Post Star

Review by eFreeware

Most news apps try to be everything to everyone. Post Star does the opposite: it is built around one region, the Glens Falls area, and the paper behind it. That focus is the most distinctive thing about it, and it is also the best reason to install it. If that corner of upstate New York is home, or was once home, the app is a direct line to it.

The developer, Lee Enterprises, describes it as a way to follow local teams, community issues and the wider picture beyond the area. Topics include politics, opinion, sports, entertainment, obituaries and news. That is a traditional newspaper mix delivered through a phone, and the app is free to download with ads and in-app purchases attached.

What reading it is actually like

The core of the app is a continually updating feed of stories from the paper. You move through it by swiping up and down for the next item and left and right to move between stories, which the developer presents as the quick way to see everything current. A banner at the top flags breaking news so you know when something is developing as you open the app.

Stories are not limited to text. The developer lists photography, video updates and podcasts alongside written pieces, so a report can arrive as something to look at or listen to rather than read. There is also a play button on articles that reads them aloud, which is the feature I would reach for first on a long drive or while doing something with my hands.

Two reading modes are offered. The standard news feed is the default way in, while the E-edition presents the paper in its page form for readers who prefer that layout. The app also lets you adjust text size in your profile settings, a small thing that matters a great deal if you read on a phone for any length of time.

Making the feed yours

Personalization is handled through a feature the developer calls Your Stories, where you pick the local topics that matter to you and the app shapes what you see around them. It is a sensible approach for a regional paper, because the audience is not one bloc: some readers want high school sports, others want town politics, and both can get what they came for.

Notifications go further. You can switch on alerts for news, sports and weather, and you can follow individual writers so that a notification arrives whenever one of them publishes. For readers who have a favorite columnist or beat reporter, that follow option is the closest thing here to a personal subscription to one person's work.

Two smaller tools round out the reading experience. Bookmarking saves a story for later, which is useful when a longer piece turns up while you have two minutes to spare. Weather sits in the same app, with hourly and 10-day forecasts and frequent video updates, so checking conditions does not mean opening a second app.

Subscriptions, ads and what the free download covers

The app is free to download, and a subscription gives unlimited access. Subscribers can also upgrade to News+, described as a premium ad-free experience with faster-loading pages and uninterrupted reading. Google Pay is accepted for payment.

The free version carries ads, and in-app purchases are part of the package. If you only dip into the app now and then, the free download is the natural starting point. If it becomes your main source for local news, the paid tier is the version the developer is steering readers toward.

Worth noting for anyone weighing it up: the app was released in January 2011 and last updated on July 1, 2026, so this is a long-running product rather than a new experiment. Its average rating sits at 3.0 from 294 ratings, with more than 10,000 installs.

A regional paper in your pocket

This is not a general news app and does not pretend to be. Its value is tied to the Glens Falls area and the reporting The Post-Star does there, and that is exactly the audience it serves: people who live in the region, people who grew up there and moved away, and anyone with a stake in local schools, teams, businesses or government.

For that reader, the combination of topic selection, author follows, bookmarks and audio playback covers the ways most people actually keep up with a hometown paper. The weather section and the E-edition add two more reasons to open it rather than a browser. Judged as a local news product, the feature set is broad and the focus is clear.

The case for installing it

If the Glens Falls area is your community, Post Star is a straightforward install: free, built around one paper's reporting, and equipped with the tools that make a news app pleasant to use daily. The topic personalization, alerts and follow-a-writer option mean you can keep the feed close to what you care about instead of scrolling past everything else.

Expect the coverage to stay within the paper's patch. Readers outside that region will find little here for them. For everyone else, it is the local paper, in a form you can carry.