Reader beware, some of these apps may slant to either the right or the left. Always be aware of a publication or a source’s biases before taking everything they say as fact. Whether you’re liberal, conservative, or somewhere in the middle, make sure you aren’t swayed by the bias of someone else. We have seven apps to go through, so let’s skip the filibuster and get right to the point.
1. 2016 Election Central
First on the campaign trail is 2016 Election Central, an app that hopes to be your one-stop shop for all of your campaign curiosities. This app has a large selection of purely election-related news to sort through, and even a community in which you can discuss your opinions. You can comment on articles in the app, and even use their built in Disqus page to debate debates. It’s great that the app is free, but a few ads come along with that, and with no option for a pro version to turn them off it can quickly become annoying. Updates are infrequent at best, or at least not as frequent as other apps, and there doesn’t seem to be any cataloging features to speak of. There may be news aplenty, but good luck seeing any stories past a few weeks old. Free Version
2. Crooks and Liars
Crooks and Liars is more of a general political app instead of an app focused solely on the 2016 US Election, but most of the news appearing in the app’s Latest tab will have something to do with the candidates in the running. The app updates frequently with news stories and has a few minor notifications settings to let you know when new stories are posted. There’s even a podcast to listen to if you’ve been looking for one. That being said, with as many news stories as this app has, not many of them are hosted in the actual application. To get the full story on almost every article, you’ll need to follow a link to take you to the source. However, if that doesn’t bother you, this could be the app for you. Free Version Considering this is a FOX News app, some readers may already know what they’re in for as far as coverage and biases go, but no matter way those factors fall we have a pretty high-quality app on our hands. Whether you’re looking for detailed information on Donald Trump, or a way to interact with live debates and communities, FOX News’ Election HQ is spot on. This is the first app in this list to have video content while that’s a big plus, it’s also one of the app’s biggest negatives, considering most of the news here will just be video content. Make sure not to browse this app very often on mobile data. Aside from news content, Election HQ has a large notification system, debate schedules, and even in-depth candidate profiles. Besides the small amount of non-video content, the only other major negative I can attribute to Election HQ is the lack of a pro version to get rid annoying ads. Free Version
4. Show of Hands Polls & Politics
Show of Hands is one of the more unique app in this list in the sense that it doesn’t directly relate to news. SOH is instead about voting, or polls, and interacting with other people on your choices and theirs. This is also an app that you can get the most out of by creating an account, so you can better interact with SOH’s community. If you aren’t looking for a community lead experience, full of what are essentially surveys, then you should give this one a pass. For those that are, SOH has a section devoted solely to the 2016 US Election where you can vote for what candidate you prefer and then get the chance to talk with others with the same opinion or differing ones. When considering all the other apps on this list, SOH has the biggest community to debate with about the presidential race. SOH additionally has a section for third party candidates, so if you want to find someone to talk with about a lesser-known candidate in the running, you can do so here. SOH does a fantastic job at setting up a venue for people to discuss, debate, and vote. However, aside from connecting with a community, you won’t find any actual news here.
Subscription Service
SOH is a bit of an oddball in the sense that it’s free to use, but can be upgraded with a yearly subscription of $25.00 to remove ads and other bonuses. This isn’t necessary to enjoy Show of Hands, but it warrants a mention.
5. US Politics News
This next app is another general politics app, but with a few key differences that can turn it into the news app of your moderately realistic dreams. US Politics News has a tag system where you can set what kind of news you want in your feed, and what kind of news you’d rather see chucked from your feed and straight into the bin. Additionally, the app has a number of different notifications settings so you can tweak the app to notify you as frequently or infrequently as you desire, or just switch them off altogether. If you want a community to interact with on and off the app, there are options for social network integration. However, the app’s actual community isn’t as full of life as one would hope. Thankfully, the app is free, unless you want to upgrade for just a few cents under three dollars and the ads that are present aren’t horribly intrusive. Even as a free app it provides plenty of links to relevant election news, but doesn’t contain many full stories in the app itself. With that said, US Politics News does what it needs to with little fuss, and an attractive, but simple interface. Free Version
6. Poll-Up
Poll-Up is a very simple app to end this on, as it does just what you would expect it to. It gives you a mostly up-to-date poll on the US 2016 election candidates, and that’s it. The data that the app uses is provided by Huffington Post and is updated when able. If all you want is a simple poll viewing app, this may just be the best one out there on Android currently. No mess, no fuss, just a poll for Democrats and Republicans by Hex Innovation. Free Version
7. Political Nation Right
This next app is actually two different apps that function similarly but are for either the Republican party or the Democratic party. For the sake of convenience, and to stave off the risk of repeating myself, I’ll be covering both Political Nation Left, and Political Nation Right in the same space. As a word of warning, Political Nation is more of a general, political news app, instead of an app related to solely 2016 Election news. Political Nation, both Left and Right, are hubs that essentially link you to different political articles on other news sites. If this isn’t what you’re looking for, Political Nation doesn’t have any other tricks up its sleeve to keep you here. Thankfully, if you’re just looking for Democratic or Republican news only, you can just download the specific app. With that in mind, for what it is, it does an adequate job of linking you to other news sites, but with a format that isn’t that pleasing to the eyes. Free Version
Conclusion
My two favorites out of these seven apps have to be Election HQ and US Politics News, in my opinion they’re the most comprehensive while still being customizable. If you’re looking for election news and interactivity, you can’t go wrong with any of them, but if I could only pick two, the couple above would have a permanent spot in my app drawer. Do you have an app you use to keep up with the election that wasn’t mentioned here? Why not share it in the comments along with who you’re excited to see running for president this coming year! Featured Image Credit
