Google News vs phoenix
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Google News
This app aggregates and highlights global and local news stories tailored to your interests. It provides personalized briefings, in-depth coverage from multiple sources, and allows you to follow specific topics and news outlets. Stay informed on the go or on your desktop.
- Personalized news briefings
- Local news from your area
- Full coverage with multiple perspectives
- Customizable topics and sources
- Cross-device access
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Google News is a personalized news aggregator that organizes and highlights what’s happening in the world so you can quickly catch up and discover more about the stories that matter to you. With Google News, you’ll find: YOUR BRIEFING: It can be nearly impossible to keep up with every story you care about, Your Briefing makes it easy to stay in the know about what’s important and relevant in your world. It updates throughout the day to bring you the top local, national, and world headlines, plus personalized news tailored to your interests. LOCAL NEWS: Explore your community through stories and articles from news outlets in your local area. Customize and choose multiple locations so you can know what’s happening near you or wherever home is. FULL COVERAGE: Dive deeper into a story with multiple perspectives. The Full Coverage feature organizes everything online about a story, surfacing and highlighting coverage from different outlets and mediums. With just a tap, you’ll uncover how the story is unfolding and how everyone is reporting on it. STORIES FOR YOU: The For You section delivers personalized news related to your interests. Take control and customize the articles you see by following the topics and sources you care about. ACCESS FROM ANY DEVICE: Stay up to date on the news no matter where you are. Pair the Google News mobile app with our Desktop website, news.google.com, and enjoy your personalized content across all your devices.
phoenix
Watch your favorite news and talk shows on demand, anytime, anywhere. Catch up on missed episodes of popular programs and access the latest broadcasts directly through the app.
- On-demand video streaming
- Access to latest broadcasts
- Catch up on missed episodes
- Available on multiple devices
- Free to use
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Fernsehen wo immer und wann immer Sie wollen: Mit der phoenix App nehmen Sie Ihren Sender überall hin mit. Haben Sie einen Talk verpasst? Egal ob Unter den Linden, die phoenix Runde oder der Presseclub - über die phoenix App finden Sie immer die aktuellsten Sendungen. Die phoenix App ist kostenfrei. Für den Abruf unserer Videos empfehlen wir Ihnen wegen möglicher Kosten eine Flatrate oder die Nutzung der App in einem kostenfreien WLAN-Netzwerk.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Google News at 4.6 against phoenix's 4.0. Google News also leads on ratings volume (226K vs 5) and update cadence (monthly vs every 3 months). phoenix's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). On price, in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Google News holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Google News has 226K ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 19% of Google News's written reviews are positive against 41% of phoenix's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Google News ships an update monthly, phoenix every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Google News | phoenix |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (226K ratings) — better | 4.0 (5 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 18.6% of reviews | 40.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 226K — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #24 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 172 MB | 18 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | ZDF Digital Medienproduktion GmbH | |
Customer experience
Google News
phoenix
Bugs and requests
Google News
Reported bugs
5 issues- Articles not loading properly
- Sudden app crashes and freezes
- Inability to return to previous position in feed
- Incorrect or outdated news content
- Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions
Requested features
5 requests- Dark mode option
- Improved article bookmarking/saving
- Better control over news sources
- Smoother scrolling and navigation
- Faster updates and real-time news
phoenix
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Google News
No in-app purchases
phoenix
No in-app purchases
