We're pleased to announce the relaunch of the CBS News app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, which is now available in the App Store for FREE! Our new app features a completely new design and lots of exciting new functionality. Most notably, the app includes CBSN, the recently launched 24/7 live streaming digital news network from CBS News that allows you to watch live news anytime, anywhere. CBSN combines the vast news gathering resources of CBS News and the best segments from shows like Evening News and 60 Minutes to bring you top stories, special features and live coverage of breaking news throughout the day. You can sit back and watch the live stream or view previously aired segments, or even explore a big story more deeply through related videos. Anchored coverage begins at 9 am ET each weekday.

Our new app has a dramatically different visual design as well. We've made a number of changes that we hope will make it easier to use. To begin with, we've simplified our section fronts and article pages and combined crisp, modern fonts, larger headlines and better line spacing to improve readability. We've incorporated more dramatic imagery with full screen galleries. We've integrated video and photo galleries more seamlessly into our articles so that you can view all elements of a story in one place. And we've also incorporated our special In-Depth sections into the app, which allow you to easily explore the latest updates and highlights from big, ongoing stories, like the Paris attacks, evolving technology and the annual entertainment awards shows. In-Depth sections can be accessed from the navigation or directly from related articles.

There's some exciting new functionality in the app as well. We've added an innovative feature to the iPhone version called Quick Read, which offers an article preview on the front door before you click through to the full story, allowing you to skim the top news in a more substantive way. Likewise, on the iPad app, for big ongoing stories, users can preview additional updates right from the front door by tapping on the "+[number]" indicator below the headline. We've also added the ability to bookmark stories for viewing later and to share stories and videos more easily by sharing directly from the hard news section fronts or the show front doors. Another big functional improvement is new customization options. You can start the app in News or Shows mode, adjust font sizes, and reorder the news menu to correspond with your interests (e.g., moving Politics and Video right below Latest for easy access). We've also added alerts so that you're up to date on all the major breaking news.

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We've also added additional content to the app from our broadcast programs. The latest episode of 60 Minutes and 48 Hours is now available every week. So if you want catch up on the occasional missed episode, no matter where you are, you've got it! For full access to those programs, including previous weeks and seasons and special content from our archives, you can still download the dedicated 60 Minutes and 48 Hours apps.

Of course, you can still access all the great content from the previous CBS News app, ranging from our timely and deep news reporting to our business and financial content from CBS MoneyWatch to content from our broadcast programs - 60 Minutes, Evening News, CBS This Morning, Sunday Morning, Face the Nation and 48 Hours. We hope these improvements make it easier stay connected to the news and shows you love.

For current CBS News app users on the iPhone and iPod Touch, your app will update to include all of the new features above. For iPad users, ditch your old CBS News app and download the new CBS News app. The old CBS News for iPad app will no longer be supported after February 28th, 2015.

Get the FREE CBS News app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, available for download at the App Store here.

For our Android users, we haven't forgotten about you. A new app will be available to download soon.