# The Ken vs FT Digital Edition

The clearest difference is monetization model: FT Digital Edition at free with in-app purchases against The Ken's subscription. FT Digital Edition also leads on ratings volume (3K vs 132) and chart position (#141 vs unranked). The Ken's advantage is update cadence (every 9 days vs every 3 weeks) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.6). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. The Ken sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $25.00 per month and FT Digital Edition sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $16.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

FT Digital Edition holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: FT Digital Edition has 3K ratings behind it against 132, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 52% of The Ken's written reviews are positive against 63% of FT Digital Edition's.

The Ken ships an update every 9 days, FT Digital Edition every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | The Ken | FT Digital Edition |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.7 (132 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/the-ken/id1282944688/reviews) | **[4.8 (3K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/ft-digital-edition/id6449040684/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | 132 | **3K** |
| Positive reviews | 52.4% of reviews | **63.4% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Every 9 days** | Every 3 weeks |
| Monetization | Subscription | **Free with in-app purchases** |
| Best chart rank | — | **#141** |
| Size | 83 MB | 47 MB |
| Requires iOS | **15.1** | 17.6 |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, iPod** | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Kenrise Media Private Limited](https://appshunter.io/developer/1282944687) | [Financial Times Ltd.](https://appshunter.io/developer/322310071) |

## What reviewers say

### The Ken

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/the-ken/id1282944688)

Access in-depth business journalism from India with original stories, podcasts, and infographics. Enjoy offline reading, community interaction, and personalized features. A subscription unlocks full content and premium benefits.

**Highlights:** Deeply reported original stories, Immersive podcasts with transcripts, Rich infographics for visual understanding, Offline reading and saving, Subscriber community interaction, Personalized reading experience (dark mode, font size)

**In-app purchases (2)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Monthly Premium | $25.00 | per month |
| Yearly Premium | $150.00 | per year |

**What reviewers like**

- ✨ High-quality content
- 🧠 Deep insights and analysis
- ✍️ Excellent storytelling
- 👍 Clean interface
- 🚀 Smooth navigation

**What reviewers complain about**

- 📉 Content quality degraded
- 👎 No specific insights
- 👎 Distinctive content copied
- 🐛 App glitching on iOS
- 🐛 Crashes when clicking Explore

**Reported bugs**

- App crashes when clicking Explore
- Most stories cannot be opened
- App says 'Something went wrong'
- Frequent update requests
- App crashes frequently

**Requested features**

- Listen to podcasts in background without downloading
- Audio version of articles
- Highlighting feature
- Save notes within the app
- Option to zoom in on images/infographics


### FT Digital Edition

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/ft-digital-edition/id6449040684)

**Currently charting:** #141 Top Grossing · News (US App Store)

Access the daily Financial Times newspaper delivered to your device. Enjoy exclusive digital magazines, translated articles, and a decade of archives. Listen to audio versions of top stories and read offline.

**Highlights:** Daily newspaper delivered to device, Exclusive digital magazines, Translated articles in 30+ languages, Browse 10 years of previous editions, Audio versions of top stories, Download for offline reading, Global editions and classic layout

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (2)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| FT Digital Edition Monthly | $16.99 | per month |
| FT Digital Edition | $45.00 | per 3 months |

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Smooth, savvy, and clean interface
- 👍 Streamlined and intuitive app experience
- 👍 Excellent for offline reading
- 👍 Automatic downloads of the latest edition
- 👍 Ability to access different regional editions

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Connectivity issues, app unable to connect at times
- 🐛 Struggles with unfamiliar IP addresses when traveling
- 🐛 Crashes and freezes, especially on the cookie page
- 🐛 Counterintuitive and clunky user interface
- 🐛 Formatting issues, with text and images not rendering properly

**Reported bugs**

- Inability to log in and access the subscription
- Rendering issues with hyphens and other special characters
- Inconsistent behavior when switching between online and offline modes

**Requested features**

- Implement a full-screen mode for better reading experience
- Add a dark mode option for comfortable reading
- Improve the text-to-speech (audio) functionality to handle non-text elements better
- Introduce a search feature to easily find articles and content
- Enhance the offline reading capabilities to ensure consistent availability


## Frequently asked questions

### Is The Ken free?

The Ken is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is FT Digital Edition free?

FT Digital Edition is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, The Ken or FT Digital Edition?

FT Digital Edition is rated higher. The Ken averages 4.7 out of 5 from 132 ratings, while FT Digital Edition averages 4.8 from 3K ratings.

### Do The Ken or FT Digital Edition have ads?

Neither The Ken nor FT Digital Edition shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, The Ken or FT Digital Edition?

The Ken ships an update every 9 days, and FT Digital Edition every 3 weeks. Most recently, The Ken was updated on October 24, 2026 and FT Digital Edition on October 25, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*