how these are measured

Versions and dates analysed

Review signals only

Review signals only. No automated analysis of the app itself has been run, so there is no analysed version to report; the signals were read from public reviews on 18 Oct 2026.

Store update history

Each store’s release notes, as the developer wrote them. They are the developer’s words, not ours.

App Store

Version 8.13.2 · 2026-09-26
• This update includes bug fixes and stability improvements.
Version 8.11.0 · 2026-07-23
• This update includes bug fixes and stability improvements.

Assessment record

Status
Review signals only
App identifier
columbus-dispatch-apple-1072821501
Review signals scanned
18 Oct 2026
Sources used
User reviews
Reviews read
417
Package examined
No package scan
Measurement vocabulary
1.4
Human inspection
Not completed

Store facts

App Store

What the stores publish. Store ratings are the stores’ numbers, not Appworthy’s, and are never averaged across stores.

App Store

Store rating
4.26 ★ · 2,512 ratings
Version
8.13.2
Updated
26 Sep 2026
Price
Free
Age rating
12+
Size
193 MB
Open in App Store
Developer
USA TODAY Co., Inc.
Category
Lifestyle
Listing price
Free

No itemized purchase list is available for this listing.

Method and limits

What this report can and cannot show

How a review signal works

A review signal is produced automatically from public app reviews by a classifier — never by a hands-on Appworthy test, and never by a human analyst. It exists so a real, not-yet-audited app can carry more than a blank “Not yet tested” listing, without ever being mistaken for an assessment.

A theme only appears above once at least 5 distinct reviews corroborate it — one angry review can never tag an app. These thresholds are published settings and may be tuned as coverage grows.

It carries no confirmed findings — reviews are one kind of evidence, and nothing here has been hands-on tested. The moment Appworthy publishes a full assessment of this app, it replaces this signal, permanently.

Limits of this report

  • A package scan is static. It identifies code and text in one Android build. It does not measure a live ad session, test a deletion request, or count the steps needed to cancel.
  • Reviews keep their sample. A review-only charge shows distinct reviewers, the share and the sample size, and is published only once it clears that label’s published threshold. Calibration labels are machine-drafted and not yet confirmed by a person.
  • Not assessed is a state. It is never a zero and never a pass.
  • A missing label is not a clean bill of health. It means the evidence did not support one, not that the app is problem-free.
Not yet human-reviewed. A human review replaces this review-derived signal with hands-on, recorded measurements. Hands-on inspections are not yet open.
Review thresholds Read the methodology For developers

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