MLB App CarPlay and Live Activities Update: Track Any Game

MLB's iPhone app has dropped a longstanding limit on its Live Activity feature: fans can now track any scheduled game, not just a favorite team. The change is part of a broader MLB app CarPlay and Live Activities update that also reworks how the app works behind the wheel. Open Gameday for any matchup, tap the new Track button in the header, and the score follows along on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island, 9to5Mac reported today.

The same release adds game browsing and radio broadcasts to the CarPlay dashboard for drivers, according to 9to5Mac. Apple has also used the MLB app as its own reference example for how Live Activities are supposed to work, describing it in developer materials from its two most recent conferences (Apple Developer, WWDC26; Apple Developer, WWDC25). Here's what changed, how to use it, and where the reporting stops short of confirming everything Apple's platform makes technically possible.

Tracking any game, not just a favorite team

The headline change is straightforward. Live Activity tracking is no longer locked to a favorite team; fans can open Gameday for any matchup on the schedule and tap a new Track button in the header, 9to5Mac reports. Before this update, the feature only worked for whatever team a user had set as their favorite.

Once tracked, the game shows up on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island, updating as it progresses, per 9to5Mac. Apple's developer materials describe Live Activities broadly as a way to surface score, inning, and key-play updates without opening an app, and Apple points specifically to the MLB app as an example of that in practice (Apple Developer, WWDC26).

That shift moves the feature away from a passive notification built around one team's schedule. Fans can now point it at a division rival during a pennant race, an out-of-market team followed for fantasy purposes, or a good game they stumbled onto and want to keep half an eye on.

A CarPlay experience built for listening

The CarPlay update addresses a different scenario: following a game from behind the wheel. Drivers can browse live and upcoming games inside CarPlay, select a matchup, and choose their preferred team's radio broadcast, 9to5Mac reports.

While the broadcast plays, CarPlay displays the score and key game details on screen. The app's existing hide-scores setting still applies inside CarPlay, so anyone avoiding spoilers before watching a replay keeps that protection, according to 9to5Mac.

That carryover, along with the radio-first design, points toward a CarPlay experience built around the live audio call rather than a shrunken version of the phone screen. It also lines up with a feature Apple built into CarPlay's Now Playing template: a dedicated sports mode designed to show team scores during streamed audio events, part of the CarPlay tools Apple detailed at its 2025 developer conference (Apple Developer, WWDC25).

MLB app CarPlay and Live Activities update: what's confirmed versus what's platform capability

Reporting confirms two things are part of this release: the any-game Live Activity, and the CarPlay browsing, radio, and score features described above, per 9to5Mac. Beyond that, it's worth separating what MLB has actually shipped from what Apple's platform simply makes available to any app.

Apple's iOS 26 update gave CarPlay support for widgets and Live Activities generally, including automatic display on the CarPlay Dashboard when a supported Live Activity starts on iPhone (Apple Developer, WWDC25). A separate change, tied to iOS 27, makes Live Activities visible in the Dynamic Island in both portrait and landscape orientation, a presentation update Apple previewed at its 2026 developer conference (Apple Developer, WWDC26). Neither confirms that MLB's app has built out every one of those layouts, including Apple's optional compact "small" activity size class made specifically for CarPlay and the watchOS Smart Stack (Apple Developer, WWDC25).

There's a gap on system requirements, too. The App Store listing shows the MLB app currently requiring iOS 18.0 or later (App Store listing), while the CarPlay and Live Activity capabilities described above arrived with iOS 26 and iOS 27. Current reporting doesn't specify which iOS version actually unlocks the new interface, or whether the rollout is complete for all users, according to 9to5Mac.

MLB's history of adopting Apple tools early

This release doesn't stand alone. Earlier this summer, MLB expanded its live-score widget for iPhone and iPad, extending the same ambient-score idea to the Home Screen before this CarPlay and Live Activity update arrived, 9to5Mac reports.

MLB's own history with Apple's platforms goes back nearly two decades, according to an MLB press release marking the app's 2024 Apple Vision Pro launch. The release states that MLB's At Bat app was among the first 500 apps available on the iPhone in 2008, and that the company brought live subscription video to iPhone in 2009, iPad in 2010, and Apple TV in 2011. That same release frames MLB's track record as evidence the company tests Apple's newest tools early; it isn't confirmation, on its own, that MLB received early or exclusive access to this specific CarPlay and Live Activity update.

What to check before relying on it

Confirming the app is fully updated and the device is running a current iOS version is worth doing before assuming the full feature set is available, since exact OS requirements for the new CarPlay and Live Activity behavior aren't specified in current reporting (App Store listing; 9to5Mac).

Apple keeps extending Live Activities across Watch, Mac, and CarPlay with each release cycle (Apple Developer, WWDC26). Whether MLB eventually builds out the full set of destinations that platform now allows, or sticks to the Lock Screen, Dynamic Island, and CarPlay Dashboard it has shipped so far, is the more interesting question to watch as the season winds down.