The Five Best Free News Apps for iPad

Apple’s iPad has made the act of keeping up with the events of the day practically effortless. No longer do you have to wait for the morning paper or your local news broadcast. You oftentimes don’t even need to actively seek out important news updates – the iPad will push them right to you the instant they become available. In the realm of mobile news applications, a few tend to rise above the rest. This is especially true when it comes to Apple’s mobile platform.

AP Mobile

AP Mobile is the official application of the Associated Press. Stories from all over the world are updated continually throughout the day. If something pertinent happens that the AP staff feels you should know about, a “Push” notification will appear on your iPad’s screen regardless of whether the app is running at the time or not.

CNN

Not only does the official CNN application give you all of the news and updates you’ve come to expect, but it also allows you to watch CNN live directly from your iPad. Just tap the “Live TV” icon in the upper-right corner of the screen and log in using your cable television provider’s username and password. Anything that CNN broadcasts that you would be able to watch on your television will also be viewable on your iPad.

Flipboard

The Flipboard application takes news from various sources, including your favorite social networking sites, and formats articles as if you were reading a digital magazine. You can flip through the pages or browse by categories to view only the topics you feel like reading about. You could see a photo posted by a friend on Twitter or Facebook alongside a story from CNN or The Huffington Post. Flipboard takes news and makes it not only easy to consume, but fun as well.

HealthMap

The HealthMap application takes recent health alerts from all over the world and formats them as pins on a giant map. By default, HealthMap will allow you to view a map of your area. You can see the exact location of reported incidents like virus outbreaks, disease reports and more. You can zoom out to view a larger map of the surrounding area, or search for a specific location as the need arises.

NPR

NPR is the official application of National Public Radio. Any content that you could tune into on your car or home radio you can also experience on your iPad wherever you have an Internet connection. Content is arranged in an easy-to-navigate interface, allowing quick access to the news you’re searching for.

All of the aforementioned free news applications, and a seemingly endless amount of additional apps, are available in the iTunes App Store accessible via the “App Store” icon on your home screen.