The significance of mobile applications and its need in our life is undeniably unending. It has become an immense point of attention for the individual as well as businesses. In this age of the digitally smart world, more than 80 percent of people use mobile devices to search for products and services. Out of 80 percent, 27 percent use mobile applications to obtain the information. 

Mobile applications have grown into the most effective tools of our everyday life. Apps not only make our lives easier, but also makes it comfortable as if the whole world is in the palm of our hands. Looking at the current trends and future prospects, all the industries are adopting mobile applications, and sports is not behind following the trend. So, I am writing this blog to cover must-have features for the sports mobile app.

Sports App Market: Facts & Stats

There are plenty of successful applications like DAZN; back in 2018, this live broadcasting application brought $11.5 million and its competitor ESPN, drove $4.7millon. These numbers are just jaw-dropping.  North American sports market size is estimated to be worth $76.05 billion by 2020. The Dallas Cowboys – American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex ranked as the most expensive sports team with $4.08 billion.  

The sports industry has massive potential for most innovative approaches – developing your custom sports mobile application considering the best sports app features and launch it for the mass market is a viable thing to do without a doubt.

Let’s Have A Look At 14 Must-Have Features For Sports Mobile App:

• User Account

This is something attractive to those who have already downloaded the app. The user account feature will score you a few more positive user experience points if you give them an excellent interface and a smart set of features. 

In general, this is where users should be able to tailor the app’s interface as much as possible to make it suit their needs.

Furthermore, if your app includes in-app purchases, the user should be able to manage the information on his or her card.

• Secure Payment Gateway

Payment gateway integration should be taken great care of if you are planning to introduce in-app payment. 

For a sports mobile app, in-app payments can be related to some subscription you’re offering or some special services like Amazon Prime.

Such services invoke the need to integrate secure payment gateway for the flawless payment transfer and excellent user experience.

You can rely on the following top payment gateways-

1. PayPal
2. Amazon Pay
3. Adyen
4. Skrill
5. Stripe
6. PayU
7. 2CheckOut
8. Authorize.NET
9. Braintree
10. Payza

Depending on your requirements, you can choose your payment gateway.

• Instant Updates

The mobile application should have real-time instant updates. The updates should be in an attractive way with an engaging, readable content. Tracking the user behavior, you can also offer relevant push notifications.

This ‘instant updates’ feature for a sports mobile app can include updates regarding-

1. About some local, domestic or international matches
2. Some games that they can play internally
3. Rolling out of new services, new features, etc.
4. Subscription renewal alerts
5. Discounts or deals
6. And, more

This “Instant Updates” feature of the sports mobile app sends reminders to your users. And, ultimately, it improves engagement with your app users.

• Choice of the Language

Choosing the right language for your audience is one of the top features of a sports mobile app.

If you are planning to launch an application on a global platform and targeting the global audience, then your app must support multiple languages for different countries. If the user gets information in their native language, then there are high chances of downloading.

• Quick Swiping and Hassle-free Access

Do you recollect Quick Swiping that you have for almost all of the apps that you access over your smartphone? It’s like you’re watching a series on Netflix, and you get WhatsApp notifications, you can swipe it out.

Such quick swiping provides hassle-free access to your sports app user, which is a must for every user. If the user is watching the live match, then quick swiping becomes mandatory for unwanted notifications.

• Offline Mode

These days, the ‘Offline Mode’ feature is trending among almost all of the popular apps. So, if you have it in your sports mobile app, it will be better for your app users.

If you provide access to some features without accessing the internet, then this will be a benefit for the app. It would become more convenient for users to access the app.

• Calendar

This is another must-have sports mobile app feature that will help your sports app users to set up some reminders for must-watch matches, about subscription payments, and more. This app feature helps your users with timely reminders to not miss out on anything important related to their favorite sports.

• Live Streaming

If you can provide your users with the pleasure of watching the matches of their favorite teams without leaving the app, then it will be the cherry on the cake. Furthermore, if you enable the app users to record the games and even watch them at their convenience, then it leaves a significant impact on your sports app users. In this way, you can make your app a go-to stop for anything associated with their favorite sport or person. 

• Sports Team Catalogue

This is one of the best sports app features. It is no excuse to deny the joy of familiarizing users with the articles, even if you target to lure only the fans of a particular sports squad. You can provide the items of their favorite sportsmen and give the history of the team as a whole. This feature helps to build a sense of pride and confidence in them for their team. 

• Ticket Sale

Hardcore fans do not want to miss the matches of their favorite teams or athletes. Therefore, if you have a billing portal incorporated with the app, you can allow them to monitor and buy the tickets in the app itself.

Alternatively, you can secure your app with a third-party ticket sale service. In this situation, your users will be able to window-shop the tickets, follow their costs and availability, and they make the final purchase on the third-party provider’s app. In the particular case, you get a fee from every payment as you create a new lead for that third-party provider. 

• Brand Store

Most sports companies make a profit from selling their labelled merchandise, T-shirts, and banners. Therefore, if you strive to have an app for your sports team, and you want to get an additional source of revenue, this in-app store is necessary for you. In this particular instance, you would have to team up with said squads and players. You will get only a share of the revenue, but it is still an excellent way to fund your app.

• Chat Room

Chat rooms can bring more engagement in your sports mobile application because it will create a social network of sports enthusiasts to connect with like-minded people.

This chat feature also enables your app users to share the latest sports world news and discuss specific sports events.

• Social Media Integration

Social media is an essential part of our everyday lives today. So why do not you include the digital impact component in your app? In this case, users can share their perceptions about the matches and their favorite sports teams on the social media page. All of this excites user engagement.

Apart from filling in the registration form and creating a new password for the users, social media integration has something more realistic to do. With social media integration, you permit them to start using the app in just a few clicks-all thanks to a “Use my Google Account” button.

• News Feed

The news feed is the best sports app feature to keep your users engaged in your app regularly. We strongly suggest introducing notifications in the app. In this way, not a single user skips the top stories. The information on tournament tables and the performance of sports teams or players will be an added advantage to the app users.

You can also include a Match Day Centre if you are designing a dedicated app for a specific team or sports tournament. This information gateway incorporates all the relevant information following the matches like the score, highlights from games and press conferences, to name a few.

Epilogue

Developing a sports mobile app needs a careful understanding of the sports industry and the mindset of the app audience.

Before you get into the sports mobile app development, make sure of doing the following things-

1. Detailed competitive research and analysis
2. Bookmarking this must-have app features

These must-have features will help you talk to your sports mobile app development vendor clearly about your requirements.

That detailed discussion will enable your app developers to understand your app needs faster and to develop the app faster.

Do you think of any other essential sports app feature that I missed? Please share in the comments section below.