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Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

Bleacher Report vs The Athletic

Bleacher Report 4.6★ · Free to download 45
Winner The Athletic
The Athletic 4.8★ · Free + IAP 70

The Athletic offers superior, in-depth sports journalism with fewer ad complaints from subscribers, while Bleacher Report struggles with excessive ads and app performance issues after recent updates.

Full reviews: Bleacher Report · The Athletic

The Athletic provides high-quality, in-depth sports content, though some subscribers report issues with ads and notifications. Bleacher Report, a free app, is plagued by an overwhelming number of ads, poor app performance, and a decline in content quality following recent updates.

Head to head

Content Quality & Depth edge: The AthleticR9R14R20R27
Bleacher Report Bleacher Report users appreciate the wide variety of sports covered and up-to-date scores, but many lament a shift from informative articles to opinionated videos and clickbait, with some questioning the credibility of its reporting R20. Many long-time users miss the 'old BR' content style R9R14R27.
The Athletic The Athletic is highly praised for its impressive, consistent, and current in-depth sports journalism, offering pro insight and thorough reporting across various leagues . However, some users criticize a recent shift towards 'hot takes' and 'clickbait journalism' even for subscribers .
Ads & Monetization edge: The AthleticR1R6R12R28
Bleacher Report Bleacher Report is heavily criticized for an overwhelming number of ads, including pop-ups, redirects to third-party sites, and ads within articles that hinder reading R1R6R12R28. Users feel the app has become unusable due to ad intrusion R1R28.
The Athletic The Athletic, despite being a paid subscription service, has frustrated users by introducing or increasing ads, with some reporting full-screen ads and autoplaying videos even with settings turned off R70R72R88R99. This contradicts the expectation of an ad-free experience for subscribers R88.
App Performance & User Experience edge: The AthleticR3R4R15R18
Bleacher Report Bleacher Report users report significant issues with app performance, including slow load times , glitches , and a general decline in usability after major updates R4R27. Many dislike the new layout and miss features like widgets and the old comment section R3R15R18.
The Athletic The Athletic generally offers a fast and functional app, but some users experience frequent crashes , slow loading , and glitches with audio players . Issues with commenting functionality are also noted R94.
Notifications & Alerts tieR10R13R21R48
Bleacher Report Bleacher Report users frequently complain about not receiving notifications for breaking news or scores, despite having settings enabled, leading to frustration and deletion of the app R10R13R48. Others find the notification system overwhelming, with too many to manually clear R21.
The Athletic The Athletic users report unreliable notifications, missing score and team alerts R90. Many are frustrated by excessive, intrusive, and irrelevant push notifications, even when specific preferences are set R73R109. Issues with clearing notification badges are also common .
Customer Support tieR13R94R100R109
Bleacher Report Bleacher Report users report unhelpful customer service, with one user receiving a generic screenshot for a notification issue and then no further response R13.
The Athletic The Athletic users struggle to access customer support, reporting non-existent help centers, AI chatbots that fail to connect to humans, and difficulty finding contact information R94R100R109.
Pick Bleacher Report if

You want a free app for general sports news and scores, and are willing to tolerate a high volume of ads and potential app performance issues .

Pick The Athletic if

You prioritize in-depth, high-quality sports journalism and are willing to pay for a subscription, even if it means encountering some ads and occasional app glitches .

Evidence note: The reviews for Bleacher Report are heavily skewed negative due to recent updates and ad intrusion, contrasting its higher lifetime rating. The Athletic, while having a higher lifetime rating, also shows significant recent negative feedback regarding ads for paying subscribers and notification issues.

Frequently asked

Is Bleacher Report free?
Yes, Bleacher Report is free to download and use, but many users report that the app is now overwhelmed with ads, including pop-ups and redirects, making it difficult to navigate R1R6R12R28.
Does The Athletic have ads for subscribers?
Despite being a paid subscription service, The Athletic has introduced ads, with some users reporting full-screen ads and autoplaying videos, which has frustrated subscribers who expected an ad-free experience R70R72R88R99.
Which app has better notifications?
Both apps have significant issues with notifications; Bleacher Report users often don't receive breaking news alerts or scores R10R13, while The Athletic users complain of unreliable, excessive, and intrusive notifications that are difficult to manage R73R90R109.

