BBC World Service
4.9.5
Zeno News
4.20
19,272 reviews
1,000,000+
Downloads
Downloads
Free
Listen to the latest programmes and news headlines on the official BBC WS app
This app is currently not available on Google Play.
Try these apps instead
BBC World Service, published by Zeno News, delivers the latest BBC World Service headlines and radio programmes in a free listening experience. It offers an audio player for streaming and a telephone dial-up option, plus quick access to top programmes like Global News Podcast, Newshour, HARDtalk, and more. With a solid 4.10 rating from 19,175 reviews and market presence in AU (#63) and CA/PL (#71) within News Magazines, the app has amassed 1,000,000+ total downloads and 9K downloads in the last 30 days.
Pros & Cons
- Free access to BBC World Service content and top programmes
- Multiple listening options (audio player or dial-up)
- Clear headlines and programme updates from BBC World Service
- Widely recognized brand with strong market presence in multiple countries
- Lacks explicit live radio or music-focused content that some competitors emphasize
- No visible podcasts listed in the description, which may limit podcast fans
- Last-30-days downloads reported as 0, suggesting limited recent growth despite high total installs
About BBC World Service
BBC World Service was a news & magazines app developed by Zeno News. It was removed from Google Play Jun 14, 2026 and is no longer available for download.
Download Statistics
BBC World Service had been downloaded 1.8 million times before it became unavailable.
User Ratings
BBC World Service was rated 4.20 out of 5 stars, based on 19 thousand ratings.
App Information
BBC World Service was free to download. The APK download size was 58.02 MB. The last available version was 4.9.5. The last update was on August 24, 2025.
Technical Requirements
BBC World Service required Android 5.0+ or higher. The app had a content rating of Everyone. The app had been available on Google Play February 2019.
Description
More data about BBC World Service
| Price | Free to download |
| Total downloads | 1.8 million |
| Rating | 4.20 based on 19 thousand ratings |
| Version | 4.9.5 |
| APK size | 58.0 MB |
| Number of libraries | 89 |
| Designed for Android | 5.0+ |
| Suitable for | Everyone |
| Ads | Contains ads |
App Performance Report
Get a detailed PDF report for BBC World Service with download trends, rating history, and key performance statistics — useful for competitive research or tracking your own app. Learn more
Get PDF Report — $29Google Play Rating history and histogram
Downloads over time
BBC World Service has been downloaded 1.8 million times.
Changelog of BBC World Service
Developer information for Zeno News
Comments on BBC World Service for Android
★★★★☆
The English Hostel Tirana
· Apr 22, 2026
EDIT: -- Downgraded by one star due to the fact the app keeps freezing. -- Just like the World Service used to be when listening on short wave.
★★★★★
Daniel Hsia
· May 19, 2026
Although I swipe to switch off the app, it remains in the phone's memory and never go away and keep streaming the program without stopping. I need to switch off or restart the phone to make it stop and not occupy the memory.
★★★★★
Tamsir Njie
· Jun 5, 2026
To develop tam sir voluntary training center to help the children's to have skills and better future at home back way is not the answer the question is to action against poverty because corrupt leadership and government will never help the future of tomorrow means our children's meny are deported from Europe and have nothing to do except smoking dob and drugs because the system is corrupt I want to do something can educate the system and know corruption is part of criminality against justice in my
★★★★★
David Crowley
· Jun 13, 2026
Excellent source of news - after decades listening to the BBC World service, I feel I know all the presenters! 🥰
★★★★★
Sami Mukhtar
· May 10, 2026
I find the BBC world and its APP, highly professional, impartial as they could be and extremely informative through the variety of programs the BBC provides either in their live broadcasting or podcasts.
★☆☆☆☆
Donal Moran
· Jun 1, 2026
App stays on after exit. Have to pause to stop it. Is there a solution? Terms and conditions are too long & too complicated. Can't agree. Does anyone read them??still stays on with new Samsung phone.
★☆☆☆☆
* LMcLM *
· Mar 31, 2026
Needs a dark mode. Lacks a search function. World Service programs on the BBC Sounds app aren't available on this World Service app after BBC Sounds became defunct outside the UK after 21 July 2025. Still no night mode.
★★☆☆☆
Philippe LeBel
· May 5, 2026
App stops playing randomly and won't play again afterward even if i shut down the app until I restart my phone. This happened on 3 different phones across 2 brands.
★★☆☆☆
Sandra MacEachen
· May 8, 2026
Podcasts cutout intermittently and randomly over the whole bbc. Website audio service in the Netherlands. Much worse than bbc sounds app did. As a UK expat, I would rather pay the bbc a subscription fee for bbc sounds than tolerate audio adverts in Dutch or French. Please consider subscription service if legally practical such BBC Benelux stile transmission of 🇬🇧 popular drama. BBC First for example.
★☆☆☆☆
Nai Nat
· May 20, 2026
Love the programming, absolutely fed up with the app, when it crashes, frequently, you have to shut it down in the background as well. Will not work if you just tried to relaunch without doing that. Extremely disruptive to the listening experience
Technologies used by BBC World Service
BBC World Service is requesting 19 permissions and is using 89 libraries.Permissions
Ad network libraries
AdMob
Facebook Audience Network
AppsFlyer
Nielsen
Social libraries
Facebook
Development tools
Android Jetpack core
Android Architecture Components
Android Jetpack VersionedParcelable
Android Jetpack Annotations
Android Jetpack Widgets
Firebase
Android Jetpack AppCompat
AndroidX Activity
Android Activity Saved State
AndroidX Loader
Android Jetpack Media
Google Cloud Messaging (GCM)
Android Transition Support Library
Kotlin
Android Support Library collections
Android Support VectorDrawable
AndroidX Legacy: Support Library core utils
AndroidX Cursor Adapter
AndroidX App Startup
AndroidX Local Broadcast Manager
Google gson
Android Support Library Print
Android Support Library Document File
AndroidX Legacy: Support Library core UI
Android WorkManager
AndroidX Widget ViewPager2
Android Support Library Async Layout Inflater
Okio
AndroidX Emoji / Emoji2
AndroidX Concurrent Futures
JetBrains Annotations
IntelliJ IDEA
AndroidX Tracing
Glide
AndroidX SQLite
AndroidX Multi-Dex Library
AndroidX ExifInterface
AndroidX ProfileInstaller
Chromium
AndroidX DynamicAnimation
Google ZXing
Google Guava
AndroidX WebKit
AndroidX Inspection
AndroidX Resource Inspection
Retrofit
Picasso
AndroidX Preference
Google Protocol Buffers
Jetpack DataStore
ReactiveX
Android View Binding
The Checker Framework
BoltsFramework
AndroidX Privacy Sandbox
Google Analytics
Android Data Binding
Volley
FasterXML Jackson
AndroidX Media3 (ExoPlayer)
jsoup: Java HTML Parser
Timber
AndroidX Palette
Joda
AndroidX MediaRouter
AndroidSVG
ReLinker
NineOldAndroids
MaterialProgressBar
YouTube Android Player API
ASM
Realm
AndroidX GridLayout
AndroidX PercentLayout
Android Support Library v13
XML Pull Parsing
Simple XML Serialization
Android YouTube Player
Java-WebSocket
WebRTC
AndroidSlidingUpPanel
Lightweight-Stream-API
prettytime
SwitchButton
Trust & Safety: The app requests multiple permissions related to networking, ads, and device identifiers. EU users may opt for customized ads using Advertising ID. A BBC privacy policy is referenced, and the app provides privacy notices within Settings.
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