How to follow live sports scores on your iPhone lockscreen

When it introduced iOS 16, Apple added a diagnostic called Live Activities arsenic portion of a broader update to notifications and the lockscreen. Live Activities is simply a small antithetic from a modular propulsion notification oregon widget — it offers a mode for apps to enactment real-time accusation successful a persistent notification bubble connected your lockscreen. It’s particularly utile for sports scores if you privation to support tabs connected a crippled without committing your afloat attraction to it. (There are, aft all, 162 games per squad successful a shot season.) Better yet, if you person an iPhone 14 Pro, 14 Pro Max, oregon newer, you’ll spot unrecorded scores successful the Dynamic Island erstwhile you’re pursuing a game.

Enabling Live Activities to travel a crippled connected your lockscreen isn’t hard, truthful you’re conscionable a fewer taps distant from keeping up with your team. I tested these steps connected an iPhone 16 moving iOS 18.0.

Enable Live Activities

To start, you’ll request to marque definite Live Activities tin entree your lockscreen. To bash this: 

Follow games via Apple Sports

Starting with iOS 18, Apple made it imaginable to travel immoderate league oregon crippled featured successful its Sports app utilizing Live Activities. You’ll request to download the Apple Sports app from the App Store if you haven’t already. Once you’ve done that, pat the hamburger paper successful the upper-right country of the surface and pat Edit to travel teams and leagues by utilizing the hunt relation and tapping the prima icon.

Once you’ve done that, you’ll spot applicable games look successful the Yesterday, Today, and Upcoming tabs connected the app’s homescreen. By default, games for the teams you travel volition look successful the Dynamic Island, but you tin alteration this by tapping the hamburger paper > settings icon and toggling Live Activities connected oregon disconnected for each team.

Follow games via Apple TV

With iOS 18, Apple removed the quality to travel games with Live Activities done the Apple TV app. But if you’re moving an older mentation of iOS, you’ll inactive beryllium capable to entree it this way. Apple TV is connected astir iPhones by default, truthful unless you’ve removed the app, you conscionable request to find it and unfastened it to commencement pursuing a game. You don’t request a paid subscription to Apple’s TV Plus service, either. You tin usage Apple’s app to travel MLB, NBA, and Premier League games — enactment for different sports whitethorn follow, but those are disposable close now. Here’s however it works:

Assuming the crippled you privation to travel is underway, you’ll spot an enactment labeled Follow. Tap this icon, and erstwhile you permission the Apple TV app, it volition look connected your lockscreen. If you’re utilizing a telephone with the Dynamic Island, the people volition besides amusement up determination on with 2 squad logos. Long-pressing the Dynamic Island volition bring up an expanded view, including the past play, if you privation to spot more.

There’s besides an optional mounting you tin cheque to marque definite you’re seeing the astir up-to-date accusation available, though it mightiness drain your telephone artillery faster. 

To alteration this:

Update, October 2nd, 2024: This nonfiction was primitively published connected April 21st, 2023, and has been updated to relationship for changes introduced successful iOS 18.