# Birmingham Live vs SPA UK

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: SPA UK at none against Birmingham Live's 2. SPA UK also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (fortnightly vs monthly). On price, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Birmingham Live sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. SPA UK asks for nothing beyond the download.

Birmingham Live ships an update monthly, SPA UK fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Birmingham Live | SPA UK |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.5 (53 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/birmingham-live/id662307361/reviews)** | — |
| Number of ratings | **53** | — |
| Positive reviews | 18.2% of reviews | — |
| In-app purchases | Yes | **No** |
| Ads | Yes | **No** |
| Update frequency | Monthly | **Fortnightly** |
| Monetization | Subscription | — |
| Size | 202 MB | 29 MB |
| Requires iOS | **15.0** | 15.1 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | [Trinity Mirror Digital Media Limited](https://appshunter.io/developer/360153141) | [Shree Prajapati Associations UK](https://appshunter.io/developer/6773499772) |

## What reviewers say

### Birmingham Live

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/birmingham-live/id662307361)

Access local news, entertainment, and events for the Midlands region. Stay informed with breaking news alerts, personalized content, and live sports coverage. Engage with interactive features and save articles for offline reading.

**Highlights:** Breaking news alerts, Personalized news feed, Live sports coverage, Event listings, Interactive features, Offline article saving

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (2)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Monthly | $4.99 | per month |
| Yearly | $49.99 | per year |

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Good for local news
- 👍 Keeps users informed
- 👍 Good for expats to stay connected
- 👍 Informative news coverage
- 👍 Impressive layout (recent)

**What reviewers complain about**

- 💸 Paywall introduced
- 💸 Restricted article access
- 💸 Greedy monetization
- 💸 Misleading headlines
- 💸 Poor quality content

**Reported bugs**

- App crashes frequently
- App freezes
- Comments not loading
- App doesn't refresh
- App crashes when logging in

**Requested features**

- Allow users to delete or amend comments
- More detailed news with less repeating
- More local news, less celebrity/soap content
- Revert to previous app version
- Improve comment section moderation


### SPA UK

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/spa-uk/id6773499770)

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Birmingham Live free?

Birmingham Live is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is SPA UK free?

SPA UK is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Do Birmingham Live or SPA UK have ads?

Birmingham Live shows ads; SPA UK does not.

### Which is updated more often, Birmingham Live or SPA UK?

Birmingham Live ships an update monthly, and SPA UK fortnightly. Most recently, Birmingham Live was updated on November 6, 2026 and SPA UK on October 31, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*