CBS 42 - AL News & Weather

In previous versions of the app, if I received a notification, I was not only able to read that article with ease, but was also able to _easily go to the next article with a simple swipe, until I reached the end of a group; then, I could hit “Back”, scroll down to the next group, open that article, and easily access the articles in _that group. You say that this new version is _easier to work with? That’s a _joke! Frequently, if I try to access an article that originally appeared in Newsfeed, the text jumps around wildly, rendering it impossible to read. I can’t vouch for the live stream, as I’m not often available when the live newscasts are streaming. And _no _one explains the settings pertaining to Newsfeed: something about “Bell Ring on/off”, or “notify on this topic?”. Equally frustrating: when I _do try to access articles subsequent to the ones that appear in Notifications, more often than not, I receive an alert saying “Your app needs to be updated in order to take advantage of new push notification features”. That’s funny. I’m already running the updated version, the latest one in App Store, and am running the latest iOS (12.3.1 at this writing). I don’t know if non-VoiceOver users run into these same issues; but, if they do, they aren’t chiming in. The app was working better, and was far more user friendly, before this update. If this is how it will stay, then there needs to be a tutorial. I will try reinstalling the app; and, if that makes a significant difference, I will update this review. Update: Originally gave it 3 stars; now down to 1. You just _ruined it for VoiceOver users, and posssibly for others as well. I try to bring up an article that appeared in my notifications two or three days ago (before this update), which I am just now having time to read. The article doesn’t come up at all, and the only things that _do come up are late-breaking (maybe) news articles. Nowhere in this new version do I find a way to bring up the notifications. In-app settings are of no use now. It tells you to turn notifications on or off for specific topics; but, the topics are not displayed with toggles to turn them on or off. Before updating it again, try navigating it with your eyes closed! If there were a way to go back to the previous version—which was better than the one that prompted my previous review (above)—I would do it in a heartbeat. Yet another update: July 11, 2021. Back to 3 stars, reluctantly. The latest version trades one set of problems for another, at least for VoiceOver users. Now, if one wishes to modify in-app notification settings, the toggles for enabling or disabling the items frequently either don’t work or don’t come up at all. The Search function (for finding stories) isn’t working at all. At times, if one clicks on a category, it doesn’t come up. If one is a long way down in an article, scrolling back to the top is a real pain now. At least for this user, trying to navigate the current weather forecast—which, apparently, is associated with a video—the text jumps around wildly, and then pauses long enough for my screen to lock, unless I go into my phone’s settings and increase the length of time before AutoLock engages. Then, when I unlock the screen again, the text has moved to a point much nearer the end, and I have missed much of the forecast. I think the app would work much better—for _all users—if the graphics were minimized or eliminated entirely, or there were an item in Settings to minimize or maximize graphics. In this case, turning Screen Recognition (a VoiceOver setting intended to improve accessibility) on for this app doesn’t help. They intrude into the text, making reading and navigation difficult. Sometimes, even the in-app settings do not come up. Reinstalling the app and restarting my phone haven’t helped. I am running the latest version of both iOS and the app. May 15, 2023: Today, I received a notification concerning configuring the weather settings. I wondered why I hadn’t been receiving weather notifications recently from CBS42. When I attempted to reconfigure the weather settings, I found them not to be VoiceOver friendly. The column that displays all of the notification categories is read straight through, followed by the “enabled” and “disabled” buttons (none of whose toggles are working). On scrolling to the weather notifications, there is no way to tell whether “current location” will show, or whether Fahrenheit or Celsius is selected. Finally, the final items, dealing with automatically showing videos and with using Wi-Fi only, will not toggle. Please fix! Of course, I am grateful that the entire app was re-designed a couple of years ago, and that some of the maddening issues I mentioned above are no longer there. But, knowing how important it is to have accurate weather information, these bugs need to be fixed. the “current location” Feb. 6, 2024: One set of issues has again been exchanged for another. The weather section is atrocious now. When I get a weather notification now, most of the time it only brings up a weather map, or at best a bare minimum of information. That isn’t good when there are storms in the area. Normally, the in-app settings are working somewhat better than they were when I submitted previous reviews; but now, the Search function—which was always a bit problematic—seems to have been deleted altogether. If an article from a notification fails to come up, and that article is more than a day or so old, it can’t be found, unless it was some big news story which an executive thought was sufficiently important to include under the “View More” heading. If that isn’t the case, one seems to be out of luck! Please, bring back the Search feature; and _please, _please minimize visuals such as weather maps. Thanks!

