Ever since it first launched in Feb. 2024, the Apple Sports app has undergone a series of upgrades, additions and improvements. Apple announced the rollout of two new features for the app on Tuesday, including widgets for iPhone, iPad and Mac. Additionally, Apple Sports is coming to eight countries across Europe: Spain, Portugal, Austria, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland and Italy. The updates arrive in time for the bulk of the NFL season and weeks ahead of the NBA and NHL kickoffs, providing fans with more ways to keep up with the latest for their favorite teams and leagues.
Sports fans -- and fans of the app -- have wanted a widget for some time, and now it's here. Beginning today, you can add two different customizable Apple Sports widgets to your iPad, iPhone and Mac to get scores, check schedules for future games or see what you missed from the previous day. A "My Teams" feature allows you to view the information for your selected teams, while "My Leagues" enables you to do the same for every league you've chosen. There's no need to even open the app to use them.
During a demo session with CNET, Apple's Craig Mahonchak, Head of Product for Sports, told us the My Teams widget is one of his favorites, adding that they want the experience to be personal. "When you open the app, you should see exactly what you care about, instantly," he said. "That is the key piece in how we differentiate, and I think it's why fans have loved the clean design, and now with widgets, it's just another great way to bring fans in."
Once installed, the widgets will surface the most current, important details first, such as a live game that day for a team you're following. In the My Leagues tool, you can tap the widget to handpick any league you'd like to keep up with, like the NFL or Top 25, or the newly added second-tier European divisions 2. Bundesliga, Ligue 2, Segunda División, Serie B and Primeira Liga. Expandable views in the widgets give you an on-the-spot snapshot of scores, past and upcoming games and other details, but tapping on a game will take you to the game card within the Apple Sports app. Similarly, clicking the top of either widget will send you to the main page in the app for that specific team or league.
Also new to the Sports app is the ability to set up Live Activities for upcoming events. For example, if you want to see the stats for a game later this week, you can preschedule updates from the Live Activities feature. That's right -- you can arrange to keep up with scores on your iPhone's lock screen, Apple Watch or in the Dynamic Island display.
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