The Good
- Local news and weather integration
- Loads quickly
- Notifications and alerts
- Comprehensive news coverage
The Bad
- Intrusive banner ads
A great selection of fast-loading photos and local news integration makes AP Mobile (The Associated Press, Free) one of the best free news apps for the iPhone.
The Associated Press bills itself as the largest news organization in the world, so its iPhone news app better be pretty comprehensive. Fortunately, it is. The AP Mobile app has extensive coverage of news topics including U.S., international, sports, and entertainment headlines. Unlike most other news apps, you can customize what you want to see on your main page. Don’t care about sports or entertainment? Turn those headlines off under the customize tab. I love not having to scroll through news I don’t care about.
AP Mobile sets itself apart from other iPhone news apps in a number of ways. First of all, it integrates with your local news and weather. Enter your location information, and the app will display headlines from your local newspaper in addition to weather data. If there’s a winter storm alert or other weather event in my area, the AP Mobile app displays a small icon on the weather tab. The weather information is powered by Accuweather.com, and it includes radar maps and five-day forecasts.
Many news apps have one small thumbnail photo for each article, but AP Mobile includes a link to a photo album. The photos load quickly and you can scroll between them easily. Videos are included as well, including the AP News Minute, which runs through the top headlines.
Finally, AP Mobile offers more sharing options than many news apps. Not only can you send articles via email, Twitter and Facebook (like most apps), but you can also share news with a text message or Evernote.
I did have a few issues with the interface. The app includes banner ads along the top of the screen, which feel more intrusive than ads placed at the bottom. The ads aren’t overly large, but they seem more distracting than they do in other news apps. In addition, AP Mobile includes a user-generated star rating for each article on the main page, which makes the interface a little busy.
The Bottom Line
AP Mobile is great iPhone news app, especially for those who want national and local news in one package. While the interface is a little cluttered, AP Mobile stands out against the competition. I love the local weather integration and photo galleries, and the app loads quickly, too. Overall rating: 4.5 stars out of 5.
What You’ll Need
You can use AP Mobile on an iPhone or iPod touch. The app requires iPhone OS 3.1.1 or later.