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The Athletic: Sports News App Complaints & User Negative Comments 2024
The Athletic: Sports News app received 91 complaints, negative comments and reviews by users. Have you ever had a bad experience using The Athletic: Sports News? Can you share your negative thoughts about the athletic: sports news?
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The Athletic: Sports News for Negative User Reviews
✓ Good Content, Awful AppAs all subscribers to The Athletic know, the content is good and sometimes great but the app is ridiculously bad. There are so many bugs and navigation issues and even problems with customising the reading experience. Don’t even get me started on the comments section which is the worst implementation I’ve ever seen. All of this really spoils my enjoyment of the articles. Also reporting these issues doesn’t help as their IT support is less than useless. I think I’m going to try accessing it through their website in the future. Surely they can’t mess that up too? 1 star for the app. 4 stars for content. 2½ stars overall..Version: 13.11.1
✓ DarrylUnfortunately many of the recent updates have made the app progressively worse..Version: 11.0.6
✓ WokeBeen a subscriber since the beginning. Lately I’ve become increasingly alarmed at the writers use of unnecessary personal opinion and judgement. I am only one person but I assure you that I will cancel my subscription if it continues. Today it is Trevor Bauer being accused of harassing women online and grouping him with managers recently punished for actual sexual harassment. It baffles me that this woman thinks she is justified in judging a person’s character whom she has clearly never met. It’s sad and very offensive- I don’t need writers to tell me who is socially acceptable. Bauer has done many good things for women, including hiring a female as his agent and promoting the first woman playing college baseball. He donates to charity but your writers would rather focus on his “offensive” tweets. Everyone who disagrees with these people are “offensive” nowadays- enough is enough. You know it too because you are sure quick to shut down comments on these articles. If you can’t allow comments perhaps you should reconsider publishing it..Version: 11.9.0
✓ Good for articles, not much elseI enjoy several columnists on here but navigating otherwise is not great. I like a single overall front page with the top stories in all sports, regardless if I follow that sport or league. Still haven’t found a place to see that. With help from support a while back, I found where the standings are but it is annoying how far deep you have to dig to get to them. First you have to go to scores, then scroll over among your favorites to pick your league, then choose standings. Also, here in baseball playoff time there is no indication of where a series is and who is leading, it only shows the scores. I’m basically done with baseball for the year because i hate all teams that remain but I like to see who has the series lead while I’m on here looking at other stuff. I have to leave and go elsewhere so if it is on here, it’s too hard to find. After this trial is over I’ll have to justify if it’s worth full price for the few people I really like but as a paid total sports source, there are other free choices I’ll lean on..Version: 12.8.0
✓ Like content, app not good.Content good but have to log in every time I use the app. Gets annoying..Version: 13.24.0
✓ The app is not the same anymoreSince the layout change about a year ago the UI of the app has been terrible and I have had countless problems from slow performance, articles not showing up fully, and now my following teams list keeps resetting every 2 minutes. I was in love with The Athletic and it’s content back in 2020 but it is such a poor service now..Version: 13.21.0
✓ Bait and switchDon’t buy a long term (12 month subscription)! I purchased a year long subscription several months ago because the Athletic had quality coverage of my favorite team, and last month they seemingly randomly eliminated this beat to cut costs (interest in said team is currently higher than it’s been in the history of the athletic). The national pundits for the Athletic also are pretty awful, and I have no use for boring, arrogant, national sports reporting. I no longer have any value for this subscription and The Athletic won’t give a prorated refund for any reason, and their customer support is literally non existent except for some useless bots. Feel like I just got ripped off, and now have 9 months left on a subscription I don’t want. The Athletic seems to have gone downhill fast after it’s acquisition, and they are just trying to cut costs at the expense of quality..Version: 13.20.0
✓ Can’t post comments (I’ve paid the last 2 yrs)!!!Really like the articles (NFL & MLB) but, it seems their quality is way down from 2+ yrs ago. Also, we finally got an Astros writer & now we have no Texans main writer. But what’s even worse, is that I think I got “banned/flagged” for a comment I made 2+ yrs ago (it wasn’t terrible) because since then, I’ve been blocked out. The absolute WORST thing is that I’ve emailed The Athletic 5+ times & never even got a single response. I’m a paying customer, which should either allow me to post comments or at very least, tell me via email/phone/text, why I can’t. I rank the: Writing & article quality in the 7.5-9 range (out of 10). Customer service is 0/10. Not having a dedicated writer for my local NFL team is 1/10. And as Houston is the 4th largest city in the USA (& diehard about football), not having a Texans’ writer is either inexcusable negligence or deliberately being done (ex: since the NY Times owns The Athletic & NYC sports fans HATE the Houston Teams, we get minimal coverage). Please email me & help me get my “ability to post comments” problem fixed..Version: 13.46.0
✓ Horrible horrible appI registered for a free trial through Optus, and have started to be charged. I don’t use the app so I wanted to cancel my subscription. There is no way I can cancel, the app help page keeps telling me to go to a certain setting page that doesn’t even exist! Nightmare!.Version: 13.5.0
