Google News vs Apple News: Which Shows You More

Switching to a new phone can be an exciting time, especially when it comes to choosing the right news app. Two of the most popular options, Google News and Apple News, offer distinct approaches to personalizing your news feed. If you're an Apple user, Apple News may resonate with its tight integration and privacy focus. But Google News offers more customized experience across devices and platforms. We'll break down the key differences to help you decide which fits your devices and reading habits best.

Device and platform fit

The choice between Google News and Apple News often comes down to which platform you favor — in the case of Google, Google Search, the Google app, and Android. Both apps are built around their respective ecosystems.

Soon after you sign up for Apple News+, the app personalizes your experience by asking you to select topics or publications you prefer. It learns from your reading habits over time. To stop following a publication, use the following method on iPhone: tap the Following tab, swipe left on a publication and tap Unfollow. On iPad, you can unfollow a publication by swiping left on it in the sidebar.

Google News, on the other hand, is baked into the Google app, Google Chrome and is available on websites. Even if you don't have them installed, you can tune stories on the Google News site by following or unfollowing a topic, location, or source of your choice. If a story feels off-topic, make it clear by tapping More stories like this or Fewer stories like this, and Google will recalibrate, or you can hide all stories from a particular source.

How each app chooses stories

Google News says it uses past Google services activity, including YouTube, your location, your device language and region, and personalization choices to select stories for you. It’s a powerful but non-explicit system — presenting stories you may not have expected to read in a section like “Picks for you.”

Apple News prioritizes quicker information about current events from reliable sources, but uses only on-device intelligence to choose stories, and claims to do this without accessing your data or asking for permission to track you.

YouTube and other Google sites feature Google News content widely, ensuring you can read without opening News.

Google News also puts you in control with a follow-locations feature. Apple News does not allow advertiser tracking.

Following, blocking, and tuning the feed

Google News users can follow or unfollow topics, topics, or a geographical location, or a favorite regular source or publication, to keep the tab from showing up in your Home feed. If a story is off-base, you can tell Google News to show you More stories like this or Fewer stories like this. To keep a source from appearing in your news feed at all, hide all stories from the source.

In contrast, Apple News handles personalization differently. It uses on-device intelligence to recommend stories, ensuring that your personal data remains private. Apple News does not access your information without your permission, nor does it share that information with others or allow advertisers to track you. Thus, its personalized recommendations are based solely on the content you engage with within the app.

To tune your news feed in Apple News, you can follow or unfollow publications, or see your favorite picks when you tap your avatar at the top right corner. If a story is off-base, you can swipe left to hide it, and Apple News will disconnect from other recommended content from that same source.

However, Apple’s privacy controls are not entirely straightforward. In Apple News on Apple devices and an Apple ID, you can't block specific individual sources, you can only unfollow publications there.

Local news and topical coverage

Google News offers a dedicated Local news section under Following, which aggregates news from your immediate geographic area. You can customize this section by following or unfollowing specific locations, ensuring that you stay informed about local events and happenings that matter to you. This feature is particularly useful for those who prefer to stay connected with their local community.

Google News users can follow locations, which is useful if you want to stay up-to-date with news from a specific city. This feature allows you to tailor your news feed to your geographic interests, ensuring that you receive relevant local coverage. Additionally, Google News offers the ability to follow topics, such as technology or cooking, to further personalize your news feed.

Apple News+ provides a curated selection of local news articles from reputable publications, ensuring that you have access to high-quality journalistic content. While Apple News+ does not offer the same level of customization as Google News in terms of following specific topics or locations, it provides a reliable and trusted source of local news.

In summary, while Google News offers more customization options for local and topical coverage, Apple News+ provides a curated selection of high-quality local news articles from reputable sources.

Paid tier versus free

Google News is a free app that aggregates news content from a wide range of sources. It offers a personalized news feed based on your interests and preferences, allowing you to stay informed about the topics that matter most to you.

Apple News+, on the other hand, is a premium subscription service that provides access to a curated selection of content from over 300 magazines and newspapers, as well as online journalism and podcasts. With Apple News+, you can enjoy unlimited reading of articles from your favorite publications, without encountering any paywalls or ad interruptions. The service offers a monthly subscription fee of $9.99.

Privacy controls

Regarding privacy, Google highlights how “our systems use your Google activities, like your searches, and your YouTube activities, to select stories relevant to you” while Google says “our systems use Machine Learning algorithms to refine your news selections.” Meanwhile, Apple News emphasizes its commitment to user privacy.

Apple News uses on-device intelligence to provide personalized recommendations and does not access your personal data without explicit permission. Moreover, Apple News does not share your information with third parties or allow advertisers to track your online activities. This privacy-focused approach ensures that your news consumption remains private and secure within the Apple News app.

In comparison, Google News, while offering personalized news recommendations, relies on your Google activity, including searches and YouTube engagement, to curate your news feed. With Google News users can select as many preferred sources as they like. Filter them in more precise ways in Search.

To some extent, you can control organization and location settings, sources and topics to follow, plus various websites with neatly organized sections; but if you sleep-walked through the sign-in process, there's a lot you maybe handed over. If your real name and email went to Google tracking this, that gets shared across many platforms.

Which news app for which user?

Ultimately, the choice between Google News and Apple News depends on your reading habits, device preferences, and subscription willingness.

Google News offers a more personalized and comprehensive news experience, with the ability to follow topics, locations, and sources across Google platforms.

Apple News, while a premium offering, provides a curated selection from top magazines and newspapers, as well as a privacy-respecting environment based only on your on-device engagement with Apple News itself.

Whichever news app you choose, it’s important to explore the privacy settings and customize your preferences to ensure that you receive a tailored news feed that aligns with your interests and keeps you informed.