Kagi News is my new favorite Google News alternative

One of the easiest ways to get the latest news coverage on Android is to launch the Google News app. However, easy is not necessarily synonymous with best. It’s Google News faced a number of important problemsincluding a tendency to promote inflammatory sources and inadequate tools for proper moderation of user content. Although I found it difficult to distance myself from the ease of use, these issues slowly led me to look for alternatives.

In this quest, I came across some unconventional solutions ranging from transformative Perplexity’s Comet browser Make your RSS app a full-time news tool to reconsider. But whether it’s because of new service friction or old service familiarity, none of these methods have stuck.

Today, I’m highlighting a new competitor from a company that competes with Google in various areas. Kagi is perhaps best known for premium Google Search competitorhowever, the firm offers a number of other programs and services, including a comprehensive news program. And after a few days of using it, I might finally be ready to move Google News from my home screen to the app drawer.

Called approx Kagi Newsthe app shares part of its name and most of its core purpose with its Google rival. It is a news program after all. But the two services couldn’t be more different.

Let’s start with the UI. I don’t think the user interface could be simpler, especially for a news app. This is by no means a slight against Kagi. In fact, the simple design makes it a great app for those looking for an easy-to-navigate, efficient experience. The web experience it’s simpler and a far cry from the cluttered, sometimes overwhelming layout of Google News.

News is divided into specific categories covering topics such as World, Business, Technology and Sports. Tapping the Settings icon, then Categories, allows me to hide, shuffle, or select the content silos I want to display. I’ve added South Africa and Africa, but there’s a really extensive list of alternate options, including hyper-specific nested categories (Canada | Quebec or Ecology | France) and simpler options (Defense or Cycling). These tweaks ensure that I preload the content I want to display, rather than letting Kagi dictate what I see, as Google chooses to do.

There’s even a Today in History category that charts major events and important births and deaths from past years in a neat timeline.

Back to the UI and more specifically the stories themselves. Click on a headline to open a specific story – this is where the gap between Google News and Kagi News starts to widen. The former provides several articles for each topic; however, Kagi uses artificial intelligence to aggregate multiple articles from different sources into one story. Not only does this save me from having to visit multiple sites to get a balanced view of the news beat, it also combats Google News’ tendency to favor more divisive headlines, biases, and tons of articles.

Better yet, each Kagi News story includes several sections that offer greater context, including an outline of all sources used (with references to each and in-text references), highlights to clarify the main points of the story, perspectives from key players, a brilliant historical background section that adds context to long-standing issues, and a timeline of events. This is just a small example. As Kagi calls it, there are many additional “Article Sections” that allow for even more customization.

Considering the use of artificial intelligence, another major difference you’ll probably notice is the headlines Kagi News uses. While Google News uses headlines provided by publications, many of which do not adequately or accurately describe the story, Kagi News generates a completely neutral headline based on the content covered.

Then there are the quirks of the Kagi News experience.

What may appear to be a wildly inaccurate weather indicator next to the Settings icon at the top of the app is actually a “World Voltage” index. The app explains that this indicator gives a value to the global economic and political climate, with 0 indicating complete stability and 100 indicating total collapse.

In the last two days, it has sat comfortably in the 40s, well below recent weeks. With this indicator, Kagi also offers context to the reading. An example from earlier this week:

Today’s volatility is still slightly above the typical baseline, driven by volatile US-Iran/Hormuz dynamics, Ukrainian strikes halting fuel sales in occupied Crimea and China’s new export controls on US defense-related firms, despite a 60-day de-escalation roadmap.

Is this index useful? I’m a bit of a sucker for a chart and it certainly scratches the itch. If you’re not inclined to read every story in the app, this index does a solid job of bringing meaning to an often immeasurable area of ​​everyday life.

Users can also take advantage of several other content customization tools, such as a comprehensive Content Filter section in the Settings menu. Here, I can choose how the app shuffles content I don’t care about, highlight how many stories in each category get the filter treatment, and select specific keywords to suppress.

For example, if I don’t want to hear about the World Cup, I can tell Kagi News to stop covering the tournament here. It also includes several ready-to-use filters.

After familiarizing myself with the aforementioned features, organizing my categories, and selecting my preferred article sections, Kagi News has become a remarkable news delivery app. It took a few minutes to get used to, but after a week I had trouble getting my news anywhere else.

Unlike Google News, it actually filters out content I don’t want to see, and because of the way it handles information from the sources it gets, it doesn’t need to get in the way of website furniture. Every story involving the Tour de France or the Strait of Hormuz looks and behaves in the same predictable way.

Despite my growing appreciation for Kagi News, I cannot ignore its shortcomings, especially given its unique approach to condensing news.

While I appreciate Kagi News’ preferred qualitative over quantitative approach, it imposes an arbitrary 12-story limit on categories, which many categories rarely reach. Africa is quite a large continent; I think there are more than seven actual problems there. It is particularly disappointing that three of them are related to the World Cup.

There are also significantly fewer total content updates per day compared to Google News. This makes it doubtful that Kagi will be a viable option for breaking events or developing quickly. I certainly wouldn’t rely on live blogs to produce stories.

Then there are the sometimes humorous errors that arise from the use of artificial intelligence. I found various naming errors, witnessed awkward phrasing, and thought that some articles were placed in incompatible categories. This isn’t a game-breaking issue by any means, and I certainly prefer these minor bugs to Google News’ broader issues, but these minor bumps can detract from the perceived veracity of the platform.

Again, Kagi News provides in-text references and source links for the content it summarizes. We the users should always double check what the machines say anyway.

Then there are the benefits of Google News that Kagi doesn’t have. Its Newsstand feature allows readers to sample content directly from specific sources, something Kagi doesn’t offer. The ability to search for specific topics and publications is another advantage of the Google service. I barely use any of these features, but that doesn’t mean others won’t miss them.

Finally, there is a huge human problem with Kagi’s approach. For all my concerns about Google News, there’s no doubt that it favors content creators. This may favor certain title and content styles, but those links are still directed to the actual publisher’s website, giving those sites valuable virtual foot traffic.

Kagi’s approach of aggregating all sources into one story stream largely negates the need to visit these individual websites. This leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, given that I work in the industry and know all too well how AI is changing it. However, speaking as a consumer, there is no doubt that Kagi’s presentation of this information is more accessible.

My week with Kagi News has been quite enlightening. Unlike the company’s Search product, Kagi News actually does something completely different from Google. At first, it may seem like nothing more than a Google News clone, but its special focus on distilling stories down to their core topics makes it a much more rewarding experience. I was able to absorb otherwise complex stories within minutes. Kagi News is definitely a better overall news product.

So, I have my doubts. Will Kagi News remain free? How will its use of artificial intelligence bother potential users? Can the company fix minor errors and defects? I’m really interested to see how this platform develops over the coming months and years.

I’ll probably save Google News until then and go back to it every time. But if I need a detailed explanation of current events, a snapshot of the global economic and political climate, or a look back, I’ll tap Kagi News.