VoiceOver user.Tue, Feb 6, 2024

United States

In previous versions of the app, if I received a notification, I was not only able to read that article with ease, but was also able to _easily go to the next article with a simple swipe, until I reached the end of a group; then, I could hit “Back”, scroll down to the next group, open that article, and easily access the articles in _that group. You say that this new version is _easier to work with? That’s a _joke! Frequently, if I try to access an article that originally appeared in Newsfeed, the text jumps around wildly, rendering it impossible to read. I can’t vouch for the live stream, as I’m not often available when the live newscasts are streaming. And _no _one explains the settings pertaining to Newsfeed: something about “Bell Ring on/off”, or “notify on this topic?”. Equally frustrating: when I _do try to access articles subsequent to the ones that appear in Notifications, more often than not, I receive an alert saying “Your app needs to be updated in order to take advantage of new push notification features”. That’s funny. I’m already running the updated version, the latest one in App Store, and am running the latest iOS (12.3.1 at this writing). I don’t know if non-VoiceOver users run into these same issues; but, if they do, they aren’t chiming in. The app was working better, and was far more user friendly, before this update. If this is how it will stay, then there needs to be a tutorial. I will try reinstalling the app; and, if that makes a significant difference, I will update this review. Update: Originally gave it 3 stars; now down to 1. You just _ruined it for VoiceOver users, and posssibly for others as well. I try to bring up an article that appeared in my notifications two or three days ago (before this update), which I am just now having time to read. The article doesn’t come up at all, and the only things that _do come up are late-breaking (maybe) news articles. Nowhere in this new version do I find a way to bring up the notifications. In-app settings are of no use now. It tells you to turn notifications on or off for specific topics; but, the topics are not displayed with toggles to turn them on or off. Before updating it again, try navigating it with your eyes closed! If there were a way to go back to the previous version—which was better than the one that prompted my previous review (above)—I would do it in a heartbeat. Yet another update: July 11, 2021. Back to 3 stars, reluctantly. The latest version trades one set of problems for another, at least for VoiceOver users. Now, if one wishes to modify in-app notification settings, the toggles for enabling or disabling the items frequently either don’t work or don’t come up at all. The Search function (for finding stories) isn’t working at all. At times, if one clicks on a category, it doesn’t come up. If one is a long way down in an article, scrolling back to the top is a real pain now. At least for this user, trying to navigate the current weather forecast—which, apparently, is associated with a video—the text jumps around wildly, and then pauses long enough for my screen to lock, unless I go into my phone’s settings and increase the length of time before AutoLock engages. Then, when I unlock the screen again, the text has moved to a point much nearer the end, and I have missed much of the forecast. I think the app would work much better—for _all users—if the graphics were minimized or eliminated entirely, or there were an item in Settings to minimize or maximize graphics. In this case, turning Screen Recognition (a VoiceOver setting intended to improve accessibility) on for this app doesn’t help. They intrude into the text, making reading and navigation difficult. Sometimes, even the in-app settings do not come up. Reinstalling the app and restarting my phone haven’t helped. I am running the latest version of both iOS and the app. May 15, 2023: Today, I received a notification concerning configuring the weather settings. I wondered why I hadn’t been receiving weather notifications recently from CBS42. When I attempted to reconfigure the weather settings, I found them not to be VoiceOver friendly. The column that displays all of the notification categories is read straight through, followed by the “enabled” and “disabled” buttons (none of whose toggles are working). On scrolling to the weather notifications, there is no way to tell whether “current location” will show, or whether Fahrenheit or Celsius is selected. Finally, the final items, dealing with automatically showing videos and with using Wi-Fi only, will not toggle. Please fix! Of course, I am grateful that the entire app was re-designed a couple of years ago, and that some of the maddening issues I mentioned above are no longer there. But, knowing how important it is to have accurate weather information, these bugs need to be fixed. the “current location”

