Verithiathe honest score on any app
Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
User consensusAlternativesIs it worth it?
The verdict on

AL.com

30
User verdict / 100 High confidence In trouble

The AL.com app has recently declined significantly in user satisfaction due to frequent crashes, intrusive ads, and extensive paywalls, despite a developer update claiming a redesigned and improved experience.

4.5★ lifetime (15,257) Free to download since 2011 by Alabama Live LLC updated 2.2 mo ago recent negative 64% 120 reviews across 2 regions
App Performance Paywall & Ads Redesign & Usability Political Bias Content Quality & Coverage App Naming Issue
5★62
4★10
3★19
2★27
1★133
recent reviews across 2 regions, vs the 4.5★ lifetime average

AL.com's recent app update has been met with widespread criticism, with users reporting numerous technical issues like crashes and freezing, alongside frustration over increased paywalls and disruptive advertisements. While some users still appreciate the local news and sports coverage, the overall sentiment is negative, contrasting sharply with its historically high lifetime rating.

What users like

  • Provides timely and informative local news and sports coverage, especially for Alabama-specific content and college football.R55R58R62R66

What users complain about

  • The app frequently crashes, freezes, or is slow to load, making it difficult to read articles.R1R5R21R22
  • Many articles are behind a paywall, requiring a subscription that users find overpriced or unjustified.R1R2R3R6
  • Ads are intrusive, often covering article content and making reading difficult.R26R28R38R40
  • The recent redesign is widely disliked, with users finding it less user-friendly, dysfunctional, and a step backward from previous versions.R7R11R29R30
  • Some users report the app name appearing incorrectly as 'OSU Basketball' on their devices.R32R33R34R35
  • Content is perceived as having a strong left-leaning political bias, with some articles described as opinion or propaganda rather than objective news.R7R12R15R20
  • Users report issues with outdated news, difficulty finding specific content, and a lack of comments section.R59R61R71R112

Latest update · v4.5.11

What the developer says changed (the verdict above weighs this against what reviewers report):

A fresh, redesigned app experience, making your timely, reliable and local news faster and easier to read. In this release, we've focused on the reading experience: easier-to-read resizable text, support for dark mode, richer layouts, and improved performance throughout. Thank you for reading!

Recurring themes

App Performance negative
Many users report the app frequently crashes, freezes, or is extremely slow to load and navigate, making it unusable for some. This directly contradicts the developer's notes claiming 'improved performance throughout'.R1R4R5R21
Paywall & Ads negative
A significant number of reviews express frustration over an increased number of articles behind a paywall, with subscription prices deemed too high. Additionally, ads are frequently reported as intrusive, covering content and disrupting the reading experience.R1R2R3R6
Redesign & Usability negative
The recent app redesign, touted by developers as 'fresh' and 'easier to read', is widely criticized by users. Many find it less user-friendly, difficult to navigate, and a step backward from previous versions.R7R11R29R30
Political Bias negative
Many users perceive a strong left-leaning political bias in the news and opinion pieces, which they feel is inappropriate for a local news source in a conservative state. Some describe it as 'propaganda' or 'opinion masquerading as news'.R7R12R15R20
Content Quality & Coverage mixed
While many appreciate AL.com for local news and sports, especially college football, some criticize the news for being outdated, having poor grammar, or lacking coverage for certain regions or sports. The removal of the comments section is also a point of contention.R59R60R61R66
App Naming Issue negative
Several users reported that the app's name on their device changed to 'OSU Basketball', leading to confusion and concerns about hacking.R32R33R34R35

Who it's for

This app is for individuals who prioritize Alabama-specific news and sports, particularly college football, and are willing to tolerate frequent technical issues, intrusive ads, and paywalls . It is not for users seeking an unbiased news source, a smooth ad-free reading experience, or those unwilling to pay for most articles R2.

Evidence note: The recent reviews are heavily skewed negative (63.7%), which contrasts with the high lifetime rating (4.48). This suggests a significant decline in user satisfaction following recent updates. While many positive reviews exist, they often predate the reported issues or are less detailed, making the negative points more prominent in recent feedback.

