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Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
User consensusAlternativesIs it worth it?
Better options than

NYTimes alternatives

Users consider alternatives to NYTimes due to concerns about perceived liberal bias in reporting, frequent app bugs, and poor user interface design. Alternatives offer different editorial stances, app experiences, and content focuses.

Why users look for alternatives to NYTimes

The alternatives

CNN
4.8★ · 1,664,292 ratings · Free

CNN provides timely news coverage and keeps users informed about global events. The app offers a listening option for broadcasts, which is convenient for users who want to consume news while driving.

Better for: CNN is better for users who prioritize timely news coverage and want to listen to news broadcasts on the go, especially while driving R52R58. However, be aware that many articles are subscriber-only, and some users report issues with daily TV provider validation and ads even with a paid subscription R51R53.

Head-to-head: NYTimes vs CNN
Washington Post
4.7★ · 631,708 ratings · Free

The Washington Post offers a news app with frequently updated content, particularly strong local coverage for the DMV area. It provides audio accessibility, allowing users to listen to numerous articles back-to-back, which is convenient for busy lifestyles.

Better for: This alternative is better for users who appreciate strong local reporting, especially in the DMV area, and those who prefer to consume news through audio, as the app allows listening to multiple articles sequentially R72R78. It may also appeal to those who find it easier to read than the NYTimes R75.

Head-to-head: NYTimes vs Washington Post
The Wall Street Journal. News
4.7★ · 551,935 ratings · Free

The Wall Street Journal is appreciated for its quality reporting, though some users miss specific sections like 'Sustainable Business'. The app has recently improved its comments feature, allowing users to see comments within the app.

Better for: This is better for users who value high-quality reporting, particularly in business and finance, and those who want to engage with or read comments on articles within the app . Users should be aware that it is a subscription-based service and some have experienced issues with login, crossword functionality, and article downloads for offline reading R79R81R82.

Head-to-head: NYTimes vs The Wall Street Journal. News
Epoch Times
4.9★ · 265,534 ratings · Free

Epoch Times is valued by its users for what they perceive as unbiased, truthful, and reliable reporting, with a focus on facts and a drama-free presentation. The app offers a podcast, 'Morning Brief', for daily news consumption.

Better for: Epoch Times is better for users seeking news they consider unbiased, truthful, and reliable, especially those who appreciate a fact-focused, drama-free podcast for their morning news R94. However, users should be aware of frequent requests to subscribe, login issues for existing subscribers, and navigation problems within the app R93R95R96.

Head-to-head: NYTimes vs Epoch Times
The Economist
4.9★ · 182,252 ratings · Free

The Economist app provides in-depth articles and has recently added CarPlay support, making it easier for subscribers to listen to content while driving. It also includes an audio timer feature.

Better for: This alternative is better for subscribers who value in-depth analysis and want to listen to articles, especially while driving, thanks to the new CarPlay support and audio timer R108. However, some users report issues with the app's stability, downloaded articles not playing offline, and notifications not leading directly to articles R107R110.

Head-to-head: NYTimes vs The Economist
Stick with NYTimes if

You should stick with the NYTimes if you appreciate its thoughtful, well-supported, and in-depth articles that aim to capture multiple points of view . It is considered a gold standard for journalism by many users, providing timely and concise news reports .

Evidence note: News has too few reviews to judge.

