Sports technology is a massive, growing industry that is expected to reach a market value of $36.2 billion USD by 2028. Smartphone apps designed for fans make up a key component of this sector, and the leaders in this field are turning powerful profits.
In the past few years, there’s been an explosion of smartphone apps that allow users to follow sports news, review play-by-play events for the games they follow, stream video, and analyze statistics pertaining to their favorite sports.
In fact, here at Net Solutions, we’ve designed and built apps for some leading companies, including Haymarket’s FourFourTwo app along with an internal streaming app for executives at the English Premier League.
Are you thinking about entering the market with your own smartphone sports app? Read on to learn about ten of the best sports apps in the mobile app development sector, so you can learn from their success.
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10 Best Sports Apps Available on Android and iOS
Here are the ten best sports apps for Android and iOS in 2021.
1. Bleacher Report
The Bleacher Report mobile app keeps users up-to-date on the latest sports news, no matter which games they like to follow (basketball, hockey, mixed martial arts, American football, you name it). Users can specifically follow their favorite teams and clubs so they never miss out on the drama, the upsets, and the triumphs.
What makes the Bleacher Report sports app stand out?
- Personalization so users can follow their favorite sports, leagues, and teams
- High-speed reporting for all the breaking news and score updates
- Carousels that allow users to scroll through their favorite teams on the app’s homepage
- Top stories so users can access the latest news
- Bookmarking features so users can keep track of their favorite stories
2. Yahoo Sports
Yahoo Sports is one of the best free sports apps for Android and iOS that gives users quick information related to their favorite sports leagues. They can also watch live games for certain popular sports without a subscription, and they can receive updates on many other sports.
What makes the Yahoo Sports app stand out?
- Enhanced coverage of all major football leagues
- Personalized updates based on favorite teams
- Curated content from blogs and news articles
- Clean and user-friendly interface
- Video and article search with enhanced search functionality
3. theScore
One popular sports app, theScore, offers quick sports updates, analysis, and scores with breaking sports news. Users can also look at the sports events calendar to keep themselves notified about upcoming games.
What makes theScore stand out?
- Personalized news feed
- Real-time scores dashboard
- Group chat option for fans and friends
- Biggest social stories on favorite teams and players
- Social media sharing option available
4. CBS Sports
CBS Sports is one of the best live sports news apps that provides customized updates on scores, stats, and analytics. The app even offers live sports streaming for many sporting events, such as NCAA Basketball and the PGA Tour.
Avid sports lovers can tune into CBS Sports Radio for live broadcasts and watch the CBS Sports HQ channel for a full video streaming experience.
Unique Features:
- Personalized news and updates
- Live sports app with 24/7 sporting news
- Daily advice on betting from experts
- On-demand highlights making it one of the best sports clips apps on the market
- User-friendly and intuitive interface
5. SofaScore
This is also one of the best sports apps out there, providing live coverage and score updates for around 25 sports. Its most notable feature is that users can run it on Android wear smartwatches and stream a small video clip of every goal. It also offers real-time updates and player ratings.
What makes the SofaScore sports app stand out?
- Synchronizes with Android wear smartwatches
- Chat option to connect with other sports enthusiasts
- Team season statistics
- Quizzes that feed engagement
- “Battle Draft” game integration that makes the platform more fun and keeps users on the platform longer
6. LiveScore
Since 1998, LiveScore has been providing real-time game scores. This sports stats app provides on-the-go scores for tennis, basketball, football, soccer, and hockey. The optional live commentary that goes with each match is icing on the cake.
The app supports a clean layout that makes it easy to skim through game highlights.
What makes the LiveScore sports app stand out?
- Live notification on specific matches with a simple click
- Adding preferred games to the favorites section
- “Explore” option lets users find their favorite sports
- Ball tracking available through pitch view
- Calendar feature for tracking upcoming matches
7. BBC Sport
BBC Sport is considered one of the best sports streaming apps for sports enthusiasts for its latest and prompt news updates, live score updates, and game highlights. The app has introduced some privacy protocol changes to ensure complete data security for its members.
BBC Sport focuses on enhancing the mobile user experience and serving users directly, delivering the type of information they demand with personalized updates on the home screen.
What makes the BBC Sport app stand out?
- Live video-streaming of sporting events and on-demand highlights
- Advanced personalization with the “My Sport” page
- Streaming live games and TV highlights with Chromecast
- Dedicated indexes for almost all the major sporting events
- Easy sharing features, so users can share trending stories and score updates on social media
8. 365Scores
365Scores enables all sports fans to enjoy comprehensive coverage of around ten sports, accessing the latest scores, statistics, videos, and schedules. It also offers the latest information on teams and players around the world.
This sports application also includes the Multistage Football Trivia Game, which helps keep users engaged.
What makes the 365Scores sports app stand out?
- Users can follow their favorite matches and teams
- Live game tracker for real-time updates
- Live player ratings and heatmaps
- Gaming options to keep users engaged
- A comprehensive notification system to keep users updated
Download on iOS and Android
9. MSN Sports
MSN Sports is popular for real-time and quick updates on users’ favorite sporting events. The app covers over 150 leagues and allows users to follow thousands of teams.