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. [R9] Bleacher Report 3/5 · US Old BR: Loved the old version. This one not so much
  2. [R14] Bleacher Report 5/5 · US BR: Bleacher report is an amazing app for sports content but the old version of the app was way better
  3. [R20] Bleacher Report 5/5 · US Sports: I enjoy the variety of sports you cover. Usually factual and precise.
  4. [R27] Bleacher Report 3/5 · US 10+ Year User who left during the big update: I deleted the app a few weeks into the first big update over a year ago, which may have been one of these worst updates in app history. I was an hourly bleacher report user before that horrid update. I have tried 5+ other sports apps but never enjoyed them as much as the OG bleacher report. I currently use Score, but redownload bleacher report every
  5. [R1] Bleacher Report 2/5 · US Ads: I’ve used this app for years but recently I can’t even use it anymore because I’m not getting so many ads on it that I can’t navigate the app. It’s filled with pop-ups and anytime I try to read anything or just navigate the app it’s redirecting me to a third party site. It’s giving off the feel of an unsafe website that will lead to viruses. It’s a shame that the app has gotten to this point.
  6. [R6] Bleacher Report 3/5 · US Ads getting worse: I feel like the ads are starting to get worse. It’s starting to be a task just to look at one article, and have to scroll past 15 ads. Please figure something out.
  7. [R12] Bleacher Report 3/5 · US ?: While scrolling will occasionally send ads to browser. Stop!
  8. [R28] Bleacher Report 1/5 · US Started forcing ads: Keeps getting worse. So bad I finally had enough and deleted the app. Never again BR. You keep opening ads in articles as I try to read them and not allowing me to scroll past them. Worst update ever. No more.
  9. [R3] Bleacher Report 3/5 · US Not like before: App needs the widget back!
  10. [R4] Bleacher Report 1/5 · US 11 FEB Update: Today’s update is straight trash. I don’t know what the developers were thinking. Then had the nerve to have the new BR icon in the sideline of the game. Focus less on the marketing and more on the actual app. Update 30 Jun they still need to update notifications and the comment section.
  11. [R15] Bleacher Report 3/5 · US Comment section: Why did you ruin this?
  12. [R18] Bleacher Report 3/5 · US UPGRADE: The app needs a major upgrade for the forum section of the app. Users need a more galvanizing experience when interacting with other users. A few years ago this app was easily a 5 star rating. I have faith that it will return to that status.
  13. [R10] Bleacher Report 1/5 · US Not receiving notifications: I changed iphones to a most recent one (from iphone 12 to iphone 17) and I haven’t received a notification since. Every setting in the device and in the app regarding allowing notifications are enabled and Im still having this issue. I have tried every troubleshooting Ive found and it still not working. I recently deleted my account and I’ll be deleting this app. I co
  14. [R13] Bleacher Report 1/5 · US Awful: This app is awful simply because I never get notifications. The reason for this app is B/R is the fastest around when it comes to breaking news. I contacted customer service last week, told them the issue. They replied with a screenshot with how notifications should be set up. Like duh, acting I don’t know what I am doing. Sent a message back and it’s been crickets ever since. 🤦🏻‍♂️
  15. [R21] Bleacher Report 3/5 · US Notifications: I like the app and all but I’m getting tired of looking every 20 minutes to see 60 notifications that you have to manually get rid of before they all disappear
  16. [R48] Bleacher Report 3/5 · US My review: The new layout just feels off to me; I was a big fan of the old layout. Searching for teams and leagues changed too and though it’s still easy to find them; I just liked the old way better. One definite change I’m not liking is no score update notifications!!! I have push notifications on; I choose to get scores and news from my favorite teams but only get news. IMO it’s still better th
  17. [R94] The Athletic 1/5 · US Help Center doesn’t exist?: So I’m having a problem with the app where it won’t show any comments and I went to contact support and got an error saying that help center doesn’t exist. How does one get help?
  18. [R100] The Athletic 1/5 · US Customer Support: Can’t find anyway to access customer support #
  19. [R109] The Athletic 1/5 · US Endless Push Notifications: I have turned off all push notifications other than the 3 teams I follow. Regardless, the app continues to send constant push notifications about the World Cup, nba draft, any random story, etc. I attempted to reach out to customer service and was directed to an AI chatbot for the New York Times. It failed to ever connect me to a real human and shockingly failed to un
  20. [R70] The Athletic 1/5 · US Videos autoplay regardless of settings: I turned off video autoplay and am constantly having video ads auto playing. Means the app is entirely unusable when not on WiFi for those of us without unlimited data.
  21. [R72] The Athletic 3/5 · US Fine: Love the content, but I should have ads in app behind a pay wall that I’ve already paid. They need to be taken out if I pay for a subscription. Or add a “no ad subscription”
  22. [R88] The Athletic 2/5 · US Now with invasive advertising: They added advertising after I paid for a subscription that they said was ad free. Will they lower the price now that ads are making the experience worse? I doubt it.
  23. [R99] The Athletic 3/5 · GB Too many ads: The app is perfect for football news and offers a refreshing switch up from what I was previously using (Twitter/X - filled with unwanted content). However very disappointed that despite paying for a membership there are still an awful lot of ads. At times taking up the whole screen! Close to being the perfect sport news app but slightly out of touch in that aspect.
  24. [R73] The Athletic 1/5 · US Intrusive: Constantly trying to force new notifications on me, making me have to constantly turn them off.
  25. [R90] The Athletic 3/5 · US no notifications: This app is a solid sports app, but notifications have been really unreliable lately. I’m missing score and team alerts even though everything looks turned on.

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