Journal Star vs Big Red Today
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Journal Star
Access in-depth local news, sports, and weather for Lincoln, Nebraska. Enjoy exclusive commentary, photography, and podcasts. Personalize your news feed and receive breaking alerts.
- Personalized news feed
- Breaking news alerts
- Exclusive commentary and podcasts
- Video updates
- Bookmark stories
- Listen to articles
- Customizable text size
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Your story lives in Lincoln. Get in-depth stories from Lincoln, Nebraska's No. 1 news outlet – including breaking news sports, opinion, obituaries, entertainment, and politics. From reporting on the Huskers to the news that matters most in your community, the state and beyond, we cover it all. Easily access the very latest news in an app built for you. Read, see, and hear exclusive commentary, stunning photography, video updates, and binge-worthy podcasts. Support local journalism by subscribing today for unlimited digital access. Our app features: * Your Stories – personalize your experience by selecting the local news topics that matter most to you * Get notified – stay in the loop by selecting alerts for news, sports, weather, and more * Easy navigation – see all the latest local stories by simply swiping up/down, and left/right * Read stories your way – either in the News Feed or via the E-edition * Breaking news updates – top banners let you know what’s happening right now * Continue watching – pause a video and pick up where you left off across devices * Bookmark for later – save stories to enjoy at your leisure * Listen to articles – press the play button to listen instead * Customize your text size – make the content bigger or smaller in your profile settings * Weather where you are – hourly, 10-day forecasts, and frequent video updates Free to download. Subscribers enjoy unlimited access to breaking news updates, analysis, and more. Get the Lincoln Journal Star in Your Inbox Get convenient, curated updates delivered to your Inbox. Sign up for Breaking News updates as they happen, the Afternoon Update for a roundup of the latest local top stories, Local Sports for the latest sports headlines, Food & Drink for foodies, Garage Sales for bargain hunters and many more. Visit https://journalstar.com/newsletters/ to view and subscribe to all of The Lincoln Journal Star Newsletters. Keep Up with The Lincoln Journal Star Follow us on Facebook and other social platforms: https://x.com/JournalStarNews https://www.pinterest.com/ljsfeatures/ https://www.instagram.com/journalstarnews/ https://www.facebook.com/LincolnJournalStar/ https://www.youtube.com/user/JournalStarNews https://www.linkedin.com/company/lincoln-journal-star/ About The Lincoln Journal Star The Lincoln Journal Star is the premier news and information source in Southeast Nebraska covering local news, government, sports and events on https://journalstar.com/. Along with the area’s leading daily newspaper and website, we publish several niche publications and provide full service digital advertising services. We'd love to hear what you think! For any technical issues or questions, contact us at appsupport@lee.net https://journalstar.com/terms The Lincoln Journal Star is part of Lee Enterprises.
Big Red Today
Get 24/7 access to Nebraska Cornhuskers news, photos, and videos. Follow live game updates, breaking news, and insider blog posts. Relive games with recaps and view team information like polls and standings.
- Live game updates
- Breaking news and blog posts
- Photos and video galleries
- Team info: polls, standings, rosters
- Game recap videos
- Player and coach interviews
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Your source for the best Nebraska Cornhuskers news, photos and video now has a new home -- on your mobile device! The Big Red Today app gives you 24/7 access to all of the Husker coverage you expect from the award-winning sports staff of the Omaha World-Herald. Live Updates — We've added live game updates as the action happens! Check on the current game stats or follow the play by play reports! When it's done you can go back and relive the game! Breaking news and blog posts — Daily practice reports, game stories, player interviews and features are delivered right to the app every day of the week. On the Big Red Today blog, you'll get even more insider news and notes from our beat writers. Photos and video — Watch the weekly and post-game press conferences, players and coach interviews and game recap videos, plus all of the fan photos and action shots in photo galleries that will make you feel like you were actually in Memorial Stadium for the game. Team info — What's the Top 10 look like this week? Who's wearing No. 74? With the apps updated polls, conference standings, team rosters and schedules, you'll have all the answers at your fingertips. The Big Red Today app is the best place for Husker news and information. And it's only from the Omaha World-Herald. Go Big Red!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Big Red Today at 81% against Journal Star's 4%. Big Red Today also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 7) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 13.0). Journal Star's advantage is rating (2.7 vs 2.2) and ratings volume (311 vs 31). On price, update cadence, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Journal Star sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $29.99 per month. Big Red Today asks for nothing beyond the download.
