With iOS 16, Apple added a feature called Live Activities as part of a broader update to notifications and the lock screen. Live Activities are a little different from a standard push notification or widget – they offer a way for apps to put real-time information in a continuous notification bubble on your lock screen. This is especially useful for sports scores when you want to keep track of a game without giving it your full attention (there are, after all, 162 games in a baseball season). Even better, if you have an iPhone 14 Pro or Pro Max, you can see live scores on Dynamic Island when you’re following a game.
Enabling Live Activities to follow a game on your lock screen isn’t difficult, but it’s not intuitive either. The good news is that you probably don’t need to download an extra app to get started, so you’re just a few taps away from getting your team going – as long as you have at least iOS 16.1 installed. I tested these steps on an iPhone 13 Mini and iPhone 14 Pro, both running iOS 16.4.1.
To begin with, you need to make sure that Live Events can access your lock screen. To do this:
Apple TV is on most iPhones by default, so unless you’ve downloaded the app, you’ll need to find it and open it to start following a game. You don’t need a paid subscription to the Apple TV Plus service, either. You can use Apple’s app to follow MLB, NBA, and Premier League games — support for other sports may follow, but that’s available now. Here’s how it works:
Assuming the game you want to follow is in progress, you will see an option marked catheter. Tap this icon, and when you leave the Apple TV app, it will appear on your lock screen. If you are using an iPhone 14 Pro or Pro Max, the mark will also show the Dynamic Island along with the two team logos. A long press on Dynamic Island will bring up an expanded view, including the end game, if you want to see more.
There’s also an optional setting you can check to make sure you see the most recent information available, although it may drain your phone’s battery faster.
Live Activities sports scores are also available from some third-party apps, such as the MLB app, and it will undoubtedly start to appear in more places as more developers take advantage of it.