Joplin Globe vs OzarksFirst
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Joplin Globe
Access local news, commentary, photos, and videos from your community. Download daily editions for offline reading and stay updated with breaking news, sports, and weather. Enjoy enhanced features for real estate and weather, plus local classifieds and shopping information.
- Offline reading of daily editions
- Breaking news and developing stories
- Photo and video galleries
- Print edition layout view
- Local weather and events
- Social sharing of content
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Take the Joplin Globe with you wherever and whenever you go. Your community resource for news, commentary, photos, video and special features is evolving. Access it now and take off with our award-winning breaking news, sports, weather and more. Features: - Download daily editions and content to read offline at your convenience. - Get breaking news and developing stories from the Joplin Globe newsroom. - Browse photos and watch videos of local and national events. - View articles as they were written and edited for the Joplin Globe print edition. - Access free local weather, events, classifieds and shopping information - See each page and article in a horizontal or vertical display. - Share articles, photos, coupons and local events with friends on your social network. - New enhanced Real Estate and Weather features in Live News
OzarksFirst
Get the latest local news, weather, and sports updates for the Ozarks region. Access top stories from daily broadcasts and real-time developing news. Stay informed with detailed forecasts, severe weather alerts, and interactive radar maps.
- Top local news stories
- Real-time developing news
- Detailed weather reports
- Severe weather alerts
- Interactive radar map
- Breaking news alerts
- Save stories for later
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News has never been more local than in the palm of your hand. The KOZL KOLR mobile app brings you all the top stories from our daily broadcasts, as well as stories developing in real time. News, weather, and sports from KOLR10 and Ozarksfirst.com. Your source for local news, weather forecast, sports, videos in the Springfield-Branson area and the entire Ozarks region. Covering southwest Missouri and northwest Arkansas since 1953. Your source for news in the Ozarks. Please send us comments or questions. FEATURES: • Watch video of your trusted reporters on the scene, and read revealing articles on what's going on in your community. • Plan your day and week with detailed weather reports, live alerts of severe conditions, and an interactive radar map. • Optional alerts on breaking news keep you in the know. • On the go? Save stories for later to access at your convenience.
Screenshots
Verdict
Joplin Globe and OzarksFirst both sit at 4.6 stars, but that hides the real split: 65% of Joplin Globe's written reviews are positive against 26% of OzarksFirst's. Joplin Globe also leads on iOS requirement (12.4 vs 15.1). OzarksFirst's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 4 months). On price, rating, ads 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. Joplin Globe sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. OzarksFirst asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Joplin Globe against 4.6 for OzarksFirst. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: OzarksFirst has 1.1K ratings behind it against 93, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 65% of Joplin Globe's written reviews are positive against 26% of OzarksFirst's.
Joplin Globe ships an update every 4 months, OzarksFirst every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Joplin Globe | OzarksFirst |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (93 ratings) | 4.6 (1.1K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 65.1% of reviews — better | 26.1% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 93 | 1.1K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 6 weeks — better |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Ad-supported — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV — better |
| Requires iOS | 12.4 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 41 MB | 77 MB |
| Age rating | +12 | 12+ |
| Developer | CNHI LLC | Nexstar Broadcasting |
Customer experience
Joplin Globe
OzarksFirst
Bugs and requests
Joplin Globe
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
OzarksFirst
Reported bugs
3 issues- App crashes on launch after recent update
- Weather radar and live stream features not working
- Notifications not working as expected
Requested features
3 requests- History archive with past newscasts
- Improved navigation and content organization
- Reduced ad frequency and less intrusive ad placement
In-app purchases
Joplin Globe
- Today's ePaper$1.99
OzarksFirst
No in-app purchases









