NDTV : Daily News & Updates

Review by eFreeware

Most news apps give you one feed. The NDTV app gives you six channels — NDTV in English, NDTV World, NDTV India in Hindi, NDTV Marathi, NDTV Rajasthan and NDTV MP-CG — inside a single download, alongside live radio and a stream of written stories. That bundling is the thing that sets it apart, and it's the reason the app has crossed 10 million installs and holds a 4.2 average from more than 127,000 ratings.

It is built for people who follow Indian current affairs closely and want the broadcaster's own output rather than a third-party aggregator. If your news diet stretches from national politics to city-level updates, cricket scores and the occasional Bollywood story, the app is designed to keep all of that in one place instead of scattered across a browser and a couple of social feeds.

I'd expect it to appeal most to viewers who already watch NDTV on television and want the same coverage on a phone or tablet, plus anyone who wants a Hindi or Marathi option without installing a separate app for each language.

Six channels and a live radio stream in one place

The core of the app is live television. Each of the six channels streams inside the app, and the developer also includes live radio broadcasts, which is a useful fallback when you want audio in the background rather than a video feed you have to look at. Switching between an English bulletin and a regional-language one doesn't mean switching apps.

Alongside the live streams there is a written side: breaking news, top stories and trending items across politics, business, sports, entertainment, health, lifestyle and cryptocurrency. Coverage runs from world and India news down to city-specific reporting, so the feed can be as broad or as local as you want it.

There is also a feature the developer calls Cube, which pushes real-time updates as stories develop, and Beeps Videos, a set of short clips on trending topics. Photo galleries and slideshows round out the visual side for anyone who prefers skimming images to reading copy.

Scores, shows and casting to the big screen

Sports coverage goes beyond headlines. The app carries live cricket scores from T20 and other major series, plus live football scores including English Premier League fixtures, and Cube folds those scores into the same real-time update stream. For a follower who wants a score check without opening a dedicated sports app, that is a convenient overlap.

Video is not limited to rolling news. The app carries shows fronted by NDTV anchors including Shiv Aroor, Padmaja Joshi, Vasudha Venugopal, Vishnu Som, Aditya Raj Kaul and Gargi Rawat, and daily video updates span news, entertainment, sports, lifestyle, business, gadgets, food and health. If you like a particular presenter's work, that material sits in the same app as the live channels.

Chromecast support lets you send live TV and videos to a television, which is the feature I'd reach for when a story deserves more than a phone screen. It effectively turns the app into a second way to watch the channel you might otherwise get through a set-top box.

Alerts you can shape around your day

Notifications are configurable by category, so you can ask to be told about breaking news, live updates or trending stories in the subjects you actually follow rather than everything the newsroom publishes. The app also lets you set silent hours, which keeps alerts from arriving overnight.

That combination matters more than it sounds. A general news app that pings for every story gets muted within a week; being able to narrow the categories and park notifications during sleeping hours is what makes a news app tolerable to keep installed long term.

Whether the categories on offer line up neatly with your interests is something you'd only know once you start choosing them, but the mechanism itself is the sensible one.

What you need before you start watching

The app is a free download on Android, and the developer says the interface is built so that moving between stories, live TV, videos and trending topics is straightforward.

The one setup decision worth thinking about in advance is Premium. The developer offers an upgrade that removes ads, raises the quality of live TV streaming and adds exclusive news content, and supporting the broadcaster through that tier is how the app frames it. The free version carries advertising, so the choice is between watching with ads or paying for the uninterrupted version.

You will also want a connection for the live streams and the real-time update features, since those are the parts of the app that depend on fresh data.

On the maintenance side, the most recent update fixed headlines that were being clipped when they ran long, along with other bug fixes. It is a small change, but a visible one for anyone who reads a lot of headlines in a list.

Where the app fits into a news routine

The clearest fit is someone who wants one destination for Indian news in more than one language, with the option of watching it rather than reading it. The six-channel structure means a household that mixes English, Hindi and Marathi preferences can share a single install, and the regional feeds for Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh cover audiences that national apps often treat as an afterthought.

It is also a reasonable pick for cricket and football followers who want scores sitting next to the news rather than in a separate app, and for anyone who casts video to a TV regularly. The Chromecast support and the anchor-led shows give it a television-like dimension that a plain headline reader doesn't have.

The trade-off is that this is the broadcaster's own app, so the perspective you get is NDTV's. That is the point of downloading it, but it does mean the app is not trying to be a neutral aggregator of many outlets.

Between the free tier with advertising and the paid Premium tier, the app covers two fairly different appetites: casual readers who don't mind ads, and viewers who want a cleaner live TV experience and are willing to pay for it.

A strong fit for NDTV viewers who want it all in one app

I'd recommend this to anyone who already trusts NDTV's reporting and wants it in a single Android app: six live channels, live radio, written coverage from world down to city level, short videos, photo galleries, anchor shows, cricket and football scores, and casting to a television. Very few news apps try to cover that much ground at once, and the install and rating numbers suggest the approach has found an audience.

The free download carries ads, and the Premium upgrade is there for people who want them gone along with higher-quality live streaming and exclusive content. That is the main decision to make before you commit to using it daily.

If you follow Indian news closely, want a regional-language option without a second app, or just want live scores and live TV in the same place, this is a straightforward install. If you prefer to assemble your news from several outlets, the single-broadcaster view here is the whole offering.

What's new

Fixes - Headlines sometimes got clipped if they were too long, this has been fixed - Other bug fixes