✓ Always wanting more and more timely reportingI’ve subscribed to The Athletic for three years now. I find myself wishing there was more reporting on the teams I follow, and more timely reporting. Example: I live in Toronto and follow the Blue Jays. There is just one writer (McGrath) that writs about the Jays and after each game I would like to read an analysis of the game…but there never is one. There are regular articles about higher level issues but never about the day to day. It might be because there is just one writer covering the team. In short…for me to continue paying for the Athletic I need more and more timely coverage of all Toronto teams (Leafs coverage is better, but Jays and Raptors leaves me wanting more)..Version: 13.30.1
✓ SVP du respect!Dans un contexte de coupure salariale, que vous ayez choisi d’abolir le seul journaliste francophone qui pouvait traduire et publier des textes en français pour l’Athlétique Montréal est purement et simplement outrancier. Je suis bilingue et est intéressé au contenu de votre plateforme, mais je décide de me désabonner par conviction. L’offre de service était différente et motivante au commencement, malheureusement votre gestion et ses défaut ont édulcoré votre produit. Je suis aussi déçu d’avoir souscrit à un abonnement annuel plus onéreux que vos promotions pour encourager les approches journalistiques de fond. Très triste que l’aventure s’arrête ici avec le départ de Marc-Antoine Godin..Version: 13.26.0
✓ App is not what it used to beBad user experience, recently. I keep having to re-enter the teams im following. The app keeps dropping them. And the ads are infuriating. I used to love the athletic. Now it feels like a struggle..Version: 13.21.0
✓ Woke sports journalism is brutal than main stream media’s corrupt propaganda.See subject line..Version: 13.32.0
✓ Excellent Content, app needs a tweak or two!As a Leeds United fan I initially subscribed to follow the excellent writing of Phil Hay. 13 months on and I have thoroughly enjoyed the more in-depth articles The Athletic make room for. Along with the Leeds United content I have found great articles from fantastic journalists throughout the world of Association Football as well as being able to dip in and learn more about its American cousin (thrice removed). My only gripe would be a recent problem. The podcasts are a much welcome and valued addition to the platform. However, I find if i stop listening part way through an episode. The next time I return to it, it starts from the beginning. It didn’t used to do this until 2/3 updates ago. Fixing this would bump the rating up to 5*..Version: 11.0.6
✓ Great product, app could be worked onWhilst the standard of journalism you get is incredibly high quality, the current app does seem a bit clunky in terms of managing your account. Far as I can see, there’s no option to manage payment options. Managing Subscriptions takes you back to a web page which is also short of important details. For instance, I’ve got an issue at the mo where I can see in Account that I’ve an active subscription, but am getting a paywall when trying to read anything today. I’m sure the support team will help me sort it out, no biggie, but I cannot see anywhere to check which payment method is set-up and potentially update that if there’s been an issue taking payment this month. So I’m stuck waiting for them to get back to me instead of being able to (maybe) sort it out myself today, and spend a lazy afternoon reading articles like I wanted to. I’m sure it’ll be better with time, but the app seems a little short of all those nuts and bolts right now..Version: 11.2.1
✓ No wonderYou wonder how a company can burn cash literally, and give you what they do. Big teams with no actual beat writers. When the Cardinals (the Cards for heavens sakes) went forever without regular coverage, we finally get a writer and we get one with no history with the team and is trying as hard as possible to move on to something else. I know, we checked a box instead of picking the best applicant. Kudos. For every article I actually want to read, “my feed” has 5-6 I’d never consider clicking on. You should get to choose topics, teams and leagues that populates MY FEED. It’s different if I’m clicking on top stories, which have plenty of bit im quite dubious pull eyeballs. Maybe my ex-wife gobbles up WNBA stories but there’s absolutely zero reason one should be on my page. You’re welcome to read all the Womens Premier League, NWSL, Womens hockey league, or WNBA draft coverage, but it’s not my thing. Stop cramming it at me. Give us the ability to curate our own feeds, at least before the NYT starts making the site over..Version: 13.0.1
✓ Not what it used to beStill my go-to sports site. Mostly subscribed because of DGB, Duhatschek, Habs coverage & ability to jump into local coverage for cities in (primarily) NHL, NBA. The Athletic seemed to have hired the best local writers for their teams. The 1st 3 still great but Mtl site had 4 writers now 1 (Basu is excellent) & 3/4(?) of the teams no longer have a beat writer. This site is 25% of what appealed to me when I subscribed..Version: 13.36.0
✓ Adverts…!!!I’m not one for reviews but I have to say something about this. The content on the Athletic is great and worth the subscription, no complaints there. BUT, for a premium PAID service, to still have adverts breaking up articles every couple of paragraphs is absolutely infuriating for me. I can put up with that as the price paid for reading random free articles online, but to be paying decent money and still have to have my attention diverted constantly while trying to read something does my head in. If anyone from the Athletic is reading this, please pay it some attention. It’s enough to put me off renewing and I’m sure I’m not the only one..Version: 13.17.0
✓ CommentsAP is great, concept of The Athletic is interesting. I would like to be able to comment independent of any social media accounts..Version: 13.29.1
✓ OverhypedI got 6 months free trial, but I hardly used one. Many articles are too political, most articles are too long, and not using a lot of media within the articles. I only read European football articles and my review is based on that..Version: 13.5.0
✓ Lacks voooom- terrible having ads when you’re already a subscriber! Ruins the reading experience - annoying to navigate - need a simple news round up service for each sport - articles are too long and predictable.Version: 13.23.3
