# FT Digital Edition vs Driftly

The clearest difference is update cadence: Driftly at every 8 days against FT Digital Edition's every 3 weeks. Driftly also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.6). FT Digital Edition's advantage is chart position (#181 vs unranked). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. FT Digital Edition sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $16.99 per month and Driftly sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

FT Digital Edition ships an update every 3 weeks, Driftly every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | FT Digital Edition | Driftly |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.8 (3K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/ft-digital-edition/id6449040684/reviews)** | — |
| Number of ratings | **3K** | — |
| Positive reviews | 63.4% of reviews | — |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | **Every 8 days** |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Best chart rank | **#181** | — |
| Size | 47 MB | 31 MB |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | **15.1** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPod |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | [Financial Times Ltd.](https://appshunter.io/developer/322310071) | [Gallage Bihan Thilina Wijewickrama Karunaratne](https://appshunter.io/developer/1888482917) |

## What reviewers say

### FT Digital Edition

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/ft-digital-edition/id6449040684)

**Currently charting:** #181 Top Grossing · News (US App Store)

Access the daily Financial Times newspaper delivered to your device. Enjoy exclusive digital magazines, translated articles, and a decade of archives. Listen to audio versions of top stories and read offline.

**Highlights:** Daily newspaper delivered to device, Exclusive digital magazines, Translated articles in 30+ languages, Browse 10 years of previous editions, Audio versions of top stories, Download for offline reading, Global editions and classic layout

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (2)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| FT Digital Edition Monthly | $16.99 | per month |
| FT Digital Edition | $45.00 | per 3 months |

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Smooth, savvy, and clean interface
- 👍 Streamlined and intuitive app experience
- 👍 Excellent for offline reading
- 👍 Automatic downloads of the latest edition
- 👍 Ability to access different regional editions

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Connectivity issues, app unable to connect at times
- 🐛 Struggles with unfamiliar IP addresses when traveling
- 🐛 Crashes and freezes, especially on the cookie page
- 🐛 Counterintuitive and clunky user interface
- 🐛 Formatting issues, with text and images not rendering properly

**Reported bugs**

- Inability to log in and access the subscription
- Rendering issues with hyphens and other special characters
- Inconsistent behavior when switching between online and offline modes

**Requested features**

- Implement a full-screen mode for better reading experience
- Add a dark mode option for comfortable reading
- Improve the text-to-speech (audio) functionality to handle non-text elements better
- Introduce a search feature to easily find articles and content
- Enhance the offline reading capabilities to ensure consistent availability


### Driftly

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/driftly-news-reader/id6766002566)

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (4)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Driftly Plus | $2.99 | per month |
| Driftly Pro Monthly | $5.99 | per month |
| Driftly Plus Annual | $19.99 | per year |
| Driftly Pro Annual | $39.99 | per year |


## Frequently asked questions

### Is FT Digital Edition free?

FT Digital Edition is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is Driftly free?

Driftly is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Do FT Digital Edition or Driftly have ads?

Neither FT Digital Edition nor Driftly shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, FT Digital Edition or Driftly?

FT Digital Edition ships an update every 3 weeks, and Driftly every 8 days. Most recently, FT Digital Edition was updated on October 27, 2026 and Driftly on October 25, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*