Apple Sports vs ESPN

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. [R2] Apple Sports 4/5 · US Unbelievably Good: Apple really killed this. No ads, no news pushing like ESPN or other apps like Bleacher Report, and the live events are awesome. My one gripe is that it needs more sports! I would love a college baseball section. Great design work as well: the app is very pretty to look at, while also being easy to read quickly to get a sense of what’s going on.
2. [R11] Apple Sports 5/5 · US Simple and almost perfect: Please add Cycling such as the Tour de France. Otherwise great interface with littte distraction. Does what it needs to do without being bloated.
3. [R14] Apple Sports 4/5 · US It’s a good alternative to the ESPN app: I used the ESPN app for years and i did like how it it’s very busy. I understand that they’re trying to provide a lot of information but I feel sometimes it gets too busy. Apple Sports is not perfect either but I really like the simplicity. Sure, sometimes I miss seeing individual player stats but who knows, it could be added later on. However, there are a
4. [R61] ESPN 1/5 · US Worst App: I bought the subscription for a month to see Wimbledon. The streaming stopped working so many times. I reset everything and I still have the same problem. I wish I could rated 0 star. Let me mention that the other apps on my Samsung TV work fine.
5. [R17] Apple Sports 4/5 · US Almost Perfect: Love this app. It’s beautiful, and works all the time. Best live activities available in sports. If they can just add the option to see a team’s schedule and previous scores this will be a 5 star review and a perfect app.
6. [R29] Apple Sports 4/5 · US Great App, but Needs More Detailed Stats: Apple Sports has a very clean, modern, and easy-to-use interface, which makes following live scores a great experience. However, there are a couple of improvements that would make the app much better. It would be great if users could tap on players in soccer lineups to view detailed information such as season stats and performance. Also, adding the abili
7. [R69] ESPN 3/5 · US App Crashing: I like the app, and it’s easy to use. The issue with it though is that it will randomly crash while I’m reading an article. Happens too often and I don’t experience this with my other apps. If it weren’t for this I’d give it 5 stars.
8. [R18] Apple Sports 3/5 · US World Cup: I've really enjoyed using Apple Sports. The Live Activities on the Dynamic Island are excellent, and the real-time updates are fast and reliable. One suggestion for improvement concerns the FIFA World Cup. Unlike most leagues, where fans mainly follow one team, the World Cup is a global event that many people want to follow as a whole. It would be great to be able to follow the entire
9. [R40] Apple Sports 2/5 · US Has some bugs: It automatically stops following games the second kickoff starts and it is hard to look at brackets and some blank spaces just spawn in like a <div> that’s supposed to hold an ad. This needs at least one update PLEASE. Apart from that MAJOR flaw, it’s very good.
10. [R49] Apple Sports 1/5 · US Unreliable Slop: The app randomly forgets what you follow, misses broadcasts and matches, often is overly delayed and generally seems to be a slop developed software embarrassment. Absolute rubbish.
11. [R70] ESPN 1/5 · US Broken app: Every time I try and read article, or anything else, I get about five sentences in and the app tries to break itself. It will either send me to the home page, switch to some random article, or gray screen. The app has been completely unusable for the last month. I’ve had the app for multiple years and just uninstalled it.
12. [R8] Apple Sports 5/5 · US Best so far on iOS!: Great organizer for men and woman sports leads you to the actual game and stats and video and overall really amazing. 10/10. Would recommend to download. Doesn’t take so much storage too.
13. [R44] Apple Sports 5/5 · US Amazing design just not enough features: It is missing features that the ESPN app has, but it is designed so well and is free
14. [R79] ESPN 1/5 · US Do not waste your money on subscriptions: I subscribed to ESPN specifically to watch the Wimbledon 2026 men’s and women’s singles matches in the US. Because of the time difference, the matches are played while I’m at work, so I expected to watch the replays in the evening. Instead, I paid for a subscription that still includes a lot of advertising, and by the time I get home, many of the matches
15. [R15] Apple Sports 3/5 · US Needs some work: I think this really needs some additional info to be a one stop shop. It should be easy to see standings, player info, and schedules.
16. [R19] Apple Sports 2/5 · US No Indian sports: Good app and nice UI, but those app is very US centric and ignores sports watched by one of the largest populations in the world, cricket. Please include ICC cricket World Cup matches and IPL matches in the app.
17. [R27] Apple Sports 3/5 · US Good, could be better: Good app for the basics, leaves my wanting more like clicking into a team and see team information like players, stats, previous and coming games. I think that’s an easy fix that can be implemented quickly.