Journal Star holds the better App Store score, 2.7 against 2.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Journal Star has 311 ratings behind it against 31, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 4% of Journal Star's written reviews are positive against 81% of Big Red Today's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Journal Star ships an update monthly, Big Red Today every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Journal Star | Big Red Today |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.7 (311 ratings) — better | 2.2 (31 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 4.0% of reviews | 80.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 311 — better | 31 |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 5 weeks |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Ad-supported — better |
| Best chart rank | #154 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 103 MB | 37 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Lee Enterprises | BH Media Group |
Customer experience
Journal Star
Big Red Today
User reviews
Journal Star
From 311 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 📱 Good for accessing local news on mobile
- ✍️ Well-written articles
- 📰 Comprehensive local news coverage
Room to improve
- 🐛 App crashes frequently
- 🐛 Articles fail to load or display blank pages
- 🐛 Login issues and constant re-authentication required
- 💰 High subscription cost ($25.99-$26.99/month)
- 📵 Intrusive and excessive ads
Big Red Today
From 31 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Free and convenient articles
- 👍 Great Husker coverage
- 👍 Easy to use
- 👍 Well-designed
- 👍 Wealth of information
Room to improve
- 🐛 App crashes or doesn't stay open
- 🐛 Removed valuable information (roster, schedule, scores, live updates)
- 🐛 Disruptive ads
- 🐛 Expensive subscription model
- 🐛 Paywall is ridiculous
Bugs and requests
Journal Star
Reported bugs
16 issues- App crashes on launch or during use
- Articles fail to load or display blank/white screens
- Black screen pop-ups that cannot be closed
- Login credentials not saved; constant re-authentication required
- App stops loading pages in e-edition after some time
Show 11 moreShow fewer
- Subscription verification failures despite active subscription
- Articles not refreshing or updating
- Links to articles not working properly
- App incompatible with iPad landscape orientation
- App incompatible with iOS 14+ versions
- Random podcast audio playing in background
- Pages jumping around while reading
- Ads hijacking navigation to revenue pages
- E-edition content not displaying correctly
- Inconsistent menu states between old and new versions
- App freezing or becoming unresponsive
Requested features
10 requests- Landscape mode support for tablets
- Improved search functionality
- Better content organization and categorization
- Free or lower-cost subscription tier
- Removal or reduction of ads for paid subscribers
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- Consistent and intuitive menu design
- Better local news prioritization in feed
- Improved article loading reliability
- Better support for older iOS versions
- Ability to store sign-in information
Big Red Today
Reported bugs
10 issues- App does not stay open
- App only contains news stories after update
- Videos and links do not work
- App requires frequent re-entry of credentials
- Last update was 3 years ago
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- Font size is too small
- Takes too long to update
- Schedule and roster sections do not work all the time
- Login screen freezes
- Incompatible with older devices
Requested features
11 requests- Add roster, schedule, scores, and live updates
- Improve app stability
- Offer a more affordable subscription option
- Allow blog access
- Add push notifications for new articles or breaking news
Show 6 moreShow fewer
- Add ability to Tweet articles
- Improve font readability
- Enable landscape mode
- Link to team stats for all sports
- Allow users to read the complete headline before deciding to read articles
- Add a form for developer support contact
In-app purchases
Journal Star
- Subscriptions$29.991 Month
- Subscriptions$42.991 Month
- Subscriptions$44.991 Month
Show 4 moreShow fewer
- Subscriptions$50.001 Year
- Subscriptions$289.991 Year
- Subscriptions$344.991 Year
- Subscriptions$379.991 Year
Big Red Today
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Journal Star free?
Is Big Red Today free?
Which has better reviews, Journal Star or Big Red Today?
Do Journal Star or Big Red Today have ads?
Which is updated more often, Journal Star or Big Red Today?
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