Curio App Review: Listen to the Latest News from Top Publications
Staying up to date with the news has never been more important in our fast-moving world, but it‘s also never been more challenging. With the nonstop flow of content vying for our attention, many of us struggle to set aside the time to read through all the articles we want to absorb.
According to the Reuters Institute, 66% of Americans feel worn out by the sheer volume of news these days. And yet 62% still believe that following the news is extremely important1. This leaves many searching for solutions to stay informed without feeling overwhelmed.
One promising option is to have high-quality articles read aloud to you. It‘s a concept that‘s exploded in popularity since 2020 and is now a $4.2 billion market2. Riding this wave is Curio, an app that offers narrated versions of articles from top publications.
As an avid news junkie myself, I was intrigued by Curio‘s unique approach and decided to test it extensively. In this comprehensive review, I‘ll break down everything you need to know to decide if a Curio subscription is worth it for you.
What exactly is Curio and how does it work?
Curio is a service that aims to make it easy and enjoyable to consume fascinating, in-depth articles in audio form. It partners with an impressive roster of over 50 respected publishers including The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, Wired, and many more.
The Curio team hand-selects noteworthy articles from across these publications, which are then narrated by professional voice actors. New stories are added throughout the day for a total of about 12 hours of fresh content daily. The catalog spans topics including:
- News & Politics
- Business & Finance
- Science & Technology
- Arts & Entertainment
- Health & Fitness
- Society & Culture
The result is an expansive library of high-quality audio articles comparable to having dozens of top newspapers and magazines read aloud to you on demand. You can access Curio via their web app on your computer or download the mobile app for iOS or Android.
Key features
Trending stories
One of the first things you see when opening the app is the Trending tab. This feed is continuously updated to showcase the most popular stories among Curio listeners at the moment. It pulls from the full range of publications and categories.
I found the Trending tab to be a great way to quickly get a pulse on the biggest stories of the day without having to hunt for them. You can easily play, bookmark, download, or add to your queue right from this view.
Browsing by publication or category
If you want to dive deeper into specific outlets or topics, Curio makes it simple. The Publications tab shows the full list of partner publishers which you can browse individually. So if you‘re a fan of The Economist or The Atlantic, you can go straight to their latest articles.
Similarly, the Categories tab enables you to explore by interest area. So if you want to focus on Technology or Health stories for example, you have that flexibility. I appreciated how this helped me avoid the noise and zone in on the subjects that matter most to me.
Playlists
Beyond individual articles, Curio also offers a variety of playlists curated by their editorial team. These are collections of 6-10 stories centered around a particular theme, such as:
- Crypto & Blockchain Essentials
- The Russia-Ukraine War
- Ethical Dilemmas
- Untold Black History
- The Future of Work
I found these to be an engaging way to dig into important topics via a multi-faceted lens. While you can‘t yet create your own playlists, Curio says this feature is in the works for a future update.
Playback controls & speed
Once you start playing a story, you‘ll see the standard audio controls to play/pause, skip forward/backward 15 seconds, and adjust the speed. As an avid podcast listener, I‘m used to consuming audio at 2x and I had no trouble doing so with Curio. The narrators‘ voices still came through clearly even at accelerated speeds.
You can also slow playback down to 0.75x if you prefer a more leisurely pace. This flexibility to tailor the experience stood out as a major advantage compared to traditional radio.
Downloads & offline access
For times when you won‘t have an internet connection, Curio enables saving stories for offline listening. Just tap the download icon and the audio will be stored locally on your device. You can access all your downloads from a dedicated tab.
I found this incredibly handy for my subway commutes when I regularly lose cell service. With a bit of planning, I was able to queue up plenty of content to stay engaged the whole trip. Just keep in mind the audio files can eat up storage if you go overboard with downloads.
Pricing & value
Of course, all these features don‘t come free. Curio operates on a subscription model that costs $12.99 per month or $69.99 per year (which comes out to $5.83 per month). There‘s also a 7-day free trial available if you want to test it out before committing.
When evaluating the cost, it‘s important to consider the value Curio provides. According to Statista, the average American spends 64 minutes per day reading news3. If Curio can help you fit that information into your life in a more convenient way, it could be well worth the price.
Here‘s how the costs and features compare to some popular alternatives:
| Service | Price | Key Features |
|---|---|---|
| Curio | $12.99/mo or $69.99/yr |
|
| Audible | $14.95/mo |
|
| Apple News+ | $9.99/mo |
|
As you can see, Curio is priced competitively with other news and audio subscription services. Of course, the true value will depend on your consumption habits and preferences.
