The Athletic Engaging App Design
Article by Rizza Del Castillo
Last Updated: January 07, 2025

For fans of sports, The Athletic is an app that’s upping the ante on sports news, providing coverage from top sports reporters in an ad-free setting. What makes it even better is that all that reporting is packaged in an incredibly sleek and sophisticated mobile app design.

The experience of using The Athletic app is a personalized one. On launching the app for the first time, users are prompted to select which leagues they want to follow (eg; NHL, NBA, NFL, etc.).

From there they select cities and add or drop specific teams. They can also add additional teams from leagues or cities they didn’t originally select. This information is used to tailor the content of the app to the user’s specific team interests.

The home screen of the app is a content discovery portal, highlighting top content, upcoming matches and games, and scores from recent games. The Athletic is a paid app, but users can read 5 free articles per month.

The user can also narrow content by choosing a team from an expanding hamburger menu in the top left corner. Simply tap on a team icon and name and the app populates relevant content related to that team.

The main navigation of the app is handled through a tabbed menu that runs along the bottom of the screen. Here users can access their feed, The Athletic podcasts, a search menu, standings, and an overview of recent scores.

The Athletic provides top quality sports reporting and results in a functional app design. A dark palette and slick visuals give the app a dramatic and memorable appeal.

The Athletic is an engaging app design in the Entertainment and Sports & Leisure industries. 

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Rizza Del Castillo
Content Specialist
Rizza Del Castillo leverages 15 years of expertise in crafting content that educates, informs, and provides actionable insights. She has published 100+ pieces, with many achieving first-page rankings on search engine results, for online creative marketplaces and renowned brands like Zing Toys, Stikbot Channel, crowdspring, and MemberPress. Currently at DesignRush, she harnesses her diverse experience and a dash of geekery to create content on web, app, video designs, and more.