With a rich history spanning 75 years, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (F.A.Z.) is a prominent daily newspaper favored by Germany’s decision-makers. In addition to this influential audience, FAZ has been actively working to attract younger readers, and they turned to their mobile apps to do so — starting with the app “F.A.Z. Der Tag”, which highlights and summarizes the most important stories of the day. The app is available for Android and iOS.

“We originally launched the app “F.A.Z. Der Tag”[1] [2] in 2015, and we gathered feedback that the app is especially liked by younger people,” explains Frank Lemmer, lead for news apps and platforms in F.A.Z.’s product team. “So, we wanted to create a format that’s tailored to this target group — a strong layout, snackable content, and summaries that let users dive into the news in a short amount of time.”

Having worked with Google News Initiative since “F.A.Z. Der Tag” original launch, F.A.Z. partnered with them once again on a redesign of the app and on new formats. The focus was on creating a user experience (UX) progressive enough for a younger audience while maintaining existing subscribers.

“We are rooted in tradition but want to be innovative as well, and this is really where the partnership with GNI pays off,” says F.A.Z. Chief Product and Sales Officer, Nico Wilfer. “It allows us to innovate and to develop new formats.”

After scoping the project alongside GNI and conducting extensive research, F.A.Z. relaunched the App “F.A.Z. der Tag” in February 2025 with a modern, sleek design; AI-generated summaries; audio formats enabled by text-to-speech; and a selection of articles personalized to each user. The app operates on a freemium model, where users pay €0.99 after the first 30 days and €7.99 after 60 days.

In spring 2025, F.A.Z. launched two brand-new formats as well: The Wrap Up summarizes the top 10 stories of the day, and Don’t Miss offers a personalized weekly news recap based on users’ interests and reading habits.

Since the relaunch, the App “F.A.Z. Der Tag” has experienced a 548-percent increase in daily installs, moving it to first place in the Apple App Store’s “Newspapers” category. Page views are also up by nearly 300 percent.

“It’s a good sign for us that our concept works, because we want to enable readers to consume as much content as possible in a short amount of time,” Lemmer says. “It’s also nice to see that the features we’re promoting are heavily used.” Plays of text-to-speech audio, for instance, have increased by 90 percent. And, while it’s still early, Your Day in Brief’s freemium model has already converted 500 users into paid subscribers.

Now, F.A.Z. is focused on gathering user feedback to perfect the App “F.A.Z. Der Tag”, The Wrap Up, and Don’t Miss. “We’ll probably change some small things and figure out what’s missing or adjust some other points,” Lemmer says.“