- Starting price
- Free with ads and in-app purchases
- Free tier
- Yes
- Platforms
- Web · iOS · iPadOS · Apple TV · Android · Email · Print/digital magazine
- Developer
- Charisma Media / Plus Communications, Inc.
- Launched
- 1975
- Updated
- Aug 9, 2026
The verdict
Charisma News is an important primary source for understanding how the Spirit-filled movement reports its churches, leaders, revival claims, prophecy, healing, Israel, culture, and politics. The current CHARISMA app broadens that feed into articles, video, podcasts, devotionals, magazine access, and paid media. Read it for its distinctive beat, not as a sole source. Claims about miracles, predictions, health, elections, or breaking events should be corroborated. The company also needs to replace a 2009 privacy policy that does not adequately describe a 2026 ad-supported, account-based, cross-platform media service.
Try Charisma News ↗Opens mycharisma.com
Charisma began in 1975 when 24-year-old newspaper reporter Stephen Strang persuaded a Florida church to launch a magazine about what the Holy Spirit was doing around the world. The publication became independent within six years and grew into Charisma Media, a company spanning the magazine, Charisma News, Charisma House books, the Charisma Podcast Network, Spanish publishing, video, events, and digital products. More than fifty years later, the defining editorial decision remains clear: report Christian life from inside the Pentecostal and charismatic world rather than treating that world as an occasional subject.
That perspective shapes story selection and vocabulary. Readers find church and ministry news alongside reports about revival, healing, deliverance, prophecy, spiritual warfare, Israel, public policy, entertainment, books, and cultural conflict. Charisma News describes itself as 24/7 news with Spirit-filled insight. Its value is strongest when it covers people, institutions, debates, and experiences that broad Christian or secular outlets overlook. It is also a primary source for researchers who need to understand how this movement describes itself.
The faith.tools listing called “Charisma Magazine News” links to Apple app ID 1533218143. That is not a separate Charisma News product requiring another review URL; the current store title is simply CHARISMA, and it belongs to the same Charisma Media ecosystem reviewed here. The newer app launched in November 2020 and provides articles, videos, news, podcasts, devotionals, magazine material, and on-demand media. It is distinct from the legacy “Charisma News Mobile” iOS listing, last updated in 2018 and still showing a 2.9 rating from 65 reviews. Users should choose the current CHARISMA app, not infer current quality from the abandoned legacy listing.
Current store evidence is mixed. Google Play shows more than 5,000 installs, a 4.3 rating from 75 reviews, ads, in-app purchases, and an update dated March 23, 2026. Apple says the overall rating was recently reset, so the current U.S. listing has no meaningful aggregate rating; version 26.2 was released in March 2025, supports iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and 34 listed languages, and requires iOS 16. Android’s developer disclosure says device identifiers may be collected, data is not encrypted, and deletion is unavailable, while Apple says identifiers may track users across companies’ apps and sites. Those declarations deserve clarification from Charisma.
This is a researched review of the current website, company pages, app-store records, pricing signals, policies, and public content structure. We did not subscribe, verify private account features, or independently investigate every published news claim. Because news quality changes story by story, our rating reflects the whole product: distinctive coverage and institutional continuity, balanced against sourcing, advertising, app assurance, editorial transparency, and privacy.
✓ The good
- Owns a distinctive beat - few outlets cover Pentecostal and charismatic institutions, revival, healing, prophecy, and global ministry this consistently
- More than fifty years of continuity - the magazine and archive provide historical context that a new newsletter cannot reproduce
- Multi-format access - articles, videos, podcasts, devotionals, magazine pages, books, and on-demand media serve different reading habits
- Current Android maintenance - the app received a March 2026 update and supports both mobile ecosystems plus Apple TV
- Free core reporting - readers can access a large daily news and commentary feed without purchasing a subscription
- Useful primary source - journalists, scholars, pastors, and readers can see how the movement frames its own people and controversies
- Global and spiritual-interest coverage - stories that receive little attention elsewhere can be central rather than peripheral
- Clear point of view - the publication does not pretend to be a neutral wire service or hide its Spirit-filled editorial identity
✗ Watch out
- Verification varies - testimony, prophecy, health, and viral spiritual stories do not always show the corroboration expected from a hard-news desk
- Political framing is pronounced - selection and commentary often align with the American religious right
- Opinion and reporting can blur - headlines, analysis, promoted personalities, and news need more visible labeling
- Obsolete privacy policy - the main notice dates to 2009 and discusses long-retired site features rather than current apps and processors
- Troubling Android disclosures - Google Play says collected data is not encrypted and cannot be deleted, without enough context to assess the scope
- Advertising and commerce are pervasive - ads, in-app purchases, subscriptions, books, events, and affiliate relationships can compete with reading
- App history is confusing - a poor legacy app remains listed beside the newer CHARISMA platform
- Accessibility evidence is absent - Apple reports no declared accessibility features for the current app
Best for
- Readers seeking news and commentary from a Pentecostal or charismatic perspective
- Researchers who need a primary source on Spirit-filled media, leaders, institutions, and debates
- People who want Charisma articles, video, podcasts, devotionals, and magazine access in one app
- Readers willing to corroborate consequential claims through independent sources
- Longtime Charisma subscribers who value the company archive and cross-format ecosystem
Avoid if
- You want a politically neutral wire service or one publication to be your complete news diet
- You require rigorous independent verification before a supernatural or prophetic claim is published
- Your privacy policy forbids cross-app identifiers, ad tracking, or unclear deletion and encryption practices
- You need documented app accessibility support, offline downloads, or a modern privacy portal
- You prefer a concise low-volume digest rather than a continuous mixture of news, commentary, video, devotionals, and offers
What Charisma News is
Charisma News is the daily reporting and commentary arm of a broader Christian media company. The website publishes breaking items, original reporting, interviews, opinion, video excerpts, republished or summarized developments, and promotion for related books and programs. Charisma magazine supplies longer features and issue-based reading, while the apps aggregate multiple media formats under the CHARISMA name.
