Asbury Park Press: Local News

Review by eFreeware

If you live in or around the Jersey Shore and want a single place to follow what is happening in the community, the Asbury Park Press app is built for exactly that. It pulls together the paper's journalism, photography and video into a phone-sized feed, and it adds the eNewspaper, a digital version of the print edition. The app is free to download, with ads and in-app purchases, and it has been on Google Play since May 2012, so it is not a new experiment.

What appeals to me here is the breadth of coverage the developer describes: things to do around town, sports from high school up to the pros, and the kind of storytelling a local paper does when it knows its readers. The app also carries national material through the eNewspaper, which includes USA TODAY and more than 200 local editions. For someone who wants shore-area news without juggling several sources, that combination is the main draw.

The install base sits at over 50,000, and the average rating is 3.2 from 356 ratings. That is a modest score, worth keeping in mind if you are weighing the app against another way of reading the same paper.

Following the news that matters in your town

The core of the app is the reporting itself. You get access to the paper's in-depth journalism, which the developer frames as everything from community events to high school and professional sports. That is a wide net, and it means the app is less about one beat and more about the daily mix a local reader expects.

Notifications are the part I would lean on most. The app sends breaking news, sports scores and weather alerts in real time, and you can tailor those alerts to your interests. For anyone who wants to know about a storm warning or a final score without opening the app, that is the feature that justifies a spot on the home screen.

The reading experience is described as streamlined and fast-loading, which matters when you are skimming stories on a phone. Photos and video are treated as first-class content rather than afterthoughts, so the app should feel closer to a magazine than a plain text feed.

Reading the paper, saving stories and going offline

The eNewspaper is the feature that sets this apart from a generic news reader. If you like the layout and completeness of a printed paper, this is the closest thing to it on a mobile device.

For everyday reading, the app lets you save favorite stories, adjust text size, switch to night mode and read offline. Those are small conveniences, but together they cover the situations where a news app usually frustrates people: small type, a bright screen at night, and a spotty connection. I would expect the offline option to be the one readers value most on trips or in areas with weak signal.

The eNewspaper and the article feed serve different moods. One is for browsing the day's edition; the other is for catching up on a specific story. Having both in one app is a sensible arrangement for a household that already subscribes to the paper.

What you get for free, and what a subscription adds

Anyone can install it at no cost and read a limited number of articles free each month. Beyond that sampling, a subscription is how the full journalism is unlocked.

Subscriptions are handled through your Google Play account and are charged when you confirm the purchase. Unless you cancel through your Google Play settings at least a day before the period ends, they renew on their own. That is standard store billing, and it means the cancelation window is worth noting before you sign up.

Ads are present in the app, and in-app purchases are offered. The app also carries a content rating of Everyone 10+, which is typical for a general news product.

Getting set up and keeping it current

There is not much to set up. You download the app, and the free sampling of articles is available to everyone. If you want the full range of journalism, you subscribe through Google Play. The developer points to a Help Center and to subscription support inside the app's settings for billing questions, which is where I would look first if a charge needs sorting out.

The app was last updated on September 25, 2026, and the notes for that release mention bug fixes and stability improvements. That is a routine maintenance update rather than a feature drop, but it signals the app is still being looked after.

The eNewspaper is explicitly described as accessible on mobile devices. If you already read the print edition, the digital version is the natural companion rather than a replacement.

Who will get the most from this app

This app is for readers with a real stake in the Asbury Park area. If you follow local government, school sports, community events or the shore economy, the coverage is aimed at you. The high school-to-pros sports range and the things-to-do coverage suggest a reader who wants both serious reporting and a sense of what is happening this weekend.

It also suits people who want the paper's presentation, not just its headlines. The eNewspaper, the photography and the video are all part of the pitch, and readers who enjoy that format will get more out of the app than someone who only wants a quick headline scan.

The 3.2 average rating suggests the experience has not pleased everyone, and the free sampling means you can judge the journalism before committing to a subscription. If the local coverage is what you are after, the app is the most direct way to get it on Android.

A local news app worth trying for shore readers

The Asbury Park Press app does one job well: it puts the paper's local journalism, photography, video and eNewspaper on your phone. The notification system for breaking news, scores and weather is the feature I would use most, and the ability to save stories, resize text, use night mode and read offline covers the practical side of mobile reading.

The trade-offs are clear. There are ads, in-app purchases and a monthly free-article limit before a subscription is needed, and the subscription renews automatically unless you cancel in time. The 3.2 rating is a reminder that not every reader has been satisfied.

If you live in the Asbury Park area and want a single app for local news, this is a reasonable place to start, especially since the free sampling lets you test the coverage first.

What's new in version 8.13.2

• This update includes bug fixes and stability improvements.