GOOGLE IS GOOD AT CREATING CREEPY AUTOMATED SERVICES THAT REMIND YOU JUST HOW MUCH IT KNOWS ABOUT YOU, BUT BOTH ANDROID AND IOS HAVE ENOUGH DIRT ON YOU TO KNOW WHAT NEWS YOU’LL BE INTO STRAIGHT OFF THE BAT.

THE EARLY BIRD

TIPS FOR NAVIGATING BREAKING-NEWS APPS.

APP PLUGINS

Many of the available breaking news apps allow you to plug in to alternate news services or social media outlets to gauge your interests or further tailor what kinds of stories it dishes out to you. Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and Feedly are the most useful plugins overall.

PLATFORM LEVERAGE

If you’re into the most tailored offering you can get while putting in as little effort as you possibly can, then Google and Apple’s respective news apps can use their caches of preference information to predict your news preferences. Google is good at creating creepy automated services that remind you just how much it knows about you, but both Android and iOS have enough dirt on you to know what news you’ll be into straight off the bat.

SHARING

News alert apps are a place where you can quickly get a feel for an entire day’s news in a few minutes making it hard to justify indulging in any longerform articles. Fortunately, the best breaking news apps allow you to share stories with other reading and social applications so you can read it later or share stories with friends.

LOCAL EDITIONS

Many of the best breaking news apps were developed in the US and don’t offer much in the way of local content, but most of the offerings here have a good selection of local stories. Some are obviously better than others, so it’s worth factoring in the app’s domestic capabilities.

NOTIFICATION TWEAKING

Unfortunately, there is a trade-off in Australia between apps that have the most relevant news and the apps that offer the most notification customisations. In addition to toggling feed notifications, the most versatile apps allow you to change the notification threshold and limit the total number you get each day.