Verithiathe honest score on any app
Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

CNBC vs Stocks

CNBC 4.7★ · Free to download 65
Winner CNBC
Stocks 4.5★ · Free to download 40

CNBC offers more comprehensive financial news and live streaming, despite significant technical issues, while Stocks is a simpler tracking app plagued by paywalled news and data inaccuracies.

Full reviews: CNBC · Stocks

CNBC provides extensive financial news and live content, though users frequently report app instability and video playback problems. Stocks, while easy to use for basic tracking, is heavily criticized for paywalled articles and occasional data inaccuracies, making CNBC the stronger, albeit flawed, option for in-depth financial information.

Head to head

Features & Content edge: CNBCR2R3R5R8
CNBC CNBC offers a wide range of financial news, live streaming, and market data, including specific features like 52-week highs and lows (though sometimes missing) and saved articles R5R8R11R39. Users appreciate the comprehensive coverage and timely information . However, some content is behind a paywall, and users desire more customization like stock market widgets R5R10R15.
Stocks Stocks provides basic stock tracking and market data, with some users finding it useful for checking company rates and studying stocks . However, users report missing specific stocks and a lack of customization options, such as sorting features for listings .
Ease of Use & Reliability tieR4R6R9R13
CNBC CNBC users praise its ease of use for finding financial news and portfolio data R14. However, the app is plagued by significant reliability issues, including videos freezing frequently R13R43, live streams not loading or working R6R9R16R22, and articles failing to load R4. Some users also report issues with specific devices like iPad Pro or Apple TV .
Stocks Stocks is generally considered easy to use with a good layout for tracking . However, some users find it has become awkward to use after updates . More critically, the app is frequently criticized for displaying inaccurate stock data and sometimes failing to update .
Price & Value (Free vs. Paid) edge: CNBCR10R14R15R22
CNBC CNBC is free to download, but many features, especially live streaming and premium content, are tied to subscriptions or cable provider logins R10R15R22. Users complain about ad overload in the free version R10R14 and find the subscription expensive, with some paid features still having issues or limitations R15.
Stocks Stocks is free, but a significant portion of its news articles are paywalled, often linking to Apple News subscriptions R63R67R72R76. This leads to frustration as users feel they are constantly upsold or cannot access relevant information without additional payment.
User Experience & Interface tieR2R7R10R14
CNBC CNBC has received mixed feedback on its interface. Some users appreciate reinstated features like Picture-in-Picture , but others find the layout awkward, such as saved articles only appearing in a tiny side panel R2. There are also complaints about intrusive ads R10R14, annoying notification sounds , and political bias in articles R7.
Stocks Stocks is generally praised for its easy-to-use layout . However, users are frustrated by the prevalence of ads and the inability to filter out paywalled news R63. A major accessibility flaw is also noted, as the app ignores system light mode settings, forcing dark mode and causing issues for some users .
Customer Support edge: CNBCR20R25R43
CNBC CNBC users report poor customer support, with issues like login problems around renewal time and a lack of responsiveness for technical glitches R25R43. One user also mentioned privacy concerns related to client support R20.
Stocks There is no specific feedback on customer support for the Stocks app in the provided reviews.
Pick CNBC if

Pick CNBC if you need comprehensive financial news, live market coverage, and video content, and are willing to tolerate occasional technical glitches and a subscription for full access .

Pick Stocks if

Pick Stocks if you need a simple, easy-to-use app primarily for basic stock tracking and quick checks of company rates, and don't mind the frequent paywalls for news articles .

Evidence note: The evidence for customer support is limited and one-sided, with only CNBC having specific complaints mentioned. The overall comparison is robust due to a good volume of reviews for both apps across other dimensions.

Frequently asked

Does CNBC offer live streaming?
Yes, CNBC offers live streaming of its programming, but many users report significant issues with it not loading, freezing, or having audio problems, even for paid subscribers or those logged in via cable providers R6R9R13R16.
Are news articles in the Stocks app free to read?
No, a significant number of news articles in the Stocks app are paywalled, requiring a subscription (often to Apple News) to read, which frustrates many users R63R67R72R76.
Do these apps have issues with data accuracy?
The Stocks app has frequent issues with displaying inaccurate data, such as incorrect Nasdaq figures or outdated market caps . CNBC users, while generally satisfied with data, have reported missing specific data points like metals prices or 52-week highs and lows R3R11R39R42.

