Your app is the same app found all over the country. Except for your piddling amount of local news it can come from any city anywhere. The most maddening thing of all is after reading any particular item one must start from the top AGAIN in order to find where I left off . Rediculous!! Why do I even bother using your app? Nothing has changed, if I goof in my scrolling I have to start over from the top. Maddening!! You use the same service & subjects I’ve seen on other news sites. How about some local originality.
I've been watching their news since I was a teenager, long before it became WCVB. I always liked their format, and the news people. So, when the app came out, it was a no-brained to download it. And, I like the notices I get on my iPad to breaking news. It's gone through several updates over the years, but they all had one thing in common, too many ads! I understand that they need to make money, but there are WAY too many ads. Every time I want to read an article, I need to watch an ad! Ridiculous! I like the weather, too, and being able to check the radar when storms are coming. But, I don't use it as much as I would because of the ads. I can get the news and weather from other places without all the ads. It's just TOO MUCH for too little.
Okay, so you use this app to get the “local” news, etc., but it’s still not user friendly. I still remember the old app as preferable in many ways, but now we have this. It leaves a lot to be desired. How many enjoy watching a 30 second ad to see a 20 second video? Not me. I get the 15 second ad, but the big boy news apps let you back out after 15 seconds if the ad is longer. Basically, if I see an ad over 15 seconds, I don’t watch it or the video...lose, lose. And maneuvering is still not very good. If you want to go back, you don’t end up where you started and need to work at finding the articles you were planning to read as next in sequence. If that sounds confusing, it is. Again, this site gives you the news and weather, but it could be so much better.
I downloaded the app because I love Channel 5. Even though we are from the Fall River area, we have been watching its news programs regularly ever since our son went to Boston University in 1995. I like the latest iteration of this app ( I hated the slide shows of the earlier version), but there is one feature that I find extremely annoying. I wouldn’t mind watching an ad prior to watching a newscast, or watching the commercials on the newscast, but I do not want to watch the same ad repeatedly in one session. When I am watching a newscast, the app pauses (presumably when the show goes to commercials) but before the next story starts, poof! There’s the same ad. And it’s a long time before I can skip it and get back to the news. Please stop this practice.
This app always has great, timely news & weather stories. Although some of the other tabs can have stories that are more informative and not necessarily daily, the Entertainment tab should not be one of them. I like checking this app out daily, but more often than not, the Entertainment portion has not been updated in several days. There are times I start to watch the news on television and see a tease that I am interested in watching, but somehow miss it. I wish every story you broadcast could be easily searched (and found) on the app.
I find that when when scrolling down the articles, I’ll tap on a story, read it, tap back to the articles, but instead of taking me back to where I left off, it will take me back to the first article again and I have to scroll down all over again. Also, they have the same human interest stories every single day for months on end. When I get to the ‘Cat seeing snow’ and ‘squirrels going nuts’.... I know that’s the end of the page. Come on .... seriously? I am sure that there are different and probably better human interest stories every day. Is it that much of a cost or problem to change it? At least once a month????
First - I love WCVB the *station*. They do a great job and I only watch channel 5 for my TV news. However - when it comes to watching the live video stream of their news, this app is horrible. If all you want to do is watch the news live, don’t waste your time with this app. Every time you start the video stream you are subjected to at least one 15 second ad. The worst part? If you switch away to another app then back to the WCVB app, you have to restart the stream - and watch ANOTHER ad - and sometimes you get the same ad you were already forced to watch!! If that forced advertising wasn’t bad enough, the live stream is unreliable at best. It’s often just going to a black screen for minutes on end, and requires you to exit the stream and restart the stream, with - you guessed it - ANOTHER ad or multiple ads. I don’t mind watching ads - but for Pete’s sake REMEMBER what ads I’ve already seen and DON’T make me watch any ad again if all I had to do was answer a quick text. I love you WCVB (the station) but this app is abysmal.
