Sportacular has push now!

[Branskins]

I updated recently. The server might be overloaded at the moment for your information. Is this the first sports push app?

[basesloaded190]

I updated recently. The server might be overloaded at the moment for your information. Is this the first sports push app?

Sports tap has had push for a while now

[Branskins]

Oops :P

[diesel]

I updated recently. The server might be overloaded at the moment for your information. Is this the first sports push app?


I have sportacular, sports tap, and espn app and of the three, sportacular's servers always seem "overloaded" at the most inopportune moment. Really annoying.

[Smrtphoneaddict]

Right now I can't even connect to Sportacular's servers.

[kledsam]

I updated hours ago and got dodger game updates within one minute of a score change. Also, Sportacular has alot more sports with notifications than sportstap. This is what i have been waiting for.

[severe]

Thanks for the heads up. Sportacular has been my favorite sports app for a while now. And now with Push, just in time for football season.

[Randman]

ESPN ScoreCenter is getting push in time for football season as well. I'll wait for that.

[saccento]

sportactular is garbage.. get sportstap

[severe]

sportactular is garbage.. get sportstap

The customer ratings challenge your theory by a lot. :rolleyes:

[Branskins]

It has been stable for me! The notification area is awesome and allows you to really customize it! You can generally choose any of the following: pre-game notification (3 - hour), when an inning/period/quarter ends, when a game starts, when a game ends, and when the score changes. It varies with each game, but it is pretty neat that you can choose how you want to be notified.

[Surely]

The customer ratings challenge your theory by a lot. :rolleyes:

Agreed.

I was not a fan of Sportstap. I had it for a while but found that I like the UI of Sportacular much more.

I've been very happy with Sportacular, and have been waiting patiently for push notifications. I'm looking forward to tomorrow to see how well it works.

[loneapple24]

I can't decide between Sportacular or ESPN. They're both so good in their own ways.

[Surely]

So I used Push Notifications for the Dodgers game tonight.

The notifications came for the first half of the game, but then stopped for some reason. Also, no badges appeared even though I had that option toggled to 'on'.

I'll try again tomorrow.

Hopefully it was just a weird glitch and it will be more reliable in the future.:confused:

[Branskins]

So I used Push Notifications for the Dodgers game tonight.

The notifications came for the first half of the game, but then stopped for some reason. Also, no badges appeared even though I had that option toggled to 'on'.

I'll try again tomorrow.

Hopefully it was just a weird glitch and it will be more reliable in the future.:confused:

Make sure you have customized your push notifications for that sport/game in the Alerts menu! You can turn them off and on for different aspects.

[Surely]

Make sure you have customized your push notifications for that sport/game in the Alerts menu! You can turn them off and on for different aspects.

I know. And I did.

Thanks though.

[green94]

I was definitely getting alerts but not any badges. Anyone else seeing the same thing?

[jbennardo]

It's back on my phone now that it has push... I like ESPN but tired of waiting for push. I'll probably run them both for a while to see which one I like better.

[tobefirst]

The pro version says it has "Customized Push Alerts" that are different from the free version. Can someone tell me the difference? I would love to just get away game updates from my teams.

[severe]

The pro version says it has "Customized Push Alerts" that are different from the free version. Can someone tell me the difference? I would love to just get away game updates from my teams.

Yea.. this is confusing. Other than not having ads, what's different? The free version seems to offer customized push alerts. Would they put it in there if it didn't work?

[dpassen1]

From the developer's twitter:
twitter.com/sportacular

"just the ads for now. we have a number of people ask for the option so we put it out there. it will have new features pretty soon"

[tobefirst]

From the developer's twitter:
twitter.com/sportacular

"just the ads for now. we have a number of people ask for the option so we put it out there. it will have new features pretty soon"

Thanks, dpassen1.

[curtishd]

D the push notifications really work and get sent in a real time type manner and are they reliable (will I get a push note when each quater ends or will I get them 30 minutes later)? I have the AP app and its push notifications are random if you even get them.

[travis64]

app works great now!!!!

