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

The Boston Globe vs Boston 25 News Live

The Boston Globe 4.6★ · Free + IAP 65
Winner The Boston Globe
Boston 25 News Live 4.7★ · Free to download 55

For comprehensive local news and in-depth journalism, The Boston Globe app is generally preferred despite its technical issues, while Boston 25 News Live is better for real-time local updates and weather, provided users can tolerate frequent ads and app glitches.

Full reviews: The Boston Globe · Boston 25 News Live

The Boston Globe app provides extensive local and national journalism, but users frequently report login issues and a clunky user experience. Boston 25 News Live offers timely local news and weather, though it is heavily criticized for excessive and disruptive ads, old content, and app instability.

Head to head

Content Quality & Scope edge: The Boston GlobeR8R10R14R17
The Boston Globe The Boston Globe is praised for its professional, concise, and often unbiased reporting of local, national, and world events, with many appreciating its in-depth journalism and ability to provide facts early in the morning R8R14R17. However, some users find it too liberal or biased, lacking objectivity, and focusing too much on certain political viewpoints R10.
Boston 25 News Live Boston 25 News Live is highly regarded for its local news coverage, often delivering today's news promptly and with more detail than competitors . Users also appreciate its weather information . Conversely, many reviews criticize the app for having old or duplicate stories, a lack of timely updates, and not enough in-depth reporting R72R73R90R93. Some also find its political coverage biased .
Ease of Use & User Experience tieR1R3R4R6
The Boston Globe Many Boston Globe users report significant frustration with the app's user experience, citing frequent login issues across multiple devices, articles not loading correctly, and a clunky interface R1R3R7. Some also dislike the old format and find the search function hard to locate R4R6. The games section is particularly noted as being outdated and unusable R12R22R45.
Boston 25 News Live Boston 25 News Live users frequently complain about a poor user experience, including the app not starting with the latest iOS updates, slow loading times, freezing, and crashing . Navigation is also criticized, with users unable to find stories from notifications, videos not playing, and a lack of search functionality . Some find the layout difficult to read due to unrelated photos and a large video player that cannot be collapsed .
Ads & Monetization edge: The Boston GlobeR1R15R20R33
The Boston Globe The Boston Globe is a paid subscription service, and while users generally accept this, some express frustration with subscription offers that don't work R1 or the cost for retirees R33. One user also noted annoying ad clicks while scrolling R20. The app has limitations on sharing articles with non-subscribers R15.
Boston 25 News Live Boston 25 News Live is a free app, but it is heavily criticized for an overwhelming number of long, repetitive, and disruptive ads R61R63R69R70. These ads often interrupt videos, cause articles to reload, or play before live news, leading to a frustrating user experience. Some users would even pay to remove the ads .
Reliability & Performance tieR13R16R18R27
The Boston Globe The Boston Globe app suffers from significant reliability issues, including articles refreshing and exiting if the phone is put down, constant re-logging requirements, and the app not authenticating subscriptions R13R18R27. The website is also described as 'terrible' and 'glitchy' R16.
Boston 25 News Live Boston 25 News Live has notable performance problems, with users reporting that the app doesn't start, freezes, crashes frequently, and videos often go black after ads R70. The app also has issues with custom notifications not working as selected, leading to a bombardment of unwanted alerts .
Customer Support edge: The Boston GlobeR3R25R36
The Boston Globe The Boston Globe's customer service receives negative feedback, with reports of rudeness, unwillingness to refund charges, and agents assuming user error instead of acknowledging bugs R25R36. One user mentioned support temporarily resolving a chronic login problem R3.
Boston 25 News Live There are no direct reviews about Boston 25 News Live's customer support. Issues are primarily focused on app functionality and ads, suggesting users either don't contact support or their experiences aren't reported.
Pick The Boston Globe if

You prioritize in-depth, professional journalism for local and national news, are willing to pay for content, and can tolerate occasional technical glitches and login frustrations R8R14R17. You value a traditional newspaper experience, including access to an e-paper .

Pick Boston 25 News Live if

You need real-time local news, weather updates, and live broadcasts, and are willing to contend with frequent, lengthy advertisements and potential app instability . You prefer a free news source and are less concerned with in-depth analysis or older content R69.

Evidence note: The Boston Globe, being a paid subscription service, has reviews that often reflect frustrations from paying users expecting a premium experience, while Boston 25 News Live, a free app, draws complaints primarily about ads and basic functionality from its free user base. The volume of reviews for The Boston Globe is significantly higher.

Frequently asked

Does The Boston Globe app have login issues?
Yes, many users report persistent login issues with The Boston Globe app, requiring them to sign in multiple times a day across different devices, even when they are paid subscribers R1R3R7R18.
Are there many ads in the Boston 25 News Live app?
Yes, the Boston 25 News Live app is heavily criticized for an overwhelming number of long, repetitive, and disruptive ads that frequently interrupt news content, videos, and overall user experience R61R63R69R70.
Is the content in Boston 25 News Live always up to date?
No, users frequently report that Boston 25 News Live often displays old or duplicate stories, with some articles remaining active for days or even months, indicating a lack of timely updates R72R73R90R93.
Does The Boston Globe app offer games like crosswords?
While The Boston Globe app does include a section for games, users report that this section is often wildly out of date, glitchy, and almost unusable, with games like crosswords no longer working after updates R12R22R45.

