The 9 Best Free News Apps for Android and iOS
For a lot of people, news consumption has shifted from websites and newspapers to aggregator apps on smartphones. But finding the right one is surprisingly still quite a challenging process.
When picking the best news app, you need to look out for a lot of features, including smart algorithms, dark themes, offloading options, and more. To help you decide what to use, here are our picks of the best news apps for Android and iPhone.
1. Google News
You’re probably already familiar with this one. Google News is a straightforward news reader relying on several contextual frameworks to catch stories tailored to your interests.
You can specifically configure your Google News feed, or just use the app and Google News will figure out what you like on its own. In addition, Google News also allows you to read magazines and even sync your paid subscriptions.
What’s more, it can download articles for you to read later. There’s a dark mode as well; you can keep this enabled all the time or automatically trigger it when your phone goes into dark mode.
Google News has a bunch of other tools you might find helpful. One is a section called Your Briefing that brings relevant stories for you to consume in the morning. Tap individual stories to read more on the original topic if you’re interested.
Download: Google News for Android | iOS | Web (Free)
2. Microsoft Start
Microsoft’s take on news aggregation is similar to Google News in a lot of ways. It, too, learns from your reading habits to pick up on your interests and what sources you like. You can, of course, manually customize these topics and even search for particular ones.
Two main tabs display news: News and Home. The Home tab has Top Stories and Trending Stories, while the News tab is a more personalized section with Daily Briefing and your preferred topics. In addition, you can open multiple tabs and manage them easily in the Tabs section.
The app functions in many local languages. You can go to Settings > Region and Language > Country & Region to choose your country and language.
Download: Microsoft Start for Android | iOS (Free)
3. Flipboard
Flipboard takes a more visual approach and tries to emulate an authentic magazine experience. That means you have proper page flip animations in the news feed and everything is organized into large grids.
The app has a range of human-curated editorial tabs like The Daily Edition and Flipboard Picks, and you can save posts to read later, or favorite them. Moreover, the app allows you to follow specific topics and create personalized magazines, which you can make public for everyone else to read.
Download: Flipboard for Android | iOS (Free)
4. Feedly
Feedly is for people who depend on their own RSS list for news instead of an algorithm. The app has all the features you need to maintain and edit that list and view fresh content.
Feedly also has several discovery features if you want to add new feeds. Plus, it offers a host of other tools like a save-for-later function, a ton of formatting settings, a dark theme, and more.
This comparison between Flipboard and Feedly will help you decide which type of news app you should go for if you’re not sure. Do check out these useful Feedly tips before you make a decision, though.
Download: Feedly for Android | iOS | Web (Free, in-app purchases available)
5. Apple News (iOS Only)
Apple News is the premier and exclusive news platform for iOS users. It’s designed with a clean, modern aesthetic that’s perfect for catching up on the news. Further, the app lets you follow your favorite websites and manage subscriptions if you have any.
There are a bunch of handy functions here, like a Today section that compiles important stories and News Digests, which are curated by Apple’s editorial team. Apple News comes preloaded on all modern iPhones and iPads (as well as Macs), and you can re-download it if you’ve removed it.
Download: Apple News for iOS (Free, in-app purchases available)
6. SmartNews
SmartNews bills itself as a news reader app that intelligently brings you only the most high-quality, trusted content. And for the most part, that’s true. But compared to the likes of Google News and Apple News, which are already powered by a string of advanced machine learning frameworks, SmartNews does something pretty similar.
The app certainly won’t let you down if you decide to give it a shot. There’s a unique tab manager at the top through which you can quickly switch between various sections like Sports, Technology, and others, and a Search and Explore tab is available if you’re tired of your usual destinations. Like others, SmartNews has standard features like an offline mode.
Download: SmartNews for Android | iOS (Free)
7. Yahoo News
Like Google and Microsoft, Yahoo also offers a news app for smartphones. The app is pretty neat and offers all the basic features you’d expect from a news app.
The default screen on this app shows you the Top Stories, and additionally, you can also watch news videos in the Video tab. However, if you want to follow specific topics or discover new ones, tap on the + icon in the top-right corner to read news related to those specific topics.
Download: Yahoo News for Android | iOS | Web (Free)
8. NewsBreak
NewsBreak has tabs and sections similar to the other apps on this list. However, it has a social media-like approach to news, where you can like and comment on each news post. This element of interaction can be pretty interesting, especially if you’re a social media buff.
In addition to that, you have a ton of topics that you can follow to personalize your feed. It also lets you choose locations to read local news.
Download: NewsBreak for Android | iOS | Web (Free)
9. Breaking News
This app also has elements of social media in it. There is a tab called The Wall, where you can post updates like text messages or even memes. Moreover, you can join Rooms about various topics to participate in a community.
The app lets you keep up with Local, Trending, Breaking, and The Latest news on the app’s home screen. There is also a Videos section that aggregates news-related videos from YouTube mostly.
Download: Breaking News for Android | iOS (Free)
The Best Apps for Reading News on Your Phone
Catching up on news and articles has never been easier thanks to the flurry of free news apps available for iOS and Android. And these top news apps let you get the updates you care about with little effort.
The news shared on these apps is usually from trusted sources. However, we still recommend that you fact-check any critical piece of news before taking an important decision or action.