Verithiathe honest score on any app
Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

WPXI News vs Knoxville News from WBIR

WPXI News 4.6★ · Free to download 65
Winner Knoxville News from WBIR
Knoxville News from WBIR 4.8★ · Free to download 70

Knoxville News from WBIR has a slight edge due to its higher lifetime rating and strong local news and weather reporting, despite recent user frustration with app changes and ads, while WPXI News struggles more with app functionality and ad intrusion.

Full reviews: WPXI News · Knoxville News from WBIR

Knoxville News from WBIR generally provides good local news and weather, though recent updates have frustrated users who miss the dedicated weather app and dislike increased ads. WPXI News offers strong local reporting but is plagued by navigation issues, excessive ads, and auto-playing videos.

Head to head

Local News Coverage & Quality edge: Knoxville News from WBIRR2R14R16R35
WPXI News WPXI News is praised for its local news coverage, with users appreciating detailed reporting and focus on Pittsburgh and surrounding areas, including sports R2R14. However, some users find the news to be repetitive, old, or vague, especially on weekends R16R35.
Knoxville News from WBIR Knoxville News from WBIR is highly regarded for its local news, keeping users informed about Knoxville and East Tennessee . Reviewers appreciate the professional and pleasant news team . However, some users feel there's too much focus on University of Tennessee sports or that the content can be biased .
Weather Information edge: Knoxville News from WBIRR21R67R70R71
WPXI News WPXI News reviews do not frequently mention weather as a core feature, though one user noted issues with school closings not being intuitive R21.
Knoxville News from WBIR Knoxville News from WBIR is highly valued for its weather reporting, with many users relying on it for accurate and timely updates R71. However, a significant number of recent reviews express strong dissatisfaction with the removal of a dedicated weather app, finding the integrated weather difficult to access and less user-friendly R67R70R72.
Ease of Use & Navigation tieR3R5R9R10
WPXI News WPXI News users frequently report frustration with navigation, finding it hard to locate specific stories, especially from notifications R3R5R9R13. The app is described as 'not user friendly' and having bugs and glitches R10.
Knoxville News from WBIR Knoxville News from WBIR receives mixed reviews on ease of use. While some find it runs smoothly and is decently organized , many recent complaints highlight it as glitchy, freezing, and not user-friendly, particularly after updates . Users also struggle to navigate away from ads .
Ads & Video Experience tieR1R4R6R13
WPXI News WPXI News is heavily criticized for an excessive number of ads, including pop-ups and floating ads within articles R4R13R19. Many users are particularly annoyed by auto-playing videos with sound, which they cannot control or mute easily R1R6R15R46.
Knoxville News from WBIR Knoxville News from WBIR also faces significant complaints about ads, with users finding the app 'saturated with ads' and pop-ups that interrupt content, especially live broadcasts . Some ads are even mistaken for articles .
Notifications & Alerts edge: Knoxville News from WBIRR9R13R15R18
WPXI News WPXI News users report issues with notifications not leading directly to the relevant story, forcing them to search for it R9R13R15R18. Some also find the notices too frequent or lacking detail .
Knoxville News from WBIR Knoxville News from WBIR's notifications are generally praised for being timely and keeping users informed . However, many users struggle with notification settings, receiving unwanted news updates even after disabling categories, and only wanting severe weather or school closing alerts .
Pick WPXI News if

you prioritize Pittsburgh-specific news and sports coverage, and are willing to tolerate significant app usability issues and frequent ads R2R14.

Pick Knoxville News from WBIR if

you are in the Knoxville area and need reliable local news and weather, especially if you appreciate the news team's style, and don't mind navigating through ads or the absence of a standalone weather app R71.

Evidence note: Both apps are free, so negative reviews often stem from free-tier friction like ads and usability issues. WPXI News has a lower lifetime rating (4.6 vs 4.8) and a higher proportion of recent negative reviews, suggesting its issues are more pronounced or recent.