Frequently asked

Is the NYTimes app free?
While the NYTimes app offers some content, many users indicate that a subscription is required for full access, with some noting that you need to "pay your dues" for the best news R35. Some users with "All Access" digital accounts have reported issues accessing all content or sending gift articles, suggesting potential paywall limitations even for subscribers R49.
Does the NYTimes app have autoplay videos?
Yes, the NYTimes app has autoplay videos, which many users find annoying and wish there was a setting to disable, preferring videos to only play after deliberate user action R4R7. These videos can also be preceded by 30-second ads, even for short content R39.
Why is the NYTimes app taking up so much storage?
The NYTimes app is reported by users to consume a significant amount of storage, often over 3-4GB, with complaints that its cache clear button doesn't work effectively and it fails to clear old cache items automatically R16R25.
Are there issues with the NYTimes app's navigation?
Yes, several users have reported issues with the NYTimes app's navigation, particularly the recent change that moved the back button from the bottom to the top left, making it harder to use one-handed on mobile devices R6R9R12. Users also find the method for saving articles to read later to be more difficult R3.
Do the NYTimes app notifications work well?
The reviews do not specifically address the functionality of NYTimes app notifications, so it is not possible to determine their effectiveness based on the provided information.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R1] NYTimes 1/5 · US Reporting Bias is actually. Growing: I have found the NYTbecoming the mouthpiece for liberal politics. I have unfortunately begun to question the journalistic integrity of everything I read. It’s sad. I used to rely on the Times for the news. Now it’s become mostly opinions on the front page not the editorial section where they belong. Sure call out those who you don’t agree with. But save it
  2. [R15] NYTimes 3/5 · US Good But Skewed: Great writers and thinkers but deeply disappointing because they can’t give conservatives a win even when it’s good for everyone. It feels grudging, the focus is relentlessly the small angles meant to bolster liberal votes and egos. I want a clear picture not AI sycophancy. Let me decide.
  3. [R19] NYTimes 1/5 · US Biased reporting: Reporting is biased
  4. [R21] NYTimes 3/5 · US Bias Basis of The NY Times Too Apparent: There’s hardly any good news about the Trump administration despite greater prosperity, security, budgeting and expenditures and world order and peace. It’s relentless negativity by the New York Times.
  5. [R3] NYTimes 3/5 · US Harder To Use: I’ve been using this nyt app off and on for a long time. Why the heck would they change the way you can save things to read later. They took a simple and useful method and made it sooooo hard. Plus the scrolling which never works on the article to get to comments etc. Why would nyt do this?
  6. [R6] NYTimes 3/5 · US “Back” button at TOP left on iPhone? Why?: I thought ANOTHER recent app update was to put most controls at bottom so that a thumb could easily control things. Now it’s at top? Ridiculous. Please rethink this.
  7. [R9] NYTimes 3/5 · US Needs better way to return to main page.: If you click through several articles on IOS Iphone NYT app the only way to return back to main NYT home page is by repeatedly pressing back arrow on top left. I’d like to see an easier way to return home. I understand why home button is not always on bottom, as it provides better reading experience, but there should be a way to tap, or tap the three dot
  8. [R12] NYTimes 3/5 · US Bad usability last update: Gestures are not consistent across the app. Moving the navigation from the bottom to the top made the app harder to use on mobile. The back arrow on the bottom allowed you to use the phone one handed. Now you have to hold with one hand and tap navigation with the other. Did you actually look at how people use the app?
  9. [R4] NYTimes 1/5 · US Disrespects user Pref NEVER auto play: 2026-0715 Disrespects user Pref NEVER auto play…
  10. [R7] NYTimes 1/5 · US Annoying: App should have a setting to never auto-play a video. To only play after very deliberate user action And super annoying to see the app refresh content, add/remove news articles, when I momentarily leave the app. Needs better, more stable user experience design
  11. [R16] NYTimes 1/5 · US Wastes space: I would have given this 5 stars but this app is so bad with storage it takes up over 4gb of data storage. It has a cache clear button that doesn’t really do anything and besides it should be able to clear old cache items automatically- it’s just lazy programming by the developers. The web is littered with people complaining about this issue for a long time. Why isn’t it fixed? This i
  12. [R25] NYTimes 1/5 · US 3.6GB?! It's Killing My Storage: What are you doing that your app is taking up 3.6 GB on my phone?! Please get your act together
  13. [R34] NYTimes 1/5 · US Email verification NOT: I am going to cancel my subscription if the NYT keeps requiring this email verification nonsense and there is no one I can speak to about it. My next option is a Jeff Bezos paper. Hope that makes u happy
  14. [R49] NYTimes 2/5 · US All Access?!?: I have an All Access digital account, yet when I login via a web browser, I receive a message stating I only have access to certain free articles. Via the iOS NYT app, I have been trying to send a gift article to my sister for a few days and keep receiving an error message. I tried logging into the web version and can’t even access the article! I tried contacting the NY Times, but c
  15. [R22] NYTimes 2/5 · US lacks basic “delete history” feature: now i get to worry that the algorithm is going to shove miserable fearmongering trash on my feed because i misclicked a few times. this shearing off of basic user-friendly and consent-related features that every other website and tech corp seems to be following each other in is disturbing.
