Android FAQs – BBC Sport

MY SPORT

What is My Sport?

What happens when I add topics?

When you add a topic, it will be added to your own My Sport page, where you can read the latest stories and scores just from your selections. It will also show you the latest fixtures and results for any football team you follow. You can even reorder these, to see your favourite stories at the top of My Sport.

Why do I need to sign in?

Sign in to get the most out of BBC Sport. It’s quick, free and easy to create a BBC iD account. By signing in, your preferences & My Sport page will be available across devices running the app. This means you can keep up to date with the topics you love on a phone or a tablet and, in the near future, on a computer too. For more information about BBC iD, visit https://ssl.bbc.co.uk/id/info

What happens to my quick links?

Your quick links will remain in the menu when you update the app. They will appear under “My Sport”. When you sign into the app, your quick links will be used to create a personal My Sport page with stories and results that most interest you. To edit your menu and My Sport page you will have to sign into the app.

WIDGET

What is the BBC Sport widget?

The BBC Sport widget allows you to view the top BBC Sport headlines, right on your Android homescreen. You can customise the widget to see headlines for your favourite sport.

How do I add the widget to my homescreen?

To add the widget to your homescreen, find an available space on your screen and then press to bring up a list of available widgets. Choose from BBC Sport Headlines (4×1) or BBC Sport Headlines (2×2), then choose which category you want to follow.

The list of available categories is:

•Top Stories

•Football

•Formula 1

•Cricket

•Rugby Union

•Rugby League

•Tennis

•Golf

Both widgets are resizable. The BBC Sport widget is available for devices running Android 4.0.3 and above.

How often are the stories updated?

The list of stories is automatically updated every hour. There is also a refresh button.

Updating stories in the widget should make minimal use of your data plan.

CHROMECAST

What is Chromecast?

Chromecast is a device that plugs into your TV and lets you play media clips from a website or compatible app directly onto your TV screen.

When you cast from the BBC Sport or any other app, what you are actually doing is sending an instruction over your Wi-Fi network to the Chromecast plugged into your TV to fetch a particular video. You will not be streaming the content through your Android/iOS device, so when you are casting you can continue to use your device for other uses.

Do I need a TV licence to watch or cast live videos?

A TV Licence is required to watch TV programmes at the same time as they are shown on TV.

What content is available to cast?

The BBC sport app allows you to cast live sporting events (including the Commonwealth Games, FA Cup and Formula One) and on demand clips to your Chromecast device.

Audio content (e.g. BBC Radio 5 Live, audio clips) is not currently supported. However you can still listen to radio while casting video on Android devices.

Which devices are supported?

• The BBC Sport Android app (phone and tablet). Requires Android 5+

• The BBC Sport iOS app (iPhone and tablet). Requires iOS 12+

Requires Chromecast build version 17977+

Please note that Google is working towards supporting Kindle Fire devices.

How do I connect/control my Chromecast device?

– Connect

• Your device needs to be connected to the same Wi-Fi network as the Chromecast

• Ensure you have the latest version of the BBC Sport app installed on your device

• For Android devices only – If you are trying to cast from BBC Media Player, ensure that you have the latest version of BBC Media Player installed

• Once your device detects Chromecast the cast icon will be displayed within the BBC Sport app

• Tapping the cast icon will display a list of available Chromecasts to connect to. Select your Chromecast.

• Once the app connects to your Chromecast the cast icon will show as connected

• Once a program starts to play on Chromecast, we’ll provide the best quality version (all the way up to HD) based on your connection. If your internet connection drops or other devices start to use the same network connection, the quality will change automatically so playback will not be interrupted.

– Control

Playback, volume and subtitles (when available) are operated from the BBC Sport app.

When casting content – you can bring back the “Control Cast” option by clicking the connected Chromecast icon in the BBC Sport app.

Subtitles are supported but are currently only available in black and white on Chromecast.

Known limitations

•Casting streams via a desktop or laptop browser is not currently supported

•Casting audio content is not currently supported

Useful Chromecast links

•Chromecast overview

•Chromecast support

•Chromecast app (used for managing Chromecast devices)

PUSH NOTIFICATIONS

What are push notifications?

Push notifications are alerts which automatically let you know when something of interest to you has happened. In the case of BBC Sport, they can provide information about football matches of interest, for example when a game has kicked off, when a goal is scored or the half-time and full-time results.

To receive push notifications requires a network connection.

What types of notification are available?

Push notifications are available for all teams competing in the Premier League, Championship, League One, League Two, Football Conference, Scottish Premiership, Scottish Championship, Scottish League One and Scottish League Two. On setting alerts for a team you will receive updates for all their matches in major competitions, not just for league games.

Notifications are also available for Formula One races and international cricket teams.