Frequently asked

Do these apps have a dedicated weather section?
Knoxville News from WBIR integrates weather into its main app and previously had a separate weather app that many users miss R67R72R79. WPXI News does not have a prominent dedicated weather section mentioned in reviews, though one user noted issues with school closings R21.
Are there many ads in these news apps?
Yes, both apps are heavily criticized for an excessive number of ads, including pop-ups, floating ads within articles, and pre-roll ads before videos or live streams R4R13R19R26.
Can I control auto-playing videos in these apps?
WPXI News users report significant frustration with forced auto-playing videos that have sound and no easy way to stop, pause, or mute them R1R6R15R46. Reviews for Knoxville News from WBIR mention ads before videos but not specifically uncontrollable auto-play within articles.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R2] WPXI News 4/5 · US Keeping on top of Current Events is a priority.: I read your news articles daily. They are well written. Keeping up on events around Pittsburg and current events in other areas of United States is my top priority. Also World Events are important to keep up with. I also enjoy hearing about my Pittsburgh Teams, Steelers, Penguins and the Pirates! Win or loose they be are my favorites! It is also nic
  2. [R14] WPXI News 5/5 · US Awesome: Awesome, better than the other 2 Pittsburgh Stations
  3. [R16] WPXI News 2/5 · US Nope: The articles are old and not “new”s. They are also short, not detailed and sometimes vague.
  4. [R35] WPXI News 4/5 · US Sylvia: I’m not happy with the new school delays. I’m also not happy with how long it takes to update the app with news. Always the same stories especially on the weekends The other thing is this website is never updated on the weekends. Same news for 3 days. . Page is never updated
  5. [R21] WPXI News 3/5 · US School closings: The app is not intuitive for school closings- it will not find Chartiers valley school district
  6. [R67] Knoxville News from WBIR 1/5 · US Miss the old weather app.: The old app was used friendly and useful! This new app takes forever to see the weather as you have to jump through hoops to get there. The radar itself is fine, though I feel it is no where near as good as the old one. Seems that they’re so desperate to share news of little importance as opposed to true weather. Make a separate app for weather like before please.
  7. [R70] Knoxville News from WBIR 2/5 · US Bring back the weather app!: There's a reason I stopped watching TV news. It's just as bad in the app. Only got it for the weather information. I don't want their horrible sensationalist news, I just want weather.
  8. [R71] Knoxville News from WBIR 5/5 · US Lawn care 101: It’s a great app. Very reliable whenever it comes to rain and in my business it is very important to keep up with the weather. And it’s great when it comes to keeping up with the latest traffic news.
  9. [R3] WPXI News 3/5 · US My feedback on the WPXI app: Many times I get very frustrated with navigating through the WPXI app(and sincerely, the website) . It is hard to find information that you are looking for even if it aired that day. A lot of times the anchor woman or anchorman will say that there’s more information on the website and it is absolutely hard to find. You really have to go down a rabbit hole and it’s frus
  10. [R5] WPXI News 4/5 · US Stories don’t show: When I get a highlight of a story in my phone feed, I click on it and it never opens up.
  11. [R9] WPXI News 3/5 · US Stories: I don’t like that when an alert comes across my phone and I click the alert that I’m not taken to that story. I have to scroll through the app to find it. And sometimes it’s not worth searching the app so I don’t bother to read the article.
  12. [R10] WPXI News 1/5 · US Not user friendly.: Not user friendly at all. Every other app. when you swipe back to get to the previous screen, you do. With this app it takes you to the next article. Very frustrating.
  13. [R1] WPXI News 1/5 · US Wasn't broke...: Used to love the news app. WPXI HAD THE BEST! Then, even though it wasn't broke, you fixed it. It's the worst news app. I want to read not watch WPXI videos that are 80% commercials for WPXI. I expect your reporters to be professional however when you shove them down my throat, I wonder.
  14. [R4] WPXI News 2/5 · US Review: The app used to be good. Now not so much. Don’t like having to scroll through a ton of ads to finish a news story. Plus gotta to be more news in our region. Do better WPXI. You’re a great station.
  15. [R6] WPXI News 3/5 · US Too Many Videos: I would prefer to quietly READ the news in the still early morning without it suddenly blaring from my phone.
  16. [R13] WPXI News 2/5 · US Make it make sense: Why sent out a headline for an article that never shows up? Why is it so hard to navigate? Why are there so many ads? Why don’t you make it easy to follow up on stories?
  17. [R15] WPXI News 3/5 · US WPXI app / video feed: I use this app quite a bit. Dont like the recent change that the video feed with sound starts automatically when the app launches. Please give us an option to turn this off. Also please fix that the notification alerts go to the story for the notification.
  18. [R18] WPXI News 3/5 · US PLEASE: I am so SICK of tapping a story that comes up in my notifications, only for the app to glitch and shoot me to the homepage instead. I cannot even find the story I wanted to read, because the navigation bar setup on the app is HORRIFIC. Otherwise the app is fine. PLEASE fix this. I’m begging.
  19. [R72] Knoxville News from WBIR 3/5 · US Where’s the old weather app?: I very disappointed in this app. I used the weather app all the time. This new app is problematic. The previous weather app was simple and very useful. The new one takes to long to get anywhere or get the info you want. Please give us the previous weather app that was only weather back. When I need the weather I don’t have time to go through all the other pages.
  20. [R79] Knoxville News from WBIR 1/5 · US Miss weather app: Used to have a nice weather app that no longer exists. This one is not very user friendly and not nearly as good as the previous weather app. Big step backwards.
  21. [R19] WPXI News 1/5 · US Uninstalling: There are ways to include ads without them being obnoxious and all over the place. I’m scrolling through the news and being bombarded by gambling ads and an image of an elderly person with their finger up their nose?
  22. [R26] WPXI News 4/5 · US Could be better: I appreciate channel 11’s work but do have a couple of criticisms for this app. The first concerns the leading ads when displaying video. The default settings (at least for me) have the sound off and it sometimes is difficult to get the sound on. The answer is to start the news video with sound on and then run the ad after displaying the news content not before the story. Then we
  23. [R46] WPXI News 1/5 · US Forced Auto Play Videos: SEIZURE WARNING!!!! That is what needs to be listed. There is absolutely ZERO control over the video that plays in the middle of the articles. There is ZERO way to stop it or pause it. I doubt they thought about the flashing lights from emergency vehicles causing people issues. A LOT of people read the their icons Phones in dim lighted areas and the brightness of the video

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store