ROOT SPORTS Stream Reviews

I paid for ROOTSPORTSStream on 3/27 and received confirmation from Apple Pay for my payment. I logged into ROOTSPORTSStream and the problems started. It said I didn’t have a paid subscription, so I immediately contacted customer service for assistance. They were quick with this initial response and directed me to several troubleshooting things to check. I did this and still had no access to ROOTSPORTSStream . I sent another correspondence to customer support detailing my troubleshooting efforts and providing them with additional information they requested. Here’s where it got bad! They responded back that my ticket had been elevated to the next level and someone would reach out shortly. They did not. After 3 days of no response, I sent another message. I was again elevated to a higher level and told to wait for response. 7 days passed with no communication, I sent yet another message demanding a solution or refund. They then said my case was elevated to the refund department for review.. still in all this zero contact other than automated messages. Another 10 days passed..zero response.. they ignored 2 more messages from me. I started over from the beginning, explained the situation and demanded a refund… it’s been 4 days, no response. Boy do I miss having a real person to call. This is ridiculous, all I wanted to do was watch Mariners baseball :( , I will not be a future customer, period. BEWARE!!!

I spent 3 hours trying to get my iPhone 15 max pro to mirror every tv and Roku in my house and could not get it to connect. Tried my granddaughter’s iPhone 14 it also would not connect. I Could connect my iPhone to and stream anything and everything but Root Sports! I did get my 10 year old Mac book that can not be updated, for several years, to mirror buts so slow it kept buffering. After I did everything customer support told me to do they have stopped communicating. Requested a full refund since I did not get to use it and only had it for a day. Also I can’t believe they do not have an app for smart tv’s!! Seriously there are organizations a fraction of the size of root that have a smart tv app!!

I have no idea how ROOTSPORTSStream could get any worse.
The sign-up process is an endless loop of form submissions followed by a prompt to log in with a cable provider. It seems counterintuitive to require cable authentication when the primary reason for using ROOTSPORTSStream is to bypass the need for a traditional cable subscription. Moreover, the lack of adequate support and the ineffectiveness of the FAQ page only compound the frustration.

In its current state, using ROOTSPORTSStream is simply not worth the trouble.

On my iPad, even when portrait orientation is locked into landscape, it keeps going back to portrait.

Also it does not allow me to sign in with another Apple ID other than the account that the device is logged into, and because of this I have to use a browser.

I will not be renewing after this month (and will just use my cable subscription) because of the poor execution of ROOTSPORTSStream. Worst streaming app out there. Definitely a 1 star app sadly.

I have signed up for a Root Sports subscription using my Apple Account. I’m signed in but I always get a “You need a valid subscription” warning. I have deleted and reinstalled ROOTSPORTSStream several times, logged out and logged back in, re-validated my email address, etc etc. I wrote to support and I got a laundry list of things to try, most of which either didn’t apply or I had already tried. I wrote back to support and I haven’t heard anything. A waste of $20.

Kudos to the Mariners for providing a direct to consumer option for games. With that said, Root Sport Stream leaves much to be desired. Very clunky interface that is unresponsive. iPad version does not show in landscape mode unless expanded. Clearly iPad compatibility is N afterthought. Apple TV also unresponsive to where clicking live does not result in video playing. I also just spent 20 minutes trying sign in on Apple TV and iPad as Root Sports app would not acknowledge my existing subscription. App is so glitchy I cringe every time I try to watch a game.

After waiting so long for a streaming option to watch Mariner games, I am completely unsurprised that it doesn’t work well. In true Mariner fashion they have taken half measures to create ROOTSPORTSStream. You can’t pause or rewind live games and the replay option only has the last game. But that doesn’t matter because the replay option doesn’t even work, it just shows a black screen. This is just another disappointment in the long line of them from the Mariners. It’s not worth $20/month. But I guess they need the money to pay all of their high profile free agents, oh, wait, never mind.

Awful picture quality (like SD) on Apple TV that can be blurry and/or cut out. It’s set to 1080p. Problem on their end, Netflix 4K streams just fine. App has to be deleted and reloaded almost everyday as it freezes when you return to the channel from the day before. Obviously a rushed out app and they haven’t taken the time to properly test or fix it. Nice to have the game on but if the viewers have to beta test ROOTSPORTSStream we shouldn’t be charged full price.

Very excited that this solution exists (long overdue) but still some bugs to work out. My main issue is that I can’t usually watch the games live but when I sign in to watch it after the fact, there’s video already playing automatically at the top. And in this case, that video was talking about the results of the game and displaying the score. So, they’ll need to take a page out of the NFL+ playbook and get that dialed in. If they get that squared away and a few other bug fixes, this could be a 5-star experience!

UPDATE: I am downgrading from 4 stars to 2. ROOTSPORTSStream works for watching the game live, yes. But if you want to go back and watch a replay, good luck. I cannot find yesterday’s game, which was opening day. Searching for it comes up with no results. There are videos in my “recently watched” that I have never watched. There is no way to find anything, and it’s buggy and not user friendly. Not yet worth the price they are charging.

