New Apple TV 4K feature gives sports fans a better way to watch games

The hardware and interface for Apple TV 4K in 2022.

(Image credit: Gerald Lynch / Future)

The Apple TV 4K debuted a long-awaited feature for sports fans this week as a multiview feature arrived on Apple's TV streaming box.

Multiview is available on the latest tvOS 16.5 beta and debuted as part of MLB Friday Night Baseball and MLS Season Pass on Saturday. The feature allows you to watch up to four games at once, so you don't have to choose between what sport you want to watch or what game if there are multiple matches simultaneously.

This is nothing new. However, fans of the NFL have had access to a similar feature for years as part of the NFL Red Zone subscription. And streaming services like Fubo have offered multiview on Apple TV for a while.

The ability to watch two games at once is fantastic for those tight contests where your team's league standings are impacted by other matches going on at the same time. In addition, when watching two games at once with Apple TV's multiview, you can either have both the same size or one larger.

If you're watching four sports simultaneously, the Apple TV 4K can showcase four streams across your television or a primary stream with three smaller options to the right.

The future for Apple Sport is bright

Apple continues to improve its sports offerings with the addition of multiview in tvOS 16.5, and regardless of which sports you follow, it's good news for everyone.

Currently, the multiview experience is available for Apple's own MLS Season Pass and MLB Friday Night Baseball. However, rumors of Apple aiming to stream English Premier League football in the coming years could lead to an improved viewing platform for football fans across the globe.

In the meantime, sign up for Apple TV Plus to access MLB for $6.99 a month or opt for the MLS Season Pass starting from $12.99 a month. Once out of beta, these improvements in iOS 16.5 will make these sports apps some of the best Apple TV apps out there.

John-Anthony Disotto is the How To Editor of iMore, ensuring you can get the most from your Apple products and helping fix things when your technology isn’t behaving itself. Living in Scotland, where he worked for Apple as a technician focused on iOS and iPhone repairs at the Genius Bar, John-Anthony has used the Apple ecosystem for over a decade and prides himself in his ability to complete his Apple Watch activity rings. John-Anthony has previously worked in editorial for collectable TCG websites and graduated from The University of Strathclyde where he won the Scottish Student Journalism Award for Website of the Year as Editor-in-Chief of his university paper. He is also an avid film geek, having previously written film reviews and received the Edinburgh International Film Festival Student Critics award in 2019. John-Anthony also loves to tinker with other non-Apple technology and enjoys playing around with game emulation and Linux on his Steam Deck.

In his spare time, John-Anthony can be found watching any sport under the sun from football to darts, taking the term “Lego house” far too literally as he runs out of space to display any more plastic bricks, or chilling on the couch with his French Bulldog, Kermit.