Frequently asked

Is the AL.com app free to use?
While the AL.com app is free to download, many recent reviews indicate that most articles are now behind a paywall, requiring a subscription which some users state costs around $5 per month or $99.99 per year R1R6.
Does the AL.com app have performance issues?
Yes, many recent user reviews report that the AL.com app frequently crashes, freezes, or is very slow to load and navigate, making the reading experience difficult R1R5R21.
Are there many ads in the AL.com app?
Yes, users frequently complain about intrusive ads that often cover article content, making it difficult to read and disrupting the user experience R26R28R38R40.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R55] 5/5 · US My go to!: Love AL.com my favorite state media source
  2. [R58] 5/5 · US Great app!: Very informatively, reliable and unbiased news.
  3. [R62] 5/5 · US Good news source: I see this as a whole state news source. Dave
  4. [R66] 5/5 · US News.: I love the content and the sport’s stories
  5. [R1] 1/5 · US Buggy and paywalled: This app has been buggy for a very long time. It crashes a lot. Most of the articles are behind an outrageously overpriced paywall.
  6. [R5] 1/5 · US This app will crash your phone: If you want an app that will lock up your phone this is the ideal one. Loading and navigation is painfully slow. A horrible effort.
  7. [R21] 3/5 · US App Issues: App freezes up constantly. Scrolling stories is difficult due to freezing up issues.
  8. [R22] 2/5 · US News is great…app could use some work: News articles provided are great and timely. App could use some work…freezes up regularly after only a few minutes of use, assuming due to large number of ads. Not disputing the need for ads for a free app, just that the performance of the app could be improved.
  9. [R2] 1/5 · US Not worth it!: AL.com tries to bait you into subscribing by giving just a little bit of an article without giving up your personal information and agreeing to pay. This is not an honest way of doing business.
  10. [R3] 1/5 · US Every other story locked: I deleted the app because every other story you click it’s locked and says sign up to Al.com to read story. I have enough of my information sold to spammers without you having my email address to send more. I have 3 other news apps where you can read every story they show.
  11. [R6] 1/5 · US Used to be a good app: They want $5 bucks a month now for old news. No thank you
  12. [R26] 5/5 · US Great overall, but ...: Old issue resurfaced. Today is June 5, 2022. With the most recent update, about two weeks ago, ads are again intruding into articles, making reading them difficult. Rarely, one can get through an article uninterrupted , which is wonderful. With the latest update, there is a Close button, which, at least now, usually works, next to the popup ad, but that button evades VoiceOver
  13. [R28] 3/5 · US Ads cover content: The issue for me is that the ads often cover the content of the articles I’m trying to read.... extremely bothersome.
  14. [R38] 1/5 · US Horrible Ap: You either can’t get in an article or most of it is covered with ads. If you think their newspapers are bad you haven’t seen anything until you try this ap!
  15. [R40] 1/5 · US Yuck: Not a fan of the new redesign. It’s hard to find the news stories for all the ads wedged in between them. Also, no option to force update news stories.
  16. [R7] 1/5 · US Wow... Not a good wow...: Why take something that was working great (finally!) and ruin it. I thought the idea of progress was to make things easier and more user friendly? Seems like the developers have it backwards with this app. The reporting is much more left leaning than before…. Why is it difficult to be unbiased?
  17. [R11] 1/5 · US Update is terrible: The new app is not very user friendly. There are features that don’t work properly or at all. For instance, you can’t share the articles from the app anymore
  18. [R29] 2/5 · US New Version a Step Back: This app has been my “Go-To” source for Alabama news for a long time. Unfortunately the new version has made it difficult to use for that purpose. Seems like too much emphasis has been placed on graphics which takes up much of the headline pages. It is also irritating that the screen constantly jumps back to the top making it almost impossible to read more than just the to
  19. [R30] 1/5 · US A complete disaster: App upgrade is a complete and unmitigated disaster. The old one was much better. This one is totally worthless. It looks like an Instagram account with very little information. Rarely updates. Slow and completely dysfunctional. Truly one of the worst app upgrades I have ever seen. I have lost complete confidence in their ability to report news.
  20. [R32] 1/5 · US OSU Basketball? Really?: Why does this app show up as OSU Basketball on my iPad?
  21. [R33] 3/5 · US OSU basketball: Why is the title of the app OSU Basketball?
  22. [R34] 1/5 · US Who is OSU Basketball???: Deleting until y’all together.
  23. [R35] 3/5 · US Al: Why does the app say OSU basketball
  24. [R12] 1/5 · US Pay to read biased editorials/ and fake news ?: I ll just watch it on TV 😂
  25. [R15] 1/5 · US Goodbye, Deleted al.com: I’d rather think for myself
  26. [R20] 1/5 · US Al.com: It is a shame Al.com has become such a far left propaganda machine. With the exception of a couple of writers who are true reporters Al.com writers, not reporters has become far left progressive/ propaganda antagonists. Most of their poorly written articles are nothing more than their own far left opinions. Of course I fully understand this post is my opinion.
  27. [R59] 3/5 · US They need to pin live updates feed: I wish they would pin the live updates for the Covid-19 pandemic to the top of newsfeed for easy access. It is not easy to find.
  28. [R61] 1/5 · US Can’t comment on articles anymore. Buh bye.: Nope.jpg
  29. [R71] 3/5 · US No comments: Cant get comments on phone app - need to fix that!!
  30. [R112] 3/5 · US Scrolling News Stories: The scrolling news stories on my app have been the same since January.
  31. [R4] 1/5 · US Al.com app terrible: Used to work ok on my iPad, now unusable.
  32. [R60] 3/5 · US Review: Local Sports coverage is great. Political coverage is a joke. The slant to the left is pathetic. You need to learn who your audience is or you will lose the trust of your current supporters.
  33. [R8] 1/5 · US 5 start to 1 star: As others have stated the older versions were nice, but now most of the articles on the app are behind a pay wall. I understand it costs money to create the app but I can just go to a web browser and read the articles.
  34. [R10] 2/5 · US Starting to charge: I’m not gonna pay to use this service

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store