Sports fans can look forward to new features in the free Apple Sports iPhone app, some in time for football season and others coming soon, Apple said Thursday. The app launched earlier this year and focuses on simplicity so fans can easily track scores and stats.
Apple Sports app adds features for football season and beyond
The Apple Sports app launched in February 2024, promising convenience for sports fans. The app’s tagline is “Your app for real-time scores and stats, fast and easy.” It launched with a selection of 10 sports and a promise to add more as the season begins – and that’s what happened. Version 1.6 came out recently, adding full support for NFL and NCAA Division 1 college football, as well as a new Stats tab on game pages.
And with the pro and college football season just beginning, Apple announced that the app will be enhanced with a number of new features, some available now and others coming soon. Here’s how to download and use the app.
Improved play-by-play and drive tracking
The latest update introduces an improved play-by-play feature that gives users quick access to scoring drives as well as a comprehensive view of each play. The new dynamic drive tracker lets fans visualize the ball’s location on the field in real time. We’ve seen it elsewhere, like on ESPN. Now it’s coming to the Apple Sports app.
Expanded college football coverage
College football fans can now follow their favorite teams and conferences as well as the hotly contested top 25 rankings, updated weekly. The app offers real-time scores, stats and live betting odds for every college football game, matching the features available for other leagues.
Integration of live activities coming soon
Photo: Apple
And with the upcoming iOS 18 and watchOS 11 updates, Apple Sports will introduce Live Action for all supported teams and leagues. The feature delivers live scores and game information directly to users’ iPhone and Apple Watch lock screens, allowing people who can’t watch games directly to quickly catch a glimpse of the game’s progress.
And also improvements to the user interface
Later this year, Apple Sports plans to introduce new dropdown navigation for the main scorecard views. The update is designed to streamline the user experience and make it faster to switch between My Leagues, My Teams and favorite leagues’ feeds. Additionally, an improved search function will help users easily view games from leagues they don’t currently follow.
Photo: Apple
Many sports leagues and more to follow
The app currently supports a variety of leagues, including NFL, NCAAF, MLS, MLB, NBA, WNBA, NCAA basketball, NHL, NWSL, and several European soccer leagues. Apple also announced plans to support the Champions League and Europa League starting with the league phase in September.
Personalization and integration
As Apple has highlighted, Apple Sports allows users to customize their experience by following their favorite teams, tournaments and leagues. The app syncs with favorites selected in the My Sports experience on Apple TV and Apple News. Users can also easily navigate to live games through the Apple TV app and connected streaming services.
Users in the US, UK and Canada can download the free app.
Where to download it: AppStore
Source: Apple
