We’re back for another week, asking each other what apps we use at home. This week, we’re looking at news apps. For news reporters Lewis and Jon, finding out what’s happening is the backbone of their job, while the rest of us don’t mind staying in the loop– well, most of us. Senior editor James is a newsophobe – he says the negativity messes with his karma, so he skips it in favor of hours in front of FIFA. Luckily, for the rest of us, that’s not true.
Lewis Leong, news editor
As a reporter, it’s important to stay on top of the news, and there are specific tools on the web and on mobile that make this easier. During the day, I use Feedly to gather different sources of news into one place. Twitter and Facebook also serve as a source for news, and I monitor them constantly.
When I’m on the go and want to read the news, I use apps like Flipboard and Press to catch up. Press is a simple Android feed reader that works better than the Feedly mobile app. I like it for its ability to cache images for offline reading, and it’s controls are more intuitive. I also use Chrome to visit news sites on the go.
Chris Park, editor
The core of my news is either about music, technology, or video games. The easiest tool I use if Feedly on Android. It has all my regular sites added to it, and the sync with desktop makes it simple to jump from my phone to pick up where I left off. On occasion, I use Google Play Newsstand, but it doesn’t have the best interface so I usually browse when I get bored.
Jon Riggall, news editor
I use Feedly as an RSS reader, since Google Reader was discontinued. It’s really useful, and the Save for later function is fantastic. Having one place where I can see stories from multiple sources is essential for my work. More generally, I read the Guardian’s iOS app every day, and have a premium subscription. Last but not least, Twitter is essential. My feed is a mix of all my interests, so I get games news, tech and a lot of music through Twitter.
Niamh Lynch, editor
I don’t read any one news publication in a consistent way, so I don’t have any news apps installed – with one exception. I have a subscription to The New York Times, and use the app on iPhone and iPad, where it works beautifully. Apart from that, I get news from Twitter and RSS feeds. To read them, I use Feedly, but reluctantly. I loved Google Reader, and was genuinely upset when it shut down. I think it’s the only time I’ve ever gotten emotional about an app.
Suzie Blaszkiewicz, editor
If I’m looking for news, I use Feedly. I have a lot of different news apps, and I like compartmentalizing and using different types of apps for different types of news, but Feedly is good when I want to aggregate all the information. I prefer using the mobile app to the web version because it’s got a much nicer interface and is easier to manage, but I like the fact that I can save stories and they’ll automatically sync to the web version– it’s useful when I need more time to look into something. I also scroll through Twitter to get latest breaking stuff, but I wouldn’t call it my primary source of news.
Nick Mead, editor
My favorite app for reading the news is the BBC News for Android. Although it’s obviously limited to BBC output, the app makes it really convenient to create your own news feeds by topic. It also gives you a really quick and convenient overview of what’s going on in the world, and you can order the layout according to which topics are most important to you. Auto-updating, however, doesn’t work very well for me, and the Breaking News ticker along the top can be frustratingly abbreviated. Finally, there’s no way to save stories for reading later, which I really miss.
Matt Mullarky-Toner, editor
I’m a bit of a news junkie, so I like to read articles from all different sources. The Google News aggregator is my first stop for news, and I check it throughout the day. I also use the BBC news app because aside from providing access to their stories, it also delivers important breaking news updates via push notifications.
Check out how Softonic Editors listen to music on the move.
