The use of cell phones has become considerably greater these days. These devices have transformed from more of a voice device into a multichannel one. Part of this has been down to the creation of apps. Whatever you want to achieve, there’s likely to be an app that can help you.
According to statistics on the website of consumer and market data company Statista, the year 2021 saw 231 billion app downloads globally. From the third quarter of 2020, the most popular apps were chat apps and social media apps, which had a usage reach of 91% and 88% respectively.
One activity for which some of these users might use an app is online betting. Soccer, American football and horse racing are all typical sports on which punters like to bet. According to Statista, the size of the global sports market jumped up to $194.63 billion in 2021, and, worldwide, there are more than 25,000 team sports businesses. Below is a look at what makes a good app and at what the future could hold for sports team apps.
What makes a sports team app?
There may be lots of apps out there, but that doesn’t mean they’re easy to create. Developing a good app takes skill. Here are some of the qualities that help to make a good app:
Clean and user-friendly interface
Unfortunately for app developers, users judge a book by its cover, so the interface must be clean and user-friendly if the developer ever wants to the person to use the app again. The design should focus on the task that solves the user’s problem and not bear obtrusive elements or features that don’t add functionality to the app. The interface should be intuitive, not forcing users to have to think hard about how to use it.
Customer support
You might be tech savvy, but not everyone else is and there is sure to be someone who needs help either before downloading the app or after it. A good app will provide helpful, the responsive customer support that answers the user’s query within hours. Sometimes, customer support will even answer in minutes.
Adaptation to the user’s needs
Apps should adapt to the user’s needs. Developers will introduce new features, address security issues promptly, fix bugs and generally streamline the way the app operates each time they update the app.
Personalization
Personalization is an important feature in the development of a sports app in particular. Users want to be able to follow their favorite sports, leagues, teams and other elements of a sport. App personalization allows them to do this. Some team sports apps make it possible for fans to tailor their newsfeed so they can stay up to date with the stories and other news that interest them the most.
High performance and fast loading
Some apps take a long time to load, they freeze, or they crash, or all three. This, of course, is highly frustrating for the user and certainly has no place in the world of sports apps, especially if the user is making the most of the in-play betting function. Some apps offer to a stream of the action so the users can follow events in real-time and make betting decisions from a more informed perspective. They also provide live updates on scores or other important elements of an event. The very last thing the user wants is for the app to crash or take an age to load.
What could the future hold for sports betting apps?
Technological evolution is constantly driving innovations in the industry, so fans can expect to see some fascinating changes for the better in the world of sports team apps. Here are some possible developments the industry could see as time goes by:
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and robots
Some experts believe that, in the future, the best betters will be bots, not humans. These bots will be equipped with large amounts of data and special algorithms that inform their picks. There are already apps like this available today. In the future, bots may take their data from less orthodox sources, such as microchips placed in balls, helmets, and/or jerseys; and stadium cameras that track a player’s movements as they move across the grid, pitch, diamond or another playing field.
Use of virtual and augmented reality technologies
Virtual and augmented reality technologies are already starting to enter the online casino space, but the world could see sports companies make use of this too. Some of the big NBA teams have begun to take advantage of it to put users on the court. Team sports companies could get in on the action by allowing punters to take micro bets on shots from those spots.
Greater availability of live streaming
Although a lot of sports team apps provide live feeds of events, a time will come when it’s possible to view events live without needing to watch them on cable TV. A lot of sports team app service providers already stream some events, but this is likely to become much more common in the future.
Sports gaming is huge, and the apps have an exciting future ahead of them. Apps have made it much easier to place bets and their design contributes to this ease and the popularity of sports apps. It will be interesting to see if the future bears out the predictions above.
The Best Sports Team Management Apps
Sports coaches oversee a large team and need to organize and communicate with them using team management apps. The majority of coaches use sports team apps to communicate with their players or parents about upcoming games, practice schedules, and even how to pay for uniforms/subs. Our post on the top sports apps for coaches lists a variety of tools that coaches may use to organize their teams and conduct practices.
Team Apps for sports communication are a key component of the modern sports team. They enable coaches to contact athletes, manage their roster, stay in touch with parents, and complete a plethora of other chores that used to take hours to complete for coaches in the past.
- GroupMe – Free
- InstaTeam
- Team App
- SportsYou – Free
- Heja – Free & Paid
- Teamsnap
- GameChanger – Free & Paid
- Heja
- Teamer
- SportsEngine