Rio 2016: 10 apps to help you stay up to date with the summer Olympics
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Official Rio 2016 app
Official Rio 2016 app
Some athletes have already begun competing, which means the 2016 games are upon us! The opening ceremony is only a day away–are you ready to keep up on all the breaking records and medal celebrations?
Here are 10 apps to get you in the Olympic mood, starting with the official app for this year’s games.
The official Rio 2016 app has all the stuff in it that you need to follow the Olympics, at least passively. You can get news updates, video, medal counts, and notifications for favorite countries, sports, and athletes. The only real bummer about the app are the real time updates: it just opens a browser window to the news stream at Rio2016.com.
Get the official Rio 2016 app on iOS and Android.
NBC Olympics
NBC Olympics
NBC’s Olympics app delivers lots of news, and there are tabs devoted to providing a host of speciality information.
Some of the features seem a bit half-implemented, though: the Olympic Pulse section of the Activity feed is just a Twitter aggregator for Olympic-related tweets, and if you tap any of the multitude of buttons to watch events live you’ll be shuffled off to the NBC sports app (or the app store if you don’t already have it).
Get the NBC Olympics app on iOS and Android.
Olympic Athletes' Hub 2016
Olympic Athletes' Hub 2016
While the app is designed to be a social network for Olympic athletes, the public is still welcome to join. You can use the app to follow your favorite Olympians and get their take on what’s going on in Rio, for better or worse.
Note: there is a version of the app on Google Play called Rio 2016 Social Hub, which says it’s tailored to members of the public who want to follow athletes. It doesn’t appear to actually work. At best it’s just an app designed for Sochi that was stamped with 2016 graphics. At worst it might be a bogus app.
Get the Olympic Athletes’ Hub 2016 app on iOS and Android.
BBC Sport
BBC Sport
BBC Sport has added a menu option for Rio 2016, making it easy to get all the latest news. Some of the features of the app, however, aren’t going to be super beneficial if you aren’t based in the UK. If you are, though, you’ll love the listings for BBC Red Button on different digital subscription platforms.
Get the BBC Sport app on iOS and Android.
Official Olympics app
Official Olympics app
If you’re interested in more than just the 2016 Olympics the official Olympics app is for you. You can get current coverage and news, medal results, and other stories, but here’s the best part: you can use the app to find information about every Olympic games ever held. There’s even video dating back to the London games of 1908.
Get the official Olympics app on iOS and Android.
Team USA app
Team USA app
For many Americans the Olympics is a patriotic event, and if you’re that kind of person you might only want to follow Team USA. If that’s the case you’ll need the official Team USA app. The app gives you all sorts of Olympic news, custom tailored for the watcher who only wants to be there to support their team.
Get the Team USA app on iOS and Android.
USA Basketball
USA Basketball
Maybe you’re interested in just one sport: basketball. If you’re an avid USA basketball fan you can do even better than the Team USA app with the USA Basketball app.
The app delivers news, the USA Basketball Twitter feed, upcoming events, and results. It also has resources for young players and youth coaches in the form of drills, workouts, and exercises to improve their game.
Get the USA Basketball app on iOS and Android.
theScore
theScore
theScore is all about localized, customized sports news. It’s set up around location-based notifications and team news, but it also has an Olympic feed. You’re not going to get a lot of specialized info for the Olympics unless you customize the app, but that’s not the appeal: it’s the location-based news you can get for everything else.
Get theScore on iOS and Android.