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. [R2] CNBC 5/5 · US Still poor “SAVED News Articles” panel: SAVED News Articles still awkwardly only in tiny side panel from User drop-down. Please put SAVED News back as an available NEWS SECTION so it can be in normal FULLSCREEN area like all other news sections/articles. Also (longtime complaint), scrolling right-side “5 other articles” should be available INDEPENDENTLY of where you are at scrolling through the a
  2. [R3] CNBC 3/5 · US Metals prices missing: Under Commodities, the entire Metals prices are missing. Does anyone else have this problem?
  3. [R5] CNBC 5/5 · US Please Add A stock market Widget For IPhone: This App Is wonderful the Benifits of knowledge is awesome I just wish it had some Widgets for I can see the updates faster thank you
  4. [R8] CNBC 4/5 · US Hi-Lo Data Restored: Thanks for bringing this back. I reply on your web site for data. If the “Club” was not so expensive I would join.
  5. [R4] CNBC 1/5 · US App won’t load lately: For the last few months I’m having issues where stories just won’t load. I have to reconnect to my wifi to make it work. Sort of annoying I’m assuming it’s tied to their spammy ads and my Unifi system blocking them. App used to work great, but since the spinoff has been bad.
  6. [R6] CNBC 3/5 · US Live stream on iPad stopped working: I’m so frustrated I cannot stream cnbc on my iPad. I constantly remove and reinstall but doesn’t help. Worked fine before the split.
  7. [R9] CNBC 3/5 · US Live streaming not working.: The app used to be great but when they changed the logo it went downhill. Will try deleting and reinstalling.
  8. [R13] CNBC 1/5 · US Videos Freeze: I don’t understand for the life of me how this is a five star rated app. This app is absolutely horrible and has gotten worse since Versant bought out the company. The videos freeze about 20% into it. The charts are incredibly amateur and lag the videos take so long to come out after they’ve been played. Do better this is garbage.
  9. [R10] CNBC 2/5 · US CNBC gets worse with each upgrade :( Get Pro, join Club, Ad overload!: CNBC gets worse with each upgrade :( Get Pro, join Club, Ad overload!
  10. [R14] CNBC 5/5 · US Privacy policy not private enough: I’m grateful for the ease of use to find the day’s financial news but I’m deleting the app because I get too much advertising.
  11. [R15] CNBC 3/5 · US Good Investment Information: I enjoy listening to the information shared but i gave it a 3 because there are to many commercials for the high price subscription.
  12. [R22] CNBC 1/5 · US Content great app still stinks: The live stream feature is still not working. I’ve used this app for years. Everything was great but months ago, it will not let you connect through your cable provider. When you hit the button, the wheel just spins and spins for hours. I was hoping after this last update it would be fixed but to no avail.
  13. [R7] CNBC 2/5 · US Articles are biased at best, propaganda at worst.: I look at the quotes, whoever writes the articles are left wing activists that are too biased. I don’t watch CNBC anymore because of the bias and lies.
  14. [R20] CNBC 4/5 · GB client support: private affiliate seeking security clearances on communities and families violates email privacy
  15. [R25] CNBC 1/5 · US Not working!!! Lousy support!!!: Have had a problem every month around renew time. It won’t work for a week before and after!🙃
  16. [R43] CNBC 1/5 · US Video hangs frequently: Several times a minute the video will either hang and I have to restore the page or the sound turns off and I have to hit the speaker icon to turn it back on. That means I miss a lot of the information. This happens on the web app and on the iOS app. This morning I couldn’t get the Investing Club Morning Meeting to work at all. That’s usually where I get the most informat
  17. [R16] CNBC 1/5 · US Livestream never loads: I hardly ever leave reviews and almost never leave negative reviews but this app has been so frustrating. I have to refresh it 30+ times to get the livestream to even load and sometimes it just never does and I can't watch that morning. Then sometimes I have to go through the same process after stops working after a commercial break. No one has time for that. I know it's sp
  18. [R63] Stocks 3/5 · US Too much paid news: Would like to be able to filter out the pay walled news articles. Would like to have only free to read articles shown. Thank you
  19. [R67] Stocks 2/5 · US Subscription useless: All these stories are originally published by other sources - which are available for no charge through many other sources. This just makes this app look silly and unnecessarily greedy. Leaves a bad impression in a long time Apple customers mind. This is one of the drop off points where you lose customers.
  20. [R72] Stocks 3/5 · US Good, but…: …just too many paywall / Apple News stories.
  21. [R76] Stocks 1/5 · US Upsell: Almost every link to an article requires a subscription to read it.
  22. [R11] CNBC 4/5 · US Missing High Lows: The new version is missing 52 week highs and lows!!
  23. [R39] CNBC 3/5 · US No more 52 week range: What happened to the 52 week range on both iOS and iPad os? It’s suddenly gone. Please bring it back.
  24. [R42] CNBC 3/5 · US they trashed it: Why was 52 week high low, and 5 and 10 year sections removed from the app. It feels incomplete now

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