Most articles require paid subscription; users expect free access like other news apps offer.
›read 3 of these reviews
“Pay to read. Not worth it. Plenty of free news apps out there — CNN used to be my go to for news and current events but most of its pay to read. I’ll get my news somewhere else. Even FOX isn’t this greedy 😩” — ★☆☆☆☆ · English“Stop news stories limit — Putting a limit on news stories” — ★☆☆☆☆ · English“Money app — This app wants you to pay for basic news. Nothing for free anymore, deleting this liberal rag of an app. Came here every so often to see the left side of the news but no longer. Refuse to pay for mediocre at best news” — ★☆☆☆☆ · English
Too many ads and excessive commercial content
5of the 46 read·11%
App contains excessive ads, long commercial breaks, heavy self-promotion even for paid subscribers.
›read 3 of these reviews
“If you like ads — This site doesn’t offer you anything additional that you cannot find online and for free. I think it would be better for you to donate to the Free Press that is much more thorough and investigative. It is full of advertisements if that is what you want.” — ★☆☆☆☆ · English“Absolutely Terrible — Too many ads, pay to read, biased opinionated content. A joke to call this a major news outlet” — ★☆☆☆☆ · English“Too many commercials for their own shows. — I like CNN, however, when I try to stream on their app, there are sometimes when I have to sit through five minutes of commercials for their own shows. Please cut back on the amount of self promotion and get down to the news and commentary. That’s what I’m paying for.” — ★★☆☆☆ · English
App crashes, freezes, and fails to load
3of the 46 read·7%
App frequently crashes, gets stuck on splash screen, freezes on logo, requires constant restarts.
›read 3 of these reviews
“Doesn’t work — I’m a subscriber. CNN coverage justifies the cost, but the app simply isn’t working. All I get is the red splash screen. Nine out of ten times that I try to open the app, I never get beyond the red screen and the CNN logo. I’ve tried deleting and re-downloading the app. Nothing works. Very annoying. I will have to cancel my subscription if CNN does not resolve this bug.” — ★☆☆☆☆ · English“Subscription issue — Have basic subscription that does not allow me to read articles anymore. Sent messages to ask for help but not response! I restarted it, deleted it and reinstalled it several times, restarted my phone each time, but nothing helps!! It often used to freeze on the CNN logo when opening it and had to restart it to be able to update the articles displayed. Bad in every way.” — ★☆☆☆☆ · English“Worst app ever . constantly crashes constantly having to log back in don’t even bother downloading — Never works always crashes” — ★☆☆☆☆ · English
Paid subscription not granting promised access
3of the 46 read·7%
Subscribers blocked from reading articles despite active paid accounts; subscription features malfunctioning.
›read 3 of these reviews
“Subscription Issue — I have a subscription. I am logged in. Its blocking me from reading articles because I have reached my “free” limit. When I click the alert it already tells me I have a subscription.” — ★☆☆☆☆ · English“Denies access to article after I bought subscription — I get a message that says the article is just for subscribers. But I’m logged in with an account with All Access paid until 2027. No refunds no access to articles. CNN is criminal” — ★☆☆☆☆ · English“CNN update removed my ability to use my subscription! Bad CNN:-( — CNN’s latest update removed my ability to use my subscription, which was paid up through December for All-Access. It also removed my ability to manage my CNN subscription. Now, I’m u able to read the articles I've paid for. I’ve tried everything suggested to remedy this, but nothing has worked. Fix this now!” — ★☆☆☆☆ · English
Apple publishes the most recent written reviews, up to five hundred, and that is what was read — not a search for bad ones. Why so many of them are angry. The complaints above come from the 46 most recent negative ones. Newest review 4 days ago (05.09.2026), last collected 2 days ago.
Germany
4.69★ from 19,488 ratings · version 26.18
We have not read this app's reviews yet. Apple rations that feed to about one page per address every ten minutes and refuses datacentre addresses, so the reading is done by hand — the rating above is live, the complaints are not there yet.
Apple publishes the most recent written reviews, up to five hundred, and that is what was read — not a search for bad ones. Why so many of them are angry. The complaints above come from the 0 most recent negative ones. Newest review never, last collected never.
France
4.66★ from 10,922 ratings · version 26.18
We have not read this app's reviews yet. Apple rations that feed to about one page per address every ten minutes and refuses datacentre addresses, so the reading is done by hand — the rating above is live, the complaints are not there yet.
Apple publishes the most recent written reviews, up to five hundred, and that is what was read — not a search for bad ones. Why so many of them are angry. The complaints above come from the 0 most recent negative ones. Newest review never, last collected never.
Britain
4.72★ from 50,552 ratings · version 26.18
We have not read this app's reviews yet. Apple rations that feed to about one page per address every ten minutes and refuses datacentre addresses, so the reading is done by hand — the rating above is live, the complaints are not there yet.
Apple publishes the most recent written reviews, up to five hundred, and that is what was read — not a search for bad ones. Why so many of them are angry. The complaints above come from the 0 most recent negative ones. Newest review never, last collected never.