[iMrNiceGuy0023]

I can set alerts for NBA teams but can't do it for college football. Anyone know how long before college is enabled?


My orioles updates worked fine earlier.

[Surely]

Push is not working well for me.

This morning, at around 9:50 am PST, I received a push notification from Sportacular that said: End of the 9th. Red Sox 6, Blue Jays 1.

Why did I get it this morning, more than 12 hours after the game ended?

I did not get the pre-game notification, or a few of the in-game score updates.


How does push work? Is it only through EDGE/3G, or does it work through wifi as well?

[kledsam]

its working well for me, I was watching the Dodger game and I was getting notifications in less then a minute of a score change.

[scott99]

I don't think I've EVER received a notification. Maybe I set it up wrong.

[FearlessFreep]

Working great for me as well. You need to go into Settings > Notifications and enable badges, sounds and/or messages. It has been very quick.

[Surely]

At 10:50 am this morning, I received another Sportacular push notification for the End of the 9th score update for the Sox vs. Jays game which obviously ended last night.

Still not working well for me.

[Cowboy8467]

It has been working very well for me for Nationals games. Pushes the scores to my phone faster than ESPN.com can be updated!

[severe]

Got all the notifications on a preseason football game, yesterday. I was actually away from a television so I'm not sure how accurate it was, but it seemed to be quick.

Still not working well for me.

Surely, I would try removing the app from the phone, restarting the phone, and then reinstalling the app via iTunes.

Let us know.

[Demarrer]

Sportacular is much slower at updating scores than ESPN Scorecenter. I emailed them about it and they said they are working on it to make it the fastest sports app. So right now that might be why your push updates are slower, because yes there is a huge difference between those two apps in speed.

[Errk!]

Works great for me, following all Tigers games and a few others once in a while. Notifications come faster than with Sportstap.

The only thing is that badges don't seem to be working, which isn't a huge deal.

[hokiepokie07]

Got all the notifications on a preseason football game, yesterday. I was actually away from a television so I'm not sure how accurate it was, but it seemed to be quick.



Surely, I would try removing the app from the phone, restarting the phone, and then reinstalling the app via iTunes.

Let us know.

make sure you have push notifications turned on in your "general settings" on your iphone.

[Goodeye]

Just downloaded this program what a peice of crap.

So I go to set my alerts EVERY single time i get an error then it sits with a Unsubscribing message forever till I close the app out.

Of course its the free version I guess you get what you pay for but still.

[Surely]

Got all the notifications on a preseason football game, yesterday. I was actually away from a television so I'm not sure how accurate it was, but it seemed to be quick.



Surely, I would try removing the app from the phone, restarting the phone, and then reinstalling the app via iTunes.

Let us know.

I gave that a shot, but it's still inconsistent. :confused:

Does Push work through wifi?


make sure you have push notifications turned on in your "general settings" on your iphone.

*sigh*

They are on. Read the whole thread.

[flash80]

I gave that a shot, but it's still inconsistent. :confused:

Does Push work through wifi?




*sigh*

They are on. Read the whole thread.

Hey, I'm one of the developers on Sportacular and hopefully can help you out.

Yes, push works with wifi but we've been hearing reports from Touch users that the wifi shuts off when it's sleeping and the notifications arrive much later. Are you using a Touch or iPhone?

If anyone else is having issues or has any product ideas/feedback, let me know.

[Surely]

^^^^^^I'm using an iPhone 3GS.

I get pretty crappy AT&T service at home. But I do have wifi on all the time while at home. If push works through wifi, I should be getting all of my notifications while I'm at home, shouldn't I?

I have a request..... for the push notifications for the NHL (when the season starts), would it be possible for you to push not only the score update, but who scored the goal as well (and who assisted, if it fits of course)? That would be awesome.

[grantsdale]

ESPN still offers text alerts. I've only had a couple instances in over a year of using them that the texts didn't come on time.

[Surely]

ESPN still offers text alerts. I've only had a couple instances in over a year of using them that the texts didn't come on time.