I am a native of Massachusetts , and channel 5 has always been my favorite news channel and still is , it give you accurate news reporting. All though I left Massachusetts and moved to sunny Arizona 2 years ago I continue to tune in to channel 5 news with this app. The app is easy to navigate and it gives me alerts. “ I truly appreciate this wonderful app “. Thank you Channel 5 for your continued Reporting of accurate news and weather. From A fame of Channel 5
Overall, not bad, but the new visual effects are awful. Let me see what stories interest me instead of having to look away while scrolling. Makes me seasick. The “refresh” is super annoying when you want to go back to where you were after reading a story, but it goes all the way to the top, leaving the user to have to scroll all the way down to get back to where they were. Visually, it’s trying to do too much. If it ain’t broke,(previous versions were just fine, thankyouverymuch) don’t fix it. Hoping they’ll go “ retro” and return it to the way it was
I have the app set to only deliver notifications about breaking national news and politics… and every single day I get push notifications about absolute garbage stories (e.g., “It’s cold outside but you can still work out outdoors,” “Look what happened at a college basketball game,” “This dog was reunited with its family”). Additionally, I never actually receive notifications about breaking national news and politics. It’s all fluff, the app is slow, stories are hard to navigate and find… This app frequently interrupts my day to give me irrelevant and uninteresting stories, and it has yet to add any value to my day. If Southie was an app, it would be this one.
In general the app is very good. One improvement, however, is needed: update the news/stories more often. Some of the general interest stories in particular are on the app for days on end. Even some of the sports reports refer to games that were played days ago. Please remove/update these items in quick fashion. Otherwise, keep up the great work! Update: Recently noticed that several news stories are truncated above the first advertisement contained within. Please check this out and correct it.
Does ANYONE actually watch, instead of immediately closing, the advertisement that usually plays after the app opens? I hope the advertising revenue is worth annoying users every time they open the app. Minus one star for that advertisement. News-wise the app is not bad & relatively easy to navigate. For 40+ years I watched Chet & Nat & Heather & Ed etc. Last year I moved back to Chicago. It's nice to stay up to date with local news, sports & weather as well as closures & other items and to watch live WCVB video feed.
This news app gives me everything I need for the day in a very neat format. The drop down menu on the phone works flawlessly and every time I go to sign in it works. The news stories are in the perfect order from most recent news down to what happened yesterday and a few things from weeks before. I can stay current on this app. No glitches so be prepared for that!! It really works flawlessly!
Just saw how other reviews..... I’m just amazed by how many people complain about the same usability and ad issues and no changes have been made. This app requires precision from users - in some cases, I have to tap in a very small area just to get it right. Also, what happened to any of the gesture design for mobile apps? Tapping is the only way. Swipe left to go to next, swipe right to go back, swipe up or down to exist an article.... none of these is used in this app. You know what I hate the most? All these ads. Why do you have to insert a 15 second commercial of your own program when I’m already using your app? I’m not your target audience. You are just driving me away by doing that!
WCVB is my go to station for news and weather. I do utilize the app, and have been using it for some time. What I dislike is clicking on a story and getting a whole lot of advertisement and pop ups. I know the app needs to be paid for somehow, but just get tired of them. I also think that the active radar for weather has changed over the last year, as it loads slower and just does not to be as good as the original.
Got the app to get weather forecasts and school closings last winter. Liked the weather videos available at top of page and NewsCenter 5 team seems pretty accurate as year went by and I always found them reliable. Some updates where they tried to squeeze in more video ads made the app choppy and unstable. Seems to have gotten better, but still weord when you click on news report about a terror attack or something bad and first thing u get is a breezy ad for brunch with cocktails.
Although I usually enjoy all the news & weather on channel five, I think sometimes they ignore some important facts on various stories, an interesting example would be that they never investigated the deaths of the whales & dolphins off the coast of New York & New Jersey last year, which was reported on the New York stations, it was determined that the underwater explosions for the future wind farms were causing the deaths of these majestic creatures & not local fishermen
Like the previous person rating the site said, who wants to watch a 30 second ad to see a 20 second video? If one loses the broadcast because of a bad connection and has to reboot, one is asked to sit through an ad all over again, likely missing the story to which you were tuned in. Additionally, the site only allows one to watch the TV horizontally when one has the iPhone in such a position so that the volume controls are at the bottom. It won’t rotate the screen if one tries to put the volume buttons on the top.
Like the new app however hate that you have to wait a whole 30 seconds before being able to stop an advertisement. I understand the need for these advertisement but other news apps allow you to close them in only 10-15 seconds. Really frustrating when your complete news report is only 30 seconds or so. Hope you can improve this! Just showing an ad for 10 seconds is enough for most people to get it.
