Report updated May 17, 2026
The Standard-Times
For local community members and news readers seeking both regional coverage and access to the broader USA TODAY network.
The Standard-Times is a challenged news app that is free with in-app purchases. With a 4.1/5 rating from 344 reviews, it faces significant user friction. Users particularly appreciate local news coverage provides residents with relevant information about their community and surroundings, though subscription authentication failures prevent users from accessing paid content after logging into the app remains a common concern.
What is The Standard-Times?
The Standard-Times is a regional news app for local community members, offering in-depth journalism and eNewspaper access on iOS and Android.
Users hire this app to stay informed about local happenings and regional sports that national aggregators miss, relying on the print-to-digital bridge for community-specific context.
Current Momentum
v8.9
- Shipped stability improvements in latest release.
- Entered US grossing charts at #196.
Active Nemesis
NewsBreak: Local News & Alerts
By Particle Media
Other Rivals
7-Day Rank Pulse 🇺🇸
NewsNo ranking data
Rating Pulse 🇺🇸
Recent User Mood
What makes this app unique?
What Does It Look Like?
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What Are The Key Features?
Digital replica of the print edition accessible on mobile devices
Push alerts for breaking news, sports scores, and weather tailored to user interests
Download stories for access without an active internet connection
How much does it cost?
- Free sampling of articles
- Subscription for full content and eNewspaper
Freemium model uses a metered paywall to capture casual readers while gating full digital and print-replica access behind recurring subscriptions.
Who Built It?
Gannett
Providing hyper-local news and sports coverage to US communities through digital-first newspaper replicas and real-time reporting.
Portfolio
13
Apps
What other apps does Gannett make?
Explore the full Gannett report
Portfolio breakdown, audience, momentum, and every app published by Gannett.
What do users think recently?
Medium confidence · Latest 60 of 72 total reviews analyzed · Based on 72 reviews. Signal may be noisy.
How did the latest release land?
What is the recent mood?
Recent user voice shows a frustrated sentiment. Users appreciate local news coverage provides residents with relevant information about their community and surroundings, but report subscription authentication failures prevent users from accessing paid content after logging into the app.
What Users Love
What Frustrates Users
What Users Want
View the full user-sentiment analysis
Mood gauge, ratings & review-volume history, every praise / complaint / request, and sentiment over time.
What is the competitive landscape for The Standard-Times?
How's The News Market?
How does it evolve in the News market?
The Standard-Times holds a #196 grossing rank in the US News & Magazines category, but the 0.7-star rating gap between iOS and Android platforms signals inconsistent quality control across the user base.
Rank progression
1 active ranking tracked — 30-day window
Which niche is The Standard-Times in?
to stay informed on local current events
Explore the full Local News Readers niche
Every app in this space — 187 tracked, the niche's live rankings, and Marlvel's editorial take on the job-to-be-done.
The rivals identified
Nemeses(1)
This app competes directly for the same regional news audience by offering a similar digital-first newspaper experience focused on local community journalism.
Contenders(4)
Competes for local engagement by providing a focused, accessible platform for regional news updates.
A regional news app that competes for the same local audience by providing a streamlined mobile-first news experience.
Competes for the same local news market share by emphasizing 24/7 coverage and digital integration of regional reporting.
A regional news competitor that captures local readership through a focus on community-specific reporting and mobile accessibility.
Same space(3)
A large-scale news platform that competes for the same digital reader base through subscription-based access.
Competes for local news attention by combining traditional reporting with interactive user-submission features.
A high-scale news competitor that leverages broadcast brand power and 24/7 live streaming to capture local attention.
Compare The Standard-Times against every rival
All rivals in one side-by-side table — identity, store metrics, ratings & sentiment, and strategic intel — plus a head-to-head page for each.
The outtake for The Standard-Times
Strengths to defend, gaps to attack
Core Strengths
- Authoritative local journalism brand
- Bundled access to 200+ regional publications
- Established print-to-digital conversion path
Critical Frictions
- High-frequency subscription authentication failures
- Frequent application crashes
- Poor tablet layout optimization
Growth Levers
- Implement hyper-local push alerts
- Integrate map-based emergency utility
- Expand offline reading features
Market Threats
- NewsBreak’s algorithmic content velocity
- Watch Duty’s utility-first disruption
- Rising user churn from login friction
What are the next best moves?
Ship authentication fix because login loops are the #1 churn driver → stabilize subscriber retention.
Subscription authentication failures are the top-cited complaint in recent reviews.
Trade-off: Postpone the UI refresh for the tablet layout.
Audit crash logs because scrolling-related crashes disrupt the daily habit → increase session duration.
Frequent application crashes are a high-frequency complaint theme.
Trade-off: Pause the development of new customization features.
A counter-intuitive read
The app's #196 grossing rank is a liability, as it signals monetization traction that the current unstable infrastructure cannot support, creating a high risk of mass refund requests.
Feature Gaps vs Competitors
- Hyper-local algorithmic feed (available in NewsBreak but missing here)
- Map-based emergency tracking (available in Watch Duty but missing here)
Key Takeaways
The Standard-Times retains a loyal local audience through unique regional coverage, but technical instability and authentication failures actively erode the subscriber base, so the product team must prioritize stability over new features to prevent further churn.
Where Is It Heading?
Declining
Local news apps are increasingly losing share to hyper-local aggregators that prioritize algorithmic utility over manual editorial curation. The Standard-Times remains exposed to this shift because its current technical debt prevents it from delivering the reliable, real-time experience that modern news readers demand.
Persistent subscription authentication failures in the latest version prevent paid access, which directly accelerates subscriber churn and negative sentiment.
Frequent crashes during article scrolling erode the daily reading habit, which compounds the rating gap between iOS and Android platforms.