Dear friends, we have reached the best time of the year: football season. The Black team has had an amazing start, the Vikings are looking dangerously good, and I am constantly amazed at how badly the Brown team is performing.
The 2024 season has been extremely exciting. Not only have the games been entertaining, but I have also spent much better time keeping up with the latest plays and scores on my phone. After reluctantly using the ESPN app last year and the year before, I decided to subscribe to Apple Sports this year – and I couldn’t be happier. If you have an iPhone and are not already using Apple Sports, this is your reminder that you absolutely need it.
Clean, simple, and ad-free interface
If you haven’t tried Apple Sports before, I don’t blame you. The app was launched in February without much fanfare, and Apple released only one major update in August. That has been the entire story of the app so far.
Compared to other sports apps, Apple Sports is objectively limited. There are no news articles, sports-related videos, team lists, replays, etc. It may seem barebones at first glance, and that may be off-putting to some people. But for me, that is exactly why I love using it.
The only “Home” page of the app displays upcoming games. You can change the types of games shown here by clicking on the menu bar at the top, allowing you to switch between your favorite teams and leagues (like NFL or Big Ten for college football). You can also use the search function to browse specific teams/leagues and add them to your favorites. It’s a non-traditional user interface compared to other Apple mobile apps, but once you get the hang of it, it works well.
Open Apple Sports during game day, and the Today page will give you a comprehensive view of the event. Results are clearly displayed. You can see which team has possession and where the ball is. The current quarter and remaining time are visible. You see everything you need to see at a glance.
Click on a specific game, and Apple Sports does a great job of showing you more detailed insights. For football games, there is a virtual football field below the score showing the current ball position – and it shifts to a smaller version at the top of the screen when scrolling.
The Statistics page provides a clear analysis of the team’s stats in the current game, while the Play-By-Play feature offers a more detailed analysis of each game. The Standings page serves as an excellent reference for knowing where teams stand in their current divisions. It’s everything I want in a sports app without any unnecessary frills.
The best part? You get all of this without ads. None. Nothing. Nada. It’s beautiful.
Live activities make it even better
While I love the in-app experience of Apple Sports, it’s even better due to its success when you’re not using it. When one of your favorite teams is playing, you automatically get a live activity on your lock screen so you can follow the game without needing to open the app.
The live activities look great, displaying the score, remaining time, and latest play separately. You can also get multiple games on your lock screen if two or three of your favorite teams are playing.
If you have an iPhone with Dynamic Island (like iPhone 16), your sports results can also appear here. You can simply see each team’s result by default, but if you long-press on it, it expands to show the full live activity card. It’s a really great setup.
My new favorite sports app
I have exclusively been using Apple Sports to track scores over the past few weeks, and I have no intention of going back to ESPN or any other app.
Do I wish there were more in-depth team/player stats? Definitely. Would it be great if the app’s navigation was more in line with other Apple apps? Yes. Is it annoying that I can’t download Apple Sports on my Android phone? Absolutely.
Apple Sports is not a perfect app, but for an app less than a year old, it’s impressive how well it performs. It highlights the basics of a good sports app without bloating or annoying ads. It’s worth using in its current state, and with some additional updates in the future, it could be the best sports app ever.
