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Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

The Wall Street Journal. News vs MarketWatch

The Wall Street Journal. News 4.7★ · Free + IAP 75
Winner The Wall Street Journal. News
MarketWatch 4.7★ · Free + IAP 60

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) app offers superior journalism and a more polished user experience, despite some recent technical glitches, making it the better choice for in-depth financial news.

Full reviews: The Wall Street Journal. News · MarketWatch

The Wall Street Journal app is praised for its high-quality, balanced journalism, though recent updates have introduced bugs and usability issues. MarketWatch provides reliable market data and quick notifications but suffers from frequent login problems, a clunky interface, and a lack of essential features like dark mode.

Head to head

Journalism Quality & Content edge: The Wall Street Journal. NewsR12R17R20R30
The Wall Street Journal. News Users consistently praise WSJ for its strong, detailed, and comprehensive reporting, often highlighting its commitment to truth over partisanship and its clear distinction between news and opinion R17R20. Some recent reviews, however, express concern about declining quality, political bias, and headlines resembling clickbait R12R30.
MarketWatch MarketWatch is generally seen as a source of reliable information for trading and financial movements, with good feature stories . However, some users criticize its negative lean against certain political figures and question the trustworthiness of its news due to author biases .
App Functionality & Reliability tieR1R3R4R7
The Wall Street Journal. News The WSJ app is plagued by numerous bugs and inconsistencies, including freezing during scrolling, slow loading, issues with offline reading, and problems with specific features like crosswords, gift links, and 'Sign In With Apple' R1R3R4R7. It also has issues with battery drain and overheating R18R33.
MarketWatch MarketWatch users report frequent login problems, where the app fails to keep them signed in or requires re-logging for each article . The app is described as buggy, glitchy, and poorly written, with issues like non-functional buttons, charting problems, and difficulty setting watchlists .
User Interface & Experience edge: The Wall Street Journal. NewsR2R8R24R27
The Wall Street Journal. News While some users appreciate recent updates for making the app more readable and clean , others find the interface cluttered with large banners and videos that cannot be turned off R24. There's also frustration over the removal of features like the print edition view and widgets, and a desire for more control over notifications R2R8R27.
MarketWatch MarketWatch's interface is described as clunky and limited . A significant complaint is the lack of a dark mode, which users find surprising in modern apps and hard on their eyes R69R96. Users also report issues with font size being too small without an in-app adjustment option .
Features & Integrations tieR6R11R14R15
The Wall Street Journal. News Users desire features like adjustable audio playback speed R14, the ability to comment on articles within the app R6R11R15R18, and better integration with iOS and Google News . The watchlist feature has bugs, not retaining sorted order .
MarketWatch MarketWatch is criticized for limited features compared to competitors, lacking options like saving articles and a sorting feature for watchlists . Users also note that important stock market numbers are not readily available upon opening the app .
Price & Value tieR28R33R34R35
The Wall Street Journal. News Many users, even subscribers, are frustrated by ads within the app R33R34R36. Some report being locked out of content despite an active subscription, facing demands for additional payments, or experiencing bait-and-switch tactics R28R35.
MarketWatch MarketWatch is criticized for charging for almost all articles, with users feeling that similar information is available for free elsewhere . There are also complaints about false advertising regarding subscription pricing and a lack of customer service for billing issues . Subscribers also report excessive pop-up ads .
Pick The Wall Street Journal. News if

You prioritize high-quality, in-depth journalism and are willing to tolerate some app bugs and a potentially cluttered interface R17R20. You value a news source that clearly distinguishes between reporting and opinion R17.

Pick MarketWatch if

You need quick notifications and summaries for market data and financial movements . You are primarily interested in tracking stocks and market performance, and can overlook frequent login issues and a less refined user experience .

Evidence note: Both apps have a mix of positive and negative reviews, with recent negative reviews for WSJ focusing on app functionality and for MarketWatch on login issues and perceived value. The free vs. paid asymmetry is present, as both apps offer free content with in-app purchases, leading to complaints about paywalls from non-subscribers for both.

Frequently asked

Can I read comments on articles in The Wall Street Journal app?
No, many users report that the WSJ app inexplicably does not allow them to view or leave comments on articles, forcing them to use the mobile website for this feature R6R11R15R18.
Does MarketWatch offer a dark mode?
No, MarketWatch does not offer a dark mode, which is a significant complaint from users who find the bright interface difficult to read, especially in low light R69R96.
Are there many ads in The Wall Street Journal app, even for subscribers?
Yes, even paying subscribers to The Wall Street Journal app report being disappointed by the presence of banner ads and slow-loading ad blocks, which can degrade the user experience and cause the app to freeze R33R34R36.