VoiceOver user.Tue, May 16, 2023

United States

In previous versions of the app, if I received a notification, I was not only able to read that article with ease, but was also able to _easily go to the next article with a simple swipe, until I reached the end of a group; then, I could hit “Back”, scroll down to the next group, open that article, and easily access the articles in _that group. You say that this new version is _easier to work with? That’s a _joke! Frequently, if I try to access an article that originally appeared in Newsfeed, the text jumps around wildly, rendering it impossible to read. I can’t vouch for the live stream, as I’m not often available when the live newscasts are streaming. And _no _one explains the settings pertaining to Newsfeed: something about “Bell Ring on/off”, or “notify on this topic?”. Equally frustrating: when I _do try to access articles subsequent to the ones that appear in Notifications, more often than not, I receive an alert saying “Your app needs to be updated in order to take advantage of new push notification features”. That’s funny. I’m already running the updated version, the latest one in App Store, and am running the latest iOS (12.3.1 at this writing). I don’t know if non-VoiceOver users run into these same issues; but, if they do, they aren’t chiming in. The app was working better, and was far more user friendly, before this update. If this is how it will stay, then there needs to be a tutorial. I will try reinstalling the app; and, if that makes a significant difference, I will update this review. Update: Originally gave it 3 stars; now down to 1. You just _ruined it for VoiceOver users, and posssibly for others as well. I try to bring up an article that appeared in my notifications two or three days ago (before this update), which I am just now having time to read. The article doesn’t come up at all, and the only things that _do come up are late-breaking (maybe) news articles. Nowhere in this new version do I find a way to bring up the notifications. In-app settings are of no use now. It tells you to turn notifications on or off for specific topics; but, the topics are not displayed with toggles to turn them on or off. Before updating it again, try navigating it with your eyes closed! If there were a way to go back to the previous version—which was better than the one that prompted my previous review (above)—I would do it in a heartbeat. Yet another update: July 11, 2021. Back to 3 stars, reluctantly. The latest version trades one set of problems for another, at least for VoiceOver users. Now, if one wishes to modify in-app notification settings, the toggles for enabling or disabling the items frequently either don’t work or don’t come up at all. The Search function (for finding stories) isn’t working at all. At times, if one clicks on a category, it doesn’t come up. If one is a long way down in an article, scrolling back to the top is a real pain now. At least for this user, trying to navigate the current weather forecast—which, apparently, is associated with a video—the text jumps around wildly, and then pauses long enough for my screen to lock, unless I go into my phone’s settings and increase the length of time before AutoLock engages. Then, when I unlock the screen again, the text has moved to a point much nearer the end, and I have missed much of the forecast. I think the app would work much better—for _all users—if the graphics were minimized or eliminated entirely, or there were an item in Settings to minimize or maximize graphics. In this case, turning Screen Recognition (a VoiceOver setting intended to improve accessibility) on for this app doesn’t help. They intrude into the text, making reading and navigation difficult. Sometimes, even the in-app settings do not come up. Reinstalling the app and restarting my phone haven’t helped. I am running the latest version of both iOS and the app.

VoiceOver user.Sun, Jul 11, 2021

United States

The latest updates to the CBS42 weather app have turned a fairly functional app into a bloated waste of time. I would prefer to go back to the old app. Will be looking to replace it with another local weather app that sends real time alerts.

Matt_J in AlabamaFri, Jul 2, 2021

United States

We had Tornado watch’s and warnings for my area, I didn’t get any notification on my phone, had the other apps went off

WeatherNut15Fri, Mar 26, 2021

United States

Sends way to many updates

Barl CernsteinThu, Mar 25, 2021

United States

Not a fan of the new design. The headlines are impossible to read and the thumbnails are too small. Not a fan that your app sells my information to third parties by default. Shame on you.

iPhoneWandererFri, Mar 5, 2021

United States