Apple promotes its News app as the best news app accessible anywhere. However, I never find myself opening Apple News; instead, I use other dependable websites, like (gasp) Google News. But an update to the News app in iOS 16 might be what convinces me to modify my routine.
The new feature, dubbed My Sports, promises to deliver personalized news on the teams, leagues, and sports that are most important to you. I’m currently collecting that information from a wide range of other apps, including the crowded mobile version of ESPN. I might have a cause to use Apple’s news service more frequently if iOS 16 News can provide sports news in a clearer, more enlightening manner.
Until the public beta of iOS 16 is released next month, we won’t be able to say for sure whether My Sports is a hit or a swing and a miss. However, we have some notion of what’s coming to the News app in the future iPhone software upgrade based on Apple’s iOS 16 features preview as well as what users who have downloaded the iOS 16 developer beta are saying.
Here are some changes coming to the News app in iOS 16 with the addition of My Sports.
iOS 16 News: What My Sports delivers
Sports-related content is already available in the existing Apple News app. You can select particular sports, teams, and associated terms when selecting the topics you’re interested in, and News will include stories linked to your picks on its main Today tab. Even while sports items may be gathered under a single banner, you usually have to scroll through a variety of headlines and carefully selected articles to find them.
If your local newspaper is still around, at least, My Sports offers a more constrained experience that is more akin to the sports section. My Sports not only offers video clips of recent games but also scores, timetables, and articles of interest. Initially, the US, Canada, UK, and Australia will have access to the feature.
What appears in the My Sports section will depend on the prior sports-related News subjects you’ve chosen. But you’ll also be able to include more particular sports and teams in the mix. NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, NWSL, college football and basketball, English Premier League, and UEFA Champions League are just a few of the leagues that will be supported. The Los Angeles Chargers of the NFL, the Portland Thorns of the NWSL, Chelsea of English football, and (if you’re a masochist) the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball can all be chosen from there.
When their sport is in season, each of those chosen teams will have their own area within My Sports in iOS 16 News. Baseball season is currently in full swing, so the Oakland Athletics section, for instance, would include the most recent news about the team from a variety of sources, video highlights of recent games, the results of the most recent game or a live score if play is still going on, and upcoming game schedules.
Not simply because it’s a new element to the News app, which until now just prioritized stories, the scoreboard and timetable function is very intriguing. My Sports screenshots show “Watch on Apple TV” links next to live games, suggesting that you may tap those to access the TV app and watch your favorite teams in action. It’s wonderful to see the News app directing you toward live coverage of something you’re interested in. (You’ll need to be a subscriber to whatever channel or app is streaming that game, though.)
In iOS 16, the connections between the News app and the TV app go farther. The games for the teams you’ve highlighted in the News app will be highlighted in the Up Next and What to Watch sections of the Watch Now tab when you launch the TV app.
The iOS 16 version of the News app will offer both free stories and ones connected to Apple’s News Plus subscription service, just like the current version of the app does. Apple is clearly betting that people’s interest in their favorite teams would prompt a few extra $9.99/month subscriptions to Apple News Plus if it means more coverage of your favorite teams. You must be a News Plus subscriber in order to read the latter stories.
Other sports-related additions to iOS 16
The largest change in iOS 16 for sports enthusiasts is My Sports, but there are additional features that will bring the most recent sports news to the iPhone this autumn.
There is a new Live Widget that is perfect for sports score updates as part of the iOS 16 lock screen redesign. Apple is now allowing you to place widgets on your lock screen for simple access to information. Currently, receiving information concerning athletic events involves receiving a steady stream of annoying alerts. The Live Widget alters that by adding a persistent widget with an updating scoreboard to the bottom of your iPhone screen, providing you with a quick update without the need to unlock your device.
App developers will need to utilize the developer tools Apple released at this month’s Worldwide Developer Conference in order to create Live Widgets for sports. However, there is still enough time until the autumn release of iOS 16 for those widgets to appear later this year.
Apple’s renewed focus in including sports as part of its ecosystem is shown in both the Live Widgets and My Sports features to iOS 16. This includes the recent agreement between the firm and Major League Soccer to stream MLS games beginning in 2023, as well as weekly live feeds of Major League Baseball games through Apple TV Plus.
Sports enthusiasts are voracious consumers of anything pertaining to their preferred teams. Apple has clearly acknowledged this and is making the necessary adjustments to both its subscription services and device software programs. We’ll soon find out if News in iOS 16’s renewed emphasis on sports is successful.