Breaking, when it is actually breaking.
An alert that fires when a story is moving across 58 Israeli newsrooms, not when one desk hits publish. In English, with quiet hours on Jerusalem time.
Scan with your phone to installFree on iPhone and Android · Or watch the live wire on the web ↗
What Makes a Good Breaking Alert for Israeli News?
That it is rare, and that it means something when it arrives. Most news apps alert you when their own newsroom publishes, which is a measure of that newsroom’s day rather than of the news. baba News watches 58 Israeli newsrooms at once and alerts when a story starts moving across them, in English, whichever language the outlets are writing in.
You choose the categories, the newsrooms allowed to reach you, and the threshold: how many outlets have to be carrying something before it is worth your attention.
What You Can Switch on
baba only sends what you switch on, and nothing else.
| Alert | What it is | How it behaves |
|---|---|---|
| Breaking | Major stories as they break | Sent when a story is moving across the press, not when one outlet publishes. Sirens always come through. |
| Editions | Morning, midday and evening | The brief, three times a day, as a notification rather than an email. |
| Discover | Developing and Not Everywhere | A story gaining coverage fast, or one running on one side of the press and nowhere else. |
| Newsrooms you follow | Only the outlets you pick | Choose which newsrooms can reach you, so a follow does not become a firehose. |
| Quiet hours | 22:00 to 07:00, Jerusalem time | A fixed window. Nothing routine arrives inside it. |
Why These Alerts Are Different
The trigger is the press, not a publish button.
Triggered by the press, not one outlet
An alert fires when a story is moving across the 58 newsrooms on the wire. One outlet publishing something is not breaking news.
Every category is its own switch
baba only sends what you switch on. Breaking, the editions, Discover and your newsrooms are separate, and turning one off leaves the others alone.
A threshold you set
Set how many newsrooms have to be carrying a story before it is worth your attention, so the bar for an alert is yours rather than ours.
In English, from the Hebrew press
The alert is in English even though most of the newsrooms behind it publish only in Hebrew, and it opens onto every outlet that ran the story.
Sirens Are Not News Alerts
baba News is a news app and not a civil defence system. Official siren alerts should come from the Home Front Command. What baba News does carry is the Mamad forecast, the chance of a siren over the next hour, day, week and month, and inside the app sirens always come through regardless of your other notification settings and your quiet hours.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best app for Israel breaking news alerts in English?
It depends what you want an alert to mean. If you want one newsroom’s desk to decide, the English-language Israeli outlets have their own apps. If you want an alert that fires when a story is actually moving across the Israeli press, baba News is built for that: it watches 58 newsrooms in Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, French and English and sends in English.
Does it send rocket or siren alerts?
baba News is a news app, not a civil defence system. Official Home Front Command alerts should come from the Home Front Command app. Within baba News, sirens always come through regardless of your other notification settings and your quiet hours, and the Mamad screen carries the forecast of siren risk over the next hour, day, week and month.
Can I stop it waking me up?
Yes. Quiet hours run from 22:00 to 07:00 Jerusalem time, and nothing routine arrives inside that window. The window is fixed for now.
Can I choose which newsrooms alert me?
Yes. You pick which outlets can reach you, and you set a threshold for how many newsrooms have to be carrying a story before it counts as breaking.
Are alerts free?
The app is free on iPhone and Android, including breaking alerts, the brief editions and Not Everywhere. News Plus adds alerts for the specific topics, people and stories you follow.
Can I get the same thing by email instead?
Yes. The brief comes as an email in English or Hebrew, with morning, midday and evening editions, a Friday digest, and breaking capped at one a day.
Know when Israel is actually breaking.
Free on iPhone and Android, with quiet hours from 22:00 Jerusalem time.