Castanet vs The Province
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Castanet
Access local and national news, classifieds, events, and more from the Okanagan region. Features include direct messaging for classifieds, posting ads, webcams, and an airport arrivals/departures page.
- Local and national news
- Classifieds with messaging
- Post classified ads
- Scenic and traffic webcams
- Airport arrivals/departures
- Events listings
- Obituaries
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Since launching in November 2000, Castanet has become one of the most visited media websites in Western Canada. The free Castanet.net app is the B.C. Interior's source for the latest local, national and world news, classifieds, events, webcams and more. The Castanet.net site is visited by 600,000 people every week. The Castanet.net app has all the features our desktop and mobile sites have with improved usability for smartphones.
The Province
Access local news, politics, sports, and entertainment from Vancouver and across Canada. Customize your feed with favorite writers and topics, and stay updated with breaking news and scores. Enjoy seamless browsing of multiple Postmedia publications.
- Local news and politics updates
- Comprehensive sports coverage
- Customizable news feed
- Browse multiple Postmedia brands
- Trending stories from across Canada
- Personalize topics and writers
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The Province is your trusted source for local news, politics, sports and entertainment. Create your custom feed so you don’t miss the latest from your favourite writers. Stay up to date throughout the day with breaking news in Vancouver, B.C. and around the world. Plus get the latest on the Vancouver Canucks, BC Lions, Vancouver Whitecaps and Vancouver Giants with the best sports coverage in Canada including scores, standings, highlights and commentary. Features include: • Stay connected to the best local news, sports, entertainment, commentary and beyond. • Browse the Toronto Sun, Ottawa Sun, Edmonton Sun, Calgary Sun, The Province and Canoe brands seamlessly. • You will be prompted to choose your preferred publications when you first open the new app, ensuring a curated news feed that aligns with your interests. • Use the Discover tab to explore trending stories from Postmedia newsrooms across Canada • Personalize your news experience by selecting topics, journalists and columnists you care about, so your feed will be filled with the content and perspectives you enjoy. • As a registered user, you are recognized consistently across web and app platforms for a more cohesive experience. Register to sample the wide variety of breaking news and special features — plus extensive photo and video coverage. Home delivery print subscribers receive unlimited access, included as part of their print subscription and can gain access by simply signing in with their existing account when prompted. If you’re not an existing print subscriber, you can easily subscribe to the app through the App Store for iOS devices. Subscription details • Monthly subscription cost: $5.99 plus applicable taxes • Complete your subscription at the App Store for iOS devices. Payment will be charged to your account upon confirmation of purchase. • No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during active subscription period. • Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. • Account will be charged $5.99 each month within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. • Subscriptions may be managed and auto-renewal turned off by going to your Account Settings after purchase. Privacy policy: https://www.postmedia.com/privacy-statement/ Terms of use: https://www.postmedia.com/terms-and-conditions/ We appreciate and value your feedback. Please send any comments, suggestions or questions to: appfeedback@postmedia.com
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Castanet at 5.0 against The Province's 2.2. Castanet also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 2) and ads (none vs shown). The Province's advantage is ratings volume (9 vs 1). On price, update cadence, 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. The Province sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Castanet asks for nothing beyond the download.
Castanet holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: The Province has 9 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 19% of Castanet's written reviews are positive against 5% of The Province's.
Castanet ships an update every 6 weeks, The Province monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Castanet | The Province |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | 2.2 (9 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 19.4% of reviews — better | 4.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 9 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Subscription |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 31 MB | 65 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Castanet Media Ltd. | Postmedia Network INC. |
Customer experience
Castanet
The Province
Bugs and requests
Castanet
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
The Province
Reported bugs
80 issues- Jerky, gets stuck on a screen
- Feedback tab in settings doesn’t work
- Major difficulties loading stories
- Constant ad pop-ups
- Hard to easily read headlines
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- Headline is much smaller than time released
- Photo of the story is too small
- Repeats of the same article
- Double loads
- Gets bogged down with time
- Half the time you can’t share articles
- Pages double loading
- Not being able to go back to main page
- App crashing
- Articles double load or don't load
- Share button doesn't work
- Stops working after one article
- Full of bugs
- Freezing, crashing, double-loading articles
- iOS 15 issues
- Glitchy, slow, constant crashes
- Double loads the first story and then freezes
- Useless app
- Unable to open or read articles
- App won't work
- Articles won't load
- Crashes whenever I click on any story
- Crashes any time one tries to open an article
- Double loading screens
- Only load one story before freezing
- Crash upon trying to open any story
- Continually freezes or now since the newest bug fix just quits
- Crashes, double loading and some articles wouldn’t even load
- Double loading
- More bugs appear while old bugs remains
- Blank page after clicking an article
- Extreme choppiness when scrolling
- Pages never load
- Glitchy as heck
- Double loads, freezes, unable to view articles
- Double loads or doesn’t load at all
- Articles not loading
- App crashes
- Stories don’t load
- Lots of articles won’t open or open to black screen
- Website continues to freeze
- Can’t send a link to anyone
- It’s just blank
- So buggy and freezes constantly
- Has become completely unusable
- Nothing seems to load properly
- Have to close app and reopen if I want to read a new article
- All the pages seem to load, load again and then freeze
- Can’t open news stories as it gets freeze each time
- Half the articles won’t load
- The ones that do almost always lag as you try to scroll and end up freezing and crashing the app
- Doesn’t load etc and locks up
- Let’s you read one or two stories, then it goes blank
- Loads 2 of the same pages, freezes up and then quits
- Support is non existent
- Freezes constantly, won’t load stories
- Bugs that don’t allow the reader to see the article
- Whiz on by then a blank page
- Double loads the page
- Can’t swipe back
- Freezes
- While scrolling it will freeze
- Articles don’t load
- App freezes and drains battery
- Constantly freezes making it completely unusable
- Shows the same content in all sections
- More bugs
- Can’t see any sections other than the news
- App won’t open after I recently updated
- Screen goes black and it closes
- Freezes all the time now
- Even closing and reopening app doesn’t resolve issue
- Lately it has been freezing and won’t do anything
- Has been freezing and won’t do anything
- It’s starting to be like the CNN news app
Requested features
16 requests- Fix the app
- Get devs who know what they’re doing
- Developer should just remove this from the App Store
- Hire someone competent to make this app actually usable
- Give the app some attention
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- Roll back to old version
- Fix it!
- Better IT Department
- Fix your app
- Get it together already
- Fix the app
- Fix or lose it
- Fix the app
- Fix the app
- Update it once in a while
- Please fix !
In-app purchases
Castanet
No in-app purchases
The Province
- The Province$5.991 Month
- The Province$6.991 Month