✓ Subscription renewalImagine my shock when after turning off the auto-renewal option for my subscription, my credit card was still billed. Realizing this must have been some sort of technical glitch, I reached out to support for assistance. The automated response was what you would typically expect for this type of issue. Having now paid for another year’s subscription, I figured I’d read some fine journalism this morning. I perused the content of the Athletic and settled on a fine article. Imagine the shock when after the first paragraph receiving the “ subscribe to continue reading” message. So I’ve paid but don’t get access to the content, PERFECT! I followed the steps which direct me to the settings page. The message clearly shows the iOS subscription cancellation on Feb 10,2024, the program has blocked my access( acknowledging the cancellation of the subscription)yet the billing department didn’t get the memo. It shouldn’t be this difficult. It’s disappointing to have to write a review to get someone to actually pay attention. Maybe this will help get the issue resolved but I doubt it. I’m sure there will just be another lazy attempt at customer “service”..Version: 13.46.0
✓ Great content, lousy design updateThe content from The Athletic is fantastic. However, the latest update took a good design and made it worse. The whole scroll bar concept is just not good design. A horizontal scroll bar isn’t easy to use to begin with, and The Athletic’s implementation of it makes it even worse. On an iPhone, the scroll bar is too small, making it difficult to use. If you follow multiple sports from the same college (e.g., football and basketball) you can no longer tell which button is for which sport. The sport(s) each author writes about is not shown, like it used to be in the old left nav list. And it appears the gray color used for inactive buttons (both in the scroll bar and the footer) was made darker, making it more difficult to read on the black background. Love the content itself, but this new design was a big step backwards and makes the app more difficult to use..Version: 10.0.0
✓ Widgets not workingThe widgets don’t update when I add it to my homepage. Otherwise The Athletic is awesome..Version: 13.30.1
✓ Ads are annoyingA pop-up that is asking for me to rate the app while I’m in the middle of reading an article is annoying enough, but at least it could potentially lead to an improved experience. What was far more annoying was accidentally clicking on an ad as I was scrolling through the article I was reading. Or the very fact that these ads that are filling my article have no relevance to me whatsoever. The Athletic is a paid subscription site, which I pay for to get away from the copious amounts of ads experienced on other platforms. What does it say about The Athletic that my review hasn’t even touched on the actual product that the app is a vehicle of? Do I enjoy the content and writing on The Athletic? Yes. But ESPN has some great writers, and I am able to access their content for free or through a subscription that affords me the ability to watch more content than I could ever want. While the actual product that The Athletic is delivering is good, there is room for improvement on the platform overall. The primary culprits for the lessened user experience are the ads.Version: 13.14.0
✓ App needs some workArticles take forever to load, no notifications for scores in matches, no locked screen live scores. For a paid subscription this is very poor. The writers are very good when the articles do load however..Version: 13.27.0
✓ DisappointedI know it’s my responsibility to check on automatic subscriptions I feel there should be a notice before the payment..Version: 13.32.0
✓ Good content, lame appIf you’re trying to find an article that you saw somewhere, it’s amazing that, even if you type in the exact title, it will almost certainly not come up, and just show whatever the latest article that has one of the words you typed in it somewhere.Version: 13.21.0
✓ Region lockedFirst up, the content is great. Talented writers who cover sport from a variety of angles rather than relying on a steady drip-feed of gossip and boring match reports. That's not my issue. What is very frustrating with The Athletic, and the latest update introducing 'breaking news' highlights this more than anything, is that it relies on your device region settings to promote and highlight content rather than allowing you to set it yourself. What this means is if you are UK based, but want US sporting news you must change your region settings at the device/iOS level to get the content you're paying for. The knock-on impact this has on dozens of other apps on your device makes this solution highly impractical (if not completely useless). Part of the original appeal of The Athletic was that you were able to curate your feed, so you only got the stories you cared about (from individual writer to teams and leagues). With every update (the most recent more than any other) they move away from this ethos and closer to being just like any other sports media company telling its users what they should be seeing and reading rather than giving them the choice. It's worth mentioning that the ESPN app allows you to set region in-app and it works fine demonstrating it's perfectly possible..Version: 11.0.5
✓ There have been ads ever since ownership changed.Pay $74 CAD/yr for a subscription to still have an experience *with ads*. This is why I cancelled. The writers and articles are excellent, but the founders sold out (good for them) to the New York Times Co. for $550,000,000 in cash, and now the articles are interrupted by ads so stories read like a recipe on the internet. Such a disappointment. The Athletic experience was so much better without the ads..Version: 13.24.0
✓ Content subject to changeHad I written this review a few months ago it would have been 5 stars. However, shortly after my annual subscription renewed the Athletic slashed their coverage of my football team down to the bare minimum, and I no longer receive the level of coverage that I was paying for. Having raised this with the Athletic they refused to refund me for the year, despite me pointing out that had I known they were planning to cut their coverage down I would not have renewed. So beware, if you enjoy a lot of different sports content then this is a great app, with some wonderful writers and strong content pipeline. But if you’re subscribing for one particular team or sport and they decide to cut their coverage so you no longer get what you thought you were paying for, then you’re out of luck..Version: 13.32.0
