Apple Sports Adds Homescreen Widget but Skips CarPlay Panel

Apple Sports adds homescreen widget but misses CarPlay widget panel

Apple has rolled out a new widget for its Sports app with iOS 26, giving fans quick access to upcoming fixtures and live scores from the iPhone homescreen.

That’s the good news. The disappointment for drivers and CarPlay fans is that this widget does not appear in iOS 26’s new CarPlay widgets panel. Live Activities are still supported, but only within the CarPlay dashboard.

In practice, that means you can see scores on your lock screen and in the dashboard while driving, but you can’t add Apple Sports to the cleaner, homescreen-like widgets panel that iOS 26 introduced for CarPlay.

For multi-sport fans the app is appealing: Apple expanded coverage with more soccer leagues — including Bundesliga 2, Ligue 2, Primeira Liga, Segunda División and Serie B — and added teams from Austria, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain.

Apple Sports stands out as a no-ad, native option that embraces iOS features like Live Activities. But the CarPlay widgets omission highlights a broader platform nuance: supporting Live Activities doesn’t automatically grant access to every new CarPlay surface.

Why this matters to product teams: the difference between Live Activities in the dashboard and full widget support in the CarPlay panel affects discoverability, user engagement, and how safely information is presented while driving.

Developers building sports and live-score experiences must now weigh platform constraints. Do you optimize for the dashboard Live Activity that appears automatically during games, or invest engineering time to target widget surfaces where available?

If you’re a team or third-party app maker, consider these questions:

• Which CarPlay surfaces are most valuable to users: dashboard Live Activities or the new widgets panel?
• How will adding broader league coverage change notification volume and attention management for in-car use?
• What safety constraints should guide design so drivers aren’t overloaded with live updates?

For users, the immediate takeaway is simple: Apple Sports gets better for homescreen tracking and covers more leagues, but if your goal was a tidy CarPlay widget panel experience you’ll need to stick with Live Activities in the dashboard or explore third-party apps.

Third-party apps like FotMob still fill gaps for specific sports, but they can be limited by league support or platform access. Apple’s native route remains attractive for multi-sport coverage because it integrates tightly with iOS features and stays ad-free.

Looking forward, expect the CarPlay widget ecosystem to evolve. Platform APIs, OEM decisions, and safety guidelines will shape which apps gain panel access and how developers surface live data for drivers.

For product leaders and engineers, the practical step is to map user journeys across device surfaces — lock screen, homescreen, CarPlay dashboard, and the new widgets panel — then prioritize features that deliver the most value with the least driver distraction.

QuarkyByte’s approach is to quantify those trade-offs across engagement, safety, and engineering effort. Teams can get actionable roadmaps that align league expansions, notification strategy, and in-car presence with platform realities.

In short: Apple Sports is a solid native option for multi-sport fans on iOS, but the missing CarPlay widget support is a reminder that platform features evolve unevenly. Developers and product teams should plan for selective surface coverage rather than one-size-fits-all availability.