SmartNews: Local Breaking News

Contains ads
702K reviews
Content rating
Rated for 3+
50M+
Downloads
Content rating
Rated for 3+
Users Interact
Learn more
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About this app

We combine the best of quality journalism with expert curation to help you stay informed—and feel good while doing it. With quality articles from trustworthy publishers, you can easily curate your feed based on the topics that interest you most.

Discover top news from premium publishers in one app: Bloomberg, The Atlantic, USA Today, TIME, The Huffington Post, Bleacher Report, Quartz, The Verge, LAT, VOX, AP, Reuters, Buzzfeed, Fast Company.

SmartNews rewards you for staying up to date and informed. Earn points every day by reading articles and exchange them for gift cards from your favorite brands or donations to charities you support.

Rewards
-Earn points for reading articles and completing daily reading missions.
-Redeem those points for gift cards from your favorite retail brands or for donations to charities you care about.

Local
-Get informative stories from premium publishers based on your location.
-See the latest local news on government, traffic, weather, politics, school boards, and more.
-Read news about local cultural events, hidden gems, restaurants, family-friendly activities, and your summer farmer’s market.

Travel
-Discover the best spots wherever you go with location-based news and updates.
-Learn about top travel tips from your favorite publishers.
-Plan your next vacation with trending news on the best destinations, travel hacks, and flight deals before you depart.

Politics
- Get prepared for the elections, polls, and debates with stories across the political spectrum from Democrat to Republican.
- Understand candidates, ballot measures, debates, results, and city council elections near you.
-Find voter information, campaign finance stories, verified election reports, and expert election analysis you can trust.

Quality
-We partner with thousands of trusted publishers for premium, balanced news.
-Our award-winning journalists validate content to ensure it meets our high-quality standards.

Entertainment
-Discover top movies or TV shows with your favorite actors.
-Follow entertainment topics so you never miss a story.

Sports
-Get daily articles highlighting the latest games, teams, players, and sporting events.
-Set notifications for your favorite teams.
-See breaking news about football, basketball, golf, tennis, soccer, and more.

Health
-Discover the healthcare news that impacts you all in one free app.
-See what experts say about wellness, aging, and mental health from top publishers.
-Follow stories about pain relief updates, exercise trends, and home remedies.


***
SMARTNEWS IN THE PRESS

“Browse headlines quickly, customize your channels, and read the news offline. SmartNews is an excellent free alternative to other popular news apps.”
- CNET

***
AWARDS

Winner of the 2025 May Award Contest - Best Mobile App
Best Mobile App Awards

Best Local News App, 2024 (US)
Bestapp

Best News Aggregator, 2023 (US)
Lifewire

Best News App, 2023 (US)
AndroidCentral


***
REVIEWS

“Better than Feedly or Flipboard. Love it!” Joe C.

“Much better than the new version of Apple News.” - Donald B.

“Been using Google News, but this is better. Much easier to share.” Nikki H.

***

Terms of Service
The SmartNews Terms of Service are linked below. Please read and confirm these terms before using our services.
https://www.smartnews.com/terms/

Rewards Disclaimer
You must be a legal resident of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia

The Program may be offered only in certain geographic regions in the United States and may not be available in all jurisdictions. SmartNews may limit, restrict, suspend, or discontinue Program availability, in whole or in part, at any time and in its sole discretion.

The merchants represented are not sponsors of the rewards or otherwise affiliated with SmartNews. The logos and other identifying marks attached are trademarks of and owned by each represented company and/or its affiliates. Please visit each company's website for additional terms and conditions.
Political news, election results, entertainment, sports and local stories.
Updated on
Oct 27, 2026

Data safety

Safety starts with understanding how developers collect and share your data. Data privacy and security practices may vary based on your use, region, and age. The developer provided this information and may update it over time.
  • This app may share these data types with third parties
    Location, Personal info and 3 others
  • This app may collect these data types
    Location, Personal info and 4 others
  • Data is encrypted in transit
  • You can request that data be deleted

Ratings and reviews

648K reviews
MaryAnn Dickinson
July 22, 2026
Hate the new changes. Do not want to be fed news via algorithm. May stop using. Sometimes it just freezes for hours and won't open, yet will display article titles. 10/12/22. Better lately but have had to uninstall then reinstall several times when it freezes and articles won't open. Hate the way it refreshes and dumps the article I'm reading. Update 07/26. Recently using again, but it now just randomly cuts off and often the article I was reading has disappeared
54 people found this review helpful
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Kelly Boyle
August 9, 2026
This is my favorite place to get news. It's fresh and new all of the time. I never get a notice that I have only a certain number of articles to read each month. If I could give more stars I would. update for August 2026, I still use this app more than any other. it is of very high value and I am never cut off to be asked for subscription in order to read the article. plus you get points for reading and they can be used for gift cards.
140 people found this review helpful
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SmartNews, Inc.
August 22, 2022
Hi, Thank you so much for your feedback! Glad to hear that you are enjoying the SmartNews app. We are always looking for different ways to improve the app for our users. Please feel free to let us know if you have any questions or have any feedback regarding the app. Thanks again! - SmartNews
Marsha Zimmerman
September 8, 2026
I love my app now that it knows the types of articles I like to read. I just wish it would get the hint about the disgusting and inappropriate chumbait ads it keeps putting on my feed. Not only are the pics gross and disturbing, the ads are for old people things that I could care less about! And yes, I keep reporting them... but they still show up!
9 people found this review helpful
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What’s new

- Performance improvements and bug fixes to enhance your reading experience.