aso.best

Home / Best apps / News · ZA

Best news apps in 🇿🇦 South Africa, September 2026

Four lists from Apple's own charts, read every morning: the most downloaded free news apps, the best rated among the hundred most downloaded, the top paid and the top grossing. Ratings are the store's, positions are today's, and movement is against yesterday. Nothing here is estimated.

🇺🇸 US 🇬🇧 GB 🇩🇪 DE 🇫🇷 FR 🇯🇵 JP 🇧🇷 BR 🇮🇳 IN 🇦🇺 AU 🇨🇦 CA

Most downloaded free news apps

Apple's top free chart, ZA, today.

  1. 1 XX Corp. 4.7★ ·
  2. 2 SubstackSubstack, Inc. 4.8★ ·
  3. 3 RedditREDDIT, INC. 4.7★ ·
  4. 4 News24: Trusted News. First24.com 3.5★ ·
  5. 5 Daily MaverickDaily Maverick 3.4★ ▲1
  6. 6 Blue for TwitterKpaw, LLC 5.0★ ▲1
  7. 7 VideoElephant TVVideo Elephant Limited 5.0★ ▼2
  8. 8 QuoraQuora, Inc. 4.7★ ·
  9. 9 Netwerk24 – Alles op een plek24.com 4.4★ ▲12
  10. 10 IEC South AfricaElectoral Commission of South Africa 1.7★ ▲5
  11. 11 NYTimes: Breaking World NewsThe New York Times Company 4.8★ ▼1
  12. 12 ClubhouseAlpha Exploration Co. 4.7★ ▼1
  13. 13 49s ResultsPolus Ventures Limited 4.7★ ▼1
  14. 14 Google NewsGoogle 4.3★ ▼5
  15. 15 Home Affairs TodayApp Developer Studio Cc 1.7★ ▲2
All 100, with movers and drop-outs →

Best rated of the top 100

Highest star rating among the hundred most downloaded, at least 500 ratings.

  1. 1 Substack#2 free · 8,031 ratings 4.80
  2. 2 CNBC: Stock Market & Business#16 free · 5,497 ratings 4.80
  3. 3 Medium: Read & Write Stories#24 free · 3,151 ratings 4.80
  4. 4 Al Jazeera - الجزيرة#33 free · 3,072 ratings 4.80
  5. 5 The Economist: News & Analysis#29 free · 2,749 ratings 4.80
  6. 6 Spotify for Creators#28 free · 1,690 ratings 4.80
  7. 7 NYTimes: Breaking World News#11 free · 1,664 ratings 4.80
  8. 8 Financial Times: Business News#49 free · 1,020 ratings 4.80
  9. 9 Podcast Player App - Castbox#88 free · 688 ratings 4.80
  10. 10 Podbean Podcast App & Player#32 free · 657 ratings 4.80

Top paid news apps

  1. 1 Downcast 4.0★
  2. 2 QuakeWatch 5.0★
  3. 3 Outcast for Watch 4.8★
  4. 4 Reeder Classic 4.4★
  5. 5 iCatcher! Podcast App 4.8★
  6. 6 The Aviation Herald —
  7. 7 GoodLinks 5.0★
  8. 8 World Newspapers - 200 countries 2.0★
All 100 →

Top grossing news apps

  1. 1 News24: Trusted News. First 3.5★
  2. 2 Netwerk24 – Alles op een plek 4.4★
  3. 3 X 4.7★
  4. 4 Bloomberg: Business News Daily 4.6★
  5. 5 NYTimes: Breaking World News 4.8★
  6. 6 The Guardian - UK & World News 4.8★
  7. 7 The Economist: News & Analysis 4.8★
  8. 8 Daily Maverick 3.4★
All 100 →

Most downloaded on Google Play

ZA, today
  1. 1X 4.8★
  2. 2AutoTrader 4.7★
  3. 3Opera News: breaking & local 4.6★
  4. 4Breaking News - Live Headlines 4.6★
  5. 5Substack 4.8★
  6. 6Google News - Daily Headlines 4.5★
  7. 7SmartNews: Live News & Rewards 4.3★
  8. 8Daily Sun Official 4.6★
  9. 9The South African 4.1★
  10. 10Quora: the knowledge platform 4.4★
Google Play chart, all rows →

How "best" is decided

Downloads decide the first list: Apple's top free chart for South Africa, which ranks by installs over the last days. The second list takes those hundred apps and sorts them by the star rating South Africa users gave them, ignoring apps with fewer than 500 ratings so a handful of five-star reviews cannot win. Paid and grossing come straight from Apple's charts. We add no score of our own and take no placement fees.

Other categories in South Africa

All apps Games Business Education Entertainment Finance Food & Drink Health & Fitness Lifestyle Medical Music Navigation Photo & Video Productivity Reference Shopping Social Networking Sports Travel Utilities Weather Developer Tools Graphics & Design Books Magazines & Newspapers
esc