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. [R8] The Boston Globe 5/5 · US Boston Globe: Very well done publication
  2. [R10] The Boston Globe 1/5 · US No longer journalism: Sadly this has become too biased to regularly read.
  3. [R14] The Boston Globe 5/5 · US Professional Journalism: Concise, unbiased reporting of national & world events. A pleasurable reading experience.
  4. [R17] The Boston Globe 5/5 · US Digital: I can count on the Globe for the facts very early in the morning. Digital on the iPad or phone is so convienent.Really don’t need the paper version of the Sunday Globe in my driveway, but I understand that advertisers insist on it.
  5. [R1] The Boston Globe 1/5 · US doesn’t work: Your $1 for six months subscription doesn’t work. Signed up on May 10, now can’t get in.
  6. [R3] The Boston Globe 3/5 · US Can only log on or see on phone not on PC: Even though I am a paid subscriber I cannot read articles on a PC as I get challenged to log in. However clicking the log in icon produces no response. This is a chronic problem that was temporarily resolved by Support I can access the paper on the phone however.
  7. [R4] The Boston Globe 1/5 · US Format: I liked the old format much better. It was easier to get around the paper!
  8. [R6] The Boston Globe 3/5 · US Search function needs more prominence: I read the hard copy BG and only use the app to share articles with others. I want the search function obvious on the Home Screen. I’m tech literate so this is not a Luddite complaint.
  9. [R15] The Boston Globe 3/5 · US Can’t gift articles: Decent local coverage but I cannot share articles to people who don’t subscribe to the Globe. Most newspaper subscriptions allow for several gifts a month.
  10. [R20] The Boston Globe 5/5 · US Love the globe, with one grievance: I love the Globe, read the sports page every morning as I have for decades (before the app) To imitate the great Chad Finn, there is one grievance with the app. When I am scrolling, I frequently and annoyingly can’t help having my finger click on an ad that takes me away from my article. Get rid of that would be, to quote the great Bob Ryan, “addition by subtrac
  11. [R33] The Boston Globe 3/5 · US Too expensive for retirees: Cost of digital subscription should come down for 62+. And STOP teasing $1 subscription
  12. [R13] The Boston Globe 1/5 · US No Thought to UX: It refreshes and exits articles if you put the phone down for a second. Tons of articles just load the web version that then pops up a subscription pop up that you need to manually log in every time.
  13. [R16] The Boston Globe 1/5 · US y: website is tgerrible
  14. [R18] The Boston Globe 3/5 · US Forced to use the paper instead of app: One of my two iPads apparently can’t access the app version of The Globe which I much prefer to the e-paper. When I try to open the app globe it asks me to subscribe even though I have a current subscription.
  15. [R27] The Boston Globe 3/5 · US Login Again and Again: While I enjoy the content, the app suffers from login issues that shouldn’t be taking place. I am constantly having to log back in even when I check the app routinely. It’s a little irritating, but the website has the same problem so at least it’s consistent.
  16. [R25] The Boston Globe 1/5 · US Terrible app experience: I’m consistently unable to get into article articles and the customer service associated with this is awful. I’ve called and they were so rude and unwilling to refund the charges. I didn’t even know we’re being charged to me. Don’t download this app.
  17. [R36] The Boston Globe 3/5 · US Great content, poor app and support: I’ve found at least 2 bugs in the app, and I reported each one. When I report a bug, the customer service agent seems to assume it’s a user error rather than a bug. For one bug, she told to restart the app and/or restart my phone. If you’re giving me a work around, acknowledge thaf it’s a bug.
  18. [R7] The Boston Globe 1/5 · US App doesn’t authenticate: Title says it all
  19. [R61] Boston 25 News Live 1/5 · US Sucks: Sick of looking at the guy in the Ad when you open the app
  20. [R63] Boston 25 News Live 3/5 · US Too many ads: Long commercials
  21. [R69] Boston 25 News Live 3/5 · US Boston 25 profit centered: first of all advertisements make me leave the app. The ads are too long and exhausting, waiting for the story that’s 2 to 3 sentences long and then say this is an ongoing story and never hear about it again. One of the things I like about channel 25 is the morning people, especially Gene Levanchi.
  22. [R70] Boston 25 News Live 2/5 · US App needs a lot of work: The video resizing is clunky, the in app ads consistently overlay the audio and sometimes the video of the live broadcast whether you’re on WiFi or over a cellular connection. Frustrating app that needs some attention from the developers.
  23. [R72] Boston 25 News Live 3/5 · US News, not so new: Come here for two-three day old news today
  24. [R73] Boston 25 News Live 2/5 · US Question: Why don’t you updated stories and remove duplicates. I wish the articles were timely. There is one from last September that is still active.
  25. [R90] Boston 25 News Live 3/5 · US ?: Tried watching live news but shows7 month old news dissapointed
  26. [R93] Boston 25 News Live 3/5 · US Renew: Old Stories stay on the site for way too long. If you want to run a news website, then just keep the news Fresh.
  27. [R12] The Boston Globe 3/5 · US Globe app review: The functionality of the news section of the app is pretty good and intuitive. If you are interested in playing the crossword or other typical newspaper games do not bother, that section of the app is wildly out of date and almost unusable.
  28. [R22] The Boston Globe 1/5 · US Games no longer work: The games no longer work after the latest update. I’ve given it months to see if they would resolve this and sadly they have not. Doing the crossword was my peace each evening. Very unfortunate.
  29. [R45] The Boston Globe 3/5 · US News great games bad: Love the journalism. Games are too glitchy to play. I’d love to delete my NYT games…

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