NJ.com vs Breaking News Network
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
NJ.com
Stay informed with local news, sports, and weather impacting your community. Access timely and reliable reporting from journalists who live and work in your area. Covers a wide range of topics including news, politics, business, and culture.
- Local news reporting
- Sports coverage
- Weather updates
- Politics and business news
- Culture and events
- Premium content access
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Get trusted local news from across New Jersey. Breaking news, in-depth reporting, and all the stories people are talking about. Stay connected to what's happening around you with timely coverage of news, weather, sports, and more, optimized for your phone. Free to download. Get breaking news, alerts, and top stories. Subscribers receive unlimited access to in-depth reporting, exclusive content, and additional features. Subscriptions are available in-app. Our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use: http://www.advance.net/advancedigitalUserAgreementPP/
Breaking News Network
Receive real-time local news and fire alerts with proximity notifications. View and submit local news as it happens, complete with images and videos. This free app is for members of the Breaking News Network.
- Real-time news alerts
- Fire notifications
- Proximity alerting
- Navigation and mapping
- Image and video viewing
- Submit local news
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Free application for members of Breaking News Network (BNN). Real-time fire and news notification with proximity alerting, navigation, mapping, images, and videos. View and submit local news as it occurs.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: NJ.com at 4.5 against Breaking News Network's 3.3. NJ.com also leads on ratings volume (25K vs 41) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 3 months). Breaking News Network's advantage is review sentiment (58% vs 19%) and in-app purchases (none vs 18). On price, 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. NJ.com sells 16 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Breaking News Network asks for nothing beyond the download.
NJ.com holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: NJ.com has 25K ratings behind it against 41, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 19% of NJ.com's written reviews are positive against 58% of Breaking News Network's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
NJ.com ships an update every 3 weeks, Breaking News Network every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | NJ.com | Breaking News Network |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (25K ratings) — better | 3.3 (41 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 18.7% of reviews | 57.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 25K — better | 41 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Subscription | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #59 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 32 MB | 55 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | NJ.com | Breaking News Network |
Customer experience
NJ.com
Breaking News Network
User reviews
NJ.com
From 25K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🗞️ Informative local news coverage
- 📰 Reliable source for NJ news
- 🔍 Helpful search functionality
Room to improve
- 🔒 Excessive paywall restrictions
- 🐛 Frequent app crashes and freezes
- 💤 Slow loading times and performance issues
- 📢 Overwhelming ads and notifications
- 🗣️ Lack of user commenting features
Breaking News Network
From 41 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- ⚡️ Responsive customer service
- 🔔 Quick and to-the-point notifications
- ✨ Customizable alerts
- 🗺️ Map format searches requested
- 📈 Data export requested
Room to improve
- 💸 Extremely overpriced
- ⏳ App not updated in years
- 👎 Subscription service is mediocre
- 😠 Unprofessional customer service
- ⚖️ Unfair sharing of events
Bugs and requests
NJ.com
Reported bugs
4 issues- Login issues and inability to access subscriber content
- Frequent app crashes and freezes
- Navigation and search functionality problems
- Incompatibility with certain devices and OS versions
Requested features
5 requests- Bring back ability to save articles
- Improve app stability and performance
- Offer more free content access
- Restore team-specific sports browsing
- Add user commenting functionality
Breaking News Network
Reported bugs
25 issues- App crashes regularly
- App consistently crashes, forcing a restart
- Ringtone settings reset almost weekly
- App has completely shut down, no notifications
- Notification badge shows dozens of unread messages
Show 20 moreShow fewer
- App drains battery
- Search not responsive
- Getting invalid device ID
- New version is slow to refresh and slow all around
- No way to clear or delete weather alerts
- Search function does not work
- Chat does not work
- Red notification number stays by the icon
- New app is killing battery
- Not receiving incidents on iPhone 5
- App needs to be updated, notifications don't work
- Not receiving notifications on iPhone 5
- App crashes on launch
- Notifications don't work
- Not receiving notifications
- App won't open, crashes on black BNN screen
- Incompatible with iPhone 5
- App not optimized for full iPhone 5 screen
- New update not working on iPhone
- Problems with new iPhone 6S, can't see pictures
Requested features
22 requests- Searches shown in map format
- Searches go back further
- Data export functionality
- Include precinct number on reports
- Option to unfollow or mute notifications from an incident
Show 17 moreShow fewer
- Old ringtones from the old app
- Fix ringtone settings not persisting
- Mobile friendly version for subscription settings
- Multiple devices using same account
- Latest iPhone support (iPhone X+)
- Ability to change subscription areas on the fly
- Better searching of past incidents
- Fix greyed out Chat
- Remove weather notifications
- Update UI
- Dark mode option
- Advanced analytics dashboard
- Favorite incidents feature
- Customize alert tones
- Sleep timer
- Different tone for notification
- Delete incidents
In-app purchases
NJ.com
- Rutgers Sports Insider$5.991 Month
- Digital Access$9.991 Month
- Digital Access1 Month trial$9.991 Month
Show 13 moreShow fewer
- Subscriber Exclusive Content7 Days trial$9.991 Month
- Subscriber Exclusive Content1 Month trial2 variants$9.991 Month
- Monthly Access1 Month trial$10.001 Month
- All Access to NJ.com7 Days trial$10.001 Month
- All Access to NJ.com$11.991 Month
- All Access to NJ.com$15.001 Month
- All Access to New Jersey$15.001 Month
- Rutgers Sports Insider$59.991 Year
- All Access to NJ.com6 Months trial$75.001 Year
- All Access to NJ.com1 Year trial$99.991 Year
- Subscriber Exclusive Content1 Year trial2 variants$99.991 Year
- Annual Access1 Year trial$100.001 Year
- All Access to NJ.com$119.991 Year
Breaking News Network
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is NJ.com free?
Is Breaking News Network free?
Which has better reviews, NJ.com or Breaking News Network?
Do NJ.com or Breaking News Network have ads?
Which is updated more often, NJ.com or Breaking News Network?
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