Score! Apple Sports Adds Brackets for the Big Dance
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While Apple has let many of its first-party apps languish over the years before eventually killing them off (we’re looking at you, Clips), Apple Sports has become a remarkably anomaly, standing out from the pack by how frequently it’s been updated.
While most of Apple’s standalone apps are lucky to see an update every 4–6 months, Apple’s Sports app has received over two dozen updates in the two years since its initial release in February 2024. That’s an average of one update per month, and these aren’t just maintenance releases, either; it’s moved from its humble version 1.0 beginnings to a robust version 3.8 that’s expanded its capabilities without losing the minimalist approach that made the app so great in the first place.
From the start, Apple’s goal was to deliver an app that was focused on delivering what sports enthusiasts wanted to know about their favorite teams with as little extra cruft as possible. “We created Apple Sports to give sports fans what they want,” Apple’s service chief Eddy Cue said at the time, “an app that delivers incredibly fast access to scores and stats.”
Cue wasn’t kidding when he said speed was the goal. Many fans complained Apple Sports was too fast — that it was actually delivering live play-by-play information before streaming and cable viewers actually saw it happen on their television screens. So far, Apple hasn’t added a delay feature, so the only thing you can really do if you want to stay on the edge of your seat is to set your iPhone down, turn off notifications, and just enjoy the game.
Apple has managed to maintain those core principles throughout all of the updates to Apple Sports, which have primarily been focused in two specific areas: adding quality of life improvements and expanding to new leagues and regions.
For example, Apple added support for Live Activities in an iOS 18 update, then added shareable live game cards last spring to help bring your friends in on the action via Messages and social media, and finally embraced widgets with the iOS 26 release last fall.
Throughout those updates and a series of smaller ones in between, Apple Sports continued to expand the number of leagues available, growing from the traditional MLB, MLS, NBA, and NHL group at launch to NCAA basketball, NFL and college football, plus nearly every European football league around the world, and reworking the app to support Formula 1, NASCAR, tennis, and golf.
Last year it also began expanding international coverage, adding Mexico in July, and then a good slice of the European Union in September: Austria, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain.
Now, it’s pushing its global reach even further, giving NCAA fans more ways to enjoy March Madness, and making it easier for soccer fans to follow along with their favorite sport.
While men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments have been part of Apple Sports from the beginning, Apple Sports 3.8 now lets fans follow along even more closely:
Follow the Men’s and Women’s NCAA tournaments in real time, with brackets showcasing matchups and results at a glance for each round, so you can keep up with every game.
Apple Sports is also expanding to Latin America and the Caribbean, where it’s available in 36 new countries, including Argentina, the Bahamas, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Jamaica, Panama, Peru, and more.
To support those Latin American fans, the soccer lineup also now includes Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, Categoría Primera A, Liga de Primera, Liga Pro, Liga Profesional de Fútbol, and Primera División del Perú. With so many leagues now on deck, Apple says a new soccer category in the app will make “it easier to find and follow your favorite leagues, cups, and more, all in one place.” This is located in the Search section of the app, and will be a breath of fresh air for folks who are tired of scrolling past American Football to find the version that matches what the rest of the world calls football.
This marks the second major update to Apple Sports this month, following version 3.7, which added PGA and LPGA golf. Apple Sports 3.8 is now available from the App Store as a free download in over 80 countries.
