The Freeman vs Phil Headlines
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side ā with what reviewers say about each.
The Freeman
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Founded in 1919, The Freeman is the oldest newspaper of Cebu, the Queen City of Southern Philippines. Owned by the Gullas family of Cebu in partnership with the Philippine STAR, The Freeman chronicles news, events, and happenings in and around Cebu, a bustling city and center of commerce in the South. The Freeman prides itself on being a newspaper for Cebuanos and by Cebuanos, carrying close to a century of journalism heritage. The Freeman is a daily newspaper. The Freeman provides availability to all editions of the publication by incorporating subscriptions allowing the purchase of a 7 day, one month, 2 months, 3 months, 6 months and a yearly subscription to the paper. The 7 day, monthly and yearly subscriptions are auto-renewing subscriptions. Prices for the subscriptions are $1.99 for 7 days, $6.99 for one month, $12.99 for two months, $18.99 for three months, $29.99 for 6 months and $59.99 for a year. Payment for this subscription will be charged to your iTunes account upon purchase. The subscription will auto-renew within 24 hours of the current subscription expiring. Auto-renewing subscriptions can be managed via Account Settings allowing them to be turned off. No cancellations of the current subscription are allowed during the active subscription period. For any further information see http://subscriber.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/file/Website_Privacy_statement.doc Terms: https://www.philstar.com/member-agreement Privacy Policy: https://www.philstar.com/privacy-policy
Phil Headlines
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Phil Headlines brings the latest headlines from the Philippines' newspapers, TV networks and regional papers into one timeline, grouped by the hour they were published. ⢠Hour by hour: the newest stories first, under "This hour", "4 PM", "Yesterday"⦠⢠Topics: Nation, Business, Sports, Showbiz, World, Tech, Lifestyle, Regions, Opinion, Health and Politics. ⢠Pick a publisher: filter the timeline to one source in a tap. ⢠You choose: turn any source on or off in the Sources tab ā national, business, sports, regional, Filipino-language and Filipinos-abroad news. ⢠Add your own RSS feeds: paste the link of any news feed; it is read straight on your device. ⢠Save stories for later, and search headlines and summaries. ⢠Offline: the headlines and summaries you last downloaded stay on screen without internet. ⢠No account and no sign-in. Your settings and saved stories stay on your device. ⢠Redesigned for iPhone and iPad, with dark mode. Stories belong to their publishers. The app shows the headline, a short summary and the photo published in their public RSS feeds; tap any story to read it in full on the publisher's website. Phil Headlines is not affiliated with the publishers it links to. The app is free with ads in the news list. A one-time "Remove Ads" purchase removes them. Privacy policy: https://patcell.com/en/privacy/phil-headlines/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: The Freeman at none against Phil Headlines's shown. The Freeman also leads on update cadence (every 17 months vs every 131 months) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.0). On price, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS
Both are free to download. The Freeman sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days and Phil Headlines sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
The Freeman ships an update every 17 months, Phil Headlines every 131 months. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 26, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | The Freeman | Phil Headlines |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 17 months ā better | Every 131 months |
| Ads | No ā better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod ā better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 ā better | 17.0 |
| Further details ā not scored | ||
| Size | 126 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Philstar Daily Inc. | techplus jsc |
In-app purchases
The Freeman
- The Freeman - Cebu$1.997 Days
- The Freeman - Cebu$6.991 Month
- The Freeman - Cebu$12.992 Months
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- The Freeman - Cebu$18.993 Months
- The Freeman - Cebu$29.996 Months
- The Freeman - Cebu$59.991 Year
Phil Headlines
- Remove Ads$0.99
Questions
Is The Freeman free?
Is Phil Headlines free?
Do The Freeman or Phil Headlines have ads?
Which is updated more often, The Freeman or Phil Headlines?
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