✓ Podcast update is not goodThe addition of podcasts is great but the implementation is terrible. Having to change speed for each released podcast is bad, the layout is also not intuitive. Hope a new update is coming..Version: 7.7.6
✓ Money grabShould not cost any money. You can get all the same features for free on Bleacher Report.Version: 8.1.13
✓ AddsI’m paying for this app and they felt the need to include adds. Unsubscribed.Version: 13.20.2
✓ Unwanted notificationsIn the past week the app has started sending me dozens of Football Manager story notifications every single day. I have zero interest in this and there is no way in the notifications settings to turn it off. You clearly have a sponsorship deal with them and are trying to push the sponsored content hard. But it’s a good way to get your app deleted and subscription cancelled..Version: 13.36.0
✓ No access but they still charge monthly fees!Took the Athletic up on a cut price trial. I was never able to get access or able to cancel the subscription. Contacted The Athletic, they said it was not their issue as I must have signed up through Apple. Contacted Apple, no subscription their. No subscription under Apple ID, but yet monthly fee still being charged. As no resolution and fee still being charged, I think I will have to request new bank cards (CVC) to stop the charge. Well played ‘The Athletic’..Version: 13.42.0
✓ Just a load of long winding articles, no live sports updates or coverage at all.For me the Athletic is boring and full of very long articles, where you need to invest time and patience to read them. I’m a guy with a good attention span who can watch, play and read something for many hours but only if the content is enticing and worth my time with a worthy payoff, but unfortunately the Athletic doesn’t have it. The comment sections are also full of the pretentious snooty type (‘ooh look at me I’m paying for the Athletic so it gives me the automatic right to be a complete nonce’ etc). The biggest downer is the sheer lack of live coverage or updates. No live scores, no live update pages or commentary, and articles about some events only show up days after the events have finished..Version: 13.13.2
✓ Fell off hardWas good from 2019-2021. They got rid of lots of local writers which was literally the point of their coverage. Now they just elitist ESPN..Version: 13.30.1
✓ PoorThe content on THE Athletic is very limited. For my team there is a thread fur each gave the ask the experts opionion. You are cv like cry if he comments on anything for the team is out. Then he lists the team abd barely adds anything else. At the end of the game you are lucky if you see one comment. Al ost always it states the obvious. There is usually about one article by him per week. Some of those are good but many state the obvious. I have found very few other good articles that I couldn’t get on the internet. For example I didn’t get anything useful or up to date in the transfer windows. I bought a half price subscription last year and stupidly didn’t cancel, so have paid the full rate of £60 for the next year. What we get is not worth. £10. Buyer beware..Version: 11.7.1
✓ Redirect to App From TwitterYou should make it so your app when hyperlinked can give the option to automatically go to the app instead of the browser. I am never logged in on the browser and forget my password all the time. This is very annoying..Version: 13.27.0
✓ Getting worse and worse with timeReally rated and enjoyed the Athletic but the constant miss alignment of membership - not appearing to know I have a subscription, asking me to renew when I renewed in October- means you can’t interact with message pages and see half the stories. That said - when it does work the incessant Notifications are making the whole Athletic experience less enjoyable .Wish I could get money back for reminder of subscription especially as half the time I’m treated as if I am not a subscriber but paid up front. Can’t see me renewing again, shame but the membership alignment really needs sorting but I’m just one unfortunate subscriber……until October !.Version: 12.19.0
✓ Love the Content but App is frustratingLove what the Athletic is doing, and great content and articles, so was very excited to subscribe and download the App. However, every time I click on the link to my team in the top bar the app just closes and spits me out. Maybe there is a fix, I’m there either is or will be soon, but for now I’m extremely frustrated. If I’m going to enjoy my subscription, for now at least I suspect I will have to do it outside the app. Same error happening on both my phone and iPad. Unless of course I’m doing something wrong?.Version: 11.10.1
✓ Great articles, awful appThe Athletic is full of fantastic articles that are well worth the price of admission, however actually finding them is getting harder and harder with every iteration of the app that comes out. The UI is glitchy and hard to navigate, and my feed is constantly full of articles I’ve already read or have little interest in reading. If you’re halfway through reading an article and need to go out of the app or lock your phone for any reason, there seems to be a 50/50 chance you’ll just have a blank screen when you go back into it. You then have to back out to the main feed with no guarantee you’ll be able to find it again. Overall a very frustrating experience, especially as the app used to be significantly better and more functional..Version: 13.4.0
✓ App is brokenUpdated the app and now my feed is messed up. The headlines are all cut off by the article below it. It’s like the boxes all shrank but the font didn’t. Can’t explain it very well. Tried uninstalling and reinstalling, same problem. Can’t open anything on my feed because of this. Help!.Version: 7.7.5
