WBEZ vs KPBS
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
WBEZ
Listen to Chicago's NPR news station live or on-demand. Access local and national news, podcasts, and investigative journalism from WBEZ and its partners. Catch up on missed shows with rewind functionality.
- Live radio streaming
- On-demand audio features
- Podcast library
- Rewind live shows
- Curated daily stories
- Investigative journalism
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The WBEZ app lets you listen to the news and voices of Chicago on your schedule, wherever you are. Listen to live radio broadcasts, on-demand audio features and podcasts with the best storytelling locally and around the nation. You’ll enjoy original WBEZ Chicago programming and shows from our partners, including NPR, BBC and more. Take your trusted news on the go. Listen to the news live wherever your day takes you. The WBEZ app delivers Chicago news, national news and international news right to your hand. You never have to miss a minute again. You can rewind at any moment and replay any live show from the last week to catch up on anything you missed. With the WBEZ app, continue to get investigative journalism, cultural reporting, news headlines and more on your timeline. Discover something new. Browse through the best audio stories and shows WBEZ Chicago has to offer. Each day, featured stories are curated just for you from our newsroom. Plus, you can find popular podcasts from WBEZ, NPR and other featured partners; including titles such as Curious City, Nerdette, Motive and Wait Wait...Don’t Tell Me! There’s something for everyone with the WBEZ app. WBEZ Chicago is listener-supported and Chicago’s NPR news station, one of the largest and most respected public media stations in the country.
KPBS
Access local and national news, podcasts, and entertainment from San Diego's public media station. Stream live radio and TV, watch on-demand programs, and receive breaking news alerts all in one place.
- Read local and national news
- Listen to live radio streams
- Watch live TV streams
- Access on-demand programs and podcasts
- Receive breaking news alerts
- Bookmark programs for later
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The KPBS App is where you can listen, watch, stream, and read local and national news and entertainment from San Diego’s public media station. From the KPBS FM radio livestream, to today’s breaking news, to podcasts and TV shows, tap into your community in one place. News * Read local and national headlines, investigations and more from the KPBS, NPR and PBS news teams * Receive breaking news alerts Live Streaming * Listen to KPBS FM * Listen to Classical San Diego FM * Watch KPBS TV * Pause and rewind your program with ease On Demand * Access KPBS, PBS, PBS Kids and NPR programs and podcasts easily and quickly * Pause and rewind your program with ease * When listening to programs, individual segments (when available) are listed so you can review and choose one or listen to the entire program * Easy to access past programs * Sign in with your Passport account to access the full PBS Passport library Additional features * View the radio and TV schedules * Bookmark a program for later viewing * KPBS membership support * Send KPBS a recorded audio or video message * A built-in Sleep Timer and Alarm Clock allows you to go to sleep and wake up to your favorite station
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: KPBS at none against WBEZ's shown. WBEZ's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 4 months) and rating (4.7 vs 4.4). On price, review sentiment, in-app purchases and monetization model 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.
WBEZ holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: WBEZ has 623 ratings behind it against 101, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 71% of WBEZ's written reviews are positive against 64% of KPBS's.
WBEZ ships an update every 3 weeks, KPBS every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 3, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | WBEZ | KPBS |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (623 ratings) — better | 4.4 (101 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 71.3% of reviews — better | 64.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 623 — better | 101 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 4 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Ad-supported | Ad-supported |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 | 14.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 31 MB | 41 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Chicago Public Media, Inc. | San Diego State University Foundation |
Customer experience
WBEZ
KPBS
Bugs and requests
WBEZ
Reported bugs
4 issues- App crashing on launch
- Streaming issues on poor internet connections
- Push notifications causing app to freeze
- Inconsistent behavior when switching between audio sources
Requested features
5 requests- Improved search and content discovery
- Sleep timer functionality
- Ability to resume playback from where left off
- CarPlay and Bluetooth speaker support
- More granular access to local news
KPBS
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
WBEZ
No in-app purchases
KPBS
No in-app purchases
