Comparison

tucson.com vs azcentral

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

tucson.com

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
Read full description

The Arizona Daily Star brings you Tucson news, Arizona Wildcats, videos, photos and more. Get breaking news and sports alerts from Southern Arizona's leader in Tucson news. Terms of Use https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

azcentral

Access breaking news and in-depth local journalism from Arizona's largest newsroom. Stay informed with real-time alerts, personalized feeds, and a digital replica of the print newspaper, including national and local eNewspapers.

Highlights
  • Real-time breaking news alerts
  • Personalized news feed
  • Digital replica eNewspaper
  • Investigative reporting
  • Local sports coverage
  • Election coverage
Features
Read full description

We're working to make the place we call home, better. As the largest newsroom in Arizona, and a Pulitzer Prize winner, we have an obligation to our community, to tell all the stories that need to be told. Whether it’s economic news, sports news or one of the many other subjects we cover, we believe that local journalism is valuable – it has the power to keep Phoenicians connected, to hold leaders accountable, to unite our city in celebration and spur us towards common goals. We’re Phoenix’s trusted storytellers. We’re here for it. WHAT WE’RE ALL ABOUT: • Investigative reporting that holds people, companies, politicians and the government accountable in Arizona. • In-depth coverage of the Valley’s real estate market • Sports coverage for locals, by locals: the Sun Devils, Suns, Cardinals, Diamondbacks and Arizona High Schools • Arizona’s election coverage, including the 2024 Presidential Election and local races for the U.S. Senate and House. • Voices, experts and personalities on the left and right side of politics APP FEATURES: • Real-time breaking news alerts • A personalized feed on the all-new For You page • The eNewspaper, a digital replica of our print newspaper + USA TODAY and 200+ local eNewspapers. Subscription Information: • The AZ Central app is free to download and all users can access a sampling of free articles every month. • Subscriptions are charged to your account at confirmation of purchase and automatically renew each month or year, unless turned off in your account settings at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. See "Subscription Support" in the app's Settings for more details and customer service contact information.  MORE INFORMATION: • Privacy Policy: https://static.azcentral.com/privacy/ • Terms of Service: https://static.azcentral.com/terms/ • Help Center: https://help.azcentral.com

Screenshots

tucson.com4 screens
azcentral4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: tucson.com at none against azcentral's shown. tucson.com also leads on rating (4.6 vs 4.3). azcentral's advantage is chart position (#44 vs unranked). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and update cadence 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. tucson.com sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $4.99 per month and azcentral sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $19.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

tucson.com holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4.5K and 6.6K respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 40% of tucson.com's written reviews are positive against 46% of azcentral's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

tucson.com ships an update every 6 weeks, azcentral every 4 weeks. Both last shipped on October 1, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
tucson.com versus azcentral: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parametertucson.comazcentral
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (4.5K ratings) — better4.3 (6.6K ratings)
Positive reviews39.7% of reviews45.5% of reviews — better
Number of ratings4.5K6.6K — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksEvery 4 weeks — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank—#44 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.6 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size10 MB188 MB
Age rating17+12+
DeveloperStar Publishing CompanyUSA TODAY Co., Inc.

Customer experience

tucson.com

All ratings4,475 ratings
Positive89.8%
Neutral5.0%
Negative5.2%
Written reviews63 reviews
Positive39.7%
Neutral12.7%
Negative47.6%

azcentral

All ratings6,616 ratings
Positive85.4%
Neutral5.6%
Negative9.1%
Written reviews213 reviews
Positive45.5%
Neutral8.0%
Negative46.5%

User reviews

tucson.com

From 4.5K App Store ratings

What we love

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

Room to improve

  • 🔒 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

azcentral

From 6.6K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🗞️ Great local news coverage
  • 📰 Convenient digital format
  • 🗓️ Timely and up-to-date reporting
  • 🗣️ Balanced and objective journalism

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Buggy and unreliable app
  • 📱 Poor user experience and navigation
  • 💰 Excessive ads and paywalls
  • 🔄 Frequent app crashes and resets

Bugs and requests

tucson.com

Reported bugs

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

Requested features

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

azcentral

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • App freezes and crashes frequently
  • Subscription issues and login problems
  • Inconsistent formatting and display issues
  • Inability to print or save articles

Requested features

4 requests
  • Improve app stability and performance
  • Enhance reading experience with better layout and navigation
  • Provide more local and community-focused content
  • Offer better integration with other news sources

In-app purchases

1 purchases

tucson.com

Subscriptions1
  • Monthly Subscription$4.991 Month
6 purchases

azcentral

Subscriptions6
  • Monthly Digital Rate1 Month trial$19.991 Month
  • Annual Digital Subscription1 Year trial$19.991 Year
  • Monthly Digital Rate1 Month trial$24.991 Month
Show 3 more
  • azcentral Digital Subscription1 Month trial$24.991 Month
  • Monthly Digital Subscription$24.991 Month
  • azcentral Annual Digital Subscription1 Year trial$69.991 Year

Questions

Is tucson.com free?
tucson.com is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is azcentral free?
azcentral is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, tucson.com or azcentral?
tucson.com is rated higher. tucson.com averages 4.6 out of 5 from 4.5K ratings, while azcentral averages 4.3 from 6.6K ratings.
Do tucson.com or azcentral have ads?
azcentral shows ads; tucson.com does not.
Which is updated more often, tucson.com or azcentral?
tucson.com ships an update every 6 weeks, and azcentral every 4 weeks. Most recently, tucson.com was updated on October 1, 2026 and azcentral on October 1, 2026.

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