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. [R12] The Wall Street Journal. News 3/5 · US Okay App, Poor Reporting: Sometimes is a challenge to distinguish between newsroom reporting and opinion columns. Also I frequently found opinion columns more helpful with presenting facts.
  2. [R17] The Wall Street Journal. News 5/5 · US A rare find these days.: Really strong reporting. In a time where media is consistently biased - WSJ is committed to reporting truth over partisanship. One of the few outlets that seems to have found a way report the news, verify sources, and callout both left and right extremism. Opinion pieces are present, but clearly called out as such. We need more of this and less brands that push for engage
  3. [R20] The Wall Street Journal. News 4/5 · US Amazing Journalism: I have been subscribed to WSJ for years and I am a huge supporter of their work. Detailed, clear and comprehensive journalism and this app does a great job presenting it. The only thing that is preventing me from giving 5 stars is that I wish the articles were available for me to read in Spanish. Why are English and Japanese the only languages? Please make Spanish available, I
  4. [R30] The Wall Street Journal. News 3/5 · US Over Priced/Dwindling Quality: As a long term subscriber, I grow increasingly disappointed. The overall quality of journalism is flagging under the weight of obvious political bias. The headlines read just like the click bait on most social media platforms. Jason Gay (sports writer) has my subscription hanging on by a thin thread!
  5. [R1] 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.
  6. [R3] The Wall Street Journal. News 3/5 · US Gift Links Don’t work.: Please fix app so I can send gift links This used to work. Now link says it copies but recipients can’t open. Sends them to subscriber/log in page.
  7. [R4] The Wall Street Journal. News 2/5 · US Crossword fan: You broke the crossword with the recent update. The keyboard is not ergonomic on iPad, clues bizarrely jump around when inputting letters and the clue being answered no longer appears as a separate line. Please fix or revert to the previous iteration.
  8. [R7] The Wall Street Journal. News 2/5 · US SLOW: This app just keeps hanging up. I don’t know if they’re doing it intentionally to force you to look at ads, but I can’t get through a single article without it hanging up. Updates seem to make no difference, and I’m on fiber, so not a bandwidth issue.
  9. [R2] 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.
  10. [R8] The Wall Street Journal. News 4/5 · US Today’s edition: What happened to the rest of this edition. Only Page One and Opinion show up.
  11. [R24] The Wall Street Journal. News 3/5 · US Get rid of clutter: Pages are cluttered with large banner on top and small banner on bottom. Takes up 1/3 of screen.
  12. [R27] The Wall Street Journal. News 3/5 · US “Breaking News” notification spam: WSJ continues to abuse the breaking news push notification setting by spamming your notifications with fluff pieces that are in no way breaking news. Without useful notifications, the app is useless. Back to the mobile website again.
  13. [R6] The Wall Street Journal. News 3/5 · US no comments: I don’t get why this app doesn’t let you leave comments, only on the website. It’s 2024, how hard can it be to add such a basic feature to the app?
  14. [R11] The Wall Street Journal. News 4/5 · US Comments?: It’s a great read, these days, but I have to use the mobile site rather than the app because the app, inexplicably in 2026, doesn’t show reader comments.
  15. [R14] The Wall Street Journal. News 4/5 · US Please Add Playback Speed Option To Audio: Love the app, love your reporting. Love listening to articles. Please add an option to adjust audio playback speed and make it so my selection is saved so I don’t have to set it for each article. Keep up the great work
  16. [R15] The Wall Street Journal. News 3/5 · US Can’t comment: Can’t comment or view comments on iPhone
  17. [R28] The Wall Street Journal. News 1/5 · US WSJ App now just a con game: News content is no longer accessible via the iPhone app. Regardless of an active subscription, every attempt to read beyond the headlines will be met with a screen demanding the purchase of an additional $39 monthly subscription. There are ample legitimate news options available via iTunes apps. If you truly need to read WSJ, try a print subscription.
  18. [R33] The Wall Street Journal. News 3/5 · US Buggy, Ad-filled mess: The user experience and navigation have gone backwards over the past year. The issue is that there are now so many interspersed and slow loading ad blocks in each digital article that the app freezes, and causes my iPhone to overheat. True even on my 1 Gig wifi link. We get it - news is a business that requires ad revenue, but not at the expense of degrading the product.
  19. [R34] The Wall Street Journal. News 1/5 · US Poly market ads: Get rid of them. I pay for a subscription, I don’t need to see gambling ads here as well
  20. [R35] The Wall Street Journal. News 5/5 · US Trash: If you want to read more on an. Article you need to pay up homie lol
  21. [R18] The Wall Street Journal. News 3/5 · US Issues with app: Newspaper is great, but the app is a battery killer and overheats the phone. Also, reader comments cannot be read, not can you contribute
  22. [R69] MarketWatch 3/5 · US Decent: I generally like the app. Most articles are written well. Some are useful. I find them much better than others. My main complaint is that the app doesn’t allow for a Dark Mode. In this day and age, not having a Dark Mode is surprising.
  23. [R96] MarketWatch 3/5 · US Desperately need dark mode: My eyes are getting blind
  24. [R36] The Wall Street Journal. News 3/5 · US Love the WSJ, don’t love Ads.: I am disappointed that the app has ads, even when offline. I am a paying member of the Wall Street journal, and I don’t find it respectable that you guys choose to have banner ads in app.

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