News & Magazines
BBC: World News & Stories
BBC News articles, live TV and radio, podcasts and documentaries in one app, with some behind a paywall.
Get the app
Opens the official store page
- Developer
- BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.
- Score
- 4.5
- Downloads
- 10K+ ratings
- Age
- Rated 12+
- Version
- 2026.9.1
- Price
- Free
Screenshots
About this app
Everything the BBC publishes for a global audience is gathered here: text stories, video, live coverage and audio, from world and UK news to BBC Verify and BBC In-Depth, plus business, technology, health, culture, travel and science. Breaking news alerts are opt-in. The audio side is unusually full. BBC World Service and Radio 4 stream live, with background playback when you switch apps, and some shows can be caught up on from the schedule page. Podcasts, The Global Story among them, can be followed and downloaded for offline listening. The BBC News channel streams live around the clock, and on-demand documentaries covering history, true crime, natural history and more are available. Articles and audio can be saved for later, shared, read in dark mode, and the player has a sleep timer and live rewind. The live news channel, documentaries and early-access podcast episodes sit behind a monthly or yearly subscription.
BBC: World News & Stories: the full guide
What the app is
Text, video, live television and radio from the BBC's international output are gathered here, published by BBC Studios Distribution for audiences outside the corporation's home service. Articles span world and UK news, BBC Verify fact-checking, In-Depth features and the usual science, health, business, technology, culture and travel desks, with breaking alerts left opt-in.
The audio side is the standout. Radio 4 and the World Service both stream live and keep playing in the background, podcasts such as The Global Story can be downloaded, and the BBC News channel runs around the clock. On-demand documentaries cover history, true crime and natural history. Some of that sits behind a subscription.
How it works day to day
Morning might start with Radio 4 live while making coffee, switching to the app's text front page on the train. Through the day the opt-in alerts stay quiet unless something large happens. In the evening a saved In-Depth piece gets read in dark mode, or a podcast episode downloaded earlier plays on a walk.
Subscribers add the live news channel on the TV-free nights and a documentary at the weekend. The sleep timer and live rewind in the player matter more than they sound, since radio is a big part of how this app gets used.
Why people look for it
Readers abroad who want the BBC's reporting without juggling separate news, sounds and television apps search for this one. Radio 4 and World Service streaming in the same place as the articles is the specific draw. A 4.5 rating across ten thousand reviewers is solid, though the paywall on the live channel will account for some of the shortfall.
Look and feel
The five screenshots likely cover the article front page, a video or live stream, the radio player and the podcast library. BBC design is well established: strong headlines, restrained red accents, clear hierarchy, and a dark mode the listing explicitly mentions. Within News & Magazines it will feel broadcast-led, with video and audio tiles given as much room as text.
