Article · March 2026
Your phone is faster than your TV
Apple says its sports app is often faster than the TV. MLB hides a 30-second alert delay in its settings. Why the score reaches your phone before the play reaches your screen, and what you can do.
By the HideScore team · Updated · 3 min read
You are watching the game. Your phone buzzes. The alert tells you about a play that has not happened on your screen yet.
In March 2026, Sportico reporter Jacob Feldman wrote about this problem. The people who build the apps told him they know about it.
Built to be fast
Before Apple Sports launched, Apple senior vice president Eddy Cue reportedly tested the app from his courtside seat at Golden State Warriors games. He compared the score on his phone with the score on the big screen above him. Sportico reports that the app runs roughly 10 seconds behind the live game. "If you use the app," Cue told Sportico, "most times it's faster than what you're seeing on TV." For a fan at the game, that is a feature. For a fan watching on a stream, it is a spoiler. One one-star review of the app has a single-word title: "SPOILERS!"
The fixes are hidden
The apps do have tools. MLB has a hidden option called Delayed Gameday Notifications, which holds push alerts back by 30 seconds. MLB's product head Josh Frost told Sportico he "can't tell you how frustrated even I get when a push notification just totally beats what I'm watching live." ESPN can match the stats on your phone to the point in the game on your TV. The NBA app has a slider that hides scores. TennisTV can hide how long a replay runs, and F1 TV hides details that would give a race away.
Why spoilers still get through
Each tool covers one app, and you must find it and turn it on. Then the score comes in from somewhere else. Sportico lists the gaps: a thumbnail of a team that celebrates, a score on the ticker of another broadcast, a team's record, and social media, where spoilers move freely. A delay of 30 seconds does not help a fan who watches the next morning. See the settings to change in each app.
What HideScore does
HideScore shows spoiler-free sports highlights. Free, no account, no ads, no gambling. It is not fast on purpose. The board lists each game with no score, no winner and no standings, and it sends no score alerts. Open it at any time, after any delay, and pick the game you want to watch.
Open HideScore. No score is printed on the board.
Open HideScoreSources
- For Sports Fans Seeking Spoiler-Free Refuge, Phones Become Foes · Sportico, Jacob Feldman, March 25, 2026
Frequently asked questions
Why does my phone show the score before the TV?
Score apps get data from the stadium within seconds. A TV or streaming feed adds its own delay on top, often from several seconds to a minute or more. So an alert can arrive before you see the play.
Can I delay MLB app alerts?
Yes. Sportico reported in March 2026 that the MLB app has a hidden option called Delayed Gameday Notifications. It holds push alerts back by 30 seconds.
How do I follow sports on delay without spoilers?
Turn off score alerts while you watch, and check games from a page that prints no score. HideScore lists each game with no score and opens the highlights with the title covered.