✓ Cancelled subscription yet still get chargedI have had a terrible time getting out of the subscription and continue to get charged by The Athletic. Have no access to site yet charged monthly. I have contacted the bank and nothing has changed. Not worth the hassle.Version: 13.16.1
✓ Bevare!Ya, like others, I too was charged a monthly sub fee AFTER a cancellation of their trial. It took me four months to notice, no receipts were issued. Upon being challenged, I was refunded immediately, however without apology or explanation, which makes me think this is a deliberate business strategy. I have filed a complaint with the ACCC. It seems the Athletic is very, uh, athletic at thievery. Gold medal lads!.Version: 13.1.0
✓ Needs some fixing (articles cut off)The writing is excellent, but the app is mediocre if only because articles are regularly cut off for some reason & do not reset even when I exit out of the app or refresh the page..Version: 13.24.0
✓ CrashThis app used to be just fine, but now it crashes after being open for 30 seconds..Version: 13.23.2
✓ Ads are terribleThe ads are horrible. Some are low quality and the price hasn’t decreased since they brought them in.Version: 13.20.2
✓ Basically a ScamThe “manage subscription” link never works so you simply cannot cancel the auto-renewal when a free trial ends. Will need to call my CC company to have them block the payment..Version: 12.6.3
✓ TrashEven sportsnet is free to read sports articles. There are many comparable apps that done require any paid subscription..Version: 8.6.6
✓ Terrible new layoutThe ruined the app by adding ads. The app looks cheap now and ruins my enjoyments. I’ll Be canceling my membership..Version: 13.20.2
✓ Ads despite premium subscriptionI paid for a premium subscription yet I’m shown ads..Version: 13.21.0
✓ Glitchy app. Dreadful customer serviceHave had the app for a few years now. Generally been pleased though recently have felt that quality has suffered in the name of quantity. Earlier this year it started glitching. Couldn’t post comments. Contacted customer services. They told me to reinstall. Now can’t get back in at all. Have tried everything they suggested but no joy. Have had enough so I told them I wanted to cancel and asked for a refund for the unexpired part of the year. They told me to get stuffed but “have a nice day”. So they’ve got my money but I can’t get in. And they are still keeping my money. Disgraceful..Version: 13.37.0
✓ Great writing, poor appThis is the best sports writing you will find but it is really let down by the app, especially the one for the IPAD which does not use the extra space to present news in an easy to find format. I no longer have the app installed on my devices and use the web page due to the formatting being much better. Also, trying to find podcasts to listen to whilst driving is an almost impossible task so I find myself listening to the Athletic’s podcasts on different apps. Grab a subscription but give the app a miss and use the web version, it’s much better despite missing out of notifications..Version: 11.14
✓ I thought I would see better articlesI can only rate this 3 stars. I thought I would see more exclusive articles. I am subscriber and some of the writers are truly great like Tom Reed. It’s great to see Jayson Stark has joined The Athletic. There are some really talented writers and that’s why I will renewal my subscription. The overall roster is good but not great. I still get emails about Chicago sports yet I’m in the Ohio market. I don’t understand that. My hope is the Athletic expands into the mid size markets and covers all levels of sports and when that happens the Athletic will truly become a great app. The Athletic customer service support tries to be helpful but still needs to strive for better service. Renewing my subscription has become more of an ordeal than necessary. I would suggest contacting a customer at least 2 weeks in advance to make the process smoother. I look forward to another year of the Athletic and watching and hoping for growth and improvements..Version: 6.9
✓ Cancelling subscriptionSports is a great distraction from everyday life and the politics that go with it. It’s entertainment. Unfortunately athletes and the media want to wreck that for the fans that pay their salaries by combining politics and sports. I don’t find that entertaining. I’m cancelling my subscription. I’ll do more outdoor activities instead. Win win. Thank you The Athletic..Version: 10.5.0
✓ Great app, but podcast functionality needs workI love the writing, sports coverage and the content of the podcasts, but the podcast playing functionality is lacking. It has no CarPlay support even though listening to podcasts during a commute is very common. It requires too many taps to get to a favorite podcast (one must scroll to the bottom of the podcasts page to even see one’s favorited podcasts). This work is fine while walking or standing still, but while behind the wheel it is prohibitive as it requires attention and precision on something other than driving. Finally, on multiple occasions the player will show that I am midway through as episode, but when I press play to resume, the player starts back at the beginning. When paused through progress bar reverts back to the original midway point until play is pressed again. This combination of errors and difficult playback makes my favorite podcasts almost impossible to listen to when I have the most time: during my commute..Version: 7.9.0
✓ Font too small.Their latest update claims to fix the font size. It broke the font size on my device. Every other app looks fine but the Athletic print is so small I can barely read the articles. The only way to change the size is to alter your font size within iOS itself, so in order to see Athletic articles, I’d have to make all my other apps ridiculously large..Version: 13.23.1
✓ ScamI signed up for a free trial and The Athletic charged my card for a full year’s subscription and then refused to refund despite the error. Complete scam! To make matters worse once I had the subscription I found myself barely reading any of The Athletic’s articles due to boring, stat heavy articles (The Athletic are obsessed with boring tables and graphs) or an overly focused approach on stories like ‘the inside story: how player x’s transfer fell through/happened’ or random interviews with players long forgotten. Apart from a select few the quality of journalism and insight is poor and if you choose to follow a club you are limited to a select few journalists that cover your club like them or not. I’d say it’s more of a collection of football related articles rather than stories actually related to the football that is going on or tactics etc. Articles on tactics amount to a series of screen shots with dry descriptions of passages of play rather than any interesting opinion or analytical insight..Version: 11.9.0
