Review Insights · App Store
Locals.com
Locals Technology Inc · 40,877 ratings · ★ 4.7
4.7
★★★★★
40,877 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 48 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"locals"
15 negative reviews mention this · 31% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Good content. Horrible app.. If you’re associated with Locals tech/app management team you’re undeniably horrible at your job. You’re the reason why people unsubscribe from creators because the app is so poorly made by people that undeniably don’t know what they’re doi…" - Zombiezzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
2
"watch"
9 negative reviews mention this · 19% of all complaints
★★★★★ "C. Whenever I click on someone channel who is going live, it keeps glitching and won’t let me open up the stream and then it keeps freezing, and I can’t watch anything" - Mlliliihkj
3
"content"
8 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Horrible live streaming. What’s the point of paying if content creators can’t successfully live stream?!?!?" - Young Professional Insomniac
4
"rumble"
6 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Annoyances. Says to link rumble. Typed in rumble password and username and it does not do anything." - Mangoboba007
5
"trying"
6 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Good vision / poor execution. I love the idea of directly supporting creators without all the insane policing that YouTube does, but this app is just made horribly. I’m actively trying to put money into it and it’s just giving me a non stop wheel and I’m locked out of …" - Mulls1313
6
"been"
6 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Worthless, non functioning app, no support!. Horrible app, no human support, run by robots who send nonexistent links to locals contact page that do not exist! Can’t buy coins in over 6 weeks, and yes I updated the app. Other people reported they haven’t been able to buy coins in well…" - Barbj1692
7
"anything"
5 negative reviews mention this · 10% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Annoyances. Says to link rumble. Typed in rumble password and username and it does not do anything." - Mangoboba007
8
"stream"
5 negative reviews mention this · 10% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Horrible live streaming. What’s the point of paying if content creators can’t successfully live stream?!?!?" - Young Professional Insomniac
9
"people"
5 negative reviews mention this · 10% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Good content. Horrible app.. If you’re associated with Locals tech/app management team you’re undeniably horrible at your job. You’re the reason why people unsubscribe from creators because the app is so poorly made by people that undeniably don’t know what they’re doi…" - Zombiezzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
10
"know"
5 negative reviews mention this · 10% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Good content. Horrible app.. If you’re associated with Locals tech/app management team you’re undeniably horrible at your job. You’re the reason why people unsubscribe from creators because the app is so poorly made by people that undeniably don’t know what they’re doi…" - Zombiezzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
11
"money"
5 negative reviews mention this · 10% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Good vision / poor execution. I love the idea of directly supporting creators without all the insane policing that YouTube does, but this app is just made horribly. I’m actively trying to put money into it and it’s just giving me a non stop wheel and I’m locked out of …" - Mulls1313
12
"since"
5 negative reviews mention this · 10% of all complaints
★★★★★ "So sick of the spinning!!!. I pay for this membership and previously I couldn’t watch anything live since the last couple updates because it would just spin relentlessly so I was forced to watch the recordings. Now both the recordings and the live view are spinning. …" - Pamiamm
📋 All 48 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
Annoyances
Says to link rumble. Typed in rumble password and username and it does not do anything.
Horrible live streaming
What’s the point of paying if content creators can’t successfully live stream?!?!?
The app crashes and buffers all the time
The app crashes and buffers all the time.
Good content. Horrible app.
If you’re associated with Locals tech/app management team you’re undeniably horrible at your job. You’re the reason why people unsubscribe from creators because the app is so poorly made by people that undeniably don’t know what they’re doing.
Good vision / poor execution
I love the idea of directly supporting creators without all the insane policing that YouTube
does, but this app is just made horribly. I’m actively trying to put money into it and it’s just giving me a non stop wheel and I’m locked out of what I want to watch. Every time I open this app it’s something new.
does, but this app is just made horribly. I’m actively trying to put money into it and it’s just giving me a non stop wheel and I’m locked out of what I want to watch. Every time I open this app it’s something new.
So sick of the spinning!!!
I pay for this membership and previously I couldn’t watch anything live since the last couple updates because it would just spin relentlessly so I was forced to watch the recordings.
Now both the recordings and the live view are spinning. Why can’t you people get this fixed? I used to be the Director of IT quality. You shouldn’t be releasing something like this that’s so bad it’s really causing your customers to lose their members.
Even when your customers who are selling the memberships tell you it’s a problem you tell them that it’s not. This is really unacceptable.
Now both the recordings and the live view are spinning. Why can’t you people get this fixed? I used to be the Director of IT quality. You shouldn’t be releasing something like this that’s so bad it’s really causing your customers to lose their members.
Even when your customers who are selling the memberships tell you it’s a problem you tell them that it’s not. This is really unacceptable.
Cant even use
I couldn’t even make an account or log in with my Rumble account because the “sign in” screen would just load indefinitely. I tried resetting my phone, deleting the app, waiting for 15 minutes to see if it ever did load, etc.
