App Review: Easily Find Sports Games with Bleacher Buddy

I don’t watch sports that often, but when I do, I pretty much never know which channel the game is on. There’s nothing more frustrating than missing a great touchdown or homerun simply because you’re searching Google or your TV’s channel listings.

Thankfully it looks like there’s a solution to this ever-prominent issue. Bleacher Buddy from Media Foundations LLC promises to not only tell you which channel the game is on, but also what time you can watch it. It also comes with a few extra features which sports fans will enjoy.

Sure, Bleacher Buddy makes some pretty big promises as far as helping sports fans find their sports games. Does it really work?

Once you download and open Bleacher Buddy, you’ll be asked to allow push notifications and to disclose your location, which I initially thought was used to pinpoint local TV providers. Such was not the case, though, and I still had to enter my zip code into Bleacher Buddy. This certainly wasn’t a chore, and I was pleased to see the local television providers displayed almost instantly.

All supported sports (I can’t think of any that aren’t supported by Bleacher Buddy) are displayed in a clean and organized list. Tapping on a sport will show yet another choice, such as pro or collegiate teams. Once you’ve made your choice, Bleacher Buddy displays a list of all related sports games. You can scroll through days, as well.

When you find the game you’re looking for, Bleacher Buddy displays a list of channels that are broadcasting it. If the game is already in progress, you can view the game score. There’s an area to vote for who will win the game. The “SmackChat” feature allows fans to chat with each other or browse comments anonymously.

If you’d like to be reminded of when your team is playing, Bleacher Buddy allows you to flag teams so you’ll be notified via push when they’re live.

As far as things that bothered me about Bleacher Buddy, I don’t like the fact that the app fails to show final scores for games that have ended. This means sports fans have to find another app or service to get the score when the app could easily help prevent this issue.

I also don’t really like the fact that it’s hard to find information quickly for local teams. It would be fantastic if Bleacher Buddy offered a section on the home screen that was dedicated to all local teams from every sport. This would certainly save quite a bit of time.

Overall, Bleacher Buddy is a fairly solid app that definitely delivers what it promises. However, I feel it could be even better. If you’re looking for a free sports app that’ll tell you when your team is playing and what channel they’re on, Bleacher Buddy is certainly worth the download.

Bleacher Buddy requires iOS 4.3 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.