In an age where even the bloated corpse of X (formerly Twitter) remains an indispensable tool for getting real-time updates and highlights of sporting events, Apple is gradually evolving its free Apple Sports app into a more essential tool for keeping up with your favorite sports Apple is gradually evolving the free Apple Sports app into a more essential tool for keeping up with your favorite sports

To that end, Apple has added real-time scores for NFL games and college football in the latest Sports update Previously, real-time updates were available for in-season sports like baseball and the WNBA

It's not just real-time scores Included in the update are real-time statistics, live betting odds, and a “dynamic drive tracker” that visualizes where the ball is on the field

When Apple Sports launched, there were already betting odds, but if you're not into gambling like I am, there's an easy way to turn that information off At the time of this writing, it is unclear if turning off betting odds will work with real-time updates

The Apple Sports app allows users to follow the latest news on their favorite teams, conferences, and sports, including the Premier League, NBA, and NCAA basketball A drop-down menu will be released “later this year” that will allow users to easily switch between games and leagues

For smartwatch users, the new version offers the ability to get live updates on the Apple Watch via iOS 18 and watchOS 11 upgrades, which is pretty cool

To be fair to Apple, the Apple Sports app only launched in late February of this year, just in time for the start of baseball spring training But as Tom's Guide editor Philip Michaels pointed out at the time, this simple app is merely “problem-free,” even if it stumbles a bit at the outset Unless you really like Apple's aesthetic, it was hard to choose among the more established scoring apps like ESPN, TheScore, and CBS Sports

The problem with sports-only apps is that they don't offer much other than scores and the occasional news summary or preview; ESPN has highlights, which is nice, but they can be locked behind an obscure paywall; TheScore has an in-game There is a fan community to chat with, but they are locked into the live chat system, making them difficult to follow Unfortunately, Elon Musk's degraded X is one of the best places to follow the score, get highlights, and see fan reactions in real time, despite being increasingly unreliable

If Apple upgrades the Sports app, it will probably be a one-stop app for scores and updates If they could do real-time highlights and a moderated comment section, it would be a great app