The most downloaded sports apps in 2025

The live sports streaming app DAZN – Watch Live Sports was the most downloaded Sports app in 2025, accumulating 23.1M downloads with a remarkable 168.0% year-over-year growth, according to AppTweak’s Market Intelligence data. This performance highlights the increasing demand for live event streaming, even as some established media players in the same segment face declines. The data indicates a dynamic and competitive landscape where new leaders can emerge rapidly.

Overall, the top 500 Sports apps generated 1.0B downloads in the last year, with the category seeing a healthy 7.0% growth in total app downloads. This growth underscores the continued user appetite for sports content, from live games and score tracking to fantasy leagues and betting. Segments like live sports TV and sports results remain central to the category’s performance, driving the majority of downloads in the top rankings.

Key takeaways

• Live streaming shows a major power shift. DAZN – Watch Live Sports dominated the rankings with 168.0% growth, while legacy sports media app ESPN saw a -15.7% decline in downloads. This contrast points to a significant disruption in how users consume live sports content.
• The market for score-tracking apps is mixed but growing. While some apps in the sports results segment showed strong performance, like Flashscore: Resultados ao Vivo (+32.0%), others outside the top 10, such as 365Scores: Live Scores & News, experienced a sharp decline (-42.1%). This suggests that features and user experience are becoming critical differentiators.
• Publisher headquarters are globally diverse. The top 10 apps come from publishers based in seven different countries, including the United Kingdom, China, the United States, and India. This demonstrates that the Sports app market is not dominated by a single region, reflecting a wide range of global and local fan interests.
• The user experience is shifting toward personalization. A key trend across leading Sports apps is the move away from generic scoreboards toward personalized “home feeds” built around a user’s favorite teams and players, delivering a more relevant and curated experience.
• Engagement is moving beyond just following scores. Top Sports apps are increasingly embedding interactive layers like betting odds, fantasy integrations, and predictive games directly into the core game-viewing experience, turning passive following into active participation.

About the data set

This data was derived from AppTweak’s Market Intelligence. The dataset covers January 2025 – December 2025, and reflects worldwide performance across both the App Store & Google Play. The ranking is created by combining each app’s estimated downloads from both stores and ordering them from highest to lowest.

• Data source: AppTweak Market Intelligence
• Coverage: App Store and Google Play
• Metrics: App downloads
• Time period: January 2025 – December 2025
• Category: Sports, defined by AppTweak’s AppDNA taxonomy
• Geography: Global
• Last updated: January 2026

Category definition of Sports apps (AppTweak AppDNA taxonomy):

AppTweak defines the Sports category as apps related to professional, amateur, collegiate, or recreational sporting activities. For example: fantasy sports companions, college teams/conference, professional teams/leagues, athletes, score trackers, instruction, sports news.

Segment definitions:

• live sports tv: Apps that offer TV and live sports streaming.
• sports results: Apps that provide live sports scores and results.
• wearables: Apps for wearable devices like wristbands.
• sports betting: Apps that give you tips, scores and results for all sports betting activities.

Feel free to dig into your app category’s download and revenue estimates now in AppTweak’s Market Intelligence.

What are the most downloaded Sports apps of 2025?

The following ranking showcases the leading Sports apps by global downloads in 2025. This table lists the top 10 Sports apps ordered by total downloads, including app name, publisher, HQ, app downloads, and year-over-year growth.

Source: AppTweak Market Intelligence | App Store & Google Play | January 2025 – December 2025 | Global.

Notable apps at a glance

• DAZN – Watch Live Sports – Rank #1, 23.1M downloads, live sports tv
• Da Fit – Rank #2, 22.0M downloads, wearables
• ESPN – Rank #3, 16.1M downloads, live sports tv
• Flashscore: Resultados ao Vivo – Rank #4, 15.5M downloads, sports results
• Sofascore: Live Sports Scores – Rank #5, 13.8M downloads, sports results
• CREX – Just Cricket – Rank #7, 9.6M downloads, sports results
• Cricbuzz – Live Cricket Scores – Rank #10, 8.2M downloads, live sports tv

3 key learnings from the top 10 Sports apps

A closer look at the app download data for the top 10 Sports apps reveals several important patterns for marketers and product teams. These learnings highlight the dynamics of a market defined by intense competition, regional passions, and shifting consumer behaviors.

1. The live streaming segment is being redefined by new leaders

The battle for live sports viewership is intensifying, with newer platforms challenging established media giants. DAZN – Watch Live Sports soared to the top of the charts with 23.1M app downloads and an explosive 168.0% year-over-year growth. In stark contrast, legacy broadcaster ESPN saw its downloads fall by -15.7% to 16.1M. This divergence suggests that while demand for live sports remains high, users are increasingly turning to specialized streaming services that may offer more focused or flexible content packages compared to traditional players.