It is neither a denomination’s official newsroom nor a general secular news service. Its editorial constituency is the Spirit-filled Christian audience. That makes the publication unusually informed about certain ministries and ideas, but it also means language and assumptions familiar to its core readers may appear as conclusions rather than questions. The most useful reading posture combines openness to its access with ordinary source criticism.
Why readers use Charisma: coverage written from inside the movement
A general religion reporter may explain prophecy, healing ministry, revival language, or spiritual gifts to an outside audience. Charisma begins within that vocabulary and asks what happened, who is involved, and why its audience should care. It gives sustained space to international ministry reports, charismatic churches, independent networks, worship, Israel, prayer, and spiritual testimony that otherwise surface only when scandal or politics attracts mainstream attention.
Insider coverage creates access and blind spots. Sources may trust a reporter who understands their world, and readers receive detail that outside outlets miss. The same proximity can make scrutiny harder when a featured leader is also an author, advertiser, conference speaker, podcast guest, or longstanding relationship. Charisma should disclose these connections at the article level and apply the same evidence standard to allied and critical subjects.
News and commentary: a valuable beat that needs stronger evidence labels
The daily feed ranges from institutional developments and public affairs to personality-driven commentary, prophetic interpretation, testimony, interviews, and culture. This volume makes Charisma useful for monitoring a movement. Search, related stories, newsletters, and social distribution help a reader follow recurring people and themes rather than waiting for a monthly issue.
Every story type should be labeled visibly: original report, analysis, opinion, testimony, press release, sponsored item, excerpt, aggregation, prediction, or correction. A healing account should identify what was medically documented and what remains personal testimony. A prophecy article should preserve the exact dated claim and later outcome. Political claims should link primary records. Better labels would protect the distinctive editorial lane rather than flatten it.
The current CHARISMA app: broad media access with weak privacy assurance
Apple app ID 1533218143 and Android package `com.streann.charisma_plus` represent the current platform. Store descriptions promise articles, news, video, podcasts, devotionals, and Spirit-led on-demand content. Apple supports iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and Apple-silicon Macs through compatibility, while Android lists ads, in-app purchases, and more than 5,000 installs. The Android app was recently maintained; the iOS version history is older but extensive.
Store disclosures should be reconciled publicly. Apple says identifiers may be used to track users and that device/user IDs and diagnostics may be collected without identity linkage. Google says device identifiers may be collected, data is not encrypted, and data cannot be deleted. A modern app policy should explain transport versus storage encryption, accounts, advertising SDKs, viewing history, purchases, precise retention, deletion, consent, children, and whether store statements remain accurate.
Magazine, video, podcasts, and commerce: rich context with crowded incentives
Charisma magazine gives the ecosystem a slower format for profiles, columns, teaching, interviews, and issue themes. Podcast Network programs, videos, books from Charisma House, events, and individual in-app media purchases expand the catalog. A reader invested in this tradition can move from headline to interview to long-form feature without leaving one publisher.
The business relationships need strong separation. A subject may also sell books through the publisher, advertise, speak at an event, host a network show, or appear in premium video. That does not invalidate coverage, but it should be disclosed beside the article. Editorial review, corrections, sponsorship labels, affiliate notices, and an accessible ownership map help readers distinguish journalism from ministry partnership and commerce.
Pricing
Charisma News website
Free
Most daily articles, commentary, video embeds, and newsletters are available without a paid subscription. The website is advertising- and promotion-supported, and registration prompts may collect email and profile information.