Exceptional news service but the app is drenched in advertising
I’ve been a faithful viewer of WCVB for many years. The news is first rate, the anchors exceptional and it’s always my go to for weather. The app is generally favorable but the number and the placement of the advertising is off putting. I often get frustrated and just click out. I most often go here to watch the weather forecast video but I’m always forced to watch an ad first. It’s too much. I do wish there was a bit more coverage of national news issues, despite it being a locally based program.
I don't usually take time to write reviews, but with how much I love the tv station, I thought I'd let you know how utterly horrible your app is since the update. Ads on EVERY video, ads all over the app. Spelling and grammatical errors any 5th grade student would be ashamed of. I can't get through 2 stories without an error. I would think a reporter would proof read before posting! Now whole page ad pop ups! Give me the option to pay to avoid them. Updated:. New iOS app is still horrible. Full page ads that it doesn't matter if you watch the whole 2:38 ad or close it, it pops up every 30 seconds. Uninstalling the app and won't be watching any more either.
Thank you for broadcasting the Roy funeral. I respect your decision. Your commitment to spend the money to broadcast this is another reason I am a huge fan of the station. I remember the day you first went on air. As a young geek, I was fascinated with the concept of channel 5 “changing “ Wasn’t WNAC before? The change of networks on the Boston airwaves seemed almost magical to me. How could Channel 5 no longer be CBS? Where does CBS go? Honestly, I was excited to see the new station. Never disappointed with what you do. Keep it up!
I have tried several others, but keep coming back to this one. I like the way it's laid out, the weather section, and the breaking news. Two main gripes- The page won't rotate into landscape mode. You have to view it in portrait mode. (UPDATE: On my tablet it now works in landscape mode, phone still doesn’t) Also, the constant attempt to evoke emotions with ridiculous story lines that are way too manufactured and hyperbolic. 3/4 of the stories are agenda-driven nonsense. Really-" a 7 year old Indian kid brings comfort to millions with an Indian 'health dance'."Really? Did he? Really?! 'A guy dancing around in a tutu only a football field is bringing hope to cancer patients' Really? He is? Really?! Come on, just report the news. Stop trying to push an agenda. It’s no wonder why the media gets the same ratings as politicians when it comes to honesty and integrity.
I use this app primarily for weather because I find WCVB to be pretty accurate. Not sure if the app reflects what the meteorologists are seeing (none really do) but I still use the app in conjunction with other apps. You need to add more wind data to the app. You don’t show wind speeds usually until the day before and none in your hourly predictions. This would be extremely helpful and where you fall short from other weather apps. Please consider incorporating.
Why all the ads?????????? Definitely a TERRIBLE app!!!!! This continues to be the most annoying news App! There are ads, ads, and more ads with each story! If you restart news footage then yet ANOTHER ad plays! WCVB advertises itself as a useful App, however all the ads make the App the MOST ANNOYING NEWS APP ON MY iPad!!! In addition, WCVB advertises itself for news and weather over, and Over, and OVER AGAIN!!! It is soooooo annoying! I try to avoid using this App as much as I can! Why can't I just get the news without repeated ads for companies or for WCVB?????????? Why not provide a SKIP AD option??????? Extremely disappointing!!!! Not recommended!!!!!
Some of the Ads play for an incessantly long time (months). Same for some of the less important stories. Boston has so many wonderful things (and New England) to write about why keep the same stories on here all summer long. I check in every morning and there are some areas I skip right over because it’s the same boring stuff. And skip the $3,000,000 homes. How many of us do you really think can afford them?? But your Breaking News is spot on and I’ve been watching Channel 5 for well over 40 years.
Great for big news stories, not so much for more local news. Could be broken into better groups for ease of what bad or sad things make for stories. Hate to watch longer ads instead of any news story. Lose interest and close especially if same ad more than once. I choose rarely if ever to watch any clips. Too many non important ad banner breaking news pop ups. And lastly after reading a story, this does not remember where I left off and brings you to start.
I use this app to check on what’s happening: news, weather, cancellations, and to see trusted, friendly faces. I use the WCVB app all through the day, and night for the above mentioned purposes. But, during the night, when I check on something, the advertisements seem to blare out, and I worry about disturbing my sleeping household. Also, the same add plays over and over and over, at the start of each segment, too much advertising.
