“These Amazon ads on this app is getting ridiculous. Not only its obstructive but annoying to scroll through when it forces a slow scroll through. Edit: Things are getting even worse now. The ads are obtrusive and opens up a new window or…”
Independent automated assessment · 6 signal sources · 1,376 reviews scanned · analyzed 2026-10-06.
4.7 ★2,028,976 ratings
50M+Downloads
17+Age rating
210 MBApp size
FreeIn-app purchases
About this app
Get daily news and events sent straight to your phone, because small news makes a big difference to communities! Keep up to date with current events, live local news, business news and more!
Small news makes a big difference! NewsBreak is your #1 local news app for current events, free live news, business news, and more. Download today to stay up to date on all things local!
Local news is different. NewsBreak believes that local news helps bring neighborhoods together around the unique stories they share in common. And only local, small news has the unique ability to meaningfully inform the decisions we make throughout the day.
What’s the weather like in my area? What about traffic? What important events are happening nearby? Join NewsBreak’s growing local news community and see why over 45M people across the U.S. have helped make us the nation’s #1 local news app!…
Preview
Real screenshots from the store listing.
Independent evidence report
The evidence behind this assessment
This is where the page changes from an app-store listing into an evidence report: findings, important reviews, pricing and a dated history.
Which version this describes
When we ran this analysis, and what the store lists now.
App Store
This analysis describes version 26.40.1 of the app, analyzed 2026-10-06 . The app may have changed since.
The store currently lists version 26.40.1, updated 2026-10-03.
Google Play
This analysis describes version 26.39.1 of the app (the version number recorded inside the package we inspected), analyzed 2026-10-05 . The app may have changed since.
The store currently lists version 26.39.1, updated 2026-10-03.
What we measured
Each line is a measurement published as a measurement, never a verdict.
Each line is a measurement, published as a measurement. Where we have not looked, the line says so rather than reading as a zero.
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
2 themes 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
80–89% five-star
Arithmetic on the stores' own published rating counts. It says nothing about why the ratings fall where they do.
In the package we scanned
From the package we downloaded and read — version 26.39.1, scanned 2026-09-30.
Permissions Android classifies as dangerous
6 or more requested
Counted against the eighteen permissions listed in collect-package.ts. A dangerous permission is one Android asks the user to grant; requesting one is not itself a finding.
Analytics or tracking SDKs in the scanned package
1–2 found
Advertising SDKs in the scanned package
3–9 found
Counted as distinct SDKs in the package we scanned. One mediation bundle can contribute several, so this is not a count of advertisers.
Graded bands · predicate set 1.4 · how these are measured
What the analysis found
App-specific findings, grouped by what each one rests on. How they are graded lives on its own page.
The catch list 2
Charges we publish at a strength we stand behind: measured from an artefact, agreed by independent sources, or reported by enough users to clear that charge's own published bar.
Multiple ad networks bundled
The package embeds several distinct advertising or mediation SDKs — a stack built for ad volume, not for a single house ad.
What we saw: Bundles 5 distinct ad networks / mediation SDKs: Amazon Publisher Services, AppLovin MAX, Google Mobile Ads (AdMob / Ad Manager), Meta Audience Network and 1 more
Reported by users: Aggressive ad load
Advertising volume or placement that interrupts normal use: ads between every action, unskippable or forced full-screen ads.
What we saw: Raised by 34 distinct reviewers — 5.7% of the 592 reviews scanned on this store leg (App Store).
Context 1
Measured and published because a reader would want to know — deliberately not a charge. The measurement alone does not show a harm.
Asks for more sensitive permissions than similar apps
The package requests substantially more of the device's sensitive permissions than the typical app in its category. This is a measurement, not an accusation: a permission is granted because a feature needs it, and a wide request list is a reason to look rather than a finding on its own.
What we saw: Requests 7 sensitive permissions (ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION, ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION, CAMERA, READ_CONTACTS, READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE, RECORD_AUDIO, SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW); the median for 22 scanned apps in News & Magazines is 2
Positive evidence 1
Things this app does right, published at the same strengths as the catch list.
Developer says data deletion can be requested
The developer's data-safety disclosure on the store states that users can request deletion of their data, or the app's own text offers a way to delete the account. This restates what the developer declares; it is not a test of whether deletion works. Apple publishes no equivalent disclosure, so on an Apple-only listing only the app's own text can support it.
What we saw: The developer's store data-safety disclosure states that data deletion can be requested; we have not seen a deletion control in the app's own text
One source only — shown, not confirmed 2
A single kind of evidence. We publish these because withholding them would be the bigger distortion, and we do not treat any of them as a finding we stand behind.
In the app's own text: Tracking and data collection concerns
The app ships session-recording or a wide tracking stack, holds permissions that read personal data, or is reported by users to sell, leak or over-collect it. The evidence line says which of those was observed.
What we saw: Ships session-recording SDK (Instabug) that can replay on-screen activity
Reported by users: Reports that the ads misrepresent the app
Reviewers repeatedly report that the app is not what its advertising showed. We never see the ad creative itself, so nothing we collect can corroborate or refute this — it is published as an attributed user report: what reviewers say, and how many of them said it.
What we saw: Misleading advertising: raised by 6 distinct reviewers (1.0% of 592 reviews scanned)
Highlighted reviews
Representative public review excerpts shown as user reports, not Appworthy audit evidence.
“This app is absolutely terrible now. You now have to get through multiple timed ads with every single article you click. Not to mention that the articles now show up on my lock screen, when I have my settings to not show notifications on…”
“Too many ads and there's massive shadow censorship especially in the comments.”
Assessment & version history
App changes and Appworthy events in one timeline.
Store listing updated to version 26.40.1.
What this app sells
Useful store-disclosed pricing, kept below the app listing.
Items shown0
Lowest—
Highest—
Google Play does not publish per-purchase prices.