✓ I used to be worth itNow it’s worse than the free coverage from a local. What the site started out as died a long time ago.Version: 13.26.0
✓ Customer Support is non-existentI have sent 3 emails to report that My Feed Page has no content. No response. Unacceptable!.Version: 10.2.7
✓ I love the Athletic... but not the appLet me start by saying that The Athletic is one of my favorite sites as both a sportswriter and a fan. There’s a lot of quality content on the site that I have no problem paying for. The problem I have is with the experience that comes with the app. For the recurring cost, I’d expect something that works more smoothly and loads articles properly. Ever since the most recent redesign of the app, it has been freezing on the intro screen at least half of the times that I open it. After getting through those freezes, the app will kick me back to the home page whenever I switch to one of my team filters. When loaded, the stories themselves are generally slow and unresponsive, which further hurts the experience. There are other minor complaints, such as not having articles load in the app after being clicked on from newsletters or social media feeds, as well as not being taken to the comment that’s made on your thread when you get a notification, leading you to try to figure out which story you commented on in the first place, which typically doesn’t have the response to your comment anyways. (Desktop is always ahead of the app in terms of comment threads being updated). Overall, the quality of this app is nowhere near the value of free sports apps, which is a shame, because the writing is great..Version: 11.12
✓ AthleticSame old same old. Equal content available for free.Version: 8.2.1
✓ Do not like new formatThis review is purely based on the new update which has changed the format of the articles. Previously it was in a style where newer articles were at the top and you could scroll up and down to see what articles to read. It made it easier for example, if only half the article had been read and you wanted to come back to it at a later stage, to then find that article again. Now however, the new format is really needlessly complicated with an overload of information that doesn’t seem to fit a particular pattern, other than maybe to resemble social media more. Facebook seemed to go downhill when they changed the feed preferences, Instagram has gone the same way, I just hope the athletic doesn’t follow on. The articles are brilliant but it’s undermined by annoying format..Version: 12.1.0
✓ God awfulYou gotta pay $13 a month to even open the article that clueless people wrote just for click bait and a money grab. Makes me laugh at some of the hockey trades they tried to stir up because after seeing that it really makes you realize how brain dead some of those writers are... kyrou and a 1st for Kreider😂😂 my guy needs to lay off the meds.Version: 8.1.13
✓ Gone WokeI’ve been subscribing to The Athletic since their first year. It was once great. I mean REALLY great. Over the past couple of years it has devolved into sanctimonious and condescending lectures from virtue signalling writers. “Writers” not “journalists”. I just want to enjoy sports. I don’t need the New York Times inserting their leftist propaganda into every article. If you don’t genuflect to the groupthink in the Comments section you will be banned from commenting for life. There are still a few really good writers and that’s why I still subscribe, but I can’t take much more of this garbage. This may be my last year of subscribing..Version: 13.26.0
✓ Canadiens de MontréalWhat is the problem? No more french articles about my Habs? 🙈👎.Version: 13.27.0
✓ Coverage of the fitbaHonestly the lack of coverage for Scottish fitba is laughable. You’d expect a lack of coverage for the teams outside of Glasgow (it’s unfortunately the way) but now the Athletic in its infinite wisdom has decided to pull its two dedicated journalists for Celtic and Rangers so now there’s no coverage of the game up north. Oh but fear not, 5th tier Wrexham have a dedicated journalist. Yeah, go figure. A total joke. The app has been getting worse and worse since being sold to the NYT, what kind of premiums subscription still subjects you to adverts? I pay £1 a month and now the fitba coverage is effectively over I still feel I’m getting ripped off. Avoid, avoid, avoid..Version: 13.20.1
✓ Like many others, cannot accessAs a long-time subscriber to the New York Times (NYT), I was happy when I heard that they were acquiring the Athletic. Even though the latter has been struggling in recent times, I still feel that they offer worthwhile content. Unfortunately, the integration between the NYT and the Athletic has proven to be absolutely and utterly abysmal. As an all-access NYT subscriber, I *should* be able to read all of the Athletic’s content, yet such is not the case. I have repeatedly engaged with the Athletic’s technical support, but to no avail. In my latest go-around, I was informed that I needed to provide “proof” of my NYT account status, although what would constitute such proof was left unspecified. Well, enough is enough — I have deleted this app from my devices and will not be looking back. When the Athletic finally dies (and I have little doubt that that it eventually will), I’ll be a little sad, but it appears to me as though many of their problems are self-inflicted..Version: 13.40.1
