Comparison

BUCS Play vs Nirius ProCoach

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head

BUCS Play

Free

⚽ Sports

★ 1.01 ratingsView app →

About

BUCS Play

This app centralizes British university and college sports. It allows users to manage teams, view schedules, check scores, and access league standings. Users can also enter sporting events directly through the platform.

Highlights

Team management
View fixtures
Check results
League tables
Enter events

Features

Read full description

BUCS Play covers all British university and college sport competitions. Manage your team, view fixtures, check results & league tables and enter events - all on BUCS Play.

About

Nirius ProCoach

Features

Read full description

The official Nirius ProCoach companion app for the Nirius Platform

Screenshots

BUCS Play4 screens

Nirius ProCoach3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: BUCS Play at every 3 weeks against Nirius ProCoach's every 21 months. BUCS Play also leads on device support (3 vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

BUCS Play ships an update every 3 weeks, Nirius ProCoach every 21 months. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and May 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level

BUCS Play versus Nirius ProCoach: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameter	BUCS Play	Nirius ProCoach
Price	Free	Free
Rating	1.0 (1 ratings) — better	—
Positive reviews	8.3% of reviews	—
Number of ratings	1 — better	—
Update frequency	Every 3 weeks — better	Every 21 months
Ads	No	No
In-app purchases	No	No
Monetization	Free	—
Devices	iPhone, iPad, iPod — better	iPhone
Requires iOS	15.6 — better	16.0
Further details — not scored
Size	83 MB	15 MB
Age rating	4+	4+
Developer	Playwaze Ltd	Nirius Networks Ltd

Bugs and requests

BUCS Play

Reported bugs

291 issues

App crashes all the time
App will not work at all
App is completely pointless
Not one thing on it works
Continually forgets sports/comps