When ROOTSPORTSStream worked, it worked just fine. I randomly got logged out after being subscribed for less than a month, and every time I tried to log back in, it said I wasn’t subscribed. Confused, I reached out but never got a response. I tried resubbing, but it said I was always subscribed. I still had no answer from any of my complaints, so I just canceled it with 5 more days to go before I got charged again.

Going to try resubbing next month, I love watching my Mariners.

Update after using for a week: Got a Roku player from a friend and there is an app for that device. So, a better experience. But ROOTSPORTSStream still stinks. All the issues noted below and, most annoyingly, the stream regularly degrades. Painful. MLB app works just fine. Why not piggyback on that?

Love that streaming games is available for a flat fee instead of being packaged with cable. ROOTSPORTSStream is rudimentary however. No app available for my Samsung smart TV so I’m screen mirroring from my iPhone which is a pain and glitchy at times. I can’t figure out how to turn CC off. No rewind either. Hopefully ROOTSPORTSStream will be improved over time.

Apple TV app: works well, but the sidebar menu only being force closed once you are finally able to navigate to the small expand screen icon is needless. Makes more sense to open to the full screen when I select live tv, and require additional input if I want to actually go to the menu.

The black opaque menu styling is also frustrating to look at once I do open live tv, since you have to look at it for 5+ seconds until it closes by itself.

This may be out of your control, but I feel like rewinding is a MUST as a sports network. MLBTV has this feature, and it’s frustrating I can’t flip back 15 seconds to review a play.

Really happy ROOTSPORTSStream exists, but there are some pretty significant bugs I hope get worked out soon. Most notably whenever the scheduled programming changes (for example when the scheduled broadcast time for the game ends and changes to the postgame show), an error is shown saying “video is null” and ROOTSPORTSStream must be restarted. This occurs multiple times per game (mid game) and is very frustrating. Also ROOTSPORTSStream randomly crashes a few times per game. It’s still early stages for the release as I’m writing this so hope it gets worked out soon, but until then it is borderline unusable.

Very excited to have a more reasonable way to watch the M’s again after nothing last season. Frustratingly the stream stops and shows an error message (something like the video is not accessible) around three times a game requiring you to leave ROOTSPORTSStream and return in order to get it to start again. Would be great to have that fixed…

The positive: Nice to have Mariners baseball on a streaming app without needing cable or a live tv streaming service.
Room for improvement: the menu bar really needs to be hid while watching programs, that feels like basic functionality that’s not being done. Also, there are frequent delays in joining a live game that feel like server issues. Max resolution is only 1080P and I’ve also run into issues when pausing a game with the video and sometimes audio freezing up and requiring exiting ROOTSPORTSStream and restarting to make things work. Finally, the interface is extremely bare bones. There’s no schedule for upcoming games, no way to view past games and the rest of the programming is not organized well. ROOTSPORTSStream feels rushed to market and lacks the polish it should have. With any luck, updates will be coming on a regular basis.

I have been waiting for this for so long. I am happy to be able to stream the M’s. When I signed up it took my money just fine, the account matched my email, etc. it kept prompting me to sign up and pay. I reached out to customer service and they just kept telling me it was an email issue because they can’t even find my account and to check my email and make sure it matches. They had me do this multiple times and asked for photo proof. I provided everything they asked for. They just stopped responding. Somehow weeks later it randomly started working. But I essentially paid for 2+ weeks and wasn’t able to do anything with ROOTSPORTSStream . Customer service was incredibly frustrating and there is no way to actually speak with anyone. Good luck if you choose to give it a shot with ROOTSPORTSStream , maybe you’ll have an easier time than I had.

I get my Mariners content without blackouts, so I’ll take it, but ROOTSPORTSStream has bugs that disrupt the viewing experience (black screens, random pauses, doesn’t adjust when I turn the phone to the side, freezing, etc.)

Happy for the streaming option as I cut the cable cord awhile back. Good job M’s and Root Sports! Will be able to watch hometown baseball for the first time in years (except for the occasional game visit or Apple TV game). Just couldn’t justify Comcast or Fubo cost.
Only complaint is the side bar on the left hand side of screen.
Go M’s! Very excited!

when you hit the live button, it should adjust the stream to be truly live. however, and this is the only app that i have seen do this, when you hit the live button to update the stream, it backs the stream up by 1-2 seconds each time, very obviously. also, the apple TV app for the apple tv box is often multiple minutes behind actually being live, or at least it is behind the same stream in the iphone app. why is the stream not the same on both devices? it is important for a sports stream to be as up to date/live as possible. i’m so happy to be able to watch the mariners but ROOTSPORTSStream is a bit clunky.

I have never been more excited to pay $20 a month. Go M’s. Previous options to stream were too expensive, and the “free” options were inconvenient, spotty, ad filled, etc. I would gladly pay $20 per month for all M’s games.

For ROOTSPORTSStream, I haven’t had issues yet. I did have issues with the fire stick app, in that even with newer hardware, updated OS, etc, the stream was far from HD. I downloaded this iPhone app and Airplayed to my TV, and the picture quality was great, no interruptions, etc. we have fast internet so there’s no reason it should be low def on the fire stick. iPhone app works better