Matter vs Waves News
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Matter
Consolidate articles, newsletters, and PDFs into a single, organized reading experience. Enjoy modern tools like natural text-to-speech and fluid highlighting for enhanced comprehension. Sync your highlights to popular knowledge management tools.
- Save articles, newsletters, PDFs, and YouTube
- Natural text-to-speech functionality
- Fluid highlighting and note-taking
- Sync highlights to Notion, Obsidian, Roam, Readwise
- Send articles to Kindle
- Unified inbox for subscriptions
- Offline reading
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Finally, a better reading app. The internet is full of things you want to read – articles, newsletters, Twitter threads, PDFs. Matter brings them together in one place and gives you modern tools, like natural text-to-speech and fluid highlighting, to help you read more comfortably and effectively. "Matter improves vastly on earlier read-later apps like Pocket and Instapaper" – The Wall Street Journal Save anything: - Save full articles if you're within the paywall (eg. Bloomberg, NYT, WSJ) - Podcast transcriptions & synced playback - Save PDFs and YouTube Read across devices, including Kindle: - iPhone, iPad, Web - Send any article to Kindle in 2-taps Unified inbox for your subscriptions: - Sync your newsletters by connecting Gmail - Follow individual writers for their latest posts - Add any RSS feed The most elegant reading experience: - Best-in-class article parsing + readability - Available offline by default - Gorgeous night mode - Human-like text-to-speech - Fluid highlighting and note-taking Export your knowledge: - Sync your highlights to Notion, Obsidian, Roam, Readwise, and others Matter offers a free service and a Premium service. The free version of Matter includes: - Uncapped read-later library - Mobile & web extensions to save all types of content - Best-in-class parsing and readability - Unlimited tags - Full-text search - Customizable themes and fonts In addition to the free features, Matter Premium offers: - HD text-to-speech for all your articles - Seamless AI Co-Reader - Sync your newsletters, subscribe to writers, and add RSS feeds - Unlimited highlighting, note-taking, and integrations - Send to Kindle Payment for Matter Premium will be charged to your iTunes Account when you subscribe. Annual and monthly subscriptions automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Auto-renewal may be turned off at any time by going to your settings in the iTunes Store after purchase. Manage your Matter Premium subscription by going to Matter's Settings page. Terms of Use: https://hq.getmatter.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://hq.getmatter.com/privacy
Waves News
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Stay informed in under 2 minutes. Waves delivers AI-curated audio news briefings personalized to the topics you care about — AI & tech, business, sports, politics, crypto, health, and more. • 1–2 minute audio stories, no fluff • Personalized feed that learns your interests • English and Spanish content • Listen on iOS, background playback, lock screen controls • Breaking news notifications for your topics • Share any briefing with a public link Built for busy people who want to stay informed without doom-scrolling or 30-minute podcasts. Terms of Use: https://waves.news/terms Privacy Policy: https://waves.news/privacy Waves Premium is an auto-renewable subscription. Payment will be charged to your Apple ID account. Subscription automatically renews unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage and cancel subscriptions in your Account Settings on the App Store.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Matter at weekly against Waves News's every 3 weeks. Matter also leads on chart position (#166 vs unranked). Waves News's advantage is iOS requirement (15.1 vs 26.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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. Matter sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days and Waves News sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Matter ships an update weekly, Waves News every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Matter | Waves News |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (1.2K ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 53.8% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 1.2K — better | — |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | — |
| Best chart rank | #166 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 122 MB | 46 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Dig Wells, Inc. | Maria Pia Fletcher |
Bugs and requests
Matter
Reported bugs
4 issues- Subscription issues and inability to cancel
- Delayed or missing newsletter delivery
- Syncing problems across devices
- Crashes and freezes on certain content
Requested features
5 requests- Ability to manually add blogs and RSS feeds
- Customizable highlighter colors
- Offline mode for audio playback
- Integration with more note-taking apps
- Improved search and filtering capabilities
Waves News
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Matter
- Matter Pro Weekly$2.997 Days
- Matter Premium (Monthly)$7.991 Month
- Matter Pro (Monthly)$12.991 Month
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- Matter Premium (Monthly)$14.991 Month
- Matter Pro (Annual)1 Year trial$59.991 Year
- Matter Pro (Annual)7 Days trial$59.991 Year
- Matter Premium (Annual)$79.991 Year
- Matter Premium (Annual)7 Days trial$79.991 Year
- Matter Premium7 Days trial$99.991 Year
- Matter Patron Tier$149.99
Waves News
- Waves News Pro$3.991 Month
- Waves News Pro$35.001 Year









