Locals.com

Review by eFreeware

If you follow creators whose work you want to back directly rather than through a feed shaped by an algorithm, Locals.com is built with you in mind. The app is a free download from developer LOCALS, and it has been installed more than 500,000 times with a 4.5 average from over 12,000 ratings. It pairs live streaming and chat with community posts and libraries of video and audio, so one app covers several ways of keeping up with the people you support.

What appeals to me here is the stated emphasis on creator ownership and independence. The developer says creators keep control of their content and that user data is not sold, which is the kind of promise that matters to viewers who are tired of their attention being traded. Whether that promise holds up in practice is something only long-term use will show, but it is the clear pitch of the app.

A feed built around the creators you choose

At its core, Locals.com is a place to interact with content from creators and their communities. Community feeds and posts form the everyday layer: updates, conversations and the sort of back-and-forth that keeps a following connected between bigger releases. Because the app is organized around the people you follow rather than a general timeline, the experience depends on who you choose to support.

Live streaming with chat is the second pillar, and it is the feature I would expect to drive the most engagement. Watching a stream while chatting with other viewers turns a broadcast into something closer to a shared event, which is exactly the dynamic that creator-focused platforms tend to lean on. For anyone who already watches streams elsewhere, the appeal is having that activity sit alongside the rest of a creator's output instead of being scattered across services.

Video and audio libraries in one place

Beyond live moments, the app includes content libraries for video and audio. That gives creators a place to keep their work available after a stream ends, and gives viewers something to browse when nothing is live. It is a sensible arrangement: the live stream brings people in, and the library gives them a reason to return.

The developer describes Locals as an all-in-one solution for interacting with the content you love, and the combination of streams, posts and libraries supports that description reasonably well. I would expect this to be most useful for someone who follows a small number of creators closely and wants their streams, recordings and community chatter under one roof. The app is a social product rather than a game, and its focus is squarely on that relationship between creator and audience.

What you need before you start

Locals.com is free to download and carries no ads, which keeps the experience free of interruptions. It does offer in-app purchases, so some form of paid activity exists inside the app. If you are considering it, that is the main thing to keep in mind: the app itself costs nothing, but the model leaves room for spending.

The app has a Teen content rating, which reflects that it is a general social product rather than something aimed at young children. It was released in May 2020 and was last updated in August 2026. That pattern suggests a product that is being maintained rather than one that has been left alone.

Who this fits

The people most likely to get value from Locals.com are viewers who already care about a creator's independence and want a way to follow their work directly. If you enjoy live streams with an active chat, read community posts between broadcasts and like having past video and audio in one library, the app's structure lines up with how you already spend your time. It is also a natural fit for someone who dislikes algorithmic feeds and prefers to decide for themselves what shows up.

Creators are the other half of the audience, and the app is explicitly built to serve them: the developer frames it as a way for creators to be independent and to keep ownership of their content. That focus shapes everything else about the product. Someone looking for a broad social network with a wide mix of strangers will find the app's creator-and-community orientation quite different from that, because the whole design assumes you are there for specific people rather than for a general crowd.

A worthwhile download for dedicated followers

Locals.com makes a clear case for itself: a free app with no ads, live streaming and chat, community feeds, and video and audio libraries, all oriented around supporting creators directly. The 4.5 average from more than 12,000 ratings suggests that the people using it are largely satisfied, and the steady update history points to a product that is still being looked after. The in-app purchases are the one element I would go in aware of.

My recommendation is straightforward. If your interest in social apps is more about discovering new people at random, the creator-centered design here will feel narrower than what you are used to. For the audience it is built for, it looks like a well-considered option.

What's new in version 2.1.32

Bug fixes and improvements