Apple introduced its first sports-specific app Wednesday as the tech behemoth continues expanding its fan offerings.
Apple Sports is primarily a scores app, offering quick access to the status of live events. The app also offers the ability to favorite certain sports and teams or—notably—check out live odds in partnership with DraftKings.
“You can obviously get scores in many places today, but I don’t think anybody is focused and dedicated on the concept of live and making it simple, clean, fast like we’ve done,” Apple SVP of services Eddy Cue told Sportico in a video demonstration and interview. “We’ve spent an incredible amount of engineering on this.”
He added that work on the app has spanned the last year. In particular, developers identified multiple data providers for various sports to ensure high-speed, accurate info delivery.
“If you use the app, most times it’s faster than what you’re seeing on TV,” he said.
Cue hinted at the possibility of adding more features in the future, such as brackets for tracking March Madness, or suggestions regarding the most interesting action coming on any given day. At launch, the platform offers scores for NCAA basketball, the NBA, NHL, MLS and international soccer leagues. More league support is coming as their seasons draw closer, Cue said.
“Sports has never been bigger and never been harder [to follow], and we’re trying to make everything easier,” he said.
Still, Cue doesn’t expect Apple Sports to take over the category completely. The app won’t feature highlights, past results, or many social elements. “We’re not measuring our success here by time spent on the app,” Cue said. “But I think launches, and the number of times you launch the app, that is the success factor.”
The sports app category has long been dominated by sports media companies—ESPN, theScore, Yahoo, Bleacher Report, CBS, etc. However platforms such as Google are increasingly providing basic sports data themselves, as well as tune-in information.
Apple Sports will also be connected to sports hubs within the company’s News and TV products. For years, human editors have tracked sporting events to provide alerts when games get close or records are in jeopardy within the TV app. That app also offers links out to other services for fans trying to find a streaming option. 2022 brought the ability to passively monitor scores on iPhone lock screens through a Live Activities feature.
The app is being made available in the U.S., the U.K., and Canada to start, with support for English, French and Spanish.
As for the betting odds component, a setting will be available for those looking to hide that information. “We’re not gonna take bets; that’s not what we do,” Cue said. “I don’t really bet—I don’t like losing—but I do like the odds. It’s fun to watch and see who is favored and by how much.”
Wednesday’s launch comes on the same day MLS matches return to Apple’s MLS Season Pass service, and weeks before MLB’s return comes with more Friday Night Baseball games on Apple TV+.
“The way we’ve done things with sports, it’s always with the fan in mind,” Cue said. “As we’ve gotten more into it, I just felt like this was a missing component. And we wanted to address it.”