USA TODAY vs WLKY News
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
USA TODAY
Access breaking national and local news, personalized content, and award-winning journalism. Enjoy quick reads, captivating visuals, and interactive features. Stay informed with a curated feed and access a digital replica of the print edition.
- National and breaking news
- Access to 200+ local publications
- Personalized news feed
- eNewspaper access
- Puzzles (Crossword, Sudoku)
- Award-winning podcasts
- Election news and analysis
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The USA TODAY news app gets you to the heart of the matter — fast. Whether it's money, sports, entertainment, or breaking news, get succinct, personalized coverage along with award-winning videos, captivating photography, and interactive user features. The point is — get major news coverage all in a compact device that fits right in the palm of your hand. APP FEATURES • National and breaking news, including access to 200+ local publications. • News to the point: Easily keep up with news, sports, money, entertainment, health, and more with quick reads. • A personalized feed: Pick your favorite subjects in My Topics and receive a curated feed on the For You page. • eNewspaper: Just like our print edition but accessible on your mobile devices. And access to 200+ local eNewspapers. • Puzzles: Play Crossword, QuickCross, and Sudoku (tablet only) to keep your mind sharp. • Award-winning podcasts: Listen to your favorite USA TODAY NETWORK podcasts on demand. • Stay up-to-date with election news, analysis, and results. Subscription Information: • The USA TODAY app is free to download and all users can access a sampling of free articles every month. • Subscriptions are charged to your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase and automatically renew each month or year, unless turned off in your iTunes 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://cm.usatoday.com/privacy/ • Terms of Service: https://cm.usatoday.com/terms/ • Questions or comments? Visit http://www.usatoday.com/mobile-apps or email: mobilesupport@usatodayco.com
WLKY News
Stay informed with breaking news and weather updates from Louisville and the surrounding areas. Receive real-time alerts, watch live streams, and access local news, sports, and traffic information. Submit your own news tips and photos directly to the newsroom.
- Breaking news alerts with push notifications
- Live streaming breaking news updates
- Local news submission area
- Up-to-date local weather and 7-day forecasts
- Interactive radar with storm tracking
- Share stories via email or social media
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Take the WLKY News app with you everywhere you go and be the first to know of breaking news happening in Louisville and the surrounding area. Always stay up to date with the latest local news, national, sports, traffic, political, entertainment stories and much more. Download the WLKY News app for free today. Our Local News, Weather and Sports App Features Include: - Louisville breaking news alerts with push notifications - Live streaming breaking news updates from our WLKY News reporters when it happens, where it happens - Local news submission area for breaking news, news tips and the ability to email your news photos and videos right to our newsroom to be featured on air - Up to date, current local weather conditions, hourly Louisville weather updates, and 7 day forecasts - Share stories via email or your social media pages - An interactive radar that lets you zoom in and out to street level and watch storms as they approach. Move the map around to see major weather activity - Louisville weather alerts and updates, WLKY weather videocasts and more Although Hearst Television believes the majority of its news content is appropriate for a variety of ages, it is intended for individuals 18 and older.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: WLKY News at none against USA TODAY's 12. WLKY News also leads on rating (4.7 vs 4.5) and iOS requirement (16.0 vs 18.6). USA TODAY's advantage is ratings volume (242K vs 4.5K) and chart position (#21 vs unranked). On price, update cadence and ads 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. USA TODAY sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. WLKY News asks for nothing beyond the download.
WLKY News holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: USA TODAY has 242K ratings behind it against 4.5K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 58% of USA TODAY's written reviews are positive against 47% of WLKY News's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
USA TODAY ships an update every 3 weeks, WLKY News monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | USA TODAY | WLKY News |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (242K ratings) | 4.7 (4.5K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 57.8% of reviews — better | 47.1% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 242K — better | 4.5K |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Monthly |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Ad-supported — better |
| Best chart rank | #21 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 189 MB | 126 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | USA TODAY | Hearst Television |
Customer experience
USA TODAY
WLKY News
User reviews
USA TODAY
From 242K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Great app
- 📰 Excellent news coverage
- 🔍 Well-balanced reporting
- 🌐 Useful for global readers
- 💻 Convenient for staying informed
Room to improve
- 🔒 Subscription issues
- 🔍 Perceived bias in reporting
- 🔍 Too much focus on celebrity news
- 🐛 Buggy and glitchy app experience
- 📢 Aggressive advertising and paywalls
WLKY News
From 4.5K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 No Station Better
- 🚀 Staying connected
- ✅ Accuracy
- 🚀 One of the best...
- 🚀 I'm in love.
Room to improve
- 🐛 Closing and delays
- 🔊 Ads
- 🐛 Not getting notifications
- 🔊 Sever storms
- 🐛 Widget doesn't work.
Bugs and requests
USA TODAY
Reported bugs
4 issues- App crashes and freezes
- Inconsistent subscription recognition
- Scrolling issues and content shifting
- Unreliable crossword puzzle functionality
Requested features
5 requests- Ability to manage subscription from app
- Option to filter content by category
- Improved navigation and article organization
- Customizable font size and layout
- Offline reading mode
WLKY News
Reported bugs
6 issues- Login screen freezes
- Incompatible with older devices
- App widget doesn't work. It doesn't load any information.
- The app keeps closing out when I click on weather
- App started locking up after a update over a month ago. Thought it could be my phone but after getting a new phone found the problem is with the app. When you click on a story it takes you to a white page that will not load. Just deleted the app and will choice from the other 3 local news app.
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- The screen freezes with a blank page when you tap onto an article and you have to exit out of the app, close the app, and then reopen app to be able to read the news article. It's frustrating!!! This is the 1st time ever that I've had issues with this app. Fix the issue or go back to previous past upgrade since this latest upgrade is worthless.
Requested features
3 requests- Weather app is not as good as competitors I wish you would have 7 or 10 day layout like weather channel or like you show on tv weather broadcast similar to channel 11 weather app👍
- Dark mode option
- Advanced analytics dashboard
In-app purchases
USA TODAY
- USA TODAY Puzzles1 Month trial$4.991 Month
- USA TODAY Premium Monthly +$4.991 Month
- Unlimited Digital Access6 Months trial$9.991 Month
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- USA TODAY Premium1 Month trial2 variants$14.991 Month
- USA TODAY Ad-Free Monthly1 Month trial$22.991 Month
- USA TODAY Premium Plus Ad-Free1 Month trial$22.991 Month
- USA TODAY Puzzles - Yearly$39.991 Year
- USA TODAY Premium Annual$89.001 Year
- USA TODAY Premium Plus Ad-Free$169.001 Year
WLKY News
No in-app purchases