If you typically only have time to read one or two long articles per week, the cost may be harder to justify. But if you find yourself constantly wishing you could get through more of the content you save, Curio could be a game changer.
Let‘s say you use it to listen to a 15-minute story every weekday on your commute or during chores. At the annual price, that comes out to about $0.39 per day, which is a pretty great deal for convenient access to top-tier journalism.
User experience & support
Beyond just the features, a major factor in any app‘s value is how easy and enjoyable it is to use. In my tests of Curio across the web, iOS and Android apps, I was consistently impressed.
The design is clean and intuitive, with all the main features accessible within a couple taps. Browsing through publications and categories to find interesting stories is a breeze. The audio always loaded quickly and played without interruption.
I handed my phone to a couple family members who were decidedly not tech savvy and they had no trouble figuring out how to navigate the app and play stories. That‘s a testament to the user-centric design.
In the rare event you do get stuck, Curio offers multiple support channels. There‘s an extensive knowledge base with guides covering all the key features and troubleshooting steps. For more complex issues, you can reach out to the support team via email or live chat right from the app.
When I tested the live chat with a question about canceling my subscription, I was connected with a friendly agent within 30 seconds who guided me through the process. No hoops to jump through or pressure to stay subscribed.
How Curio stacks up
Curio isn‘t the only player in the digital news space, but it does occupy a unique niche with its focus on audio. Here‘s how it compares to a few other popular options:
Curio vs podcasts
Podcasts have exploded in popularity recently as a way to absorb info and stories on the go. However, they are almost always in a talk show format rather than narrated articles. You also won‘t find as much content from major news outlets.
Curio has the advantage of offering more of a reading experience for those who want to go deep on a topic. Of course, there are some great podcast series that do narrative storytelling too. But on a per-show level, you‘ll typically get more substantive and focused content in a Curio story compared to an interview or chat format podcast.
Curio vs Audible
Audible has long been the leader in audiobooks and recently expanded into podcasts as well. But their catalog is still primarily focused on books across all genres rather than journalism.
Audible operates on a credit system where one credit equates to one book. Most subscriptions only come with one credit per month. So while you can find some great non-fiction titles in their massive library, Audible is not built for keeping up with the news.
Curio is expressly designed for that purpose and their all-you-can-listen model reflects it. So it really comes down to whether you want a steady diet of timely articles vs. diving deep into a specific book.
Curio vs Apple News+
Apple News+ is probably the closest direct competitor to Curio. It offers unlimited access to articles from hundreds of top magazines and newspapers. However, the experience is entirely text-based. There are no audio versions of the stories.
Some may prefer reading to listening, in which case Apple News+ could suffice. The pricing is a bit cheaper at $9.99/month and they also include digital versions of the full magazines, not just individual articles.
But for those who want to conveniently listen to the news while multitasking, Curio still has the edge. The two could even work well in tandem, with Apple News+ for reading and Curio for listening.
Final verdict
After extensive use of Curio myself and evaluating it from all angles, I can confidently say it provides an excellent solution for busy news junkies. If you want to stay well-informed on a range of topics but struggle to find time to read, the simplicity of turning articles into audio that you can listen to anywhere is a revelation.
The app is thoughtfully designed, with an intuitive interface and useful features like offline downloads and adjustable playback speed. I loved how quick and easy it was to discover fascinating stories from top outlets and queue them up for my commute or walks.
The main drawback is the subscription cost, which is definitely an investment. If you know you‘ll use it regularly it‘s easy to justify, but more casual listeners may have a harder time stomaching the price. I recommend taking advantage of the free trial to see how much you actually end up using it before subscribing.
It‘s also important to have the right expectations. Curio isn‘t designed to replace other forms of news consumption entirely. With its focus on timeless long-form journalism, you won‘t find much breaking news coverage. The user-created playlists would also be a welcome addition to enhance curation.
But all in all, Curio achieves its goal of empowering users to absorb high-quality journalism in a convenient audio format. Compared to text-based solutions like Apple News+ and RSS readers, it thrives in helping you learn during all those little moments of downtime throughout the day. And unlike podcasts and live radio, you have much more control over exactly what stories you consume.
So if you love learning new things and being exposed to fresh perspectives but can never seem to make time for reading, Curio is absolutely worth trying out. It may just be the perfect companion for your next commute, chore session, or stroll around the neighborhood.
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