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Flipboard vs Google News: Which Is a Better News App
The daily news volume can overwhelm you. Even if you open news sites in separate tabs, you will still miss the ones that interest you. Therefore, news aggregating apps aim to deal with information overload. So, which one do you prefer?
Google News and Flipboard are two strong contenders among several apps available. Google News, owned by Google, scans over 50,000 sources to collate news stories. Since many of us already use Google to search for information, Google News is an obvious choice. Flipboard aims to personalize your user experience by curating news stories that interest you. Its beautiful and functional interface allows you to curate news based on your preferences or follow others.
1. Creating Account
If you have a Google account, there’s no need to create a new one for Google News. Simply visit the Google News homepage while signed in to your account. For smartphone users, download the free Android or iOS app. Android phone owners can use their Google ID, but iOS users without a Google account must create one.
Flipboard is available on Android, iOS, and the web. In the app, start by choosing relevant topics, with a minimum of 3 hashtags. You can select more later.
Flipboard offers broad categories like politics and technology, as well as several niche topics such as workout and Crossfit. Once you select your topics, Flipboard populates your homepage accordingly. The app doesn’t require you to create an account, but I recommend doing so to sync your preferences and continue curating and sharing news stories.
Google News has a minimalist design consistent with other Google products and apps.
In my opinion, Flipboard has a more beautiful and flowing user interface. Instead of scrolling, you flip pages on your screen, just like in a physical magazine, to browse news stories. That’s why it’s called Flipboard.
2. Browsing News Stories
Some news stories in Google News’ For You tab are influenced by your regular searches in other Google apps. The algorithm is unknown, but your recent searches do impact the results. Google also curates important and useful stories. The non-intrusive weather symbol displays today’s forecast from Weather.com when tapped. Flipboard also has a For You tab, where you can find news based on categories you select. The 10 for Today tab shows the top ten news stories of the day. In the What’s Your Passion tab, you can select additional topics to follow, with the number of followers displayed for each topic.
Google News has a headlines tab that is divided into sections such as Latest for recent news stories and a location section for specific countries. There are also broad categories like Business, Technology, Finance, and World.
A colorful square icon signifies the Full Coverage option displayed alongside certain news articles. Tapping on it reveals news from multiple publishers about the same subject, event, or incident.
The Timeline feature provides an overview of a story, including dates and source links, making it useful for researching specific topics. Google News also includes relevant videos and tweets from Twitter.
3. Customize Your Experience
Don’t like what you see in the Google News app? Tap the Favorites tab and choose the topics you want to read. You can select sources like NY Times or topics like photography.
You can also add stories based on location. If you live in New York, search for your city’s name and Google will show you stories from that city. To bookmark it, tap the star icon.
Apart from What’s Your Passion, Flipboard offers a search tab with categories and regions to filter content. You can also find automatic suggestions for the most popular sources and topics, saving you time.
When selecting a topic on Flipboard, the app will show related stories and sub-topics to follow. This is a feature I appreciate. On Google News, selecting sub-topics results in more stories, but you can easily search and subscribe to topics. However, Flipboard does a better job suggesting sub-topics. Google’s Newsstand tab suggests sources based on categories and interests, similar to a newspaper. You can also subscribe to specific interests, such as horoscope updates from different sites. There is some overlap between the tabs in Google News and Flipboard.
If you enjoy reading magazines, you can subscribe to them using your Play Store account. However, most subscriptions require payment. The Popular tab displays news that many users have subscribed to, read, and are following.
4. Sharing and Curating
We share and save stories in Google News. To save a story, tap the menu icon and choose “Save to Favorites.” You can access saved stories later or share them using the default Android share options. You can also read the entire article directly in Google News, eliminating the need to visit the original web page.
In Flipboard, the Notifications tab displays the activities of your social media friends from Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus. This tab provides notifications about their reading, commenting, liking, and saving. You can also follow popular curators on the platform who create their own ‘magazine’.
Flipboard allows you to save and curate stories in different categories for others to follow. This feature makes Flipboard an exciting place for curators of niche subjects and their interested readers who prefer well-curated news pieces.
Curating stories is easy with Flipboard. After reading an article, tap the ‘+’ icon to save it to a new magazine. You can choose to keep the magazine private or make it public for others to see and follow.
That’s why bloggers, writers, and thinkers love Flipboard. Unfortunately, I haven’t used it regularly.
Google curates news through Google News. You can download all the news stories of a particular topic by opening the topic, tapping the three-dot icon, and selecting the Download checkbox. This allows you to read the news later offline.
Stay Updated
Both Google News and Flipboard excel at aggregating news from multiple sources. They allow you to navigate from broad categories to niche topics. As a result, it’s a close call between the two.
If you’re a curator or enjoy following others with a visually appealing interface, Flipboard is the best choice. On the other hand, if you require comprehensive research capabilities, magazine subscriptions, or the ability to download all articles on a specific topic, Google News is the superior option.
Next, check out the top 5 RSS readers in the Windows 10 Store if you’re interested in reading news on your Windows 10 laptop.
As Fred Humiston, the author behind Twothirds.us, I focus on providing practical and easy-to-follow guides and solutions for a variety of technical issues that people commonly face.
My articles cover a wide range of topics, from troubleshooting out-of-sync audio on TikTok and managing Firestick devices, to understanding the impact of Capcut on video quality and resolving sound issues on Hisense Roku TVs.
I also delve into more general tech tips, like how to block numbers on landlines or use VPNs without Wi-Fi. My goal is to make technology more accessible and less intimidating for everyone, whether you’re a tech novice or a seasoned user. I strive to offer clear, concise, and helpful advice to make your digital experience smoother and more enjoyable.