Local News & Weather: Haystack

• Haystack Monthly Premium — $4.99/month
• Haystack Monthly Premium — $7.99/month
• Haystack Monthly Premium — $49.99/year ($4.16/mo)

Last verified 2 Sep 2026

4.7 20167 ratings · App Store

1. 1/5Would be 5 ⭐️s but…

   I would have rated this app five stars and even paid for their service, but there’s one major, ongoing issue that’s completely ruining the experience: the inability to truly filter out topics or content you don’t want to see. When you mute certain videos, topics, or keywords—whether it’s politics or anything else—the app still manages to show you related videos you specifically tried to avoid. For example, if you mute politics, the app seems to find ways to bring them back by showing you content with slightly different labels or connections. It’s incredibly frustrating to have no control over what I see, especially when I’ve taken the steps to clearly communicate what I don’t want to engage with. This feels like the app is prioritizing pushing content over respecting user preferences. I shouldn’t have to keep being exposed to topics I actively avoid. Please address this—it’s the only thing keeping me from fully enjoying and supporting the platform.

   lubowiecki · 2 Sep 2026

2. 4/5Good, but UI could be better

   My household uses Haystack on our TV, phones, pretty much every device. However, the mobile version could take some lessons from the Roku app. On the TV, you can individually pick a news station, and scroll through every clip before selecting one to watch. On mobile, after selecting a station, you have to scroll through every video TikTok/reels style. The only place you can look through every headline (without having to load a bunch of videos) under a station is to go to “related videos”, which is not guaranteed to be clips from the station. I legitimately don’t understand why the related option exists before the option to look through all of the clips from a particular station. I also wish there was a better menu that showed *every* station you follow. This is also an issue on Roku, where only a handful of the stations you follow actually appear on the menu bar. Searching only gives you the ability to follow/unfollow. Why?

   Idk, do better? · 2 Sep 2026

3. 5/54 year review.

   I have had Haystack on Chromecast about 4 years ago. I have to say I love the app, it has always catered to my interests and does so seamlessly. I generally use this in the morning or just while making dinner. One thing I would like to see is a more constant refreshing of news. Nowadays everyone is constantly getting bombarded with new news every day - every minute. It needs more categories that are less personalized but more like themed. A common problem with all of this choice is that if you need something quickly you have to wait to choose something and you end up stalling watching The Office for the 8th time. Make a few channels 24/7 - people will tune in.

   Paco862 · 2 Sep 2026

4. 5/5Great app

   Great app tbh never had any issues. Sometimes when I first used it it would hang in a video and play the sound behind it but simple you close it and open it again and it works fine seriously no big deal. After updates can’t remember the last time that happened. Great place to see top news and it continues without you needing to touch anything. I hope the app doesn’t change to subscription or anything like popular apps like to do I hope it stays the same cause I love this app. Only thing I would recommend see if you can add more news stations not saying the ones that it shows are bad but more never hurts

   Jerzyricankid · 2 Sep 2026

5. 2/5Latest update not great

   Used to love Haystack. I turn it on in the morning and get my news of the day. Also get to watch some Late Night. But after the latest update, it works different and I don’t like the change. I’ll be watching a story and it will cut out to update the stories. Be great if it went back to the story I was watching, but it doesn’t. Seems to update more than twice while I’m watching. Something has happened to the Late Night category. It used to be diverse and have lots of clips from different late night shows. These days there’s sometimes only five clips. Or sometimes there will only be clips from one show. Like I’ll only be able to watch old Conan. I’m not a fan of Conan or old shows so that’s not nice. I’ve changed settings to no avail. I used to be able to turn Haystack on and walk around either watching or just listening. Now I have to run back to continue stories or get rid of old Conan. I’m also missing the World in Photos that it used to get. All of that together means that I’m still watching it, but looking for something new.

   GoBonnieGo · 2 Sep 2026

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