Apple spotted developing a ‘multiview’ feature for watching sports on Apple TV

Earlier this month, YouTube TV launched a new “multiview” feature that allows viewers to watch up to four streams of sports content at once. Now it looks like Apple TV is working on a similar option. Though Apple’s streaming device already supports a picture-in-picture mode, new code discovered in the latest iOS beta points to a possible four-up multiview feature in the works.

The discovery was found in the iOS 16.5 beta 1 build by developer Steve Moser, which was first reported by the Apple news site 9to5Mac.

Like the YouTube TV feature, the focus for Apple’s multiview experience now in development seems to be targeting supporting sports content more specifically. That decision makes sense not only because of the broader competitive landscape — including multiview options on services like YouTube TV and Fubo — but also because of Apple’s more recent investments in streaming sports content.

Last year, the Cupertino-based tech giant announced its first-ever live sports deal with Major League Baseball to bring a number of games exclusively to Apple TV+ in multiple countries, including the U.S. It then began streaming Friday Night Baseball during the 2022 season, which was offered to viewers without the need for an Apple TV+ subscription. This year, the free offering was dropped and the games now require an Apple TV+ subscription, but the service is now available to subscribers in 60 countries worldwide instead of the original 13.

The company also last year signed a 10-year streaming deal with Major League Soccer to stream every MLS match starting in 2023. However, Apple reportedly exited talks to secure the rights to the NFL Sunday Ticket over issues that had to do with the limitations on the package, including the ability to stream games worldwide, among other things.

Still, it’s clear that Apple sees sports content as an area of investment for its streaming service, which would make a feature like multiview more useful to Apple TV customers.

The new report noted that references to multiview had appeared in the iOS codebase previously, but the new beta saw more references than before which indicates the feature is now being more actively worked on. Moser told TechCrunch there was a reference to “Watch in Multiview” from four weeks ago, for instance.

The code also reveals more about what to expect from the offering, including how it appears to be tied to Apple’s TV app, as opposed to being a feature that would work across Apple TV devices. Plus, it seems that the end user may be prompted when browsing sports content in the app to try the option — for example by asking the viewer if they want to watch in fullscreen mode or in the “Multiview” mode.

Apple hasn’t announced the feature officially and would never confirm in-development plans, as a general rule. However, a recent Bloomberg report indicates that the company’s next big software release, iOS 17, will ship with several “nice to have” features. What those features may be is not yet clear, but multiview could possibly be among them.