theSkimm vs Longform Reader
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
theSkimm
Stay informed with daily news summaries, in-depth articles on career, health, and finance, and engaging podcasts. Discover personalized recommendations and integrate events into your calendar to live smarter.
- Daily news summaries
- In-depth articles
- Podcasts
- Personalized calendar integration
- Curated recommendations
- Career, health, and finance topics
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Meet: theSkimm app. We’ve got you covered on all the news and info you need to start your day. Think: news, podcasts, curated picks, and a personalized calendar to help you live your smartest life. Try the app for free. After that, pay less than a cup of coffee a month. Wake up with us. It all starts with the Daily Skimm – the morning newsletter that connects the dots on how the biggest stories affect your life. Dive deeper. We help you navigate the complicated topics around your career, health, and wallet. Listen in. Meet our podcasts: “Skimm This” explains the week’s biggest stories. “Skimm’d from the Couch” features advice from female leaders. Stay up-to-date. Our calendar integrates with yours so you never miss important moments, like awards shows, elections, and more. Discover more. We Skimm your shopping cart, streaming queue, and bookshelf. We'll help you discover things quicker, so you can spend your downtime smarter. ------- In-app purchase subscription required. All monthly subscriptions begin with a free trial, after which a recurring charge of $2.99 per month. All yearly subscriptions are charged $29.99 at the time of purchase, with a recurring charge billed annually. Details: - Subscription options: monthly subscription of $2.99 per month, or yearly subscription of $29.99 per year - Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase - Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period - Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period - Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase - No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during active subscription period - theSkimm's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use can be visited at http://theskimm.com/privacy - Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication
Longform Reader
Access curated long-form articles from top publications. Enjoy a clean reading experience with features like dark mode and automatic reader view for linked content.
- Access Longform.org articles
- Fast load times
- Dark Mode support
- Automatic Reader View
- Curated from top publications
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Longform Reader is an app for reading articles published on the official Longform.org website. Longform.org curates long-form articles (over 2000 words) from various publications such as The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, ESPN Magazine, etc. Features: * Fast load time * Dark Mode support * Automatic ‘Reader View’ for linked articles Because this is an unofficial app for Longform.org, we are not able to include certain features such as viewing past articles, browsing by category, podcast support, etc. If you enjoy using Longform Reader, please consider taking a moment to rate it. Thanks for your support! *We are not affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with Longform.org. The official Longform.org website can be found at: https://www.longform.org.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: theSkimm at 4.8 against Longform Reader's 3.8. theSkimm also leads on ratings volume (13K vs 4) and chart position (#42 vs unranked). Longform Reader's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and review sentiment (67% vs 41%). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. theSkimm sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Longform Reader asks for nothing beyond the download.
theSkimm holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: theSkimm has 13K ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 41% of theSkimm's written reviews are positive against 67% of Longform Reader's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
| Parameter | theSkimm | Longform Reader |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (13K ratings) — better | 3.8 (4 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 40.7% of reviews | 66.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 13K — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #42 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 33 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | theSkimm | Stand Up Apps, Inc. |
Customer experience
theSkimm
Longform Reader
Bugs and requests
theSkimm
Reported bugs
2 issues- App crashes and freezes
- Issues with 'Do Not Sell My Information' feature
Requested features
4 requests- Offline content access
- More international news coverage
- Customizable news preferences
- Ability to remove ads for paid subscribers
Longform Reader
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
theSkimm
- theSkimm Monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
- theSkimm Yearly$29.991 Year
Longform Reader
No in-app purchases