  16. [R27] NYTimes 3/5 · US Photos: Ideally I would like to zoom into the NYT photos in an article. Sometimes it’s possible if I tap on the individual photo then I’m able to pinch-in to see details, however this is lot possible all the time. Not sure why.
  17. [R48] NYTimes 3/5 · GB Why no e-paper: I looked in vain for an e-paper (facsimile) option. This would be a game changer and I wish I knew why NYT doesn’t provided. You would have to take out a pressreader sub which ain’t happening, for me anyway. If the London Times and the FT can do it, why can’t the NYT?
  18. [R52] CNN 4/5 · US Listening Portion Frustrating: I enjoy the app for the most part and enjoy being able to listen to the broadcast when I’m driving. However, the weird music over the commercial breaks is the most annoying thing ever. Repeating the same commercials over and over was pretty annoying already, but since they’ve implemented this ridiculous music stretch for 2-3 minutes, I waffle on even listening at all
  19. [R58] CNN 5/5 · US CNN: CNN provides timely news coverage and keeps me informed about important events happening around the world.
  20. [R51] CNN 1/5 · US Disappointing: I had the CNN News app before but decided to try other apps. Just came back to CNN and now it’s not free anymore. Back to one of the free ones.
  21. [R53] CNN 3/5 · US Disappointed: Since purchasing a subscription, the app now freezes while reading articles requiring me to restart the app in order to read articles; jumps backward while scrolling through articles; and goes to a black screen partway through an article which sometimes can be cleared by going backwards, but not always, and then trying to scroll forward again. I expected to have at least as good of
  22. [R72] Washington Post 5/5 · US Love audio accessibility: I start my day listening to numerous articles, which start one after another. It’s great for my busy retired lifestyle, and I feel informed from a exceptional news outlet
  23. [R78] Washington Post 5/5 · US Good news app bad owner and op eds: Great news app lots of good content especially locally about the DMV. It makes news easy to find & frequently updated format. The owner has treated staff poorly, firing lots of people, overruling news for opinion and worse. They’ve also changed the op-ed to make them mindlessly and reflectively conservative not reflecting the nature of most of its local readers.
  24. [R75] Washington Post 5/5 · US WP: Easier to read than the Times
  25. [R79] The Wall Street Journal. News 1/5 · US Not free, like it says: No, you have to subscribe unless you just want to read previews.
  26. [R80] The Wall Street Journal. News 4/5 · US Sustainable business went dark: Always have appreciated the quality of reporting especially with the Sustainable Business section. Too bad they took it out.
  27. [R81] The Wall Street Journal. News 3/5 · US Crossword update: Please revert to the prior crossword format. The new format took away the ability to easily navigate to the next clue, and replaced it with a clunky interface with small arrows requiring very precise touch points. Also allow the iPad native keyboard to be utilized. It is cumbersome to have to use a WSJ developed keyboard just to complete the crossword. Also, all crosswords now di
  28. [R82] The Wall Street Journal. News 1/5 · US Opt out bug: If you don’t choose “accept all” it goes into a terminal holding pattern that requires that I delete the app. Until this is fixed, I have to use the browser for content.
  29. [R93] Epoch Times 1/5 · US Nothing’s Free: Highly disappointed that I can’t even finish a good article without being asked to subscribe. I guess I’ll just delete the app.
  30. [R94] Epoch Times 5/5 · US Real trusted news: Easy to find new your interested in, trustworthy
  31. [R95] Epoch Times 3/5 · US Navigation issues: The placement of the Back button underneath the live streaming banner at the bottom of the page is problematic. The “x” to close the banner does not work so you cannot get rid of the banner to access the back button. The decision to move the back button to the bottom of the screen instead of top left like most other apps was poorly considered.
  32. [R96] Epoch Times 1/5 · US Premium reports: I pay for the ET every month. Why can’t I comment on an article? It asked me to sign in as a new user and wants my credit card.
  33. [R107] The Economist 1/5 · US Clunk and Hard to use: The app continues to be an abomination, with what should be “basic” features missing. Downloaded issues continue to “spin”; briefly leaving the app results in a long start up load and back to the main page, instead of continuing where left off in the weekly edition. Weekly edition articles have too many links. the previous version of the app was simple, clean, and easy to us
  34. [R108] The Economist 5/5 · US Thank you for adding Audio Timer!: Thank you for adding Audio Timer!
  35. [R109] The Economist 3/5 · US I miss the old audio narrations: The Economist app lost a lot of character when it switched to AI narrators. I didn’t mind that only select articles were narrated and there was some delay. Intentionally absorbing articles is more difficult now.
  36. [R110] The Economist 1/5 · US Audio gone from most recent app update: Hundreds of articles fed to us about AI yet economist can’t figure out how to update their app without completely breaking it. Great job!
  37. [R35] NYTimes 5/5 · US Best News on earth: Pay your dues
  38. [R39] NYTimes 3/5 · US video advertising ruins experience.: I would otherwise give this app a pretty high rating, but the videos are utterly destroyed by their insistence of running a 30 second ad often in front of 10-15 second content. Want to watch that actual explosion? or the bear leaping at the guy.. spend the next half minute watching a car ad. I don’t know why they treat their video footage so poorly if they di

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store