Hello, I’m Senior Business Analyst for the BBC Sport apps.
Today I’m pleased to announce the launch of a "Top Stories" widget on iOS and Android devices.
The "Top Stories" widget will enables s to easily keep up-to-date with the latest sport action. s can read the top sport headlines by swiping to view their Notification Centre (on iPhone and iPad), or on their homescreen (Android phones and tablets). If a headline is of particular interest, s can click on it and read more in the Sport app.
Widgets are a native app feature that has been available on Android for several years (since Android v 1.5) while Apple devices have recently ed 3rd party widgets as part of iOS 8.
In the Android Play Store, widgets are a much-requested feature. The existing BBC News and weather widgets have enjoyed a large uptake among Android s and we hope to see this pattern repeated with the sport widget.
The Android widget allows s to customise by sport for launch (7 sports + top headlines).
On iOS, the top stories widget is the first developed by the BBC on this platform.
On iOS we have decided to release it without customisation. This will enable us to gauge on future enhancements, but also see how much appetite there is for widgets on this platform.
Based on audience and usage we would look to evolve the widget proposition on both platforms.
iOS
The "Top Stories" widget allows s to read the top BBC Sport headlines via a single swipe down to access their Notification Centre.
To add the widget:
1. Install the latest version of the BBC Sport app
2. Swipe down from the top of the device. Select the "Today" tab
3. Click "Edit" at the bottom of the page
4. Add "BBC Sport Headlines"
5. Click "Done"
You will then see the top 3 stories from BBC Sport. When you swipe down to see the widget - the list of stories will automatically update.
Android
The "Top Stories" widget allows s to view the top BBC Sport headlines, right from their Android homescreen.
To add the widget to the homescreen: find an available space on the screen and then press to bring up a list of widgets. Choose from BBC Sport Headlines (4x1) or BBC Sport Headlines (2x2), then choose which category to follow. The list of available categories is:
- Top stories
- Football
- Formula 1
- Cricket
- Rugby Union
- Rugby League
- Tennis
- Golf
You can add multiple widgets – you can have a widget for each sport that you are interested in.
This is the latest feature in the BBC Sport app. Based on requests we recently launched cricket push alerts for international and county teams. As ever – please leave comments below about this feature and any other improvements you would like to see in the BBC Sport apps.
The app is available from the App Store and the Google Play Store.
