Apple Sports Adds League Standings and News
Toggle Dark Mode
It’s been a little over a year since Apple debuted Apple Sports, a dedicated app that makes it easy to follow your favorite teams. In that time, the free app has become the gift that keeps on giving thanks to frequent updates that have added new leagues, live activities, and more.
The update cycle continues with a new addition this week, which adds standings to league pages, allowing you to see “how your teams stack up at a glance.” Additionally, it offers new insights into NHL games, with goal scorers highlighted at the top of each page, as well as support for the Bundesliga Relegation Playoffs.
Although there’s no shortage of sports apps in the App Store, the magic of Apple Sports is that it was designed from the start with one focus in mind: to be as lean and streamlined as possible, providing users with the critical stats for all their favorite leagues and teams without any unnecessary clutter.
“We created Apple Sports to give sports fans what they want — an app that delivers incredibly fast access to scores and stats,” Apple’s services chief, Eddy Cue, said when the app was initially announced.
Apple Sports grew out of the Apple News My Sports section introduced in iOS 16, which lets you tag your favorite teams and then get scores, schedules, and news at a glance. The standalone app provided an expanded and more attractive presentation, with real-time team scores, states, upcoming games, play-by-play information, lineup details, and even live betting odds.
At launch, the app provided data for MLB, MLS, NBA, NHL, men’s and women’s NCAA basketball, and Bundesliga, LaLiga, Liga MX, Ligue 1, Premier League, and Serie A soccer. Since then, it’s expanded to include the NFL, Champions League, Conference League, EFL Championship, Europa League, FA Cup, FBS and FCS NCAA College Football, League Cup, NWSL, WNBA, and Formula 1 racing.
Apple Sports also gained direct support for Live Activities with last fall’s iOS 18 release. These had initially been omitted, presumably because they were already available in the TV app in iOS 17, so putting them into Apple Sports would have duplicated the functionality and potentially made things more confusing. With iOS 18, they were eliminated from the TV app so they could go into Apple Sports, where they more appropriately belonged.
Apple Sports links to the TV app for live games and the News app for sports news. Favorite teams are also synced across all three apps. With today’s update, Apple is now promoting an “Apple Sports” newsletter in the app for “The stories fans are talking about – plus, the latest updates on your favorite teams.”
This is managed through Apple News, with its only presence in Apple Sports being a banner that offers a quick and easy way to sign up. It provides weekday updates on general sports news and specific articles about your favorite teams, and it also joins other Apple News newsletters, such as the Good Morning Update and the weekly Best of Apple News and Popular Stories newsletters.
Apple Sports is available from the App Store as a free download in the US, Canada, and the UK. It requires an iPhone running iOS 17.2 or later.
