CBS News - Live Breaking News

Review by eFreeware

Most news apps hand you a feed and leave you to it. The CBS News app does something more distinctive: it carries CBS News 24/7, an anchored streaming news service that the developer offers free to anyone with an internet connection, and sets it beside fourteen live local streams from CBS-owned stations. That combination of a rolling national channel and city-level coverage is the reason to consider it over a plain headline reader.

The app is free, supported by ads, and has no in-app purchases. It has been on Google Play since March 2010, which makes it one of the longer-running news apps around, and it has passed a million installs with a 4.0 average from more than 68,000 ratings.

I'd expect it to fit viewers who want live news running in the background while they work, cook or keep an eye on a developing story, and readers who care about a specific metro area as much as the national picture. If you mostly want to skim text headlines in a minute and move on, a lighter reader will feel quicker.

Who will get the most from it

The clearest audience is anyone who has dropped cable but still wants a live news channel. CBS News 24/7 is anchored, meaning it is produced like a conventional news broadcast rather than an automated loop, and it covers breaking events, live events and original reporting from local, national and international teams. For a household that wants one reliable channel to leave on, that is the core of the offer.

The second audience is local. CBS stations in Atlanta, Baltimore, the Bay Area, Boston, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Sacramento contribute reporting, and the app also carries fourteen dedicated local streams covering Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Colorado, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Minnesota, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Sacramento, the Bay Area and Texas. Someone in one of those markets gets a genuine local video service, not just a national feed with a weather widget.

A third group is viewers who follow CBS News programs rather than channels. The app carries full episodes, clips and interviews from 60 Minutes, 48 Hours, CBS Evening News, Face the Nation, The Uplift and The Takeout. If your viewing is built around a weekly program, having it in the same place as live news is convenient.

I would not push it toward anyone who wants a quiet, text-first reading app. Video is the point here, and the experience is built around watching.

Live streaming, national and local

CBS News 24/7 is the headline feature. It is a streaming news service, anchored and produced, and the developer makes it available at no cost to anyone who can get online. In practice that means a continuous channel for breaking stories and live events, with reporting drawn from CBS News and its stations. For a story that is still moving, watching it unfold beats refreshing a page.

The fourteen local streams extend that idea to specific markets. Each is a separate feed, so a viewer in Philadelphia or Sacramento can watch coverage aimed at their area rather than waiting for a national segment. That is a meaningful difference from apps that treat local news as a text section bolted onto a national product.

The trade-off is that live video is a commitment. You watch it in order, at the pace the broadcast sets. Whether that feels like a feature or a chore depends entirely on how you like to take in news.

Episodes, clips and documentaries

Beyond live channels, the app holds on-demand video. The mix spans long-form investigations, weekly political panels and lighter human-interest segments, so there is something for different moods and different amounts of time.

CBS Reports documentaries sit alongside that. These are in-depth pieces examining topics the news cycle keeps returning to, and they suit the evenings when a five-minute clip is not enough.

The most recent update, version 5.20, added labels that mark content by type, including article, video and gallery. That is a small change with a real effect: it makes it easier to tell at a glance what you are about to open, which matters in an app where some items are text and others are long videos.

Alerts, elections and money coverage

Push notifications are customizable. You can set them for breaking news, for local stories and for topics you care about, so the app does not have to shout about everything. News alerts are only useful when they are selective, and having the switches in your hands is the right approach.

A standing election section covers midterm races, polls and campaign analysis. Political coverage tends to be a heavy lift, and having it gathered in one place rather than scattered through a general feed is helpful during a campaign season.

The app also carries personal finance and consumer reporting. The idea is to take the day's economic headlines and explain what they mean for your wallet, which is a more useful framing than a bare market number. If you follow rates, prices or household budgeting, that section is worth knowing about.

Price, ads and purchases

The app is free to download and use. It carries advertising, and there are no in-app purchases, so there is no subscription to weigh and nothing to buy once you are inside. The cost of using it is your attention during ad breaks.

The developer says Nielsen measurement software is built in, feeding market research such as TV ratings. That is a standard arrangement for a broadcaster's app, and it is disclosed openly.

One practical point: CBS News 24/7 is described as available to everyone with internet access. Live streaming and on-demand video are the heart of the app.

How it compares with the alternatives

Against a general-purpose news reader, this app is heavier and more video-led. A reader is faster for scanning many sources in a few minutes; CBS News gives you a produced channel and a deep bench of video. They solve different problems, and plenty of people would reasonably keep both.

Against a dedicated streaming service, the difference is focus. A general streaming platform offers entertainment across many genres, while this app is news and current affairs only. What it lacks in breadth it makes up for in being the specific thing a news viewer wants.

Against other broadcaster apps, the local angle is the distinguishing feature. Fifteen station cities and fourteen live local streams is a wide footprint, and it means the app can serve both someone who wants national coverage and someone who wants to know what is happening a few miles away.

A news app worth keeping for live coverage

The CBS News app does one thing particularly well: it puts a free, anchored national news channel and a set of local live streams in the same place as episodes of programs people already watch. The 4.0 average from over 68,000 ratings suggests that formula has landed with a large audience, and the app has been maintained since 2010, with the recent 5.20 release refining content labels and push notifications.

The caveats are straightforward. It is ad-supported, so you trade attention for access. It is video-first, which makes it a poor fit for anyone who wants to read headlines quickly.

If you want live news on a phone or tablet without a pay-TV subscription, and you value local reporting alongside the national picture, this is an easy app to keep installed. If your news habit is skimming text over coffee, a lighter reader will serve you better.

What's new in version 5.20

Android 5.20 What's new in this update: Content is now labeled by type — article, video, gallery, and more — making it easier to find what you're looking for. This release also includes improvements to push notifications, ad performance, security hardening, and video player stability.