Show 286 more

Pressing any button says 'something went wrong'
Registration contains obligatory questions
Questions about sexual orientation
App and website have been unusable for years
Navigation is impossible
Cannot find team, league, sport, results
Something is always going wrong
Error message when signing up for membership
Error message when trying to join gym
Wasted trip and motivation
Crashes beyond use
Constantly has error messages
Crashes every three seconds
App is so glitchy
Cannot use basic functions
Only error messages now
“An error occurred”
Generally does not work at all
Takes too long to set up
Uses too much information
Buggy app
No reply when contacted about bugs
Poor customer service
App says 'no internet connection'
Redownloaded app, says account doesn't exist
Scottish/Irish Surnames can't be spelt properly
Won't let you capitalize letters after Mac/Mc
New update has broken it
Error message when signing up for universal membership
Error saying you don't own universal membership
Unbreakable circular logic
Can't contact someone about issues
Constant errors
Nothing loads
App is unusable
Labyrinth of bugs
Crashes frequently
Sluggish interface
Frequent errors
App is woefully inadequate
Full of bugs
Buttons don't work
Glitches and crashes frequently
App is hopeless
Terrible layout
Needs NASA grade wifi to load
Inaccessible to see previous league results
Terribly optimized app
Incredibly slow
Doesn't work 95% of the time
Takes ten minutes for a page to load
Many services don't work
Failed to provide a working link
Not repaired after a week
Changed UI
Odd looking checkboxes not interactable
Cannot accept privacy policy
Impossible to navigate
Nothing seems to work
Struggling to connect to BUCS page
Awful interface
Useless functionality
Super clunky
Difficult to find results and fixtures
Hopeless
Cannot look up fixtures
Crashes often
Takes ages to find fixtures and leagues
Data of names of players easy to find
Atrocious
Impossible to navigate
Nothing seems to work
Very very poor
Pathetic app
Outrageously unreliable
Difficult to use
Worse than useless
Get to league and dumped out
Unacceptably dreadful
Someone worked hard to make an app this bad
Had potential but is awful
Incredibly difficult to find league tables and fixtures
Forever crashing during use
Cannot find anything
Fixtures, results, tables not findable
App looks like a Sunday pub cricket team app
App is busted
Favorite a team goes away when going to new page
Terrible update
Cannot get past the first loading screen
Beyond bad
Makes it almost impossible to check results
Deserves a negative rating
Unusable
Search doesn't work
Filters don't work
Anything doesn't work
Flaky
Accounts don't save preferences
Buggiest most annoying app
Half the time it won't load
Takes you to login page, won't log in
Keep loading for eternity
Basic functionality not working properly
Back button doesn't work
Search function doesn't work
Very poor app
Registration is a shambles
Registration doesn't work
Literally nothing useful actually works
Search bar doesn't work
Advertisements do work
Utterly shocking app
Impossible to navigate
Cannot find teams or league tables
App constantly forgets saved preferences
Really, really atrocious!
Barely works
Absolute nightmare trying to sign up for anything
ALL I WANT TO SEE IS A FIXTURES LIST
Don't want to join a community
So poorly designed
Drunk monkeys with hammers design
Utterly useless
Shockingly bad
Perfectly useless
Can't find results, fixtures or tables
This app is trash
Nothing works
So unorganised
If you find something, it frequently crashes
Nothing loads
Terrible!
Utterly rubbish
Don't need any of the other junk
Don't want to register
Handing over details that are none of the app's business
Must be hard work to make an app this bad
Woeful app
Slow and confusing
Shocking
Can never find anything
Horrific and inexcusable
Forced to download an app just to join a competition
No longer on BUCS website
Told to download this app
Register required
Still no access to fixture results
Near impossible to find anything
Searches never work
Can rarely find anything
Unnecessarily complicated app
Unclear what information is required
Help on website doesn't correspond to app
Easier using card system
Daft and unnecessarily obstructive way to handle rosters
Doesn't work on less recent phones
Waste of money developing this app
Just awful
No clear instructions on how to use the app
Completely counter-intuitive
Sections of the app don't load
Outdated interface
Doesn't appear optimized for devices
What the heck is going on?
UPDATE COMPATIBILITY
Compatible for iPhone 13 Pro
Unnecessarily complicated
Notifications page is useless
Hate using it
Wish I didn't have to
Absolute disaster of an app
Shambolic
Slow
Extremely difficult to use
Buggy
Far too difficult to interact
Cannot view BUCS information on mobile on the web anymore
Forced to open this horrendous app
10-15 minutes of long load times between pages
Awful layout
Give up long before reaching information
Buggy, crashes
Have to trawl through several pages to get information
Easier to have just kept website updates going
Amazed at how terrible this app is
Nothing I've used before comes close
So bad
Question if it is worth the storage
Need it for university sport
Most horrific, dimwitted, catastrophic app
Someone saw this pathetic mess and said 'upload it'
True crime: no way around it
Spend half an hour finding team
Spend another hour trying to mark self available
Developers should be held accountable
Never be allowed to touch a computer again
Apple should allow negative stars
Awful. I am cut off
No longer able to access site
Cannot follow what everyone is doing
Cannot access fixtures
Gutted
Absolute shambolic app!
BUCS claim to have tested the app on a large scale - lies
Students 'can't play without the app' yet it doesn't work
Takes hours to load
Plenty of bugs
Tricks you into thinking you've joined a community/team
Takes 4-5 attempts to get somewhere
Ability to see fixtures is a joke
Entering a result is ridiculously stupid and long-winded
BUCS are constantly apologizing because the app doesn't work
Dread to think how many app support queries
Test the app on one big sport
Can't access at all.
No information at all after downloading app
Trying to see fixtures and results
Just takes me back to main app page to download again
Not able to know what's going on and where
Appalling user experience
If all you want is a list of fixtures - why do you need to register?
How do I exercise my right to be forgotten?
Why would someone who just wants fixtures want to be part of a community?
Why when I find a fixture can I enter the result?
Why when I tick non-participant does my gender get checked when selecting a team?
The app simply doesn't work
Slow
Crashes
100s of bugs
Main problem is the amount of time you lose
If I want to see a fixture I have to travel through several pages
Have to select my institute every time
Waste of time
If I've joined a team a short cut should take me to their page
Teaching all of my club how to use the app is dreadful
No real notice from BUCS
Had BUCS score which works
App was made and we were using it before all the bugs etc were sorted
Creates more problems
Have to join to teams to be able to see their fixtures
What if I am a mother who wants to see my sons football game? I have to join the team and this DOESNT WORK.
All the 5 star ratings are clearly fake
Painfully slow
Doesn't load
Adds more stress than it's worth
Shouldn't have been rolled out with the amount of problems
Not heard from one other union that this has not been a problem
Doesn't look like it will be fixed anytime soon
Absolutely useless
Outrageous!!!
Why would you take crucial information off the web page such as fixtures and results
Force us to download the worst app I have ever used
Bloody ridiculous
Bring back the web page at least whilst you sort this atrocious
Absolute rubbish
Last season you didn’t need to register
Had access to a website that was informative and helpful
Replacing it with one where you not only have to go through a registration
Gain access to a website that has no logic and is confusing
Massively retrograde step
Who are the people who commissioned this
Who chose such incompetent website developers
Doesn't deserve one star
Unusable and confusing
Actually worse than their mobile web page
Takes 20+ seconds to load a single screen
Instructions provided to captains are inaccurate
Don't have the right score input for volleyball
Don't have simple features such as direct access to the teams you manage
Forces you to go through uni selection and find your team every time
Decent idea, dreadful execution
Do you really have to scroll and choose your Uni every single time?
No where to check your BUCS points
Can't see how other sports in your uni are performing
Can't see where and when they are playing
One star is generous
Bring back BUCS score until you sort this mess out
This app blows
It's whack!
Limited appeal
As someone who is not a student nor a participant, disappointed
No way to check fixtures for local university teams
Simple fixture list would suffice
Deleting the app
Remove my data as per GDPR regs

Requested features

29 requests

Fix spelling of Irish/Scottish names
Allow users to fix wrongly spelt names
Remake the app from scratch
Make app compatible with iPhone 13 Pro
Improve UI and UX

Show 24 more

Bring back the website
Create a new app
Allow public/fans to see fixture results
Add a simple fixture list
Improve notifications page
Add saved teams function to notifications page
Provide clear instructions on how to use the app
Optimize app for devices
Allow users to exercise right to be forgotten
Provide direct access to teams managed
Fix score input for volleyball
Allow non-students/participants to check fixtures
Improve app for parents to follow matches
Make it easier to find fixtures and results
Allow users to choose Uni once
Add BUCS points tracking
Show performance of other sports at uni
Improve app for captains to manage teams
Allow users to mark themselves available for selection easily
Simplify result entry
Improve app for event sign-ups
Make app compatible with older phones
Add dark mode option
Advanced analytics dashboard

Nirius ProCoach

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

BUCS Play

No in-app purchases

None

Nirius ProCoach

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is BUCS Play free?

BUCS Play is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

Is Nirius ProCoach free?

Nirius ProCoach is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

Do BUCS Play or Nirius ProCoach have ads?

Neither BUCS Play nor Nirius ProCoach shows ads.

Which is updated more often, BUCS Play or Nirius ProCoach?

BUCS Play ships an update every 3 weeks, and Nirius ProCoach every 21 months. Most recently, BUCS Play was updated on September 22, 2026 and Nirius ProCoach on May 19, 2026.