Generally like the app, but the ads block words/sentences within the stories. At times, I can’t read crucial words/phrases because the ad has blocked out part of the article. I would like this app much better if the ads didn’t affect the communication of stories. Seems like a rather large bug for a news app.
Quick response when you click links most times. Nice interface and easy to navigate. Some articles are on for days and just move to different locations in the app. It’s annoying at times when you go back from reading articles it throws you to the top of the page and you have to scroll back down to where you were. Over all an informative app and one I go to thought the day.
I would love to give this app five stars because I have always been a loyal WCVB viewer and rely on them for my news but the app is not great. Most mornings when I look on the app I see still the previous days news stories. I feel like they never get out in front of any news story. And I wish they had someone to proofread before posting stories as there always typos.
I use your app daily to check the weather. Cindy always gives a full and helpful report. I especially like the graphic of the 5-day changes in temperature and/or dew point. Very helpful. My only request is that you list the dew point on the “homepage“ of your weather stats. You give the humidity, and that’s fine. But for most people, I feel it’s the dew point temp that indicates how oppressive or “light“ the air feels.
I preferred the old version of this app. Now there are commercials everywhere. Also, when you look at the top local news stories and choose the first one, when you finish it, the app goes to “next story” which was NOT the next story from the original list. It is often a national story, entertainment or some other category. It is never a continuation of local news. You have to get out of it and go back to the original page to scroll down to the next story. Very annoying. I love the TV news but the app is cumbersome.
The app on the iPad very difficult to navigate. Often click on a story and there will be some text but the rest of the story will be missing. Just clicked on a story now and after three sentences, the article ended midsentence. There is no ‘More’ button to click on for the rest of the story. Other local news apps have much better navigation and a better user experience on the iPad. The iPhone app works much better.
Although I use this app everyday, I’m often disappointed in the sports and entertainment portions that have a long lag time before being updated. There are currently stories on the entertainment portion that have been there since December...it is now June for crying out loud. Also, the stories highlighting the “Best” products oftentimes forgets to give us a slideshow to see them or to just be able to scroll down to see them. Little more quality control would be nice.
Channel 5 is my go-to station for news! I generally like the Channel 5 website, but my only issue is when I receive a “breaking news” alert and I open the WCVB app, there is no accompanying info supporting the alert. It is very frustrating to see current news and not to be able to see the whole story.
The App is great you always get the news as soon as the story happens. All your anchors, reporters, meteorologists are Class Acts. Why are you hooking up with GMA they seriously need to do some employee changes I only watch when Robin & Michael They have more time off than your boss. Thank you for letting me voice my opinion. You have a great day. Yeah WCVB5 News. Oh I forgot to mention David Muir he is a Class Act also. Bye.
I like your approach to the news and the way you present it. Informative, sufficient detail, and not hyper. I particularly like your weather team. Besides being knowledgeable, they seem to really enjoy their work and take seriously both the technical and communication aspects of the job. As a technical communicator myself, I particularly appreciate that.
It’s frustrating that if you don’t get to the alert IRL you can’t access it immediately on the app. There’s still a wait time between the alert and app access. Do appreciate the alerts and apps however as a way to stay in touch with Boston and breaking news as we’re recent expats to Connecticut and still need our Boston news fix. ( also still get the Globe in hardcopy so there you go)
I want to say that I rely on this app for all of my news, and I would be lost without it. There shouldn’t be Chronicle on this app. Chronicle can get its own app. Here it is 4:30pm on a Sunday, and the only nowcast is from 5:00am. Frequent, the app lags, then when it’s trying to catch up, you’ll hear a giant delay. If there’s a notification from another app, it will lock up and the only way to get it going again is to close and re-launch it...and sit through the commercials again. Luv ya!
I wish that your sports section would be updated more frequently. And though the ads are paid for, I’d like to see them change more often. I lived in the Boston area most of my life, and WCVB was always my “go to” station. I am now living in Florida, but check my WCVB app several times a day. My sincerest condolences on the passing of your colleague Clark Booth, a true gentleman and a scholar.
Bill Fine should be fired for allowing this app to get approved. The old one was more user friendly and easier to navigate. The icing on the cake on why I and every one else hates this app is your videos you force us watch so we can see the article that interested us in the first place. I get it ads pay you revenue. But maybe you could make so only one ad has to be watched per session. Not the same friggin ad each and every time you click on something that interests you. I never use this app anymore. I’m only writing this review because you solicited me for a review.
