Critical notifications on apple sports iPhone app.

If I understood the problem correctly, the issue is caused by Live Activities, which update scores on your lock screen and can bypass Focus modes, causing vibrations and spoilers.

Open iPhone Settings, scroll down and select App/Sports, tap Live Activities, turn off Allow Live Activities.

This will stop the app from sending flash updates, saving both your sleep and your TV viewing experience.

You have no control over the timing of notifications. They will arrive when arrive.

However, you have multiple options to control haptic notifications on your iPhone...

1) You can suppress Haptics (i.e. vibration) when your iPad is set to its silent mode:

Settings > Sounds & Haptics > [Ringtone & Alerts] Haptics - change from Always Play to Don't Play in Silent Mode

With this mode selected, ensure that you either manually set your iPhone to silent mode at bedtime, or configure the Do Not Disturb focus mode for your quiet hours.

2) Turn-off System Haptics. This will completely disable the vibration feature for alerts:

Settings > Sounds & Haptics > System Haptics - set to OFF

3) Disable notifications for the Apple Sports App:

Settings > Notifications > [Notification Style] Apple Sports > Allow Notifications - set to OFF

Johnny_Pl wrote:

Another problem is that app is faster than my tv transmission so the app literally spoilers me a match. It is possible that I turned on critical notifications on my phone for apple sports app but I can’t find the switch to turn it off.

The term “Live” in television doesn’t necessarily mean “real-time.”

A live broadcast means the event is being transmitted as it happens, without being pre-recorded, but there is almost always a small delay due to the technology involved.

Typical delays are:

• Inside the stadium: 0 seconds (the actual event)
• Official scoring systems (used by apps like Apple Sports): Often 1–3 seconds behind the action
• Cable or satellite TV (such as Unite8 Sports for (Football/Soccer) or Star Sports Select 1 HD for Wimbledon): Usually 5–10 seconds behind in India.
• Internet streaming: Often 15–60 seconds behind, depending on the service and your connection

Broadcasters also intentionally maintain a slight delay for technical processing and, in some countries, to allow intervention if something unexpected or inappropriate is shown.

So although Star Sports correctly labels the match as Live, it is more accurate to think of it as “live with a short broadcast delay.” This is standard practice across virtually all live sports broadcasts today.

So if you’re watching Wimbledon on Star Sports and also have the Apple Sports app open, you’ll often see:

• Apple Sports: “40–15”
• TV: "30-15", The server hasn’t even started the next serve yet.

This isn’t because Apple is predicting the outcome—it’s simply receiving the official scoring feed faster than the video reaches your television. In fact, many fans notice that Apple Sports notifications can spoil points before they appear on TV.  

The pic below is self-explanatory.