Does the new ESPN Unlimited streamer have a good user interface?
Does the new ESPN Unlimited streamer have a good user interface?
My first impressions of the new ESPN service left me mildly disappointed. Does it fare better after a deeper dive?
The new ESPN direct-to-consumer experience has been the biggest headline in streaming for the past few weeks. The service offers fans a chance to watch ESPN’s family of channels without a cable subscription for the very first time via ESPN Unlimited, which starts at $30 per month. Fans can finally watch key events on ESPN without having to pay for any other cable channels, an innovation that sports lovers have been waiting for a long time.
As an eager fan myself, I was as excited to get my hands on the new ESPN streamers as anyone. And yet, when it was finally released on Aug. 21, I found myself a little disappointed in the results. But after so many years of waiting, I felt a dive deeper into the new streamer was warranted.
What does a sports lover think of the ESPN streamer’s user interface?
How well is ESPN’s home screen laid out?
The ESPN home screen is set up pretty well. At the top is the marquee programming event that ESPN wants to steer viewers toward at any given time, followed by rows of shoulder coverage for that specific event, as well as other programming appearing on ESPN’s primary channels. I appreciate the focus on the main event of the hour, because while the depth of sports is a highlight for the service, when there is a marquee event airing somewhere in the ESPN universe, chances are pretty high that a large number of viewers will be opening the app to check it out.
One thing of note about the new ESPN Unlimited home page is that it has a row dedicated to instructional videos covering the new features of the service. It shows customers how to use Multiview, the Interactive TV button, Streamcenter, and more, which will be helpful to longtime users of the ESPN app who are now trying to discover what’s new.
Viewers can learn about new features of ESPN Unlimited on the ESPN app with ease. Click to expand.
ESPN’s Also Live, Upcoming, and Best of Studio Shows carousels let viewers see upcoming games and analysis/opinion shows at a glance. Want to see the latest segment from your favorite ESPN analyst? It’s easily laid out in front of you for quick access, and if you keep scrolling, you can see a row dedicated to individual sports for faster navigation. All in all, I had only minor quibbles with the ESPN home page — I don’t need half-screen titles dedicated to the new Eli Manning show, a normal-sized tile will do — and mostly I think it does a great job of showing viewers premier events and organizing its vast amount of content in a way that is efficient and helpful.
Home screen score: 9 out of 10
Does ESPN Unlimited make content discovery easy?
Yes, I can say from personal experience that it’s pretty easy to find the content you’re looking for inside the ESPN app. The streamer allows viewers to sort by sport as mentioned above, go straight to content from ESPN studio shows, or use the search function at the top of the left-hand menu to help find specific events.
I raised one quibble with the ESPN Unlimited platform in my first impressions piece, and I’ll repeat it here: I would love to see the app roll out an electronic programming guide to give it a more retro cable feel. That would make content discovery easier and add a little nostalgia to the app as well. But overall, ESPN Unlimited does a good job at making content discovery feel simple.
Content discovery score: 8 out of 10
Can you switch between categories easily on ESPN Unlimited?
The standard here for ESPN Unlimited will be a little different than it is for on-demand streaming services. Since ESPN offers less on-demand content — though it still has titles like “30 for 30” and episodes of the “Pat McAfee Show“— and is more focused on live TV. The left-hand menu on ESPN reflects this, with only four options: Home, Films & Shows, Browse, and Search.
Clicking Browse brings up a shortcut to search for content by sports or leagues, and the Films & Shows tab neatly organizes things like “30 for 30” or ESPN podcasts like “The Mina Kimes Show Featuring Lenny” all in one place. Maybe if I got my wish of an electronic programming guide, there could be a tab for that as well, which would certainly simplify moving between categories on ESPN Unlimited via the ESPN app even easier. Still, I don’t consider that a major complaint about the simplicity of moving between types of content on the app.
Ease of moving between categories score: 9 out of 10
How good are ESPN’s playback controls?
I started out with high hopes, and indeed, there is a lot to like. When playing live content on ESPN, the playback window offers closed caption options, a playback bar that’s quite helpful to tell where you are if you fast-forward or rewind, and options at the bottom of the screen to see available multiview options, and browse other live programming without leaving the playback window.
Viewers with supported devices will also see a small button on their playback controls to open the Interactive TV interface, which has live stats from the event in question and ESPN BET information for relevant games and players, fantasy stats, and more. I really liked the layout of the Interactive TV screen, which integrated information easily without minimizing the action on the screen too much.
Interactive TV puts a host of information at your fingertips. Click image to expand.
Playback controls score: 9.5 out of 10
Does the ESPN multiview work well?
I love that the new ESPN app has a multiview feature, which can easily be found either by checking out the options listed on the home screen or by opening the playback controls on any live or on-demand stream and clicking over to the multiview carousel of options.
The ESPN Unlimited Multiview is good, but isn’t customizable.
Once you’re in the multiview, it’s intuitive enough. You can scroll through the four windows with ease, and whichever window is highlighted is the one that will play audio. Alas, ESPN’s multiview does not allow viewers to swap events in and out yet, meaning audiences have to pick from pre-selected groups of four instead. It’s fair to mention that creating customizable multiviews is pretty hard from a tech standpoint; only YouTube TV has made customizable multiview regularly available so far. Still, the ESPN Unlimited multiview will get a bit of a deduction as a result.
Multiview score: 7.5 out of 10
Final thoughts
After digging a little more deeply into the new ESPN streaming service, I feel a lot better about it. It’s true that on its face, the ESPN app has changed very little because of the launch of ESPN Unlimited, but going under the hood a little bit showed a lot more options and features to enjoy.
There are still areas where I think the ESPN streaming service can improve here and there, but overall, I think ESPN has done a good job of making customers feel like they’re getting a premium experience for the price they’re paying. I can already see myself spending quite a few hours with the service when football season ramps up.
ESPN Unlimited user interface score: 8.5 out of 10
ESPN Unlimited
ESPN launched its highly anticipated direct-to-consumer streaming service on August 21, 2025. For the first time, this service gives sports fans access to its full lineup of linear channels without a traditional cable or satellite subscription.