CHARISMA apps
Free download
The current iOS and Android apps are free to install and include ads or in-app purchases. Apple lists individual media rentals and purchases at varying prices; store inventory can change, so inspect each item before confirming payment.
Magazine and full access
Current offer varies
Registration pages reserve flipbook issues for paid subscribers. Recent magazine issues printed a $19.99 offer for 24 digital issues, but the live checkout is authoritative because bundles, print delivery, gifts, geography, and promotions change.
The daily website is largely free and supported by advertising, email acquisition, commerce, and the wider media business. A reader can follow the central news feed without a subscription, though registration and paywall prompts appear around magazine flipbooks and premium material.
The current apps are free downloads. Google Play marks the Android version as containing ads and in-app purchases. Apple lists individual documentaries, films, and rentals with prices such as $4.99 to $17.99 at the time of review. These are examples, not a complete fixed plan; confirm whether an item is rental, purchase, subscription, or one-time access.
Recent printed issues advertised 24 digital magazine issues for $19.99. Older pages and offers show other amounts and bundles, while registration now directs paid subscribers to full flipbooks. Use the live checkout, record renewal terms, and confirm whether access covers web, app, archive, print, and geographic delivery before purchasing.
Newsletter signup is financially free but exchanges contact information and attention. Registration copy says users may also receive periodic updates, special offers, and Charisma communications. Use a dedicated email or preference controls if promotional volume matters, and verify that unsubscribing from one list affects the lists you intend.
The hidden cost of any news source is concentration. Charisma is strongest on its home beat but should be paired with an outlet using different theology, politics, sources, and newsroom practices. The incremental cost of a library card, free wire coverage, or another newsletter can materially improve information quality.
Where Charisma News falls behind
Replace the 2009 privacy policy. It references chat rooms and legacy practices while failing to identify the current apps, advertising and analytics SDKs, video vendors, payment systems, account data, viewing history, mobile identifiers, retention, deletion, and international transfers.
Resolve app-store safety discrepancies. Explain Google’s “not encrypted” and “cannot be deleted” declarations, Apple cross-app tracking identifiers, data at rest and in transit, account deletion, SDK inventory, and the relationship between Plus Communications and Charisma Media.
Publish editorial standards. Define sourcing, anonymous sources, testimony verification, prophecy coverage, medical and health claims, corrections, conflicts, AI use, sponsored content, opinion labels, political endorsements, and when a story receives independent review.
Create a prophecy and prediction record. Preserve exact dated statements, distinguish reporting from endorsement, revisit them after the stated horizon, invite fair responses, and correct headlines that overstate fulfillment.
Disclose commercial relationships per article. Identify when subjects are authors, advertisers, event partners, podcast hosts, donors, investors, or sellers inside the Charisma ecosystem and explain the firewall around coverage.
Improve accessibility. Declare and test screen-reader labels, Dynamic Type, text zoom, captions, transcripts, contrast, keyboard and remote navigation, reduced motion, orientation, offline alternatives, and a route for reporting access barriers.
Retire or clearly redirect legacy apps. The old Charisma News Mobile listing still carries a poor rating and 2018 release history; readers should not need detective work to identify the supported product.
Charisma News vs. Christianity Today vs. CBN News
Charisma is the most specialized of the three around Pentecostal and charismatic people, language, prophecy, healing, revival, Israel, and Spirit-filled ministry. Christianity Today serves a broader evangelical readership with more institutional reporting, global features, essays, reviews, and a mature subscription journalism model. Charisma is often the better primary source for its movement; Christianity Today is generally stronger for edited long-form context and reporting across evangelical institutions.
CBN News combines Christian-oriented breaking news, politics, Israel, international bureaus, broadcast segments, live video, and a major television infrastructure. It is better for continuous broadcast and general current affairs. Charisma goes deeper into charismatic personalities, ministries, prophecies, and magazine-style spiritual content. Both have a conservative political center and should be balanced with independent reporting.
The Pour Over is intentionally concise. It summarizes major general-news stories and adds brief Christian reflections while avoiding an endless breaking-news stream. It is better for readers managing anxiety or time. Charisma is better for tracking a particular movement, but its volume and interpretive content require more active source evaluation.
Religion News Service approaches religion as a professional news beat serving a wide public. Its reporting is more institutionally and religiously diverse and generally separates news from devotional claims. RNS will not reproduce Charisma’s insider spiritual vocabulary, which is precisely why reading both can reveal what each frame notices and misses.
