Apple Sports just went nearly worldwide
Apple Sports, the free real-time scores and stats app for iPhone, is now available in more than 170 countries and regions. According to their press release, that includes more than 90 brand new markets added in one shot.The timing is also no accident. The expansion lands just weeks before the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off in June, hosted right here across the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Apple Sports for the FIFA World Cup 2026. | Image by Apple
What is new for the World Cup
Apple built a handful of features specifically for following the tournament from group stage to the final whistle. You can explore the World Cup groupings and customize your scoreboard by following the entire tournament or just your national team.
Here is what you are getting:
- Tournament bracket view, a clean and scrollable layout that lets you track any team’s path from the group stage through their last match.
- Visual formations, which show each team’s starting lineup on the game cards so you can size up the tactics before kickoff.
- One tap to Apple News, connecting you straight to full editorial coverage and the latest headlines (Apple News is only available in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia).
Now in more hands
Following a team switches on Live Activities, dropping live match updates right onto your iPhone Lock Screen or Apple Watch so you can check the action with a quick glance. We covered exactly how that works when Live Activities first arrived on the app, and it remains one of the slickest reasons to keep it installed.You can also pin widgets to your iPhone, iPad, and MacBook Home Screens to watch the tournament progress in real time. And when you want to actually watch a match, a single tap jumps you into the Apple TV app to find live games on connected streaming services.
The World Cup unites fans across the globe, making it the ideal moment to bring Apple Sports to even more users
Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Music, Sports, Apple TV, and Beats
Where this fits in Apple’s bigger sports push
This is one more piece of a strategy that has been building for a while. Apple Sports has steadily added leagues and live TV broadcast details over the past couple of years, turning a basic scoreboard into a genuine companion app for game day.
It also feeds neatly into Apple TV, which is now a serious sports destination. We broke down how Apple folded MLS into the standard subscription and added live Formula 1 earlier this year, and a free scores app pointing fans toward all of that is a smart way to keep people in the family.
If you own an iPhone and care even a little about the World Cup, this one is an easy install. Grab Apple Sports for free on the App Store and you are set for June.
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