I was born in the U.S. but all of my family still lives in India, so I like to be able to keep up with all of the events happening over there. It was actually my mom who turned me on to news apps, and since then, I’ve constantly been on the hunt for ones that bring the most up-to-date news right to my phone – no searching around required.
Recently, I was finding that the news apps I was using weren’t being updated fast enough. The “Latest News” sections would have stories from a week ago – not what you want when you’re looking for current stories.
Best 10 Apps for News in India
I started doing some preliminary searches on Google and came across a list of the best 10 websites specifically for finding out about news in India. There were a lot of really good ones (I tried out a bunch of them), but my favorite three are listed down below.
SmartNews – Rating: 4.3, Downloads: 10M
If you’re constantly thinking to yourself: wow, I wish someone would cater-pick news articles for me so I only see stories I’m interested in, that’s literally what SmartNews does. You simply let it know what you like to read, and then the app delivers articles you are interested in from only the most well-respected news outlets. It’s a two-birds-one-stone type deal because you are only reading stories you like from sources you know you can trust.
I’ll be the first to admit, the app generally leans more liberal, so if that’s not something you’re interested in – or if you’d prefer a news outlet that’s a little more balanced – you may want to pass on SmartNews. That being said, I consider myself to be fairly politically neutral, and I’ve never been offended by any of the stories on here.
Pros: News is catered directly to your interests, only pulls stories from trusted sources
Cons: News articles on the app often carry a liberal viewpoint
Overall: As long as you don’t mind that the stories have a tendency to be more liberal, you’ll really enjoy the assortment of articles that are specifically chosen for you
News Break – Rating: 4.5, Downloads: 10M
News Break lets you know about breaking news in your area as soon as it happens. Or, in my case, news in India. You are able to personalize the app so you only see articles that hold the most interest for you. Plus, you can say goodbye to the endless hours of scrolling through boring news stories; News Break gives you all the juicy stuff right away!
News Break is lacking when it comes to disabled accessibility because the read-aloud feature has issues. It’s not always clear what it’s trying to say, so if you have a need to listen to your news (or even if you just prefer it), this may not be the app you want to reach for.
Pros: Only read the most interesting stories, access personalized content, breaking news
Cons: Audio feature is glitchy at times
Overall: As long as you don’t mind getting your news without an audio feature, you’ll love the diversity of exciting stories present on News Break
CNN Breaking US & World News – Rating: 4.2, Downloads: 10M
If you prefer a video format for your news like me, you may find it difficult to discover new apps you love. That’s why I really like CNN – it makes it easy to get all the video news coverage I want, right on my cell phone. What’s additionally nice is that if you’re not interested in breaking news, you can also just search stories for topics that fascinate you.
Unfortunately, the most recent update has made the app a bit unstable; it tends to crash a lot more than it used for. I’ve had it crash on me only a couple of times, but it has happened, so I felt it was only fair to include that information here as well.
Pros: Great for news in video format, search stories to find topics that interest you
Cons: Most recent update has resulted in the app crashing semi-frequently
Overall: You may need to restart the app if it crashes, but you’ll have great time search stories that fascinate you
Conclusion
These three apps are my brand new favorites for keeping up with everything that’s going on in India. I’m really glad to be able to (quite literally) have these in my back pocket. In a way, it makes me feel a lot more connected to my family. Plus, now I know what my mom is always talking about (since she’s always referencing things she’s read on news apps).
If you’ve been looking for an app to keep up with all of the things happening in India, these three are great choices and a perfect place for you to start!
