WCVB Newscenter 5 - Boston

Review by eFreeware

Local news is scattered in more places than ever, and if you live in or around Boston, keeping up with what is happening in your own city can take more work than following national headlines. The WCVB Newscenter 5 app is built to pull that local picture into one place: breaking stories, live newscasts, weather and sports, all from a single Android download.

It comes from HTVMA Solutions, Inc. The app is free, carries advertising, and does not sell in-app purchases. It has been on Google Play since May 15, 2012, and it has a 4.7 average from 3,864 ratings, with more than 100,000 installs. That is a long run for a local news app, and the rating suggests the people using it are broadly satisfied with what they get.

Live newscasts without a television

The headline feature is live news. A Nowcast bar lets you launch a full live newscast from inside the app. When you miss one, On Demand playback gives you the latest newscast after the fact, which is useful if your schedule does not line up with the broadcast times.

Alongside that, the app sends push notifications for breaking news. You can leave those on if you want to hear about major local developments as they happen. The developer positions this as a way to be among the first to know, and for a city with as much going on as Boston, that is the main reason many people would install a station app at all.

Sports get their own attention here. Results and highlights cover the Red Sox, Celtics, Patriots, Bruins and Revolution, and each newscast includes dedicated sports segments.

Weather tools and the local magazine

Weather is the second pillar. The app shows current conditions and hourly forecasts, plus a 10-day outlook and a weekend forecast for planning further ahead. An interactive radar can be zoomed to street-level detail, which matters when a storm is moving through your neighborhood rather than the region as a whole. The developer also promises critical weather warnings and expert videocasts, so the forecast is not just numbers on a screen.

There is a community side as well. You can submit news tips, photos and videos straight to the newsroom, which turns the app into a two-way channel rather than a one-way feed. Stories can be shared by email, text or social media, so passing something along to a friend or family member takes a few taps.

If you enjoy that program, having it in the same place as the news and weather is convenient.

What the app asks of you

There are no in-app purchases, so nothing inside the app is trying to sell you an upgrade.

The bigger consideration is that this is a Boston app for Boston people. Its value comes from the station's own reporting and the area it covers: the city, the surrounding region, and New England more broadly. If your interest is national or international news, the local focus will feel narrow, because that is what the app is built around.

Breaking news alerts are the point of an app like this, and a busy news day can mean a steady stream of them.

Getting the most from it

A sensible way to use the app is to decide up front what you want from it. If you mainly want headlines, the push alerts plus the written coverage will do most of the work. If you are more interested in watching, the Nowcast bar and On Demand playback are where the app earns its space on your home screen, particularly for the evening newscast you would otherwise miss.

During severe weather, the radar and the warnings are the parts worth knowing about before you need them.

The submission feature is easy to overlook, but it is one of the more distinctive things here. If you see something newsworthy in your area, sending a photo or a tip directly to the newsroom is a short step, and it makes the app feel connected to the community it covers rather than just broadcasting at it.

A local news app for people who live the story

WCVB Newscenter 5 is a well-established, free way to follow Boston news on Android. Live newscasts, on-demand playback, breaking news alerts, detailed weather with an interactive radar, and sports coverage that reaches down to high school teams add up to a fuller local picture than a generic news reader provides.

The trade-offs are the ones you would expect. It is ad-supported, and its focus is firmly on Boston and New England, so readers outside that area will find little here for them. If you live in or near the city, follow its teams, or want the station's weather coverage on your phone, this is a straightforward install. If your news diet is mostly national, the local emphasis will not hold your attention.

What's new

We update the app regularly to keep things working smoothly for you! Like us? Give us five stars! Have feedback? Use the in-app contact screen in the menu or send us an email at [email protected]