Living in Florida I need to know what is going on back home...thank you WCVB for being there for me...absolutely love this app..very easy to navigate...just choose what you want to see...go to the menu....and boom there you have it...anyone who doesn’t like this app is just to fussy to please...doesn’t get any simpler to use...as far as the ads go...that’s why it’s FREE...all you knuckleheads who complain must be lost in space....ADS KEEP APPS FREE...so get over it...
I was very happy with my old WCVB app, used it every morning to start my day. Suddenly it would no longer load and forced me to update it. I am not too happy. No longer easy to navigate. If it isn't broken, don't fix it!! Tried to watch live news this morning. Played the ads fine, news not so much. Shut down in less that 1 minute, over and over. Gave up. Last weekend with power out, steaming news on iPad. Never the most current report. Why call it “live” when it was nothing but. I am also unhappy that you no longer have a separate weather app.
I’ve Always Watched Channel 5, (and the WCVB App!!) To me, No Other More Informative News in Boston, but Whether I Watch News on the App, or Live on TV, I Feel Like Family Is Delivering the News, and Lately it’s Even More Comforting Coming from Ed, Maria, Harv, Emily, Ben, Doug, Rhondella, Erika, Cindy, All the Mikes,....the Entire Channel 5 Team,...and of Course Missing Randy Already!! Love How Easy the Channel 5 APP is to use, & Explore!! DON’T FORGET!!!! WCVB IS ALWAYS THE TOP RATED NEWS TEAM IN THE COUNTRY,...SO HOW COULD THEY GO WRONG w/the APP!?! (“EDWARD R MORROW” AWARD)!! CONGRATS CHANNEL 5, AND THANKS!!
If you have notifications enabled for the app, it occasionally prompts you to open the app or else it will stop sending you notifications. Quite an annoying way to force you to open the app so you’ll see some advertisement. Pretty sure I’ll be deleting this soon as I don’t like being held hostage like this by apps. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if the story I’m getting notified about actually existed in the app when I open it, as other reviewers have said. Sister station WMUR’s app does the same.
This is the only news app I use and I do enjoy it. Usually, the news updates are useful, relevant and timely and the weather updates are excellent. (The WCVB news, weather and even sports update emails consistently beat those of the Boston Globe). One note: If you sleep with your phone by your bed, be forewarned that there is a daily 6:30 a.m. update that is sure to wake you. Overall, a very good app.
I read it every day sometimes several times to check on updates but I’ll be reading an article and the sentence gets cut off usually right before an ad. Way too many ads It’s frustrating. I enjoy the notices that there’s an news item happening but these last few days it’s also alarming because of the anxiety associated with the virus. I will continue to read WCVB news as I have for many years
Too many times I get “xyz” as a “title” that comes across as a title/heading notification but when I click on it it goes into the app and even the heading of the article is different! God forbid you see a heading/notification come thru earlier in the day and you try to search for it later on, because good luck finding it. You can find things on the WCVB channel (don’t get me started on that website!!!) easier thru a simple Google search rather than in the app. It’s unbelievable how UNuserfriendly it really can be.
Recently when trying to scroll down on the app to item I want to read I click on it scroll to read and it jumps back to main page. This started ever since a video as pops up over the banner portion. Once that happens it jumps you back to main news page off what you want to read. Previously I’d have given you a 5 star rating because I love it and only use yours not channel 7. Hope this is something you can help with. I thought it might be cause I missed an update but no such luck.
Take the WCVB NewsCenter 5 app with you everywhere you go and be the first to know of breaking news happening in Boston and the surrounding area. Always stay up to date with the latest local news, national, sports, traffic, political, entertainment stories and much more. Download the WCVB NewsCenter 5 app for free today. Our Local News, Weather and Sports App Features Include: - Boston breaking news alerts with push notifications - Live streaming breaking news updates from our WCVB NewsCenter 5 reporters when it happens, where it happens - Local news submission area for breaking news, news tips and the ability to email your news photos and videos right to our newsroom to be featured on air - Up to date, current local weather conditions, hourly Boston weather updates, and 7 day forecasts - Share stories via email or your social media pages - An interactive radar that lets you zoom in and out to street level and watch storms as they approach. Move the map around to see major weather activity - Boston weather alerts and updates, Storm Team 5 weather videocasts and more
