Comparison

Long Beach Press vs CalMatters

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

Head to head
About

Long Beach Press

Access personalized news recommendations and save articles for later. Customize notifications and enjoy offline reading. The app offers a digital replica of the daily newspaper and intuitive navigation.

Highlights
  • Personalized news recommendations
  • Save articles for later
  • Customizable push notifications
  • Digital newspaper replica (E-News)
  • Offline reading
  • Swipe navigation between articles
  • Follow/unfollow topics
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

To continue enjoying our app, we kindly request that you log in again after this update. If you're a subscriber, please take a moment to restore your account to ensure uninterrupted access. You can find the “Restore Subscriptions“ button in Settings under Subscriptions. Welcome to a new app experience, we have optimized our app and giving it a facelift! This faster iOS native app now has the following new features: Your News: Provide personalized recommendations for content based on user preferences. Users will be allowed to customize the content they want to engage with by selecting the topics they are truly interested in. By going to the “Your News” tab the user can bypass the noise of all that is published and home in on the content they want Saved Articles: Save feature that allows users to save articles or other content they are interested in for later reading or reference.Push notifications will remind users to read their saved articles or suggest related content Custom Push Notifications: The user can select what topics they want to be notified about which makes for a much less intrusive experience. Top Navigation Bar: A top navigation bar lets the user switch between sections by swiping or tapping. Enews in-app: Desire the newspaper experience? No need to open a separate app! By simply going to Settings and selecting E-News the user can browse the Digital Replica of the day’s paper. Offline Reading: This feature allows users to enable offline reading from Settings. Offline “Reading Preferences” can also be customized for Settings. Swipe Left: Instead of going back to the main section to find more articles, users have the option to simply swipe, immediately opening other articles in the Section. Follow Topics: A user will be shown articles on topics they are following. To follow select “follow” at the article level and related articles will gain relevancy and be shown more frequently. Just as easily “Unfollow”

About

CalMatters

This app provides in-depth, nonpartisan news coverage focused on California's quality of life issues. It aims to hold leaders accountable and explore solutions through investigative journalism.

Highlights
  • In-depth news coverage
  • Focus on quality of life issues
  • Accountability journalism
  • Solutions-oriented reporting
  • Covers California and its economy
Features
Read full description

CalMatters is a nonpartisan and nonprofit news organization bringing Californians stories that probe, explain and explore solutions to quality of life issues while holding our leaders accountable. We are the only journalism outlet dedicated to covering America’s biggest state, 39 million Californians and the world’s fifth largest economy.

Screenshots

Long Beach Press4 screens
CalMatters4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: CalMatters at none against Long Beach Press's 2. CalMatters also leads on ads (none vs shown) and rating (5.0 vs 4.7). Long Beach Press's advantage is ratings volume (108 vs 18). On price, chart position, device support and iOS requirement 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. Long Beach Press sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per month. CalMatters asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

CalMatters holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Long Beach Press has 108 ratings behind it against 18, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 28% of Long Beach Press's written reviews are positive against 50% of CalMatters's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Long Beach Press ships an update monthly, CalMatters every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 4, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Long Beach Press versus CalMatters: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLong Beach PressCalMatters
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (108 ratings)5.0 (18 ratings) — better
Positive reviews27.7% of reviews50.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings108 — better18
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank#192#84 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size188 MB53 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperMediaNews GroupCalMatters

Customer experience

Long Beach Press

All ratings108 ratings
Positive91.7%
Neutral1.9%
Negative6.5%
Written reviews47 reviews
Positive27.7%
Neutral8.5%
Negative63.8%

CalMatters

All ratings18 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%

Bugs and requests

Long Beach Press

Reported bugs

11 issues
  • Takes too long to load
  • Crashes a lot
  • Keeps closing
  • Can't read articles since update
  • Kicks out of article after sign-in attempt
Show 6 more
  • Constantly crashes
  • Updates slow
  • App is bad
  • Does not update like it should
  • Login screen freezes (implied by crashes and inability to read articles)
  • Incompatible with older devices (implied by iOS version issues)

Requested features

11 requests
  • Bring back landscape view
  • Add LBSU sports section
  • Improve search functionality
  • Include lottery results
  • Allow choice of Facebook page for sharing
Show 6 more
  • Fix reverse type (white on black)
  • Improve layout and user-friendliness
  • Move obituaries down the list
  • More frequent updates
  • More local news and focus
  • Backwards compatibility for older iOS versions

CalMatters

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Long Beach Press

Subscriptions2
  • LBPT Monthly Subscription1 Month trial$14.991 Month
  • LBPT Annual Subscription1 Year trial$174.991 Year
None

CalMatters

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Long Beach Press free?
Long Beach Press is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is CalMatters free?
CalMatters is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Long Beach Press or CalMatters?
CalMatters is rated higher. Long Beach Press averages 4.7 out of 5 from 108 ratings, while CalMatters averages 5.0 from 18 ratings.
Do Long Beach Press or CalMatters have ads?
Long Beach Press shows ads; CalMatters does not.
Which is updated more often, Long Beach Press or CalMatters?
Long Beach Press ships an update monthly, and CalMatters every 2 weeks. Most recently, Long Beach Press was updated on November 1, 2026 and CalMatters on November 4, 2026.
Which is more popular, Long Beach Press or CalMatters?
Long Beach Press currently peaks at #192 in the App Store charts, and CalMatters at #84. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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