Stuff.co.nz vs SBS Audio
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Stuff.co.nz
Access breaking news, live videos, and in-depth journalism from across New Zealand. Stay informed on politics, sports, business, and celebrity updates, with on-demand video content and daily quizzes.
- Breaking news updates
- Live videos and blogs
- On-demand video content
- Daily quizzes
- NZ weather forecasts
- Personalized notifications
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Stuff is New Zealand’s essential news source - independent and dedicated to making Aotearoa a better place. We deliver live, lively and trustworthy journalism from across this glorious nation. On our app you can: • Get up-to-the minute reports on breaking stories in New Zealand on our live videos and blogs • Easily read stories on the latest news, weather, sports, politics, money, business, celebrities, travel - whatever Kiwis are talking about today, we got you • Watch video on demand - including from our ThreeNews 6pm bulletin • Do the highly addictive daily Stuff Quiz (a national obsession) • See the latest NZ weather forecasts • Personalise your experience by enabling notifications Share feedback to experience@stuff.co.nz or click “Report a bug” from the end of the Settings screen on the app. Please note: This app features Nielsen’s proprietary measurement software, which contributes to market research, like Nielsen’s TV Ratings. Please see http://www.nielsen.com/digitalprivacy for more information.
SBS Audio
Access music, news, podcasts, and community updates in your preferred language. Stream live radio stations and explore a diverse range of audio content.
- Music streaming
- Australian news and current affairs
- Podcasts
- Community updates
- Live radio programs
- Multilingual content
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The SBS Audio app (previously known as SBS Radio) connects you to music, Australian news and current affairs, podcasts and community updates in your language. Whether you want to catch up on radio programs in your language, stream SBS Chill, SBS PopAsia, or SBS South Asian and your favourite radio programs live, or explore podcasts, you’ll find it here. Listen anytime, anywhere for free. Download our app today and find a world of difference.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Stuff.co.nz at 3.7 against SBS Audio's 3.1. Stuff.co.nz also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks) and ratings volume (129 vs 18). On price, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases 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.
Stuff.co.nz holds the better App Store score, 3.7 against 3.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Stuff.co.nz has 129 ratings behind it against 18, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 21% of Stuff.co.nz's written reviews are positive against 24% of SBS Audio's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Stuff.co.nz ships an update weekly, SBS Audio every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Stuff.co.nz | SBS Audio |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.7 (129 ratings) — better | 3.1 (18 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 21.0% of reviews | 24.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 129 — better | 18 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Ad-supported | Ad-supported |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 21 MB | 46 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Stuff Limited | Special Broadcasting Service Corporation |
Customer experience
Stuff.co.nz
SBS Audio
User reviews
Stuff.co.nz
From 129 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 📰 Great source for NZ news
- 🌍 Useful for expats to stay connected
- 🗞️ Variety of interesting articles
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and freezes
- 🤖 Buggy and glitchy performance
- 🤯 Frustrating ad redirects and popups
- 🕰️ Slow loading times
- 🔍 Poor search functionality
SBS Audio
From 18 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Great music selection (Chill)
- 👍 Free to use
- 👍 Good for language learning
- 👍 Clear audio quality
- 👍 Works well for some users
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent app crashes/freezing
- 🐛 Pausing/resuming issues (resets to beginning)
- 🐛 Frequent connection drops/streaming issues
- 🐛 Battery draining quickly
- 🐛 Ads interrupting streams
Bugs and requests
Stuff.co.nz
Reported bugs
5 issues- Constant app crashes and freezes
- Redirects to App Store without user interaction
- Videos not playing properly or getting stuck
- Scrolling issues and content jumping around
- Login and password reset problems
Requested features
4 requests- Dark mode option
- Ability to save articles for offline reading
- Improved navigation and article browsing
- Better personalization and customization options
SBS Audio
Reported bugs
31 issues- App stops frequently while broadcasting
- App not compatible with CarPlay
- Cannot pause and play from Home Screen
- Dead support link
- Ads from current location
Show 26 moreShow fewer
- Constant streaming issues
- App often has to be rebooted to play
- Pausing often resets to the beginning
- Problematic over Bluetooth speaker
- Drains phone battery very quickly
- App not launching after update (white blank screen)
- App doesn't work after update
- Latest version not working on iPhone 6S
- Constant cutting out, takes multiple tries to start streaming
- Plays for only approx. 10 minutes before stopping
- Ads on radio streaming
- Music is tired and crappy
- Play button gets stuck
- Radio stops playing after a minute
- Play button stops working after interrupting
- Cannot download podcasts
- App opens one podcast and becomes unresponsive
- Search feature is well hidden
- No full episode for Cantonese radio show
- Playlist issue for Chill
- Hard to navigate and find playlist
- Song playlist not accurate
- Sharing podcasts has never worked
- App freezes after music plays
- New version is terrible
- Sleep timer missing
Requested features
11 requests- CarPlay compatibility
- Dark mode
- Ability to slow down speech for language learning
- Sleep timer
- Search function
Show 6 moreShow fewer
- Tutorial for new users
- Option to view weekly playlists
- Purchase songs from iTunes
- Download full episodes of podcasts
- Improved playlist accuracy
- Translate broadcast times to local time
In-app purchases
Stuff.co.nz
No in-app purchases
SBS Audio
No in-app purchases