The easy navigation and the left and right swipe features let users view articles, making it a winner in the best apps for sports and fitness category.
What makes the MSN sports app stand out?
Unique Features:
- Ability to follow favorite teams and leagues
- Latest news and real-time score updates from across the sporting world
- Venue listings for all events
- Attractive and responsive user experience design
- Post-game stats and video highlights
Download on iOS and Android
10. FlashScore
The FlashScore sports app covers more than 30 sports and around 6,000 sporting events to keep its users updated on the latest news, scores, stats, and standings. All updates occur in real-time.
What makes the FlashScore sports app stand out?
- Push notifications and alerts for the games users follow
- A connected experience across all devices
- Live-text commentary available for all sporting events
- In-depth match previews and recaps
- “Team News” feature to keep users updated on the latest news
Honorable Mention: DraftKings
DrafKings deserves an honorable mention because it’s one of the most popular sports betting and fantasy sports apps in the world.
Its UX is impressive and the company has carved out a unique spot for itself. The only reason it didn’t make the top ten list is because the rest of these apps are focused purely on fandom, rather than gambling. That means the others have a wider reach, since gambling is so heavily regulated in many parts of the world (including most U.S. states).
What makes the DraftKings app stand out?
- Simple, straightforward Sportsbook betting feature makes sports betting easy
- Ability to win cash by building “Fantasy teams,” based on the fantasy football concept
- A casino with over 300 games
Bonus: Two Great Sports Apps We Couldn’t List
Here are two additional apps (for IMG and Haymarket Media) that we didn’t include on our list of the top 10 sports apps—for two very good reasons!
First, IMG’s app is not consumer facing. It was designed for internal use by executives at the English Premier League (the UK’s top football league), so it doesn’t fit on this list.
More importantly? We designed and built both of these apps here at Net Solutions, so including them on our list of the 10 best sports apps would make you question our objectivity.
That said, they’re very much worth mentioning. The IMG app accomplished something truly cutting edge at the time, and the award-winning FourFourTwo app was enormously successful, driving revenue and engagement for Haymarket Media.
| IMG’s English Premier League App | FourFourTwo (by Haymarket) |
|---|---|
| IMG (now Endeavor) commissioned Net Solutions to build an app that allowed English Premier League executives to stream, replay, and review football matches from a mobile device. This technology was truly cutting edge at the time. Net Solutions created a platform that allowed English Premier League execs to:Stream sporting events from a company-issued iPadWatch past events that had already aired View match schedules Send internal messages to their colleagues regarding the content | Haymarket Consumer Media, a top resource for sporting news in the UK, came to Net Solutions with their plan to reach a wider audience through a sports app for football fans. The app allowed users to:Follow every detail of European football matchesView stats on their favorite teams and players Study a virtual “chalkboard” that follows every instant of gameplay Share stats and video via social media and email |
| Read our complete English Premier League case study to learn more about our work. | Read our in-depth FourFourTwo case study to learn more about Net Solutions’ work. |
The Ever-evolving Sports App Industry
The Android and iOS app stores feature countless sports apps to choose from, and those that rise to the top continue to innovate. The sports app development industry as a whole is constantly adding new features based on customer feedback, so if you want to compete in this space you need to pay attention to what the leaders are doing.
Do you have an idea for a sports app that just might take off?
Contact Net Solutions today for a free consultation. We’ll evaluate your concept thoroughly, and if it’s technologically feasible, we’ll help you bring it to life. With our experience in providing successful mobile app development solutions, we can help you build the app of your dreams.
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FAQs
What are the top 5 sports apps? ›
- theScore. This sports score app is perfect for covering a wide range of sporting events. ...
- Livescores. Like its peer mentioned above, LiveScore covers a versatile array of sporting events. ...
- SofaScore. SofaScore provides live score updates and coverage for up to 25 sports. ...
- ESPN. ...
- Bleacher Report. ...
- FlashScore. ...
- CBS Sports.
A sports application is a web, mobile, or desktop application that enables users to view real-time scores and statistics for any sport. Sports apps usually include news feeds on current events in the sports world, detailed stats for every player on every team, and tools to create customized fantasy leagues.
What app has the most sports? ›- DirecTV Stream. Carries ESPN, ABC, Fox, CBS, NBC, TBS, TNT, FS1 and, in the $90 package, most RSNs and league channels. ...
- ESPN Plus. ...
- FuboTV. ...
- Hulu Plus Live TV. ...
- YouTube TV.
Yahoo Sports is one of the best free sports apps for Android and iOS that gives users quick information related to their favorite sports leagues. They can also watch live games for certain popular sports without a subscription, and they can receive updates on many other sports.
What is the best sports app to download? ›CBS Sports
Here is an advanced sports streaming app that is available for free on iOS and Android as well. Users are able to enjoy live streaming matches while accessing the latest information about all sports events worldwide.