Get to know the new WRAL News app

My News lets you build a custom news feed from more than 5,000 topics. Just search topics, add them to your feed and save. Now My News is personalized and easily accessed from every screen in the app. By logging in with your WRAL.com account, you can sync your topics across multiple devices; so whether on your iPhone, Android or tablet, you will be able to quickly access your personalized news feed though the WRAL News app.

Because our app users are among our most loyal, and likely to be news hounds, we made it easy for you to always see the very latest news coming into our newsroom. Simply click Latest for up-to-the-minute stories and video from WRAL News, CNN and the Associated Press.

We heard that you wanted the option to quickly scan stories on the home screen without much scrolling, so we’ve added “Headline Scanning” that can be toggled on and off from the Settings screen (Go to More and then Settings). We also moved the forecast and radar under the top story since you told us you want quick access to weather. (Weather is also is available by clicking the temperature icon at the top of the screen.)

We’ve also made it much easier to find video if you would rather watch the news than read it, or if you are looking for a segment you saw on a recent newscast.

Look along the bottom bar for the Live or Watch feature. Whenever we have live video available in the app, including the live newscast, you’ll notice the icon changes to be red with the word “Live.” At other times, the icon will be blue and will say "Watch."

Once you are in the video section, scroll to the right for video by category, including popular videos like lottery drawings, webcams, and Tar Heel Traveler and 5 On Your Side segments.

Redesigned WRAL News app puts users in control with new ways to get their news

Over the last nine months, we completely redesigned, built and tested a whole new news app experience. We started from the ground and worked our way up – reengineering how the app functions behind the scenes, how content makes its way to the app, and how it is presented to you, our loyal users.

This was no small task, and certainly not one we took lightly. We listened to your feedback over the years and made improvements where improvements were needed and added features you long asked for. Before we launched the news app publicly, we held focus groups on the new design and navigation before putting the final product through alpha and beta testing.

With the improvements we made behind the scenes, the app has proven to be significantly faster and much more reliable than the previous one. We’ve also heard from several of you that you love the new design, and that brightens our day.

That all said, we know very well that change is difficult. We had the same design for almost five years. When you’ve grown so used to something, it can be frustrating when it “suddenly” changes; especially when things you are used to finding in a specific place may have moved. We ask for your patience as you get accustomed to the new design and new options.

We’re also still listening.

We are responding to your feedback, whether positive or negative, and truly welcome your ideas for how we can make improvements. Thank you to all who have already reached out; your feedback insures we are continually improving.

In fact, thanks to your feedback, we added additional information to the detailed daily weather forecast text on the weather screen, including chance of precipitation, wind speed and direction, and sunrise and sunset times.