Long load time
Takes to long to load when going into videos
Weird and confusing
Not sure how to like subscribe monthly??? This should not be rocket science and the coin thing is just dumb.
Last update broke live streaming
The developers need to figure out why we get the spinning wheel of death during live streams since 2.1.27 update. When it works flawlessly, the usability is still mediocre, particularly with the chat. Replies and ats don’t stand out well. It’s hard to follow a thread of replies. The keyboard covers too much. It’s hard to see the stream and chat simultaneously because chat makes the stream window too small. I’d love to give suggestions for improved usability once Locals developers fix the live stream problem.
Trying to unsubscribe to LOCALS and the locals site will not let me unsubscribe
This is a review of LOCALS
Worthless, non functioning app, no support!
Horrible app, no human support, run by robots who send nonexistent links to locals contact page that do not exist! Can’t buy coins in over 6 weeks, and yes I updated the app. Other people reported they haven’t been able to buy coins in well over 6 months and there is NO support.
Update:
Somehow they solved the problem about a month ago, and now I’m finally able to buy coins. I hope it stays this way.
Update:
Somehow they solved the problem about a month ago, and now I’m finally able to buy coins. I hope it stays this way.
App lags to much
You pay $10 a month for an app that lags every day and you can’t even use you have to get on the webpage
I'm not signing up for a Rumble email
I have an account already but in order to reset my password I have to have an email THROUGH RUMBLE? Uninstalled this BS app immediately
Ridiculous
Waste of money. This app sucks!
App is constantly glitching
This app constantly glitches out and will not play videos unless wifi is on or full cell service. I don’t have this problem with other apps.
A confusing mess
The worst user interface I’ve ever had the displeasure of using.
When playing video clips from my favorite podcast that I subscribed to it doesn’t accurately keep track of where I was last.
It makes it so confusing that I don’t know which one I’ve listened to, and which one I have it.
This is basic!.
You would think they would have at least that correct.
This is crazy.
When playing video clips from my favorite podcast that I subscribed to it doesn’t accurately keep track of where I was last.
It makes it so confusing that I don’t know which one I’ve listened to, and which one I have it.
This is basic!.
You would think they would have at least that correct.
This is crazy.
HELP!
Someone please explain to me why I cannot get my annual subscription with savings promised by Viva/Barnes. I have been trying for days. CHRISTMAS doesn't work. Can somebody fix this?
Locals on iPad is dumb
The iPhone version is much better. When you scroll, you have to scroll through huge pages to get anywhere that should have a list that you can scroll through and then get to the big page. Plus, the resolution on the photos on the iPad is not good enough it’s made for phones not for the iPad. This needs to be reworked.
PPV
It’s very Pay per view. It needs better implementation. I don’t see value in
Rude Customer Support
When Locals was new, I was impressed. I Just needed some support and it was like interacting w a 13 year old edge lord. The ensh**ification occurred too early.
Can’t sign in with rumble, can’t use promo codes
Take a one star til this is fixed, I’m not gonna buy your stupid coins when I don’t have to online
I have had to close the app a dozen times so far
And I’m only half an hour in to a Breaking Points stream. Content crashes make the $10 I just paid not worth it
Good Luck
I've been trying to cancel this subscription for near a year with no luck! There is no support for this app. It's difficult to deal with and a rip off!
Barely functional
Glitches by stopping for no reason. Had to restart app multiple times. Just poorly functioning.
Dinesh stole my money
Dinesh charged me $50 without letting me know beforehand. Don’t use locals!
Nothing to offer
Not a relevant app
All About the Money
I get snippets of information and teasers for more information but the data is for “supporters only”. These chuckleheads love to hear themselves talk but all of a sudden they want me to pay to listen to them. As if they don’t get paid to do the talk show circuit any more. I’ll consider investing when the gubbaman stops taking all my money.
Locals rip off
I joined locals to hear the people’s voice stories because I believed in them and the stories they tell. However… I was so disappointed in their “service of telling the most important information “ that I requested a refund. They told me they refunded my money on September 4th but it’s the 28 and no refund to my bank. When I reached out to them they told me to check with my bank which I did and no refund was ever made! On top of that I reached out to them again and told them no refund was made and still have heard nothing from them!
Be careful of who you give your money to!!!!!
Be careful of who you give your money to!!!!!
Any eta on improvements???
UPDATE: July 2025. I originally wrote this review approximately 2 years ago and still nothing has changed (sad)... There’s no ability to download and listen/watch offline. That makes this app useless to me. Such a shame since I have podcasts I’m paying for on it, but still can’t use it for anything other than making comments after the fact.
This is the worst one for me. So much other room for improvement, but it seems they aren’t developing the app.
This is the worst one for me. So much other room for improvement, but it seems they aren’t developing the app.
Once was great
I have loved this app for a very long time. I have followed several creators, and been very happy to be able to support them and watch content that felt more personal directly on this platform.
