5 New Jersey towns offer beach badge sales through smartphones

For the first time five New Jersey towns are letting people purchase beach badges with their smartphones. 

Manasquan, Seaside Heights, Sea Isle City, Longport and Ventnor are the first towns to offer beach badge sales through the digital pass mobile app Viply.

Sea Isle City chief financial officer Paula Doll told The Press of Atlantic City people may not have cash, credit cards or checkbooks in their beach bags, but they’ll have their phones. She said the app also gives people the chance to purchase beach beaches now at preseason, discounted prices instead of the full price after the season starts.

Currently the app only works with iPhone 4S and newer versions. John Masterson, the co-founder and chief executive officer, said an Android version of Viply is in the works. He said it will be released in late June. Viply users will see a surcharge of about three to four percent on all badge sales. Viply is a Manasquan, NJ based company.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report. Updated with Android-release information.