# Santa Cruz Sentinel for Mobile

> Local news app with personalized content, saved articles, and digital newspaper replica. (iPhone/iPad app by MediaNews Group.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/santa-cruz-sentinel-for-mobile/id499677382 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [MediaNews Group](https://appshunter.io/developer/364357227)
- Category: News, Entertainment
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Rating: 4.70/5 from 53 App Store ratings · 67 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 12+
- Requires: iOS 15.0 · 187 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2012-02-07
- Data updated: 2026-08-29
- Monetization: free with in-app purchases
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/santa-cruz-sentinel-for-mobile/id499677382/reviews.md

## What is Santa Cruz Sentinel for Mobile?

To continue enjoying our app, we kindly request that you log in again after this update.

If you're a subscriber, please take a moment to restore your account to ensure uninterrupted access. You can find the “Restore Subscriptions“ button in Settings under Subscriptions.

Welcome to a new app experience, we have optimized our app and giving it a facelift! This faster iOS native app now has the following new features:

Your News:
Provide personalized recommendations for content based on user preferences. Users will be allowed to customize the content they want to engage with by selecting the topics they are truly interested in. By going to the “Your News” tab the user can bypass the noise of all that is published and home in on the content they want

Saved Articles:
Save feature that allows users to save articles or other content they are interested in for later reading or reference.Push notifications will remind users to read their saved articles or suggest related content

Custom Push Notifications:
The user can select what topics they want to be notified about which makes for a much less intrusive experience. 

Top Navigation Bar:
 A top navigation bar lets the user switch between sections by swiping or tapping.

Enews in-app:
Desire the newspaper experience? No need to open a separate app! By simply going to Settings and selecting E-News the user can browse the Digital Replica of the day’s paper.

Offline Reading:
This feature allows users to enable offline reading from Settings. Offline “Reading Preferences” can also be customized for Settings. 

Swipe Left:
Instead of going back to the main section to find more articles, users have the option to simply swipe, immediately opening other articles in the Section.

Follow Topics:
A user will be shown articles on topics they are following. To follow select “follow” at the article level and related articles will gain relevancy and be shown more frequently. Just as easily “Unfollow”

Terms of Use:
https://www.medianewsgroup.com/terms-of-use/
https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

## Key features

- Personalized news recommendations
- Save articles for later
- Customizable push notifications
- Digital newspaper replica (E-News)
- Offline reading
- Follow/Unfollow topics

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**Subscriptions**

| Subscription | Price | Period |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Santa Cruz Sentinel Annual Sub | $139.99 | per year |
| SantaCruz Sentinel Monthly Sub | $11.99 | per month |


## What do users think of Santa Cruz Sentinel for Mobile?

Overall sentiment: negative

**Pros**

- 👍 Great local news source
- 👍 Good for staying informed locally
- 👍 Simple and easy to use
- 👍 Content is excellent
- 👍 Good start for an app
- 👍 Delivers local news without crashes
- 👍 User friendly

**Cons**

- 😠 Annoying and intrusive ads
- 😠 Outdated and old news
- 😠 App is confusing and difficult to use
- 😠 Poor design and user interface
- 😠 Inconsistent updates
- 😠 Slow loading times
- 😠 Crashes frequently
- 😠 Content is repetitive
- 😠 Hard on the eyes (font and color)
- 😠 Paywall issues for subscribers
- 😠 Ads placed insensitively (obituaries)
- 😠 News is not current
- 😠 Difficult to navigate
- 😠 Limited multimedia features
- 😠 Poor organization of content
- 😠 Typos and incorrect information
- 😠 Full-screen ads that interfere with scrolling
- 😠 News does not update regularly
- 😠 Does not refresh stories
- 😠 Most top news is sports related
- 😠 Takes a long time to load stories
- 😠 Blasts ads at you
- 😠 New format makes it hard to distinguish ads from news
- 😠 Cellular data usage is high
- 😠 Headlines are cutoff
- 😠 Sliding navigation is inconsistent
- 😠 Obits are difficult to view
- 😠 Weather is inaccurate
- 😠 Fuzzy font and moving ads
- 😠 Breaking news is always old
- 😠 App errors out frequently
- 😠 Ads with sound are unacceptable

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Takes user to beginning of article after clicking embedded link
- App has many glitches
- Does not update
- Unable to access full articles
- Home page does not have refresh option
- Only allows reading a certain amount of articles before asking to sign in
- App kicks user out of article without subscription
- Does not refresh stories at times
- Crashes a lot
- Takes a pretty long time to load any story
- New format is slower and less fluid
- App does not work
- News is days to weeks old
- Breaking news not updated frequently
- Old articles are time stamped with new times
- App only loads articles about 1% of the time

**Most requested features**

- Full redesign for better customer experience
- Invest in app development
- Add a comment section or sync with online comments
- Paid version with no ads
- Link to contact someone for updates
- Search feature
- More photos
- Categorize reports not immediately transferable into an 'extras' scroll box
- Make font larger and print darker
- Add a search feature
- Allow zooming on photos
- Fair and balanced reporting

## Recent user reviews (10 of 67)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/santa-cruz-sentinel-for-mobile/id499677382/reviews.md

### 4/5 — Needs work

*2023-05-28*

When switching from reading the article to an embedded link and then back this darn app always takes one to the beginning of the article. Frustrating. I want to go back to the part of the article where the link was like I can do in almost all other news apps. Small town programming?

