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

ABC13 Houston News & Weather vs Houston News from KHOU 11

ABC13 Houston News & Weather 4.7★ · Free + IAP 65
Winner ABC13 Houston News & Weather
Houston News from KHOU 11 4.8★ · Free to download 60

ABC13 Houston News & Weather has a slight edge due to its more consistent performance and less intrusive advertising, despite both apps suffering from similar notification linking issues and recent negative updates.

Full reviews: ABC13 Houston News & Weather · Houston News from KHOU 11

Both ABC13 Houston News & Weather and Houston News from KHOU 11 are free news apps for the Houston area, but recent updates have negatively impacted user experience for both. ABC13 struggles with notifications not linking to stories and occasional freezing, while KHOU 11 faces criticism for excessive ads and a difficult-to-navigate interface after its update.

Head to head

Features tieR4R5R8R16
ABC13 Houston News & Weather Users appreciate ABC13 for its comprehensive local, statewide, and national news coverage, and frequent news and weather notifications R5R8R23. However, recent updates have been criticized for removing combined past/future views, making radar maps too small, and lacking a search box R4R30. Some users also desire more sports coverage beyond Houston teams and better follow-ups on news stories R16.
Houston News from KHOU 11 KHOU 11 users value its timely news and weather updates, and the ability to stream local news . However, recent updates have removed landscape view, made it difficult to find stories without categories or a search bar, and caused issues with radar maps and weather location accuracy .
Ease of Use tieR2R3R5R9
ABC13 Houston News & Weather ABC13 is generally considered easy to manage and maneuver R5. However, a significant and frequent complaint is that notifications do not link directly to the story, instead opening only the app's homepage, forcing users to search for the article R2R3R9R15. Some users also find the font size too large and unchangeable, requiring excessive scrolling .
Houston News from KHOU 11 KHOU 11 users appreciate the quick and easy access to news and weather . However, the new app design is criticized for being difficult to navigate, lacking a search bar, and forcing landscape view, which many find inconvenient R76. Some users also report issues with articles not loading or being unable to scroll down .
Reliability edge: ABC13 Houston News & WeatherR13R17R21R23
ABC13 Houston News & Weather ABC13 users report frequent issues with the app freezing, locking up, or not working at all, sometimes requiring reinstallation R17R21R27R31. Audio synchronization problems are also noted R13. Despite these issues, some users find it reliable for frequent news and weather pop-up notifications R23.
Houston News from KHOU 11 KHOU 11 users experience app crashes and slow updates for news and weather . There are also reports of the app locking users out with adblocker messages . Radar interfaces are described as slow and unreliable . However, some users commend the app for being a reliable station .
Price/Value edge: ABC13 Houston News & WeatherR63R66R68R72
ABC13 Houston News & Weather ABC13 is free to download with in-app purchases. Users appreciate getting news and weather updates without explicit mention of cost issues.
Houston News from KHOU 11 KHOU 11 is free to download. However, users frequently complain about an excessive number of ads, including malicious ones, auto-playing videos, and 30-second commercials before breaking news or live streams R63R66R68R72. Some users express a willingness to pay to remove these ads .
Support tieR17R21R29R55
ABC13 Houston News & Weather Users express frustration with the lack of a clear way to contact the news department or get technical support for app issues R55. Some reviews are direct appeals for help with freezing or non-working apps R17R21R29.
Houston News from KHOU 11 Reviews do not explicitly mention user experiences with KHOU 11's support. Complaints about app functionality and design changes imply a lack of responsiveness to user feedback.
Pick ABC13 Houston News & Weather if

Pick ABC13 Houston News & Weather if you prioritize less intrusive advertising and a more stable app experience, even if you might encounter issues with notifications not linking directly to stories R57R66.

Pick Houston News from KHOU 11 if

Pick Houston News from KHOU 11 if you value timely news and weather updates and are willing to tolerate frequent and sometimes lengthy ads, or if you prefer its specific news team .

Evidence note: Both apps have a high number of recent negative reviews, often related to recent updates. The lifetime ratings are high, but the recent sentiment is more critical, particularly regarding app functionality and advertising. The free-to-download nature of both apps means that some negativity for KHOU 11 stems from ad-related friction, which is common in free models.

Frequently asked

Do these apps have a search function for news articles?
ABC13 Houston News & Weather users report that the app lacks a search box, making it difficult to find specific topics R30. Houston News from KHOU 11 also has a similar issue, with users stating there is no search feature within the app R76.
Are there issues with notifications taking users directly to stories?
Yes, both apps frequently fail to take users directly to the specific news story mentioned in a notification, instead opening to the app's homepage (R2, R3, R9, R15, , , , for ABC13; R76 for KHOU 11).
Do these apps have many ads?
Houston News from KHOU 11 is heavily criticized for an excessive number of ads, including 30-second commercials before news clips and live streams, and pop-ups that make the app difficult to use R63R66R72. ABC13 Houston News & Weather has fewer complaints about ad intrusion, though some users dislike auto-playing videos R52R57.
Are there problems with app stability?
Yes, users of ABC13 Houston News & Weather report frequent freezing, locking up, and the app not working, sometimes requiring deletion and reinstallation R17R21R27R31. Houston News from KHOU 11 also experiences crashes and issues with articles not loading .

