BBC World Service

4.9.5

Zeno News

4.20

19,272 reviews

1,000,000+
Downloads

Free

Listen to the latest programmes and news headlines on the official BBC WS app

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 is a news & magazines app developed by Zeno News.

Download Statistics

BBC World Service has been downloaded 1.8 million times. In the last 30 days, the app was downloaded 9 thousand times.

User Ratings

BBC World Service is rated 4.20 out of 5 stars. The rating is based on 19 thousand ratings.

App Information

BBC World Service is FREE to download. The APK download size is 58.02 MB. The latest version available is 4.9.5. The last update was on August 24, 2025.

Technical Requirements

BBC World Service requires Android 5.0+ or higher. The app has a content rating of Everyone. The app has been available on Google Play February 2019.

Description

The official BBC World Service news app by Zeno Media LLC offers the latest programmes and news headlines from the BBC World Service.

More data about BBC World Service

Price	Free to download
Total downloads	1.8 million
Recent downloads	9 thousand
Rating	4.20 based on 19 thousand ratings
Ranking	Not ranked
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

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Alternative downloads for the BBC World Service app

BBC World Service compared with similar apps

Common keywords of similar apps

Programmes Zeno Headlines Advertising Relating Official Audio Player Telephone Dial Standard Customized Unique Identifier Id Device Processed Policy Notifications Settings Service Bbc News World Listen Latest App Privacy Data Media Radio Free

Keywords missing from this app

Live Fm Stations Uk Music Podcasts Charity Sports Favorite Breaking Rock Country Tv Stories Online Stay Global Radios Hits Talk Lbc Top London Absolute Https Rthk Features Follow Local South Voice Application Listening Information Content Time Http National

Google Play Rating history and histogram

13K

2.6K

850

2.1K

Downloads over time

BBC World Service has been downloaded 1.8 million times. Over the past 30 days, it averaged 300 downloads per day.

Changelog of BBC World Service

Show changelog

Developer information for Zeno News

Zeno News

support@bbcsomalia.live

Website

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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

Google Play Rankings for BBC World Service

This app is not ranked

Technologies used by BBC World Service

BBC World Service is requesting 19 permissions and is using 89 libraries.

Permissions

Network communication

view network connections, view Wi-Fi connections, pair with Bluetooth devices, full network access, receive data from Internet

Hardware controls

change your audio settings, record audio

System tools

prevent phone from sleeping

Extra

android.permission.ACCESS_ADSERVICES_AD_ID, android.permission.ACCESS_ADSERVICES_ATTRIBUTION, android.permission.ACCESS_ADSERVICES_TOPICS, android.permission.AD_SERVICES_CONFIG, android.permission.FOREGROUND_SERVICE, android.permission.FOREGROUND_SERVICE_MEDIA_PLAYBACK, android.permission.POST_NOTIFICATIONS, com.audionowdigital.player.bbcworld.DYNAMIC_RECEIVER_NOT_EXPORTED_PERMISSION, com.google.android.finsky.permission.BIND_GET_INSTALL_REFERRER_SERVICE, com.google.android.gms.permission.ACTIVITY_RECOGNITION, com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID

Ad network libraries

AdMob

Facebook Audience Network AppsFlyer Android Library Icon

AppsFlyer

Nielsen

Social libraries

Facebook

Development tools

Android Jetpack core

Android Architecture Components

Android Jetpack VersionedParcelable Android Jetpack Annotations Android Library Icon

Android Jetpack Annotations Firebase Android Library Icon

Firebase

Android Jetpack Widgets Android Jetpack AppCompat Android Library Icon

Android Jetpack AppCompat AndroidX Activity Android Library Icon

AndroidX Activity Android Activity Saved State Android Library Icon

Android Activity Saved State AndroidX Loader Android Library Icon

AndroidX Loader Android Jetpack Media Android Library Icon

Android Jetpack Media Google Cloud Messaging (GCM) Android Library Icon

Google Cloud Messaging (GCM)

Android Transition Support Library

Android Support Library collections Kotlin Android Library Icon

Kotlin

Android Support VectorDrawable

AndroidX Legacy: Support Library core utils AndroidX Cursor Adapter Android Library Icon

AndroidX Cursor Adapter

AndroidX Local Broadcast Manager

Android Support Library Print AndroidX App Startup Android Library Icon

AndroidX App Startup Google gson Android Library Icon

Google gson

Android Support Library Document File

AndroidX Legacy: Support Library core UI Android WorkManager Android Library Icon

Android WorkManager AndroidX Widget ViewPager2 Android Library Icon

AndroidX Widget ViewPager2

Android Support Library Async Layout Inflater Okio Android Library Icon

Okio

AndroidX Concurrent Futures JetBrains Annotations Android Library Icon

JetBrains Annotations AndroidX Emoji / Emoji2 Android Library Icon

AndroidX Emoji / Emoji2 IntelliJ IDEA Android Library Icon

IntelliJ IDEA AndroidX Tracing Android Library Icon

AndroidX Tracing Glide Android Library Icon

Glide

AndroidX SQLite AndroidX Multi-Dex Library Android Library Icon

AndroidX Multi-Dex Library AndroidX ExifInterface Android Library Icon

AndroidX ExifInterface AndroidX ProfileInstaller Android Library Icon

AndroidX ProfileInstaller AndroidX DynamicAnimation Android Library Icon

AndroidX DynamicAnimation Chromium Android Library Icon

Chromium

Google ZXing Google Guava Android Library Icon

Google Guava AndroidX Inspection Android Library Icon

AndroidX Inspection Retrofit Android Library Icon

Retrofit

Picasso

AndroidX Resource Inspection AndroidX WebKit Android Library Icon

AndroidX WebKit ReactiveX Android Library Icon

ReactiveX

AndroidX Preference Google Protocol Buffers Android Library Icon

Google Protocol Buffers BoltsFramework Android Library Icon

BoltsFramework Jetpack DataStore Android Library Icon

Jetpack DataStore Android View Binding Android Library Icon

Android View Binding The Checker Framework Android Library Icon

The Checker Framework Google Analytics Android Library Icon

Google Analytics Android Data Binding Android Library Icon

Android Data Binding Volley Android Library Icon

Volley

AndroidX Privacy Sandbox FasterXML Jackson Android Library Icon

FasterXML Jackson jsoup: Java HTML Parser Android Library Icon

jsoup: Java HTML Parser Timber Android Library Icon

Timber

AndroidX Palette Joda Android Library Icon

Joda

AndroidX Media3 (ExoPlayer) AndroidX MediaRouter Android Library Icon

AndroidX MediaRouter NineOldAndroids Android Library Icon

NineOldAndroids ReLinker Android Library Icon

ReLinker

AndroidSVG MaterialProgressBar Android Library Icon

MaterialProgressBar YouTube Android Player API Android Library Icon

YouTube Android Player API Realm Android Library Icon

Realm

ASM

AndroidX GridLayout AndroidX PercentLayout Android Library Icon

AndroidX PercentLayout Android Support Library v13 Android Library Icon

Android Support Library v13 XML Pull Parsing Android Library Icon

XML Pull Parsing Simple XML Serialization Android Library Icon

Simple XML Serialization Android YouTube Player Android Library Icon

Android YouTube Player Java-WebSocket Android Library Icon

Java-WebSocket WebRTC Android Library Icon

WebRTC

AndroidSlidingUpPanel Lightweight-Stream-API Android Library Icon

Lightweight-Stream-API prettytime Android Library Icon

prettytime SwitchButton Android Library Icon

SwitchButton

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