The bottom line
Charisma News has earned a place in the Christian media landscape because it covers a large and globally important movement in its own voice. Fifty years of publishing, an active newsroom, a current Android release, the CHARISMA multimedia app, magazine issues, podcasts, video, books, and newsletters create depth that a small topical site cannot match. We recommend it as a specialist source and primary document, particularly for readers following Pentecostal and charismatic churches, leaders, testimony, revival, prophecy, healing, Israel, and related public debates. We do not recommend it as a sole source for consequential factual claims. Corroborate medical stories, miracle reports, electoral assertions, allegations, and predictions; distinguish testimony from independently verified evidence; and notice when opinion, commerce, and reporting share a page. The most urgent product problem is privacy. A 2009 website policy cannot responsibly describe a 2026 service whose store disclosures mention cross-app tracking identifiers, unencrypted Android data, unavailable deletion, accounts, ads, and in-app purchases. Charisma should publish a current processor-level policy and editorial standards with the same confidence it brings to its mission. Until then, read on the web with privacy controls where possible, use the supported app rather than the legacy listing, and diversify the news sources that shape your view of events.
Alternatives to Charisma News
Christianity TodayBroader evangelical reporting, analysis, essays, reviews, and global features with a more developed subscription-journalism model.
CBN NewsChristian-oriented breaking news, politics, Israel, international bureaus, broadcast video, and live programming at greater general-news scale.
The Christian PostA high-volume evangelical news site covering churches, politics, culture, persecution, entertainment, and opinion across a wider constituency.
The Pour OverA concise major-news email with short Christian reflections for readers who want lower volume and less continuous commentary.
Religion News ServiceProfessional, religiously diverse reporting that supplies valuable outside verification and institutional context for faith stories.Frequently asked questions
Is Charisma Magazine News the same as Charisma News?
Yes. The faith.tools listing points to the current CHARISMA app from Charisma Media, part of the same website, magazine, news, podcast, video, and publishing ecosystem. It does not need a competing separate review page.
Which Charisma app should I install?
Use the current app named CHARISMA: Apple ID 1533218143 or Android package com.streann.charisma_plus. The older “Charisma News Mobile” Apple listing was last updated in 2018 and should not be confused with the supported platform.
Is Charisma News free?
Most website news and commentary is free, and the current apps are free to download. The apps contain ads or in-app purchases, while magazine flipbooks and premium media can require payment. Recent issues advertised 24 digital issues for $19.99, but confirm live checkout terms.
What is Charisma News’s perspective?
It reports from a Pentecostal and charismatic, Spirit-filled Christian perspective and often emphasizes revival, healing, prophecy, Israel, ministry, culture, and conservative U.S. politics. Its point of view is explicit rather than wire-service neutral.
How reliable is Charisma News?
Reliability varies by story type. Its access and movement-specific knowledge are valuable, but testimony, prophetic interpretation, health claims, viral stories, and political commentary require independent corroboration. Look for named sources, documents, direct quotations, corrections, and reporting/opinion labels.
What data does the CHARISMA app collect?
Apple says identifiers may track users and that identifiers and diagnostics may be collected. Google says device identifiers may be collected, data is not encrypted, and deletion is unavailable. Charisma’s 2009 policy does not adequately explain these declarations, so privacy-sensitive readers should seek clarification.
Who owns Charisma News?
It is part of Charisma Media, operated through Plus Communications, Inc. Stephen Strang helped launch Charisma magazine in 1975; the company now includes news, magazines, Charisma House books, podcasts, video, events, and Spanish-language publishing.
Sources & further reading
More Christian News Websites
The Pour OverThe thrice-weekly Christian news email that summarizes major stories without picking a political team, then closes each one with a paragraph pointing readers back to Christ - and it has quietly become the default news source for a generation of Christians sick of tribal outrage.
Common Good MagazineA beautifully edited print-and-digital magazine from Made to Flourish about the integrated life—faith, vocation, economics, theology, arts, sports, and public culture—with a remarkably low $25 six-issue subscription and a deep online archive, though its evangelical faith-and-work lens is more curated journal than neutral news source.
JesusFreakHideoutA free, fiercely independent Christian music institution with thirty years of reviews, release calendars, interviews, podcasts, listening parties, indie discovery, movie coverage, and devotionals—editorially deep and delightfully human, though its dense legacy interface, paid indie-submission services, privacy footprint, and accessibility need more modern clarity.CBN NewsCBN’s free news app combines breaking alerts, articles, full shows, a 24/7 channel, and a “Pray the News” response—useful for evangelical perspective, but strongest when read beside ideologically different and primary sources.Christianity TodayChristianity Today has quietly become the closest thing global evangelicalism has to a paper of record - and the podcast network it built on top of it is doing more cultural work than the magazine itself.
WORLD News GroupA 45-year-old Christian newsroom with a flagship daily podcast and a family-wide news ecosystem - and an editorial stance it states out loud rather than hides.