“They charge for the ‘free’ trial — The minute I started my free trial I was charged $9.95.”
Independent automated assessment · 3 signal sources · 983 reviews scanned · analyzed 2026-10-05.
4.7 ★80,972 ratings
1M+Downloads
12+Age rating
101 MBApp size
FreeIn-app purchases
About this app
Get all your news in one place on an eye-opening platform that shows you the bias, reliability and ownership of every source you read. Cut through the noise and escape media echo chambers with Ground News.
Ground News is the largest news aggregator in the world with over 50K news sources and 60K articles added daily. But we aren’t a typical news aggregator, throwing hundreds of headlines at you that barely skim the surface. Ground frees people from algorithmic restraints, illuminates blindspots and makes media bias explicit with our one-of-a-kind media analysis features.
AVOID MANIPULATIVE ALGORITHMS SPOT MEDIA BIAS DISCOVER BLINDSPOTS CHECK THE RELIABILITY OF SOURCES SEE WHO OWNS THE NEWS YOU CONSUME
Read daily breaking stories from sources around the world, in real time.…
Preview
Real screenshots from the store listing.
Independent evidence report
Evidence and review signals
This is where the page changes from an app-store listing into an evidence report: findings, important reviews, pricing and a dated history.
Which version this describes
When we ran this analysis, and what the store lists now.
App Store
This analysis describes version 4.34.0 of the app, analyzed 2026-10-05 . The app may have changed since.
The store currently lists version 4.34.0, updated 2026-09-23.
Google Play
This analysis describes version 4.32.2 of the app, analyzed 2026-10-04 . The app may have changed since.
The store currently lists version 4.32.2, updated 2026-09-10.
What we measured
Each line is a measurement published as a measurement, never a verdict.
Each line is a measurement, published as a measurement. Where we have not looked, the line says so rather than reading as a zero.
Developer replies to reviews
Replies to at least 1 review in 20
Price in the store description
States no price and billing period
Cancelling, in the store description
Does not say how to cancel
Themes reported by reviewers
3 or more themes reported
Counted from the reviews we have read for this app. "No theme reported" means no theme reached our reporting threshold — it is not a finding that nothing is wrong with this app, and we do not say it is.
Five-star share of ratings
80–89% five-star
Arithmetic on the stores' own published rating counts. It says nothing about why the ratings fall where they do.
In the package we scanned
No package has been scanned for this app, so nothing is published about what it ships. That is an absence of evidence about the app, not a finding about it.
Graded bands · predicate set 1.4 · how these are measured
What the analysis found
App-specific findings, grouped by what each one rests on. How they are graded lives on its own page.
Positive evidence 1
Things this app does right, published at the same strengths as the catch list.
Developer says data deletion can be requested
The developer's data-safety disclosure on the store states that users can request deletion of their data, or the app's own text offers a way to delete the account. This restates what the developer declares; it is not a test of whether deletion works. Apple publishes no equivalent disclosure, so on an Apple-only listing only the app's own text can support it.
What we saw: The developer's store data-safety disclosure states that data deletion can be requested; we have not seen a deletion control in the app's own text
One source only — shown, not confirmed 4
A single kind of evidence. We publish these because withholding them would be the bigger distortion, and we do not treat any of them as a finding we stand behind.
Reported by users: Trial converts to a charge
The free trial demands a payment method up front and/or rolls into a paid subscription with no usable warning.
What we saw: Trial converts to a charge: raised by 5 distinct reviewers (0.9% of 538 reviews scanned)
Reported by users: Hard to cancel
Cancelling the subscription is blocked, hidden, multi-step, or simply does not take effect.
What we saw: Hard to cancel: raised by 5 distinct reviewers (0.9% of 538 reviews scanned)
Reported by users: Paywall blocks the basics
The core of the app — not extras — sits behind payment, or previously-free function moved behind a paywall.
What we saw: Paywall blocks the basics: raised by 6 distinct reviewers (1.3% of 445 reviews scanned)
From the store listing: Usable without an account
The app's own screens offer a way past sign-up — guest access, skipping, or browsing before registering — rather than gating the product behind an account. The store's privacy disclosure is checked alongside it: that disclosure is self-reported, so it corroborates this credit rather than establishing it.
What we saw: The store privacy disclosure (4 entries) links no contact details or identifiers to the user — consistent with an app that does not require an account. Self-reported by the developer.
Highlighted reviews
Representative public review excerpts shown as user reports, not Appworthy audit evidence.
“$15 ‘free’ trial — I was accepting the so called free trial and was immediately charged almost $15. Uh, that’s not free. Ironic how the entire sight is based on fair and honest reporting but they charge for a free trial. Hmmm”
“Stale content, buggy app — If I select “Show less like this” and then unselect topics, it just says my preferences can’t be updated. It shows the same stories all day even if I swipe down to reload. Even if I go into my preferences and…”
Assessment & version history
App changes and Appworthy events in one timeline.
Store listing updated to version 4.34.0.
What this app sells
Useful store-disclosed pricing, kept below the app listing.
Items shown0
Lowest—
Highest—
Google Play does not publish per-purchase prices.