Real news from around the world, rewritten for curious kids aged 6–14.
Free for 7 days · then US$4.99 once · no subscription
NewNews Owl is now a real Mac app — and one purchase unlocks iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch.
Screened and rewritten daily from sources like the BBC, The Guardian, NPR, The New York Times, NASA and the Smithsonian — never condescending, always linked to the source.
Nothing violent or frightening gets through. No adverts, no cross-site tracking, no chat, no user content — and a parental gate on every link that leaves the app.
Comprehension quizzes, tricky words explained on a tap and read aloud in a natural voice, plus streaks and badges to keep them coming back.
Every article is written three times over, and your child picks the version that fits — then moves any story up or down as they read. Siblings of different ages can read the same news and talk about it together.
Short sentences and plain words, for the youngest readers just finding their feet.
The everyday level: full stories with more detail and a wider vocabulary.
Closer to the original reporting, for confident readers ready to be stretched.
News Owl began as a way to get one family’s children reading the news. It has turned out to be useful in a few quite different ways.
A current-events lesson ready each morning, no planning required. Three levels mean a six-year-old and a thirteen-year-old read the same story and discuss it together — multi-age teaching without two lesson plans. Quizzes and glossaries included.
Start where your child actually is, not where a year group says they should be, and move up a story at a time. Real news about dinosaurs, space and football beats a reading scheme; streaks and badges bring them back tomorrow.
Some subjects shouldn’t be simplified. Politics is never served at the Simple level, because compressing a court case into eighty words softens what it is actually about. We’d rather not cover it than misrepresent it.
One story, three levels, a quiz on each — enough for form time or guided reading with a mixed-ability group, without printing anything.
The Simple level keeps sentences short and words plain, and any tricky word can be tapped for a child-friendly definition spoken aloud — so new vocabulary is heard as well as read.
No adverts, no autoplay, no infinite feed, no algorithm pulling for attention. The day’s stories end, and then they’re finished.
Most apps for children are a subscription. This one isn’t, and never will be.
Priced in US dollars. The App Store shows the equivalent in your own currency, and takes care of local taxes. Requires iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS 15.6 or watchOS 11.
No. News Owl is free for 7 days, then a single payment of US$4.99 unlocks it permanently. There is no subscription and no advertising. The purchase supports Family Sharing, so one payment covers everyone in your family group, on every device they use — iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch alike.
Roughly ages 6 to 14. Rather than fixing an age, every story is written at three reading levels — Simple, Medium and Harder — and your child picks the one that fits, moving any individual story up or down as they read.
That is one of the things it is best at. Three reading levels mean a child can start at the level they are actually comfortable with rather than the one expected of their year group, and move up a story at a time. Real news about space, animals, football and video games tends to hold attention better than a reading scheme, and reading streaks and badges give a reason to come back the next day.
Yes. Because each story exists at three reading levels, siblings of different ages can read the same news and discuss it together. Each story carries a comprehension quiz and a glossary of tricky words, which makes a ten-minute daily current-events lesson without preparation.
Around 30 established publishers, including the BBC, The Guardian, NPR, The New York Times, NASA, the Smithsonian and Science News Explores. Every story is screened and rewritten before it reaches a young reader, and each one links back to its original source.
There is no chat, no messaging, no user-generated content and no advertising, so children cannot be contacted by strangers. Stories are screened to remove violent, frightening or otherwise unsuitable material, links that leave the app are behind a parental gate, and no personal information is collected from anyone. See our privacy policy.
Yes. News Owl is a real Mac app built for the desktop, not an iPad app stretched to fit, and it needs macOS 15.6 or later. One purchase covers every device you own: unlock it on an iPhone and it is already unlocked on the Mac at no extra cost, and the free week carries across rather than starting again.
Yes. The watch app runs independently, so a child with a Family Setup watch and no iPhone of their own can still read the day’s stories.