Comparison

Journal Star vs Courier Journal

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Personalized news feed
  • Breaking news alerts
  • Exclusive commentary and podcasts
  • Video updates
  • Bookmark stories
  • Listen to articles
  • Customizable text size
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

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.

About

Courier Journal

Access local news, in-depth journalism, and a digital replica of the print edition. Get breaking news alerts, sports scores, and weather updates. Customize your reading experience with offline access and adjustable text size.

Highlights
  • In-depth local journalism
  • Breaking news and alerts
  • Digital eNewspaper replica
  • Customizable reading experience
  • Offline reading
  • Sports coverage
Features
Read full description

From critically acclaimed storytelling to powerful photography to engaging videos — the Courier Journal app delivers the local news that matters most to your community. APP FEATURES: • Access all of our in-depth journalism, including things to do around town, sports coverage from high school to the pros, and much more. • Enjoy a streamlined, fast-loading experience that makes it easy to view the stories, photos, and videos that matter to you. • Get breaking news, sports scores, and weather alerts with real-time notifications tailored to your interests. • Customize your experience by saving your favorite stories, adjusting text size, using night mode, or reading offline. • eNewspaper: Just like our print edition but accessible on your mobile devices. And access to USA TODAY and 200+ local eNewspapers. MORE INFORMATION: • Privacy Policy: https://cm.courier-journal.com/privacy/ • Terms of Service: https://cm.courier-journal.com/terms/ • Help Center: https://help.courier-journal.com • Subscriptions are charged to your account at confirmation of purchase and automatically renew each month or year, unless turned off in your account settings at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period. You can manage your subscriptions and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to your Account Settings after purchase. Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when you purchase a subscription, where applicable. See "Subscription Support" in the app's Settings for more details and customer service contact information.

Screenshots

Journal Star4 screens
Courier Journal4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Courier Journal at 50% against Journal Star's 4%. Courier Journal also leads on rating (4.3 vs 2.7) and ratings volume (3.2K vs 309). Journal Star's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 18.6). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Journal Star sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $29.99 per month and Courier Journal sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $19.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Courier Journal holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 2.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Courier Journal has 3.2K ratings behind it against 309, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 4% of Journal Star's written reviews are positive against 50% of Courier Journal's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Journal Star ships an update monthly, Courier Journal every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on September 26, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
Journal Star versus Courier Journal: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterJournal StarCourier Journal
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.7 (309 ratings)4.3 (3.2K ratings) — better
Positive reviews4.0% of reviews49.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings3093.2K — better
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#181#89 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS13.0 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size98 MB188 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperLee EnterprisesUSA TODAY Co., Inc.

Customer experience

Journal Star

All ratings309 ratings
Positive41.4%
Neutral3.9%
Negative54.7%
Written reviews75 reviews
Positive4.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative96.0%

Courier Journal

All ratings3,191 ratings
Positive83.5%
Neutral8.1%
Negative8.3%
Written reviews135 reviews
Positive49.6%
Neutral8.1%
Negative42.2%

User reviews

Journal Star

From 309 App Store ratings

What 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

Courier Journal

From 3.2K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Good app for reading the newspaper
  • 👍 Ease of e-paper
  • 👍 Enjoy keeping up with local and national news
  • 👍 Solid journalism

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Glitchy at times
  • 🐛 Crashes and freezes
  • 🐛 Difficult to navigate
  • 🐛 Requires frequent sign-in
  • 🐛 Outdated content

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 more
  • 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 more
  • 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

Courier Journal

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Login issues
  • Subscription problems
  • Printing and viewing issues
  • Unreliable updates

Requested features

5 requests
  • Bring back old app
  • Improve layout and readability
  • Add more local news coverage
  • Improve login and account management
  • Provide print-friendly version

In-app purchases

7 purchases

Journal Star

Subscriptions7
  • Subscriptions$29.991 Month
  • Subscriptions$42.991 Month
  • Subscriptions$44.991 Month
Show 4 more
  • Subscriptions$50.001 Year
  • Subscriptions$289.991 Year
  • Subscriptions$344.991 Year
  • Subscriptions$379.991 Year
5 purchases

Courier Journal

Subscriptions5
  • Monthly Digital Rate1 Month trial$19.991 Month
  • Annual Digital Subscription1 Year trial$19.991 Year
  • Monthly Digital Rate1 Month trial$24.991 Month
Show 2 more
  • The Courier-Journal Digital Subscription1 Month trial$24.991 Month
  • The Courier-Journal Annual Digital Subscription1 Year trial$69.991 Year

Questions

Is Journal Star free?
Journal Star is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Courier Journal free?
Courier Journal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Journal Star or Courier Journal?
Courier Journal is rated higher. Journal Star averages 2.7 out of 5 from 309 ratings, while Courier Journal averages 4.3 from 3.2K ratings.
Do Journal Star or Courier Journal have ads?
Both Journal Star and Courier Journal show ads.
Which is updated more often, Journal Star or Courier Journal?
Journal Star ships an update monthly, and Courier Journal every 3 weeks. Most recently, Journal Star was updated on September 26, 2026 and Courier Journal on September 26, 2026.
Which is more popular, Journal Star or Courier Journal?
Journal Star currently peaks at #181 in the App Store charts, and Courier Journal at #89. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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