Best sports apps for Android
Whether you're keeping up with one team or twenty, there's a sports app for you.
We all wish we could attend every game and keep up with every little announcement out of our favorite teams, but that times time and money most of us can't afford. Since we have to deal with these pesky little things called lives, here are the sports apps to keep you in the game even while you're stuck grinding through your daily 9-5, or worse, stuck at your significant other's high school reunion.
ESPN
It may be a tagline, but when most people think sports and especially sports news, ESPN is the Worldwide Leader in Sports. ESPN's app is one of the most-downloaded and most-used sports apps on Android, and that's because it's a first-class app that's easy to navigate, easy to customize, and has scores for just about every college and major league sport you could imagine.
ESPN's app does tie into some subscription-required services like ESPN+ content and cable subscriber content, but if you're after just news and scores, there's no subscription required. ESPN's notifications can alert you of the latest injury reports or trade agreements, and let's all be honest, who can resist that trademark Sportscenter Da-da-da, Da-da-da??
Download ESPN (free, subscription services)
theScore
theScore is a sports app that's been around for a while, and it's got two features that help set it apart from the rest of the pack here: a glorious dark theme and dedication to delivering the very best sports experience on Android. This app is very well laid out and allows you to quickly find the news, scores, and standings you need and then get back to what you want to do. And to ensure that you never miss an alert, theScore even lets you send a test alert to ensure everything is working ahead of a big event. theScore also has an esports app for those who are looking for the latest League of Legends tournament results.
CBS Sports App
CBS Sports is a solid sports app, especially for cord-cutters, since the CBS Sports app features CBS Sports HQ, a free, streaming 24-hours sports channel with news, commentary, and events. The app is the only app left in our roundup that uses a hamburger menu instead of bottom tabs, which means you get a little more real estate when browsing scores or reading the news. It does mean, however, that you'll need to swipe in from the left side of the screen whenever you want to switch between sections.
Yahoo Sports
Whether you're looking for up-to-the-minute scores during the bedlam that is college football or you're looking for longform editorial and in-depth sports journalism pieces, Yahoo Sports has got you. Yahoo Sports has some highlights and commentary videos, but is less video-heavy than CBS or ESPN, if you'd rather read your news than watch it.
One hidden bonus on the Yahoo Sports app is that if you've been stuck without your phone all day or all week because you got dragged off to some long weekend retreat with some nonsense "no tech allowed" policy, you can tap the Notification Center and see every headline Yahoo Sports pushed a notification for going back the last few days to help you catch up.
Google Assistant
Google handles millions of sports searches a day, from score searches to team searches to player stats and beyond. As such, Google Assistant has become a valuable sports app in its own right. If you follow teams in Google Assistant, it can notify you of team news, when your team is playing and where to watch it, and score updates. Google Assistant is also a good sports app to have because you can ask for sports information on any device, from your phone to Google Home to Assistant-enabled Chromebooks to even Android Auto in your car.
The only odd thing here is that to change your Sports team following and notifications for Google Assistant, you'll need to head into the Google Search app's Customize settings. This is because Google Assistant inherited some of its sports goodness from the Google feed — formerly Google Now — and that's where the Google interest settings still live.
Google Assistant: Everything you need to know
Download Google Assistant (free)
Who's keeping score for you?
Which sports app do you trust to help you keep your scores straight as we head into football season? Do you keep more than one sports app on hand to make sure you have all your bases covered? Sound off in the comments below and tell us your gameplan.
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