Apple News App Gains Sports Tab in First iOS 16.5 Beta

The iOS 16.5 beta that Apple seeded to developers today doesn't appear to have many features as of yet, but one change has been made to the Apple News app. To go along with its push into sports content, Apple has added a new Sports tab to the app.

apple news sports tab
Apple has positioned the Sports tab in ‌Apple News‌ right in the middle of the bottom navigation bar, putting it between Today and News+ on the left, and Audio and Following on the right. To make room for the Sports tab, Apple has combined the Following and Search tabs into one tab rather than making them separate actions.

The Sports tab facilitates the picking of favorite teams for personalized news, a feature that was already available in the prior version of ‌Apple News‌ without a dedicated tab.

A tab specifically for sports content comes as Apple is aiming to lure sports enthusiasts to its ecosystem and Apple TV+. Apple has inked deals with Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer for exclusive content, and sports content has been more deeply integrated with the iPhone through features like Live Activities for following games in real time from the ‌iPhone‌ Lock Screen.

Related Forum: iOS 16

Popular Stories

streaming black friday 2025

Black Friday Streaming Deals Include Big Savings on Disney+, Hulu, Apple TV, and More

Monday November 24, 2025 8:03 am PST by
We've been focusing on deals on physical products over the past few weeks, but Black Friday is also a great time of year to purchase a streaming membership. Some of the biggest services have great discounts for new and select returning members this week, including Disney+, Hulu, Paramount+, Peacock, and more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a...
Apple Foldable Thumb

Foldable iPhone to Debut These Three Breakthrough Features

Tuesday November 25, 2025 7:09 am PST by
Apple's first foldable iPhone is expected to launch alongside the iPhone 18 Pro models in fall 2026, and it's shaping up to include three standout features that could set it apart from the competition. The book-style foldable will reportedly feature an industry-first 24-megapixel under-display camera built into the inner display, according to a recent JP Morgan equity research report. That...
General Black Friday Deals 25 Red

Apple Black Friday Deals Available Now on AirPods, iPads, Accessories, and More

Friday November 21, 2025 8:48 am PST by
We're only a few days away from Black Friday, which will take place on Friday, November 28 in 2025. As always, this will be the best time of the year to shop for great deals, including popular Apple products like AirPods, iPad, Apple Watch, and more. In this article, the majority of the discounts will be found on Amazon. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When...
General Apps Messages Redux

Singapore Orders Changes to iMessage by December

Tuesday November 25, 2025 6:39 am PST by
Singapore has ordered Apple to block or filter messages on iMessage that impersonate government agencies, requiring the company to implement new anti-spoofing protections by December as part of efforts to curb rising online scams, the Straits Times reports. Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that it had issued an Implementation Directive to Apple under the Online Criminal Harms...
iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Adds These New Features to Your iPhone

Thursday November 20, 2025 10:50 am PST by
iOS 26.2 is currently in beta testing. The upcoming update includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, including a new Liquid Glass slider for the Lock Screen's clock, offline lyrics for Apple Music, and more. In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 26.2 will be released to all users in December, but it did not provide a specific release date. Keep reading...
maxresdefault

The MacRumors Show: iPhone 18 Pro Looks Like a Huge Upgrade

Friday November 21, 2025 9:10 am PST by
On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we talk through all of the new features and improvements expected to come to next year's iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max models. Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos Apple's next-generation iPhones are less than ten months away and we already have a good idea about what to expect based on corroborated leaks, rumors,...
iOS 26 on Three iPhones

iOS 27 Will Reportedly Have Two Key Upgrades

Sunday November 23, 2025 8:48 am PST by
iOS 27 will reportedly have two major elements: quality improvements and new AI features. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that iOS 27 will be similar to Mac OS X Snow Leopard, in the sense that Apple is focused on improving "quality and underlying performance" over adding new features. Gurman said there is one exception to this rule, though, as he expects...
apple news banner

Apple News Loses CNN

Monday November 24, 2025 7:56 am PST by
American multinational news company CNN has abruptly pulled its content from Apple News, Semafor reports. CNN quietly removed its stories from Apple News over the weekend and there is no longer a feed from the network to subscribe to in the app. This effectively ends its distribution agreement with Apple while the two sides negotiate new terms. Discussions are apparently ongoing and CNN's...
Apple Foldable Thumb

Crease-Free iPhone Fold on Track for 2026 Launch as Development Advances

Monday November 24, 2025 10:25 am PST by
Apple is making progress on the development of the book-style foldable iPhone expected in 2026, according to a report from Chinese site UDN. The device has reportedly entered the engineering validation stage, and Apple is gearing up for mass production. Citing supply chain sources, UDN says that Apple has solved "the crease problem" that has plagued most foldable smartphones, and the...

Top Rated Comments

eicarr Avatar
35 months ago
I wish I could change it to Entertainment or Travel or something that even slightly interested me.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
throAU Avatar
35 months ago
when i block a channel, remove it.

don’t replace with a big box saying i blocked some content.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
xxFoxtail Avatar
35 months ago
I know I can just completely ignore the tab, but as a News+ subscriber who doesn’t really care for anything sports related, this disappoints me. If there’s not a way to hide it, I guess I’ll be canceling and saving $10/month.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
i386 Avatar
35 months ago
What about a Theatre or basket weaving tab? Sports isn’t news.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Marbles1 Avatar
35 months ago
It’s going to take an awful lot to get me to bother with the Apple News app, let alone Apple News+.

It needs fundamental transformation, removing the silly blanked out tiles when you block something, the poor experience where you can’t find specific articles in a paper / magazine because it doesn’t link to online sources etc.

I mean look at Apple Arcade, Apple news+, even Apple TV+ which has no library to fall back on. It’s all such a feeble offer.

I pay for Apple Music as it’s good value for money. And I pay for iCloud because of the iPhone backup and so on. The rest is fluff.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
zachz Avatar
35 months ago
I hope there’s a way to disable this, and same with the sports tab on the Apple TV app. I couldn’t care less about sports, give me a colored screen instead so I can watch virtual paint dry.

At the same time I rarely use the News app - Ground News is free and 100x better. Canadian developed and I can read whatever I want without having to pay monthly (although they do have fairly cheap subscription tiers if you want extras and customizations)
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)