TidBITS News vs The Hill
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
TidBITS News
Access the latest news and product updates for Mac and iOS devices from a long-standing internet publication. Read full articles with graphics and embedded videos, and follow links to external resources. Content is downloaded for offline reading.
- Headline and summary display
- Pull-to-refresh functionality
- Full article reading with graphics and video
- Adjustable font sizes
- In-app web browsing
- Offline content access
Read full descriptionHide full description
Stay up to date with the latest news and products in the Mac and iOS worlds with TidBITS (tidbits.com), the oldest Internet-only publication on the planet! The award-winning publication was founded in 1990 by Adam Engst, regularly voted one of the most influential figures in the Macintosh industry. Displays headlines and summaries for the most recent TidBITS stories. At the top of the headline screen, pull to refresh the list. Tap to read the full text of any recent TidBITS article, complete with graphics and embedded movies. Choose among font sizes for reading articles. Follow links to referenced Web sites and other Internet resources in Safari. All headlines and articles are downloaded to your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch so you can catch up on TidBITS while on the subway or on an iPad/iPod touch that's out of range of a Wi-Fi network.
The Hill
Stay informed on Congress and politics with in-depth news, analysis, and opinion pieces. Covers business, lobbying, campaigns, and Capitol Hill happenings. Includes video reports and political talk shows.
- Congress and politics coverage
- Business and lobbying news
- Campaign updates
- Capitol Hill reporting
- Video clips and talk shows
- Topic-based push notifications
- Save stories for later
Read full descriptionHide full description
Covering congress & politics with a focus on business and lobbying, political campaigns, and goings on on Capitol Hill. Read news, analysis, and opinion pieces across a variety of categories, including Senate, House, Administration, Campaign, Business & Lobbying, and topical blogs. Watch video clips of reporting from the capitol, as well as full episodes of our political talk shows. Follow topics to get push notifications on breaking news. Save stories to read later.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: TidBITS News at 63% against The Hill's 7%. TidBITS News also leads on rating (3.4 vs 2.5) and ads (none vs shown). The Hill's advantage is ratings volume (286 vs 7) and update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 4 months). On price, 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
TidBITS News holds the better App Store score, 3.4 against 2.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: The Hill has 286 ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 63% of TidBITS News's written reviews are positive against 7% of The Hill's.
TidBITS News ships an update every 4 months, The Hill every 5 weeks. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.
| Parameter | TidBITS News | The Hill |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.4 (7 ratings) — better | 2.5 (286 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 62.8% of reviews — better | 6.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 7 | 286 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 5 weeks — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Ad-supported |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 2 MB | 75 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Matt Neuburg | Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. |
Customer experience
TidBITS News
The Hill
Bugs and requests
TidBITS News
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
The Hill
Reported bugs
15 issues- App crashes when opening articles
- App crashes when scrolling too quickly
- App freezes during initialization
- App won't load on some devices
- Text cut off in landscape mode
Show 10 moreShow fewer
- Text cut off by notch on iPhone X
- Articles don't display completely
- Ads cover article text
- App stutters and jumps to ads
- App jumps to end of articles
- App won't progress past notification setup screens
- Jittery scrolling performance
- High CPU and battery consumption
- Incompatibility with accessibility settings
- Recent update breaks core functionality
Requested features
11 requests- Search functionality for articles
- Bookmark/save articles feature
- Breaking news notifications
- Ad-free subscription option
- Ability to disable auto-play videos
Show 6 moreShow fewer
- Adjustable font size and zoom
- Filter articles by topic/policy
- Chronological article sorting
- Author attribution in articles
- Ability to listen to music while using app
- Improved accessibility features
In-app purchases
TidBITS News
No in-app purchases
The Hill
No in-app purchases
