On Thursday of last week the BBC dropped an update to its BBC News app (iOS and Android). The update brought a redesigned app, and the update released over the weekend fixed some bugs introduced with the redesigned app.
Today the Beeb bragged up its app and began promoting it. According to the press release below, the app has been downloaded 1.5 million times, though I assume they mean 1.5 million times since its initial release not 1.5 million times since Thursday (though maybe not).
The font choices are nice, but to my eyes, the redesign looks to be all about advertising, with plenty of ad slots inserted into the stories.
The Beeb has also rewritten its app description and it is quite extensive:
Description
The BBC News app has been completely redesigned with a fresh look and feel to bring you more content, greater personalisation and better overall performance. So you can get more of the news that matters to you.
Key features:
Top Stories brings you the latest, breaking news from our trusted global network of journalists.
My News is a newly introduced feature allowing you to personalise your news offering.
Add topics wherever you see the + icon for a quick route straight to the stories you care about.
Stories from topics you add will appear in your personalised My News feed. Here you can order stories by topic or time, and use the Manage Topics screen to stay on top of the news of the day.
You can also switch the My News by Topic screen to a more traditional carousel view from the Settings screen.
Find content fast
The app can suggest topics based on stories you’ve recently viewed and what’s in the news now.
And you can quickly find topics that interest you using the Topic Search. Choose from the familiar list of BBC News indexes such as Business, Technology,
Entertainment and Health, or search for your own subjects of interest, whether they’re people, places, things or themes.
More of the news you care about
We now offer a fuller selection of stories from the newsroom, including:
Most Read and Most Watched. Keep on top of popular stories across the BBC, regularly updated throughout the day
Live BBC World Service Radio. Expertise and insight from our journalists available 24-hours a day and ready to listen to in the background as you browse
Read the best journalism from BBC correspondents
Access to our full range of video and audio
Photo galleries and full-screen images
Apple Watch Support:
Story summaries, glanceable headlines and breaking news alerts delivered straight to your wrist
Other features:
Push notifications for breaking news stories\
Video over cellular and wifi
Improved offline experience. Download the latest stories when you have a signal and then read them at your leisure
Viewing modes. On iPhone see more stories per index by choosing ‘Compact layout’ from the Settings screen
Settings to allow the app to automatically update in the background
Share stories to your social networks, or email/SMS to a friend
Support for dynamic text. The app will respect the font size in your device settings so you can increase or decrease the story text size as suits your preference
Related stories, related topics. Go deeper into a storyline with suggestions for further reading and viewing and a range of topics related to each story
If you choose to receive push notifications, a unique identifier relating to your device will be stored by ProcessOne on behalf of the BBC to provide you with the service. No other personal data relating to you (such as a username or email address) is processed. The BBC will keep your information secure and not share it with anyone else in accordance with the BBC’s Privacy and Cookies Policy, available at http://www.bbc.com/privacy/ You can choose to unsubscribe from push notifications from your device’s Notifications screen: locate the BBC News app icon from the list and turn off ‘Allow Notifications’.
Here is the BBC’s press release for their newly resigned BBC News app:
New York, NY – July 13, 2015 — The BBC has launched a new international BBC News app for iOS and Android devices. The free app, which since dropping into stores on Friday has already seen 1.5 million downloads, has been completely redesigned. It offers a uniquely personalised approach to its award-winning news on-the-go, combining top stories and most-watched stories with a set of personally selected or recommended topics, chosen from a range of over 50,000 subjects.
Users can customise their news experience through the new My News section, which offers a direct route straight to the stories they care about. By choosing to follow topics from within an article, through a list of suggested topics based on what they’ve read or via a search box, users can create a truly personal service with stories listed either chronologically or by topic.
In addition, the new app offers a wider range of world class content from the BBC’s extensive network of journalists from around the globe and access to the BBC’s full international range of images, audio and video for the first time.
Other features include: mobile-first video designed specifically for digital platforms, live BBC World Service radio, most-read and most-watched sections, onward journeys to related articles and video, photo galleries and full-screen images, along with support for Android wearables and the Apple Watch.
Richard Porter, Digital and Editorial Director for BBC Global News Ltd, says, “Smart and discerning audiences are increasingly demanding tailored news at the swipe of a screen, and our mission is to ensure they always have instant access to the stories that matter to them most. The launch of the new app is the latest development in a steady stream of innovative BBC News initiatives which have completely redefined the digital experience across apps, mobile, desktop and social.”
The BBC set a new standard when it launched its first news app in 2010. Since then, there has been a huge shift in demand for news on handheld devices. Today, more than 50% of users consume BBC News on mobile and tablet, up from 12% in 2012. The BBC News app is one of the most popular in the world, with over 40m downloads since it launched, and users in around 200 countries and territories globally. The international version has seen tremendous growth over the past 18 months, with page views up 44% to nearly half a billion per month.
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