The Apple Sports app will soon offer real-time updates via Live Activities on iPhones running iOS 18

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But it still might not be very good.

Apple Sports app on iPhone 15 Pro Max
(Image credit: Future / Apple)

Apple has today announced a big new update to its Sports app, bringing improvements to app across the iPhone and Apple Watch.

The Apple Sports app has been around for a while now but while its functionality has been limited when compared to third-party apps already available in the App Store, Apple continues to add new features. Today's news includes an update that will see real-time scores, stats, and more added to the iPhone's Lock Screen when iOS 18 ships next month.

Apple confirmed that a similar feature will also be available to Apple Watch owners running watchOS 11, with Live Activities available for all teams and leagues currently available within the Sports app.

It's game time

Apple announced the upgrades via a press release, pointing out that the new features will be available for the new NFL and college football seasons.

"New updates for NFL and college football games include enhancements to play-by-play, offering quick access to scoring drives presented alongside the view of every game play," Apple explains. "Additionally, a new dynamic drive tracker lets fans visualize where the ball is on the field at any time."

A further update, coming later this year, will introduce a new drop-down navigation for the main scorecard views, "making it even faster to switch between My Leagues, My Teams, and users’ feeds for favorited leagues." A new search feature will also make it easier to find matches, too.

Finally, Apple also confirmed that more leagues will be added to the Sports app in due course including the Champions League and Europa League. Both will be added in time for the league phases of those competitions in September.

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Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
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Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.

3 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Just_Me_D
    Well, the official start of college football season was last week, and since Apple’s next event isn’t until September 9th, let’s hope that the live scores will be visible beforehand - preferably tonight since there’s a slew of game waiting to be played.

    Reply
  • Douglaschili
    Should expand to more countries. I’m outside from the ones that are currently available and usually follow others leagues, like EPL
    Reply
  • Just_Me_D
    Douglaschili said:
    Should expand to more countries. I’m outside from the ones that are currently available and usually follow others leagues, like EPL

    I’m sure Apple will look to include other leagues as well as make the feature available in more countries, especially if it determines the app’s usage is high and sustained.

    In my opinion, this is a huge opportunity for Apple and one they should not squander. Having sports score available and even scrolling like it does when you’re watching sports on TV would be welcomed among us sports fans.
    Reply