NJ.com vs Newark Advocate
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
Read full descriptionHide full description
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/
Newark Advocate
Stay informed with local news, in-depth journalism, and engaging multimedia content. Receive real-time alerts for breaking news, sports, and weather. Customize your reading experience and access a digital replica of the print edition.
- In-depth local journalism
- Breaking news alerts
- Sports coverage
- Weather alerts
- Customizable reading experience
- Offline reading
- eNewspaper access
Read full descriptionHide full description
From critically acclaimed storytelling to powerful photography to engaging videos — the Newark Advocate 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.newarkadvocate.com/privacy/ • Terms of Service: https://cm.newarkadvocate.com/terms/ • Help Center: https://help.newarkadvocate.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
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: Newark Advocate at free with in-app purchases against NJ.com's subscription. Newark Advocate also leads on review sentiment (47% vs 19%). NJ.com's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (25K vs 618). On price, rating, update cadence 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
Both are free to download. NJ.com sells 16 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month and Newark Advocate sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
NJ.com holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: NJ.com has 25K ratings behind it against 618, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 19% of NJ.com's written reviews are positive against 47% of Newark Advocate'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, Newark Advocate monthly. Both last shipped on October 23, 2026.
| Parameter | NJ.com | Newark Advocate |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (25K ratings) — better | 4.4 (618 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 18.7% of reviews | 46.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 25K — better | 618 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Monthly |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Subscription | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Best chart rank | #59 — better | #160 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 — better | 18.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 32 MB | 184 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | NJ.com | USA TODAY Co., Inc. |
Customer experience
NJ.com
Newark Advocate
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
Newark Advocate
From 618 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 📰 Strong local news coverage and reporting
- 🏈 Excellent high school sports coverage
- 👍 User-friendly navigation and interface
- 📱 Convenient access to news on-the-go
- 🔔 Helpful notification system for updates
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent login requirement issues
- 📉 Limited local news coverage despite being local paper
- 💰 Paywall restrictions limiting article access
- 🛑 Intrusive rolling ads disrupting reading experience
- ⚙️ Poor app stability and performance
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
Newark Advocate
Reported bugs
10 issues- App crashes and freezes frequently
- Requires reinstalling app daily to function
- Slow launch times (3-5 minutes on some devices)
- Login loops - users must repeatedly log in
- Text display issues - blurry, enlarged text jumps, chopped articles
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- Navigation tabs obstruct article text
- Screen bumps cause unintended zoom changes
- Digital access prevents reading full articles despite valid subscription
- Monthly article limit doesn't refresh properly
- App fails to download or open completely
Requested features
7 requests- More local Licking County news coverage
- Reduce or eliminate national/USA Today content
- Improved comic section readability
- Direct editor contact and comment functionality
- Better account settings accessibility
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- School closure alerts and notifications
- More frequent content updates, especially weekends
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
Newark Advocate
- Monthly Digital Rate1 Month trial$9.991 Month
- Monthly Digital Rate1 Month trial$14.991 Month
- The Newark Advocate Digital Subscription1 Month trial$16.991 Month
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- The Newark Advocate Annual Digital Subscription1 Year trial$69.991 Year
