2023 · B2C · Sports Media · iOS
iOS Live Activities: Delivering Live Moments for Sports + Fantasy Fans
Problems
Core Sports: Fans wanted instant updates on big moments—touchdowns, interceptions, fumbles—without the friction of opening the app. The challenge was to extend Yahoo! Sports beyond the app itself, delivering real-time insights directly to the iOS lock screen and Dynamic Island to drive engagement and retention.
Fantasy Sports: Fantasy players needed a more immersive way to track matchups and follow key player moments in real time. The opportunity was to evolve the Fantasy experience with live, personalized updates that deepened engagement and drove more visits to matchup pages in the next phase.
Challenges
1. Core Sports App: Ramp up on Apple’s iOS 18 Live Activities within a week while defining a consistent design language for lock screen and Dynamic Island states.
2. Fantasy Sports App: Introduce advanced features like win probability graphs and gamified animations, all while navigating two-week sprint cycles across dual engineering teams.
3. Balancing Needs: Prioritize the distinct requirements of Core Sports fans and Fantasy users to deliver meaningful, engaging experiences for both audiences.
Solutions
Core Sports App:
1. Designed pre-game Live Activities to notify fans 30 minutes before kickoff and post-game summaries to extend engagement beyond the final whistle.
2. Created an opt-in modal to introduce the feature, educate users, and drive adoption.
Fantasy Sports App:
1. Introduced win probability graphs, a red zone indicator for players in scoring position, and a Fantasy trophy icon to tie updates back to the app experience.
2. Improved readability with a full-opacity lock screen background.
3. Partnered with PMs to gamify updates, adding emoji animations in compact Dynamic Island states for key plays like touchdowns.
Impact
Core Sports App: Designed and delivered Live Activities fully aligned with Apple’s iOS 18 guidelines, positioning the feature for a smooth launch.
Fantasy Sports App: Increased Live Activities CTR from 4% to 10% and boosted game page visits by 15%, exceeding engagement targets.
Role
Lead designer
Platform
iOS
Timeline
2 Weeks
Skills
Strategy, Product design, Animation
Team
2 Product managers
10 iOS engineers
Tools
Figma, Jitter
Core Sports: Design Explorations
I explored innovative blue-sky concepts to shape iOS Live Activities, delivering real-time updates that keep users effortlessly connected to key moments.
Core Sports: Dynamic Live Activities System
Building on blue-sky explorations, I developed a dynamic, user-friendly iOS Live Activities experience that seamlessly supports football, basketball, baseball, and hockey.
Core Sports: Pre Game
Incorporating key feedback, I collaborated with engineers and PMs to design pre-game NFL alerts via iOS Live Activities, providing fans with timely notifications 30 minutes before kickoff to enhance excitement and engagement.
Core Sports: Live Game
Live game activity begins at kickoff, with dynamic score animations triggered by teams scoring, keeping sports fans engaged and up-to-date every step of the way.
Core Sports: Post Game
Based on our research, I created post-game activities, allowing fans to conveniently catch up on missed NFL games for 30 minutes after the final whistle.
Fantasy Sports: Phase 2 Redesign
In the second phase of iOS Live Activities, I led the Fantasy team’s design efforts, implementing key enhancements to better align with both user feedback and business objectives.
1. Added win probability functionality
2. Included a red zone indicator when a team has at least one player in the red zone
3. Replaced the Y! logo mark with a trophy icon to visually tie the experience back to Fantasy (Lock screen only)
4. Improved legibility by setting the lock screen background to 100% opacity
Before
After
Before
After
Fantasy Sports: Last Play Notification
Collaborating with the PM, I introduced notification animations for big plays like touchdowns and field goals, keeping sports fans engaged with key moments while driving increased matchup page visits.
Last Play Notifications Contain:
1. Player’s first initial and last name (e.g., J. Hurts)
2. Yards gained and the type of play (e.g., +28 Pass Yds)
3. The amount of points gained for the play (e.g., +5pts)
Fantasy Sports: Gamified Dynamic Island
I created a gamified Dynamic Island that engages users by displaying their avatars and animating emojis at key moments.
Before
After
Post-launch, phase 2 iOS Live Activities designs boosted user engagement within the Fantasy app.
6%
Increase in click through rates.
15%
Increase in game page visits.
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