✓ App Stopped Working / Customer Support IgnoringI've been an on/off subscriber to The Athletic for a while and have typically really enjoyed the app. However, I recently re-upped on a 1 yr subscription in May and have had nothing but problems since. The app forced me to "Restore Purchases" every single time I used it. A minor inconvenience, but at least I could then read the articles. Now, after a recent update, the articles don't even display properly. The formatting is spaced in a strange way, none of the subtitles are displayed properly, and the article just stops mid-way through with no explanation. I tried contacting customer support, showed them my paid receipt and subscription details, and was simply told, "Try logging out/in," and "Try uninstalling/re-installing." After that, crickets. They're now ignoring my requests to help solve the issue. So they got my money and I have an unusable app that gives me about 15% of the whole article. It's a shame because the writers create great content that will now go unread..Version: 13.5.0
✓ False Ad, free doesn’t mean you can read articles“Free” 7 day trial yet you can only read one article. I was so interested and wanted to see how they write their content but after loitering around, the app will not even let me read other articles I am interested. I can only access one article and that’s it. The rest of the article would have a banner that says “View our plans, 20% off” something along those lines. (I would have pay this app for Warriors & Klay Thompson yet they want me to read about Jimmy Not James Buttler). How can you judge an magazine type of app by its content when you don’t really have “free” trial to check things out. And limited to one free article? I don’t mind paying $$ to read my sports I just want to ensure that I am reading contents with good material and substance. Many free article online lack substance and poorly written. In the end, I ended up deleting the app in less than 30 minutes) as I was so frustrated that I can only read one article. I saw the app on the internet after an article about Klay Thompson - it says download the free app to read. So I did, sadly, the free seven day trial won’t allow me to read the article that brought me to this app (weird, right?). Do I recommend this? Definitely not. There’s no way to confirm if the articles here are substantial in content during the free day trial. I wasted my time navigating their non-user-friendly interface. Don’t do the same..Version: 7.7.9
✓ Love the writers - hate the appThe quality of the articles is absolutely brilliant, but the clunky nature of the interface is really poor. From the standard or writer and sleek look of the app I expected it to be pretty intuitive to use, but I was sorely disappointed. I tried to click on an authors name to follow them after reading an article, but it didn’t give me the option. I tried to add other subjects and writers to follow, thinking it would make suggestions based on what I like so far, but it just prompts me to search for specific writers or topics. It has made what should be pretty simple, very tedious. Hopefully they improve it soon or I will be cancelling my subscription, despite the quality of the content..Version: 11.14
✓ Good at first, now trashSeemed interesting when this first launched, but now it’s just as bad as a decade or two ago at ESPN. It really is just an updated version, now that their plan is to hire big names, not talented writers or columnists. Don’t waste your money. Speaking of ESPN, Keith Law literally had my account (comment portion, anyway) for the most banal critique I’ve ever written; verbatim: “Lol Keith’s analysis of these ‘prospects’ is silly, but to each their own.” Oh, the humanity! It’s so lame. No need for it. Thought it’d be more legitimate when the Times bought it. Not so. Shame. Used to be solid. Addendum: Don’t wanna sound like a right-winger decrying the lack of free speech! Not at all. But in the first couple years, it really was interesting and fun to comment and engage right below the stories. Now? It’s SLIGHTLY-better ESPN with comments that need to be banal as heck to even make it on the platform. Shame. Thought when the Times acquired TA, there’d be a bit more liberal takes. Nah. We all love the Times, but they’re a corporate entity first and foremost. Really is a shame because TA used to be very good. Oh, and they promote white supremacy in the comments AND articles like it’s going out of style. Especially NHL related stories. A but with MLB, but I must say their “big name” MLB reporters are the best they have or the four major sports. Buy at your own risk/peril. Take care..Version: 13.19.0
✓ “The Athletic” approachWhy doesn’t The Athletic have any of their affiliated writers actually cover the actual play of the most recent game?? Yesterday’s Giants game vs St. Louis had no articles that I could find that actually talked about the game itself. To me, the benefit of having writers at the games is to provide some insight on what happened and to offer opinions on how well or poorly the team performed. We can’t always watch or listen to the game. So why don’t you tell us about it? The other issue I have with the writers is their approach to writing about sports in general. I’m assuming they’re all professional sports journalists. Why do they all write their “columns” like they’re writing an episode script for a low budget sitcom. The lame and juvenile “jokes” that seem to be more important to them than whatever topic they’re trying to cover! This style of writing seems to permeate all aspects of sports whether it’s the Giants’ hideous new uniforms , the “A’s” phantom stadium plans, or the 49ers quarterback competition. A little humor is often appropriate and/or enlightening to a particular topic, but it shouldn’t be a template that dominates the article, with a few facts or opinions thrown in to fill out the script. The Athletic is supposed to be a sports forum. Leave the comedy to Hollywood..Version: 12.0.1
✓ Good riddanceUsed to be a good app. Inundated with SJW’s now masquerading as sports writers. Cancelled my subscription as a result..Version: 8.0.5
✓ Great content but abysmal supportI’ve been a reader for 2 years now, the content is completely superior to anything else. The reason why I have written 1 star is because I have been banned from commenting for no reason. It’s a big part of my enjoyment of the athletic to engage with other readers. I have written over 10 emails with no response and no way to get an answer..Version: 11.15.4