### 1/5 — Please redesign

*2023-01-30, version 7.6.3*

The phone app has many glitches and gives a less than desirable news outlet. Please consider investing some money into a full redesign to enhance the customer experience. Thank you in advance for your time.

### 5/5 — Well Worth The Subscription

*2023-01-24*

I am SO happy with this purchase. I HATE the “local news” online that only showed me SF, and neighboring areas for Bay Area news. Finding this app let me get the local new I WANT to read about!  Best purchase!

Love it!

### 1/5 — Waste of time

*2021-07-12*

I can skim and read a paper version of the sentinel in ten minutes. Ten minutes on the app pushes ads, and offers old articles, while interesting, are old news. I may only find three articles to read, and wonder where the other forty articles are, and what i missed.

### 1/5 — Obituaries used to sell ads

*2021-06-27*

This app is so annoying I have to steel myself to open it. I am canceling before the weekend ends. Too bad, because I want local news and find the monthly cost of receiving it at my door unreasonably high. 
Turning to the obituary of an acquaintance this week, I was shocked to see an ad for wrinkled knees instead of my friend’s face directly under his name instead of his picture!  What insensitivity! If I were the family, I’d be horrified!!! Disgusting and in my opinion unforgivable.

### 1/5 — Confusing

*2020-08-29, version 7.4.5*

I don’t understand.  Why doesn’t it update?  I am an online subscriber and I can’t get the news?  I like the way it is organized.

### 2/5 — Horrible

*2019-01-18, version 7.3.11*

Dated and old news

### 2/5 — Hard on eyes

*2017-06-25, version 7.2.0*

1. Too-teeny font on "News" front page - make 'me much bigger, please!

2. Too-light-grey print in articles - make it much darker, please!

### 1/5 — Really bad

*2017-03-09, version 7.1.7*

Horrible. Home Page doesn't have refresh option so you're stuck looking at old news unless you restart your phone. How the Sentinel stays in biz remains a mystery

### 1/5 — Can't get the news when I want it

*2015-08-10*

This app is so annoying. It only lets you read a certain amount of articles before it asks you to sign into your press account if you have a subscription to the news paper. If I had a subscription, I wouldn't need the app. I tried the subscription but had to cancel it because it never got delivered to my second floor apartment. If you don't have a press account, the app kicks you out of the article. I think it only allows you to read a certain amount of articles for free per month because after awhile it doesn't require you to sign in. It's an on going cycle. I end up reading the articles for free on the website. This app is irritating and I'm deleting it. I can read the articles on my desktop or smart phone browser instead.

## Frequently asked questions about Santa Cruz Sentinel for Mobile

### What does the Santa Cruz Sentinel for Mobile app do?

This app provides access to local news with features like personalized content recommendations, saved articles for later reading, and customizable push notifications. It also allows users to browse a digital replica of the daily newspaper directly within the app.

### What are the key features of this news app?

Key features include personalized content based on user interests, the ability to save articles, custom push notifications for preferred topics, offline reading capabilities, and an in-app digital replica of the newspaper. Users can also follow specific topics to see more relevant content.

### Is this app free to use?

The app itself is free to download and use. However, to continue enjoying the full experience and access subscriber content, users may need to log in with their existing subscription details. There are also in-app purchases and ads present.

### Can I read articles offline with this app?

Yes, the app supports offline reading. You can enable this feature in the Settings menu and customize your offline reading preferences to ensure you can access content even without an internet connection.

### Who is this app intended for?

This app is designed for individuals who want to stay informed about local news and events in the Santa Cruz area. It's particularly useful for subscribers who wish to access their newspaper content conveniently on their mobile devices.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 10.0.60 — 2026-08-20

Enhanced Audio Controls: Refreshed audio player interface above the navigation bar, improved notification controls, and fixed disappearing player controls.

Dynamic Island Integration: Added support for Dynamic Island audio playback and updates on supported devices.

Expanded Home Screen Widgets: New and expanded widget options for quicker access to news directly from your Home Screen.

Resolved an authentication bug that prevented login via Facebook.

Bugs and maintenance

### 10.0.59 — 2026-07-02

Added in-app audio player
Bug fixes and maintenance

### 10.0.58 — 2026-06-09

Support for World Cup content
Bug fixes and maintenance

### 10.0.56 — 2026-05-13

Bug Fixes and Maintenance

### 10.0.54 — 2026-04-13

Bug Fixes and Maintenance

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## More apps by MediaNews Group

- [OCRegister](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/ocregister/id380372599)
- [Bay Area News](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bay-area-news/id407305856)
- [The Mercury News](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/the-mercury-news/id429774201)
- [East Bay Times](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/east-bay-times/id429780888)
- [Marin Independent Journal](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/marin-independent-journal/id461505795)
- [Santa Cruz Sentinel](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/santa-cruz-sentinel/id461523626)

All apps by MediaNews Group: https://appshunter.io/developer/364357227

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-29.*