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. [R4] ABC13 Houston News & Weather 1/5 · US New update: Just terrible since the new update. Can only see past or future. No longer both combined. Going backwards.
  2. [R5] ABC13 Houston News & Weather 4/5 · US Best app. for local and national news: This is my number 1 app to keep abreast of the most updated news and events locally, Statewide and Nationally. It’s easy to manage and maneuver
  3. [R8] ABC13 Houston News & Weather 5/5 · US The best app ever!!!: I check my phone before i turn on my TV,when news breaks I’m the first to inform my coworkers. Thanks 👁 witness news
  4. [R16] ABC13 Houston News & Weather 1/5 · US Sports section. Not very good. I wish they would have Bob Allen Tim Melton: Can you cover more sports beside Houston teams in a few minutes of sports back in old days by Tim Melton. Bob Allen. Cover a lot of sports. What went on all day in a few minutes.
  5. [R2] ABC13 Houston News & Weather 4/5 · US Opening app: Every time I get a notification about an updated story I click on it that seems very interesting and it does not go to that story. Very disappointing.
  6. [R3] ABC13 Houston News & Weather 3/5 · US Notifications are not linked: It is so frustrating when a notification shows up on my phone, hit the link, but it only opens your app. The notification should take you to the article mentioned in the notification. Then I search and search and can never find the article. Waste of my time trying to use your app.
  7. [R9] ABC13 Houston News & Weather 3/5 · US AP doesn’t seem to keep up with notifications: I get notifications from ABC13 on a regular basis. 99% of the time, when I click on the notification and the APP opens, there is nothing there about what the notification was about…
  8. [R13] ABC13 Houston News & Weather 1/5 · US Audio: No other app has the issue but the audio is not synched up with what they are saying
  9. [R17] ABC13 Houston News & Weather 5/5 · US You need some help with your ap: It DOESNT work!!!!!! It just sits there. My phone and apps are up to date! It’s not me, it’s you!
  10. [R21] ABC13 Houston News & Weather 3/5 · US News: I have been using and 13 Houston for year's, a few months ago I switch to I phone, now every few days the program locks up and won't do anything, so I delete, and reload, but the problem continues. Can you give me any reason? ……….just saying
  11. [R23] ABC13 Houston News & Weather 5/5 · US I like the ...: I like the frequent news and weather pop-up notifications I get from Channel 13. And Channel 13's notifications always pop up first.
  12. [R63] Houston News from KHOU 11 3/5 · US Vern the Vacuum: Wat too much clickbait
  13. [R66] Houston News from KHOU 11 3/5 · US Ads: There are too many ads that don’t belong on a news app. I can click on one and my is smart enough to tell me that the ad is malicious.
  14. [R68] Houston News from KHOU 11 5/5 · US The Best: I love that the app no longer has all the annoying advertisements you HAD to watch before watching every clip of news. I also love the new feature to be able to just scroll through them all and their anchors are amazing❣️💯
  15. [R72] Houston News from KHOU 11 3/5 · US Volume Issues: I absolutely love the news and weather on this app. My only complaint is that the commercials are threefold the volume. Fix it!!! You’re waking up babies!!!
  16. [R29] ABC13 Houston News & Weather 5/5 · US Tv: This seems like the only way to talk to y’all this past year starting in the fall I can’t watch channel 13 with a antenna I haven’t changed anything have a very good and strong antenna other channels come in fine it’s only 13. So I can only stream the news please help Thank you I love my 13
  17. [R55] ABC13 Houston News & Weather 1/5 · US Poor: Can not contact news department. Why only mention Center Point Power Company? There is Entergy in The Woodlands and Kingwood. I live in Kingwood and storm hit hard here. Neighbors roof damaged. Trees down everywhere. Across North Park. Ask Entergy when power restored!!!
  18. [R30] ABC13 Houston News & Weather 3/5 · US No search box?: I see no search box and when I click on “explore “, it gives me numerous topis, but I still can’t ask for a specific topic. I could scroll. All day without GI what I’m after
  19. [R76] Houston News from KHOU 11 1/5 · US What happened to search??: There is no search feature within the app or the ability to filter between news categories. The UI update itself is nice aesthetically but the main features we want from a news application are just missing. I get notifications for interesting news articles and can’t even find them in the app anymore if the notification takes me to the main feed and not the article in the
  20. [R15] ABC13 Houston News & Weather 3/5 · US Notifications - improve the target they open: It’s not a good user experience when very specific notifications to the phone screen only open the app when clicked. The expectation for notifications is that they open a target page directly related to the notification so the user doesn’t have to hunt around in the app for the information that brought them to it. Otherwise, app is great!
  21. [R52] ABC13 Houston News & Weather 2/5 · US Not too thrilled with your app: Whenever I open my app up, I’m always getting some news video playing automatically is if I want to hear it when I just want to see what’s going on in the world not here someone talking especially Donald Trump or anyone else from the Republican national convention and it seems that you are being because all you do is talk about them and talk about them and talk abou
  22. [R57] ABC13 Houston News & Weather 1/5 · US Live coverage: When I click on a News article, I’m coming into the app to read that article. I’m not coming into the app to be inundated by whatever live coverage you have going on at the time. The option to turn off auto play doesn’t even work. It’s so obnoxious that I deleted the entire app.
  23. [R27] ABC13 Houston News & Weather 3/5 · US Freezing: What is going on it keeps freezing?
  24. [R31] ABC13 Houston News & Weather 1/5 · US Freezes constantly: Works great reading three or four articles. Then it freezes up, and the whole phone is useless. Several minutes later, I can minimize the app and kill it. Don't get me wrong, reading the news from KTRK is a highlight of my morning. But I can't do it any longer.

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