Earlier this year, I had an issue where I was trying to pay a creator, and the transaction never applied credits to my account. After contacting them, which I was able to do at the time, they told me that they would resolve the issue. I got my refund.
Recently, I decided to try to continue to support another creator, who I have been supporting through subscription, following and watching their stream for years! Back since they were on periscope. Currently, I cannot purchase any coins to support them because it is wanting me to complete a transaction that I had previously begun. The same transaction that I believe was what was refunded to me.
Now I can’t make a purchase to support someone, without finishing a previous purchase, which had been botched, which is now sitting on my account is something that I must do, before I can do anything else.
Why am I complaining here? Because there is zero way for me to contact customer support in the app… or as I view the website through Firefox on my iPhone. I don’t know what has happened with this app, but it has gone from something that was well intentioned, a bit buggy, but worth the effort… To something that is only a pain in my rear.
It is a shame that I cannot support the people that I would like to through this app, because the app and back end support are clearly failing. Unfortunately, I have to say this here in a review because there is no other avenue readily available for me to speak with Locals directly.
Earlier this year, I had an issue where I was trying to pay a creator, and the transaction never applied credits to my account. After contacting them, which I was able to do at the time, they told me that they would resolve the issue. I got my refund.
Recently, I decided to try to continue to support another creator, who I have been supporting through subscription, following and watching their stream for years! Back since they were on periscope. Currently, I cannot purchase any coins to support them because it is wanting me to complete a transaction that I had previously begun. The same transaction that I believe was what was refunded to me.
Now I can’t make a purchase to support someone, without finishing a previous purchase, which had been botched, which is now sitting on my account is something that I must do, before I can do anything else.
Why am I complaining here? Because there is zero way for me to contact customer support in the app… or as I view the website through Firefox on my iPhone. I don’t know what has happened with this app, but it has gone from something that was well intentioned, a bit buggy, but worth the effort… To something that is only a pain in my rear.
It is a shame that I cannot support the people that I would like to through this app, because the app and back end support are clearly failing. Unfortunately, I have to say this here in a review because there is no other avenue readily available for me to speak with Locals directly.
Subscribe forever
I subscribed to Dave Rubin very early in locals history. Since then I’ve lost access but continue to be charged monthly with no way of canceling the subscription. Going to have to close my CC acct in order to stop it.
Why connect to a rumble account?
Hello, why are you harassing and trying to force us to connect our rumble account to our locals account? We prefer to keep them isolated please! Thanks!
Hate it
It’s not functional and I’m unsubscribing just because it is difficult to watch my content creator I subscribed to, on this app. I don’t know where the five star rating came from.
Broken
The get coins function is broken and seems to have been down for at least 6 months now
Awful signal
The worst platform!!!
C
Whenever I click on someone channel who is going live, it keeps glitching and won’t let me open up the stream and then it keeps freezing, and I can’t watch anything
App stalls when utilizing cellular networks
App stalls and can’t be restarted without reboot
Stalling or downloading during the broadcast
As of lately, I can hardly watch Robert Govea because I am constantly interrupted with this Locals platform spinning not keeping the video going. I can go over to YouTube and it’s playing just fine on YouTube but for whatever reason on this platform it does not.
Picky
Locals works great on my IPhone, but won’t let me sign in on my iPad. 😟
Buffers
App randomly get the loading/buffer circle of death. Have to close out and restart.
Loses progress on video I was watching.
Happening more frequently
Loses progress on video I was watching.
Happening more frequently
Content is great but…
Content is great but videos always buffer and never play again. I have to force close the app and restart it, then search for my video because there isn’t a recently watched tab.
Buggy
Buggy but unfortunately the main platform my favorite news show is on, and alternatives like youtube and Spotify aren’t much better for their own reasons
Another Sipper
I avoid the Locals interface whenever possible. I watch Scott Adams’ podcast on Rumble-better control, cleaner design. Locals is just the tollbooth I grudgingly pass through for Scott’s extra content.
Major connectivity issues
This app often seems to have playback issues in low signal areas. I understand that low signal locations may buffer or stop play at times but this app constantly pauses in locations where any other streaming app I’m using (Spotify, YouTube, safari, Sirius XM, among others) work just fine. To me this indicates an app issue, not just a signal strength concern. It also very rarely keeps my playback position when returning to specific episodes which is frustrating and causes me to often backtrack or fast forward to try and return to the last position I listened to.
Not great
It’s just not fluid. Also dark icon please?
Lacks Vehicle App
For those that listen to content in our cars, Apple CarPlay or Android Auto apps are a key feature.
Locals
I am not sure what I think at this point. If you watch 5 different channels it would get pretty expensive. I’ve only been on a short while so can’t say much.
Sentiment summary
93%
Positive (4-5★)
3%
Neutral (3★)
4%
Negative (1-2★)