Yeah, but if you don't have an unlimited text plan, that could get expensive.

[TomyDingo]

I can set alerts for NBA teams but can't do it for college football. Anyone know how long before college is enabled

College football alerts are now available, just in time too!

[tobefirst]

I have a request..... for the push notifications for the NHL (when the season starts), would it be possible for you to push not only the score update, but who scored the goal as well (and who assisted, if it fits of course)? That would be awesome.

I would love to know scoring plays, especially with the hockey season coming up! That would be great.

[jalpert]

I don't think so. I THINK what the dev was saying is that when you are at home and you have wifi, after a while the wifi will turn off (probably to save battery) and if you get an alert while the wifi is off it delays the alert several hours.

^^^^^^I'm using an iPhone 3GS.

I get pretty crappy AT&T service at home. But I do have wifi on all the time while at home. If push works through wifi, I should be getting all of my notifications while I'm at home, shouldn't I?

I have a request..... for the push notifications for the NHL (when the season starts), would it be possible for you to push not only the score update, but who scored the goal as well (and who assisted, if it fits of course)? That would be awesome.

[WishIWasHere]

Include me in the group having some issues here. I had it set to send alerts and all was well. But as alerts often pop up when I'm doing something else on the phone, they can be annoying. So I switched to badges a few days ago and haven't received a notification yet. Sportacular is the only sports app I have on my phone and I don't expect that to change, but I would love for push to work a little better. Alerts worked just fine, badges not at all.

[Surely]

I don't think so. I THINK what the dev was saying is that when you are at home and you have wifi, after a while the wifi will turn off (probably to save battery) and if you get an alert while the wifi is off it delays the alert several hours.

No, the dev implied that wifi shuts off after a while on the iPod Touch, not on the iPhone:

Yes, push works with wifi but we've been hearing reports from Touch users that the wifi shuts off when it's sleeping and the notifications arrive much later. Are you using a Touch or iPhone?

[flash80]

^^^^^^I'm using an iPhone 3GS.

I get pretty crappy AT&T service at home. But I do have wifi on all the time while at home. If push works through wifi, I should be getting all of my notifications while I'm at home, shouldn't I?

It's possible that wifi would shut off on your phone as well... I'm not sure since most iphone users have service so it's not much of an issue. One way you might be able to get around this (while killing your battery) is by setting your mail fetch to push so your phone will always try to stay connected. Let me know if that works and I'll ask some people at Apple if they have any suggestions.



I have a request..... for the push notifications for the NHL (when the season starts), would it be possible for you to push not only the score update, but who scored the goal as well (and who assisted, if it fits of course)? That would be awesome.

Good call. We're thinking about adding this to our Pro version along with a bunch of other customizable options, but we may include it in the free version as well. As you point out, there is a space concern (I'm looking at you, Ponikarovsky) but we should be able to make it fit.

[flash80]

Include me in the group having some issues here. I had it set to send alerts and all was well. But as alerts often pop up when I'm doing something else on the phone, they can be annoying. So I switched to badges a few days ago and haven't received a notification yet. Sportacular is the only sports app I have on my phone and I don't expect that to change, but I would love for push to work a little better. Alerts worked just fine, badges not at all.

Yeah, badges aren't part of our first release but Apple's Notifications menu makes it seem like they should be there. We have an update pending right now with a bunch of fantasy football, college football and other upgrades but we'll try to get badges working in the following release.

To your point about the alerts being annoying while you're doing something else on your phone, yeah even I have that problem. Granted I'm subscribed to a ridiculous number of alerts, but still I would love to have a "pause" setting, or better yet only send the alerts when the phone is in sleep mode.

Let me know if you have any other suggestions for how we can make it better.

[Surely]

It's possible that wifi would shut off on your phone as well... I'm not sure since most iphone users have service so it's not much of an issue. One way you might be able to get around this (while killing your battery) is by setting your mail fetch to push so your phone will always try to stay connected. Let me know if that works and I'll ask some people at Apple if they have any suggestions.

