# NJ.com vs My Central Jersey

The clearest difference is monetization model: My Central Jersey at free with in-app purchases against NJ.com's subscription. My Central Jersey also leads on review sentiment (47% vs 19%). NJ.com's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (25K vs 357). On price, rating, update cadence and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. NJ.com sells 16 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month and My Central Jersey sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for NJ.com against 4.4 for My Central Jersey. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: NJ.com has 25K ratings behind it against 357, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 19% of NJ.com's written reviews are positive against 47% of My Central Jersey's.

NJ.com ships an update every 3 weeks, My Central Jersey monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | NJ.com | My Central Jersey |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.5 (25K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/njcom/id419202474/reviews)** | [4.4 (357 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/my-central-jersey/id520557512/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **25K** | 357 |
| Positive reviews | 18.7% of reviews | **47.4% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | **No** | Yes |
| Update frequency | **Every 3 weeks** | Monthly |
| Monetization | Subscription | **Free with in-app purchases** |
| Best chart rank | **#50** | #198 |
| Size | 32 MB | 184 MB |
| Requires iOS | **17.0** | 18.6 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | [NJ.com](https://appshunter.io/developer/419202477) | [USA TODAY Co., Inc.](https://appshunter.io/developer/404843797) |

## What reviewers say

### NJ.com

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/njcom/id419202474)

**Currently charting:** #50 Top Grossing · News (US App Store)

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.

**Highlights:** Local news reporting, Sports coverage, Weather updates, Politics and business news, Culture and events, Premium content access

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (16)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Rutgers Sports Insider | $5.99 | per month |
| Digital Access | $9.99 | per month |
| Digital Access | $9.99 | per month |
| Subscriber Exclusive Content | $9.99 | per month |
| Subscriber Exclusive Content | $9.99 | per month |
| Monthly Access | $10.00 | per month |
| All Access to NJ.com | $10.00 | per month |
| All Access to NJ.com | $11.99 | per month |
| All Access to NJ.com | $15.00 | per month |
| All Access to New Jersey | $15.00 | per month |
| Rutgers Sports Insider | $59.99 | per year |
| All Access to NJ.com | $75.00 | per year |
| All Access to NJ.com | $99.99 | per year |
| Subscriber Exclusive Content | $99.99 | per year |
| Annual Access | $100.00 | per year |
| All Access to NJ.com | $119.99 | per year |

**What reviewers like**

- 🗞️ Informative local news coverage
- 📰 Reliable source for NJ news
- 🔍 Helpful search functionality

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🔒 Excessive paywall restrictions
- 🐛 Frequent app crashes and freezes
- 💤 Slow loading times and performance issues
- 📢 Overwhelming ads and notifications
- 🗣️ Lack of user commenting features

**Reported bugs**

- 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**

- 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


### My Central Jersey

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/my-central-jersey/id520557512)

**Currently charting:** #198 Top Grossing · Magazines & Newspapers (US App Store)

Stay informed with local news, in-depth journalism, and engaging multimedia content. Get breaking news, sports scores, and weather alerts with customizable notifications. Access a digital replica of the print edition and enjoy personalized reading options.

**Highlights:** In-depth local journalism, Breaking news and alerts, Sports coverage, Streamlined multimedia experience, Customizable reading options, eNewspaper access, Offline reading

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (4)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Monthly Digital Rate | $9.99 | per month |
| Monthly Digital Rate | $14.99 | per month |
| My Central Jersey Digital Subscription | $16.99 | per month |
| My Central Jersey Annual Digital Subscription | $69.99 | per year |

**What reviewers like**

- 📰 Good local news coverage
- 👍 Unbiased news source (per one user)
- 🗺️ Keeps users connected to hometown news
- 📰 Nice overview of local headlines
- 📰 Great for keeping up with hometown/state news

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 App frequently crashes or freezes
- 🐛 App is not user-friendly or intuitive
- 🐛 Difficulty finding account information
- 🐛 Ads or messages float over text
- 🐛 Poor search functionality (old news, not recent)

**Reported bugs**

- App cannot be opened from iPad, stuck in a loop
- App spins forever when loading e-newspaper on iPad
- Token authentication issue
- Server unavailable when trying to sign in
- Ads or messages float over the text

**Requested features**

- Restore the old app until the new one is fixed
- Fix the app to load e-newspaper properly on iPad
- Fix the app to allow landscape view for comics
- Remove the band asking to close the paper
- Resolve token authentication issues


## Frequently asked questions

### Is NJ.com free?

NJ.com is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is My Central Jersey free?

My Central Jersey is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, NJ.com or My Central Jersey?

NJ.com is rated higher. NJ.com averages 4.5 out of 5 from 25K ratings, while My Central Jersey averages 4.4 from 357 ratings.

### Do NJ.com or My Central Jersey have ads?

My Central Jersey shows ads; NJ.com does not.

### Which is updated more often, NJ.com or My Central Jersey?

NJ.com ships an update every 3 weeks, and My Central Jersey monthly. Most recently, NJ.com was updated on October 19, 2026 and My Central Jersey on October 16, 2026.

### Which is more popular, NJ.com or My Central Jersey?

NJ.com currently peaks at #50 in the App Store charts, and My Central Jersey at #198. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*