✓ Mixed BagWhen is signed up for the Athletic the main draw was strong journalism and in-depth local coverage of my favourite teams. I’m a hockey, Baseball, NFL and now EPL fan (thx to my son), and for the most part the coverage remains top notch. However, the area where I’ve noticed a significant dip in coverage is with the NFL. My team (the Dolphins) essentially have no local coverage with the only stories involving them being league based ones. Not great. With the recent spate of layoffs I’m concerned that the other teams I follow will soon see a similar drop in quality coverage. If that happens I’ll be kissing this subscription goodbye..Version: 13.28.0
✓ Quality content from great writers, but …I absolutely love and support what The Athletic stands for, high quality sports journalism. I support this type of presentation of sports news so I obviously pay for a subscription. What I do not support is ads in my app when I already pay for the subscription. This is not a business model that I can support so I will be continuing to use the web version with an adblocker until the app removes ads for paid subscribers. Please consider what you want your paid tier to represent to sports fans..Version: 13.35.0
✓ Wonderful sportswriting and a legacy news organization with an abysmally bad integrationI am a long time NY Times digital subscriber and a fan of the Athletic since it came out. I was very excited when the Timed acquired it and included it in the subscription. At least at first. Lately it is no problem to read NY Times stories on the App but anything on the Athletic is a 15 minute fight to prove that I am entitled to read more than the first few sentences of a story. I am a paid NY Times subscriber for 20+ years and have the NY TIMES and Athletic apps. It ought to be easier to prove that when I click on an article, I have the right to read it. I was thinking that integration was the goal of consolidation. If I click on an email from the athletic, am a subscriber, and have the Times and Athletics apps, I have a consumer sense that I should be able to click my way tot he story. I shouldn’t have to spend 15 minutes proving that the money I pay entitles me to read the story..Version: 13.30.1
✓ Content is fantastic, App not so muchI love The Athletic. The coverage of all the sports I’m into is fantastic and I love nothing more than settling down to dive into some articles. Then I scroll down to be told I need to subscribe. But I am subscribed, and signed in. In order to continue reading the article, I have to tap on my account and ‘restore purchases’. Every. Single. Time. I open the app. I’ve signed out and signed back in, kept the app updated, even closed one account and opened another but it still happens. I’d be raving about this app were it not for this constant fault..Version: 13.1.1
✓ Ads have become horribleReading articles and nearly full page stubhub ads come up multiple times..Version: 13.21.0
✓ RipoffThey charged me when I didn’t want to be charged. They won’t reply to my emails..Version: 7.9.9
✓ ScamWill renew automatically at full price without any warning. Doesn’t value 72$..Version: 13.21.0
✓ Great journalism, woeful app formatThe best football coverage in the uk by some exceptional journo’s. The iPad reading experience however is very poor and somehow, deteriorating with every app update. Now I can never find which articles are new v’s those that are days old as they are all over the place! C’mon The Athletic, sort this please as its getting ridiculous now how much the tech experience has deteriorated recently. After two years of subscribing to The Athletic, surely it cannot be that difficult to open the App and find the the latest football articles there ready to read, like they are on all other newspapers that I read? This is just the basics surely?.Version: 13.17.0
✓ CRASH!Bought The Athletic subscription for the content and very happy. 5-stars. The app is a shocker right now. Crashes within 10-15 seconds of starting an article. Moving back to the Safari for now but expect better for premium journalism and pricing..Version: 13.8.2
✓ Aggravating AppThe app will be fine for weeks at a time then stop loading pages. So I uninstall and reinstall and it works… for a few weeks. Rinse and repeat. Love the writing and insight, hate the app.Version: 13.28.0
✓ GREAT football stories… not much elseI am going to subscribe every July-September just for the football camp stories. Some of the news here is absolutely fantastic. But the app is pretty crappy. The layout is chaotic and every time I see something interesting and flip to a webpage to look up a player, when I go back to the app to finish the story, it reloads and takes me to the home page and I have to go through the same stupid way of figuring out how to find the article I was just reading. 5 star football stories (for about 2/3 of teams… teams like the Dolphins either don’t have a staff writer or he/she doesn’t have much interesting to say about preseason). The app is probably below 1 star. If you want nothing but info on your favorite teams, you might like it. But if you like multiple sports and want league news, it’s awful to navigate.Version: 13.5.0
✓ Text size change is an issueIn theory this change may be good but I’m not sure it is working as expected. Since the change, the text on the app became significantly smaller for me. I’ve had to go in and adjust the sizing for all my apps and now my texting apps are unusually bigger. This is not sustainable. I shouldn’t have to adjust my usage across all applications to accommodate one..Version: 13.23.1
✓ Terrible appI’m very frustrated by this app. Time and again, I can’t view articles below advertisements. This happened roughly half a year ago, and I contacted them to fix it. They indicate that the latest versions of the app fix this problem, but it doesn’t. I continue to not be able to read most articles, except for the very top paragraph. Spend your money elsewhere. The Athletic is no longer any good..Version: 13.28.0
✓ Articles good, app average at bestNot one to write reviews generally, but the blankness whilst scrolling and poor loading of embeds is really, really annoying. Also, why isn’t Down Goes Brown funny anymore? Worse, I’m now getting notifications for sports I’m not following and have zero interest in. Fix this please. Update: the app is currently crashing when I go to check game scores. Slow clap for quality improvement..Version: 12.20.0
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