My mail fetch has always been set to push, so my iPhone should always be connected. It doesn't kill my battery- I am a heavy user, and my battery lasts all day.

Just to clarify, I said that I have crappy service, not no service at all. Sometimes I have 4-5 bars but usually 1-3 bars.


Good call. We're thinking about adding this to our Pro version along with a bunch of other customizable options, but we may include it in the free version as well. As you point out, there is a space concern (I'm looking at you, Ponikarovsky) but we should be able to make it fit.

Haha.... well, you can always call him by his nickname, "Poni". Or if it can fit, the full: "Poni Express" would work as well.

That would be a great feature if you can make it work, especially for poolies.

[bozzykid]

Even the iPhone does not keep WiFi conncted 24/7. When it goes to sleep WiFi is disabled and enabled when the phone is in use or during a fetch. So if you have poor reception, obviously notifications aren't going to work very well unless you are actively using your phone (keeping the wifi connection active). This is not an issue with Sportacular but is just how the notification system works.

[Surely]

Even the iPhone does not keep WiFi conncted 24/7. When it goes to sleep WiFi is disabled and enabled when the phone is in use or during a fetch. So if you have poor reception, obviously notifications aren't going to work very well unless you are actively using your phone (keeping the wifi connection active). This is not an issue with Sportacular but is just how the notification system works.

I understand that, but when a 'fetch' occurs, a connection is made, and so I should at least be getting whatever notifications are in the pipeline at that point in time. I have fetch set up to occur every 15 minutes. And as I said, I do have service. It's not like it says "No service" as soon as I'm at home. I do have enough reception that my phone rings as I get calls, and I get alerts from text messages as they are sent to me. In order for me to have a clear call, I have to be near one of the windows, and my iPhone is usually close enough to the windows for me to do that.

I don't think it's normal that I was getting final score notifications the morning after the game, more than 12 hours later.

[bozzykid]

I understand that, but when a 'fetch' occurs, a connection is made, and so I should at least be getting whatever notifications are in the pipeline at that point in time. I have fetch set up to occur every 15 minutes. And as I said, I do have service. It's not like it says "No service" as soon as I'm at home. I do have enough reception that my phone rings as I get calls, and I get alerts from text messages as they are sent to me. In order for me to have a clear call, I have to be near one of the windows, and my iPhone is usually close enough to the windows for me to do that.

I don't think it's normal that I was getting final score notifications the morning after the game, more than 12 hours later.

Notifications requires an active connection. If you are in a spotty area it may be hard to maintain the connection to the notification server. I'm sure the iPhone has timeouts set so it isn't constantly trying to reconnect if the connection to the notification server fails. SMS doesn't require active connections (in fact it is great for communication in areas that have terrible service because it will eventually get the SMS).

AFAIK, fetch only refers to contacts, mail and calendars. Some people think it does other functions but it really doesn't directly. Because it does try to connect to your wireless it may help other functions like notifications but it doesn't initiate any notifications.

[flash80]

I understand that, but when a 'fetch' occurs, a connection is made, and so I should at least be getting whatever notifications are in the pipeline at that point in time. I have fetch set up to occur every 15 minutes. And as I said, I do have service. It's not like it says "No service" as soon as I'm at home. I do have enough reception that my phone rings as I get calls, and I get alerts from text messages as they are sent to me. In order for me to have a clear call, I have to be near one of the windows, and my iPhone is usually close enough to the windows for me to do that.

I don't think it's normal that I was getting final score notifications the morning after the game, more than 12 hours later.

Do you have any other apps with push? It would be nice to know if this is a Sportacular issue or a push issues given your connection.

[cejay]

I have the iphone 3gs on 3.1 OS.
I have turned on notifications and alerts for sportacular and
have setup alerts for end game score for Atl braves..
I get no update at the end of the game.

What could be wrong?

Also is there any ability to mute or silence alert after a certain time?
I would want the sounds or alerts coming in the middle of the night
due to a rain delay and waking the house up.
just a suggestion.

cj