Launches

The Free Press launches new mobile app on Pugpig Bolt

The Free Press launches a new mobile app on Pugpig Bolt. Packed with rich features to drive subscriber engagement, the app breaks ground as the one of the first Bolt apps to integrate with Substack and leverage our new “External Linking” capability.

21st July 2025

Fast-growing digital media powerhouse The Free Press has launched its brand-new mobile app on Pugpig Bolt.The launch marks a major leap forward in their mission to grow brand awareness and drive engagement with their subscribers.

The app is available to both free and paid subscribers, and promotes paid subscriber growth through a variety of paywall mechanisms. Once subscribed, users can navigate across the latest stories, opinion, video and podcasts. The app features a whole host of native features like article saving, commenting, and event access – all of which help encourage a vibrant subscriber community.

The app has been thoughtfully designed to seamlessly reflect the look and feel of their website, maintaining their striking visual identity cross-platform. The dynamic “Discover” tab allows users to dive into curated content timelines by topic or column, such as US Politics or Weekend Culture.

It’s also home to a powerful search function with intuitive filtering for easy content discoverability. The “Watch” section delivers an immersive hub of video and podcast content, and text-to-audio makes it easier than ever for users to consume articles anytime, anywhere.

The app takes full advantage of Pugpig Bolt’s new “External Linking” feature, enabling users to subscribe via The Free Press website and transition seamlessly into the app – already logged in. Combined with “Magic Links” for effortless, email-based registration, the result is a frictionless user journey designed to boost engagement and drive subscriptions.

Notably, this marks the first Pugpig – Substack integration, laying the infrastructure for Substack publishers to launch Pugpig-powered apps with minimal effort.

The app is available to download on both iOS and Android app stores – take a look!