2. Score-tracking apps show growth is tied to strong performance

The sports results segment remains a cornerstone of the category, but not all apps are performing equally. Flashscore: Resultados ao Vivo (#4) and Sofascore: Live Sports Scores (#5) both achieved solid growth, with downloads increasing by 32.0% and 12.1%, respectively. However, BeSoccer: Resultados Futebol (#9) saw a decline of -12.5%. This pattern indicates that simply providing scores is no longer enough; growth in this competitive space likely depends on superior user experience, speed, and depth of data.

3. Regional sports and global diversity shape the top ranks

The top 10 ranking is a clear reflection of both global and regional sports passions. The strong performance of two cricket-focused apps, CREX – Just Cricket (#7) and Cricbuzz – Live Cricket Scores (#10), highlights the massive scale of the sport’s fan base in markets like India. Furthermore, the top 10 publishers are headquartered in seven different countries, including the UK, China, the US, and Croatia. This geographic diversity underscores that the Sports app market is not a monolith but a collection of distinct, passionate audiences worldwide.

Key facts about the top 10 Sports apps

• Publishers from seven different countries are represented in the top 10, indicating a highly globalized and competitive landscape where no single region dominates app downloads.
• Half of the top 10 apps experienced negative year-over-year download growth, suggesting market maturation and increased competition for user acquisition even among the leading apps.
• Live content and real-time results are the dominant use cases, with apps in the live sports TV and sports results segments making up the majority of the top 10 ranking.
• Cricket-specific apps have a significant presence, with two apps from Indian publishers in the top 10, underscoring the power of catering to large, passionate, and region-specific fan bases.

2025 Market trends for Sports apps

The Sports app category is evolving beyond simple score-checking to become more personalized, interactive, and immediate. The 7.0% download growth among the top 500 apps is associated with key shifts in product strategy and user expectations. Here are the trends shaping the market in 2025.

1. The personalized “home feed” is replacing the generic scoreboard

Across the most-downloaded Sports apps, the default experience has shifted from a league-wide index to a personalized “home” built around a user’s selected teams, players, and competitions. Users increasingly expect the app to pre-filter noise and surface the most relevant game, storyline, or alert without extra setup each session. This is visible in product structures that push for team selection during onboarding and feature persistent “Following” tabs.

2. Live moments are packaged for second-screen use and faster checking

Mainstream sports apps are increasingly designed as second-screen companions. This is reflected in features like quick-glance live tiles, lock-screen activities, and compressed “what changed” updates for key plays or score changes. The user experience is optimized for immediacy, with persistent match cards and stronger visual cues for “live” states, allowing fans to check in more frequently for shorter periods.

3. Video and “story-style” highlights are becoming core to navigation

Instead of being a separate destination, short-form video is now woven directly into game pages, live timelines, and personalized feeds. Highlight clips, recap cards, and vertical “stories” are moving closer to the forefront of the user experience. This shift allows users to tap once to “watch the key moment” directly from the score, meeting expectations for instant visual context that explains why a game is trending.

4. Participation is being embedded directly into the game page

The most downloaded apps are moving from being “information-only” to “participation-ready.” It is now common to see odds modules, fantasy integrations, and pick’em-style prompts appear alongside lineups and play-by-play stats. These features reflect a growing user expectation that the app should support how fans engage with a game, not just how they follow it.

Key facts about Sports app market trends in 2025

• The default entry point for many Sports apps is now a personalized feed centered on followed teams and players, not a universal league index.
• Live experiences are being optimized for quick, repeat check-ins through persistent match cards and more controllable, specific alerts.
• Highlight clips and recap snippets are integrated directly into game flows, reducing the need to navigate to separate video destinations.
• Participation layers like odds, fantasy, and predictions are commonly embedded into core game pages, appearing alongside traditional scores and stats.

Conclusion

The Sports app market demonstrated healthy growth in 2025, with the top 500 apps collectively generating 1.0B downloads and expanding by 7.0%. The year was marked by significant shifts, most notably the rise of DAZN – Watch Live Sports, which became the most-downloaded app with 23.1M installs and 168.0% growth, disrupting the live sports streaming space.

While established segments like sports results and live sports TV continue to dominate, performance within them is mixed. Growth now appears to hinge on delivering a superior user experience characterized by personalization, second-screen immediacy, and integrated video highlights. The global nature of the top 10, with publishers from seven countries, proves that success requires catering to both worldwide trends and distinct regional passions, such as the strong demand for cricket apps in India.

For marketers and developers, the data highlights a clear path forward: focus on deep engagement and personalization, as sheer volume of information is no longer a guaranteed driver of growth. To explore these trends further and benchmark your app’s performance, explore AppTweak’s Market Intelligence platform. You can start analyzing the data today with a Free Starter plan.

FAQs

Below we answer the top questions about the most downloaded Sports apps.