# Boston.com vs tucson.com

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Boston.com at none against tucson.com's 1. Boston.com also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.6). tucson.com's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 3 months). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. tucson.com sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $4.99 per month. Boston.com asks for nothing beyond the download.

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Boston.com against 4.6 for tucson.com. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 7.4K and 4.5K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 34% of Boston.com's written reviews are positive against 40% of tucson.com's.

Boston.com ships an update every 3 months, tucson.com every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Boston.com | tucson.com |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.6 (7.4K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bostoncom/id361786318/reviews) | [4.6 (4.5K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/tucsoncom/id437984630/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **7.4K** | 4.5K |
| Positive reviews | 34.3% of reviews | **39.7% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | **No** | Yes |
| Ads | Yes | **No** |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | **Every 6 weeks** |
| Monetization | **Ad-supported** | Free with in-app purchases |
| Size | 75 MB | 10 MB |
| Requires iOS | **15.0** | 17.6 |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, iPod** | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | [BOSTON GLOBE MEDIA PARTNERS, LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/1324796989) | [Star Publishing Company](https://appshunter.io/developer/355559219) |

## What reviewers say

### Boston.com

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bostoncom/id361786318)

Access curated news alerts, weather updates, and sports scores. Stay informed about local and national news, lifestyle, and entertainment from a team of journalists.

**Highlights:** Curated news alerts, Weather updates, Sports scores, Local and national news, Lifestyle and entertainment coverage

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- ⭐️ Great news and sports coverage
- ⭐️ Wonderful app
- ⭐️ Best progressive newspaper
- ⭐️ Best sports section in Boston
- ⭐️ Favorite news source

**What reviewers complain about**

- 💰 Hiding behind a paywall
- 🚫 No images
- 🕰️ Doesn't update enough
- 🕰️ Zero updates
- 🚫 Recycling of old stories

**Reported bugs**

- Login screen freezes
- Incompatible with older devices

**Requested features**

- Dark mode option
- Advanced analytics dashboard


### tucson.com

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/tucsoncom/id437984630)

Access local news, sports, and multimedia content from Southern Arizona's leading newspaper. Stay informed with breaking news and alerts directly from the Arizona Daily Star.

**Highlights:** Local Tucson news, Arizona Wildcats sports coverage, Breaking news alerts, Photos and videos, Southern Arizona news

**In-app purchases (1)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Monthly Subscription | $4.99 | per month |

**What reviewers like**

- 📰 Daily read
- 📤 Timely updates
- 🏙️ Good coverage of local news
- 🗞️ Best available electronic news reporting

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🔒 Content locked behind paywall
- 🔍 Difficult to find specific news items
- 🐛 Crashes frequently, especially for ads
- 📱 Clunky app, poor formatting and navigation
- 🤔 Biased, left-leaning reporting

**Reported bugs**

- Notifications for non-existent stories
- Broken internal links and references
- Outdated content, app lags behind website
- Frequent crashes and errors

**Requested features**

- Lower price for print edition
- Broader range of news topics
- Improve article search and navigation
- Optimize app for iPad and other tablets


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Boston.com free?

Boston.com is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Is tucson.com free?

tucson.com is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, Boston.com or tucson.com?

Boston.com and tucson.com are both rated 4.6 out of 5 on the App Store, from 7.4K and 4.5K ratings respectively.

### Do Boston.com or tucson.com have ads?

Boston.com shows ads; tucson.com does not.

### Which is updated more often, Boston.com or tucson.com?

Boston.com ships an update every 3 months, and tucson.com every 6 weeks. Most recently, Boston.com was updated on September 28, 2026 and tucson.com on September 22, 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.*