Haystack News: Local TV News
400+ News Channels. Local, Live & World Coverage. All the News in Just One Click
Total ratings
3.48
(Rating count:
11,425)Review summary
These summaries are automatically generated weekly using AI based on recent user reviews.
Google Play Store does not verify user reviews, so some user reviews may be inaccurate,
spammy, or outdated. Pros
- Great variety of news sources and content
- User-friendly interface for selecting news preferences
- Accessible on multiple platforms including Roku and phones
- Informative and allows catching up on news anytime
- Ability to personalize news topics
Cons
- App has performance issues including bugs and crashes
- Excessive ads, including irrelevant language ads
- Video auto-plays with loud sound despite settings
- Repetition of news stories and slow updates
- Intrusive app behavior, affecting background processes
Most mentioned
- App uses too much storage and has data hoarding issues
- Notification and personalization problems
- Videos often stop or do not play correctly
- Frequent bugs and the need for updates
- Commercials play loudly and excessively
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User reviews
Recent rating average:
3.20
All time rating average:
3.48
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| Date | Author | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-02-23 |  | | I love the app but it has a dark side. It is a data hoarder. I have it installed on my Nvidia Shield as my primary news source since I don't have cable. Recently just this year seems every 3 to 4 weeks I get a notification that my storage space is critically low & when I look into it, Haystack is up to a whopping 6.09 GB. And it's all in the data. The cache is only 38.32mb. Clearing the data brings it to 20.48kb I DO NOT like/ save videos so why is this happening NOW to a long time user??? |
| 2024-02-19 |  | | I love this app, it's my go to when I want to see the weather report or to find info on a news story or just to see what's happening in the world. It can be added to Roku as well as phones. It offers local news clips as well as nationally and then has entertainment, politics, editors choice, and more categories to scroll thru each story has a headline & is in video form which you can either watch or skip & I love being able to see different news stories on the same thing from more than 1 source |
| 2024-02-16 |  | | News variety is great. What is completely unacceptable is that it automatically plays a video, with very loud sound, every time you open the app. (And YES, I turned off the "Auto-play videos on start" option in settings. It STILL automatically plays the "My Headlines" videos with audio.) |
| 2023-09-02 |  | | I love Haystack for the content on my Roku TV, but using the app on my Samsung Galaxy flip 4 has been not so great. When I try to preview the notification pop-up videos and then try to open the app full-screen it really bugs out and doesn't even let me close until I kill it. Last update also says they fix some notification feature but keeps reverting back to my default message sound and the vibrate turns back on which I hate because then I think I'm getting a text message. Please fix. Thanks! |
| 2023-02-22 |  | | This is an awesome news program. I think (but not sure) that the last time I used it the app, it didn't ask for news preferences. In any case, this time, I carefully selected what I would like included and what is now presented is EXACTLY what I set my preferences to. Haystack is also available on the Roku - so I immediately added it to all of them, again with preferences. (My wife would've probably preferred I didn't include politics... but I didn't include her when I set my preferences! 😀) |
| 2022-10-05 |  | | Ads are in the wrong language (Chinese and Spanish in the Bay Area). Personalization is not that great, it still takes a lot of browsing to find the stories I care about. I also wish there were a wider selection of news sources. Update: Personalization got better, but the app (both on the phone and TV) became very slow. It often takes 30+ seconds for the next story to play. Also, the TV app now often freezes for a minute or two. |
| 2022-07-07 |  | | Update 7/6/22 I had the live news open on the Google chrome app and on my phone at the same time to see if it's just the phone app, but it's not☹️. Phone came on 30 sec before TV. Still cutting into newscast. At first it was 5 stars, but recently when watching live local news, this "we will be back shortly" wheel comes on after the commercials and by the time the news comes back, they're on weather and going to break. It only happens on live local, which is why it's 3 stars and not 1! |
| 2022-03-07 |  | | This is a very good app, but they stated the premium version is commercial free. After signing up for the premium version, however; I was still getting as many commercials as before. I reached out several times with no response and out of total frustration, I finally cancelled the premium subscription. If you want a good news agitator and do not mind LOTS of commercials, use the free version. |
| 2021-04-11 |  | | I only wish there were more options, and quicker updates. Otherwise, it is the best damn news app I've ever seen. Although, I really hate the new ticker. That's just annoying as hell, for anyone who has OCD and/or ADHD. And it just repeats the same things all the time anyway, distracting me from watching the video, and sometimes covering up running headlines at the bottom of the screen. |
| 2021-03-16 |  | | You can not get the app to stop sending you entertainment and sports news. I have down-thumbed those stories every time, I have NOT clicked that as an interest, yet, every 10 minutes, i get more entertainment and sports stories. HOW TO STOP THAT??? Otherwise, I like this app a lot and it acts differently on different types of TVs or phones or laptops. On some TVs i get offered a list for late night TV, but not on my other Tvs. odd. But i very much DO like being able to get the news from other sources besides the cable news channels. And i like that international news is offered. I do wish the late night option was offered on Every tv set i have. |
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