Comparison

Journal vs Macomb Daily

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

Head to head
About

Journal

Access personalized news, save articles for later, and customize push notifications. Enjoy a digital replica of the daily newspaper and offline reading. Swipe through articles easily and follow topics of interest.

Highlights
  • Personalized news recommendations
  • Save articles for later reading
  • Customizable push notifications
  • Digital newspaper replica (E-News)
  • Offline reading mode
  • Swipe for next article
  • Follow/unfollow topics
Features
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” Terms of Use: https://www.medianewsgroup.com/terms-of-use/ https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Macomb Daily

Access personalized news, save articles for later, and customize push notifications. Enjoy offline reading, a digital replica of the newspaper, and a variety of games. Swipe through articles easily with the new navigation.

Highlights
  • Personalized news recommendations
  • Save articles for later reading
  • Customizable push notifications
  • Digital newspaper replica (E-News)
  • Offline reading capabilities
  • In-app games (Sudoku, Solitaire, etc.)
  • Swipe navigation between articles
Features
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” Games: Users can enjoy a variety of games served in app. Games include: Sudoku, Solitaire, Jumble, Crossword, and Puzzles Terms of Use: https://www.medianewsgroup.com/terms-of-use/ https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Journal4 screens
Macomb Daily4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Journal at none against Macomb Daily's 2. Journal also leads on review sentiment (40% vs 16%). Macomb Daily's advantage is ratings volume (174 vs 10). On price, rating, update cadence and ads 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. Macomb Daily sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $11.99 per month. Journal asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for Journal against 4.6 for Macomb Daily. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Macomb Daily has 174 ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 40% of Journal's written reviews are positive against 16% of Macomb Daily's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Journal versus Macomb Daily: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterJournalMacomb Daily
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (10 ratings)4.6 (174 ratings) — better
Positive reviews40.0% of reviews — better15.5% of reviews
Number of ratings10174 — better
Update frequencyMonthlyMonthly
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationAd-supported — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size188 MB189 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperPrairie Mountain PublishingJournal Register Company

Customer experience

Journal

All ratings10 ratings
Positive80.0%
Neutral10.0%
Negative10.0%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive40.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative60.0%

Macomb Daily

All ratings171 ratings
Positive90.6%
Neutral3.5%
Negative5.8%
Written reviews58 reviews
Positive15.5%
Neutral5.2%
Negative79.3%

Bugs and requests

Journal

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Macomb Daily

Reported bugs

20 issues
  • Login errors
  • Obituaries missing
  • Articles not loading or crashing
  • Links to 'continue reading' lead back to the beginning
  • App crashes in the middle of reading
Show 15 more
  • App takes a long time to open articles
  • Ads pop up randomly and disrupt reading
  • Accidental calls from ads
  • App doesn't work for days
  • No content displayed
  • Stories not updated
  • App crashes on refresh
  • No ability to refresh for latest news
  • Sports section not updated
  • High school sports not updated for months
  • News outdated, pre-election articles still in breaking news
  • App not updated daily
  • Articles from years ago displayed
  • No local news option
  • Breaking news stories unavailable until reloaded multiple times

Requested features

5 requests
  • Dark mode option
  • Widget integration on iPhone
  • Search archived articles
  • Access to archived content
  • Area for meetings in Macomb

In-app purchases

None

Journal

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Macomb Daily

Subscriptions2
  • Macomb Daily Monthly Sub1 Month trial$11.991 Month
  • Macomb Daily Annual Sub1 Year trial$139.991 Year

Questions

Is Journal free?
Journal is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Macomb Daily free?
Macomb Daily is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Journal or Macomb Daily?
Macomb Daily is rated higher. Journal averages 4.5 out of 5 from 10 ratings, while Macomb Daily averages 4.6 from 174 ratings.
Do Journal or Macomb Daily have ads?
Both Journal and Macomb Daily show ads.
Which is updated more often, Journal or Macomb Daily?
Journal ships an update monthly, and Macomb Daily monthly. Most recently, Journal was updated on November 1, 2026 and Macomb Daily on November 6, 2026.

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