How can I subscribe/unsubscribe from push notifications?

In the BBC Sport app click on the menu icon, look for the “Notifications” section where you can add and remove push notifications.

How do the notifications appear?

When a notification is received it will briefly be displayed in your device’s status bar. Depending on your settings the alert may also be accompanied by a sound.

Alerts can then be viewed within the Android notification area (accessed by dragging down the status bar).

Tapping the notification will load the corresponding match page, or live scores page if a match page is unavailable.

Push notifications require a network connection.

Will I be charged for push notifications?

Push notifications are free to receive, but may make minimal use of your data plan if delivered via your mobile network provider.

Which devices are push notifications available on?

• The BBC Sport Android app (phone and tablet). Requires Android 5+

• The BBC Sport iOS app (iPhone and tablet). Requires iOS 12+

Push notifications Privacy Policy:

If you choose to receive push notifications, a unique identifier relating to your device will be stored by Airship on behalf of the BBC to provide you with the service.

No other personal data relating to you (such as a username or email address) is processed. The BBC will keep your information secure and not share it with anyone else in accordance with the BBC’s Privacy and Cookies Policy, available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/privacy

You can choose to unsubscribe from push notifications from BBC Sport in the “Notifications” section of the app.

OTHER

Do I need a TV licence to listen to live radio?

A TV Licence is not required to listen to digital radio broadcasts.

How do I listen to live radio?

Tap “Radio on BBC Sounds” from the app menu. If you have the BBC Sounds app installed you will be directed to the station page within the app. If you do not have the BBC Sounds app installed you will be directed to the station page within a web browser.

How do I send feedback to the BBC about the app?

If you have any comments or suggestions about the BBC Sport app, or a question that isn’t covered by these FAQs, please use the ‘Send Feedback’ menu which will open the email client on your device, in order to send an email to the BBC. If you don’t have email set up on your device, you can email us at [email protected]

You will be required to enter your name and comment. The email will automatically contain the model of the device you are using, which will be helpful to us.

Please note that we cannot reply individually to every email but we do read all your comments and appreciate your feedback. If you are having difficulties with the app we will try to help you.

If you wish to raise a formal complaint about the BBC Sports app, please go to the BBC Complaints homepage at www.bbc.co.uk/complaints.

How much will it cost to use the BBC Sport app on my device over 3G/4G/5G networks?

The BBC Sport app is free to use, but mobile network operators will charge for data used over their networks.

Data allowances and mobile network tariffs are the responsibility of the mobile network operators.

If you are unsure how much your mobile data costs, or what your data allowance is, then contact your mobile network operator.

How do I share stories?

The BBC Sport app allows you to share BBC Sport stories and content with friends using email, Facebook or Twitter.

To share the content tap the relevant icon, which is towards the bottom of the page. (please note that you may be required to log in to any non-BBC service or application)

Unfortunately due to copyright law you are unable to select and copy any text or links. However by using the share options you can share the whole page.

How can I refresh the content on a page in the app?

Pages can be refreshed by holding the page with your finger and pulling down the page until you see the ‘Release to refresh’ message.

Release the page, and it should then be updated with the latest content.

How can I find the settings menu for the app?

The settings page allows you to turn statistics gathering on and off.

To access the screen select the ‘Other’ section in the main menu and then select the ‘Settings’ item from the list that appears.

How do I opt out of statistics collection?

We collect statistical data about how the application is used to help us learn what works and what’s most useful to you.

The more data we gather, the better we know what people want from applications like this. All data is collected anonymously (e.g. we won’t know what pages a specific person visits, or their location, but we will be able to see general trends about which pages and areas are more popular). If you’d prefer us not to collect this data, we won’t.

To opt out of statistics collection, go to the Settings menu option and untick the ‘Share Statistics’ check-box.

The BBC will only use usage statistics information to analyse and improve the services offered through this and other apps.

For more information, visit the Privacy Policy page by tapping the Privacy menu option in the app.

Why am I unable to access any content within the app?

Please check your network connection.

If images and headlines are not being displayed on the homepage, refresh the app by pulling down the screen to refresh.

Should the images and headlines still not display, forcibly quit the app and try again.

If you are still having problems, please email us at [email protected]

Will the BBC be adding new features to the BBC Sport app?

Yes, when new features become available we will update our what’s new notes in the app store listings.

How do I access external links?

Links to external websites are shown on certain pages in the app. Tap on the link to open it in an external page browser. To return to the BBC Sport app select the ‘Done’ button to take you back into the app.

Some BBC Sport content has not yet been updated so it can appear in the app, this content may also be displayed in an external page browser. Additionally, BBC News stories may also be displayed in an external page browser.

Please note that the BBC is not responsible for content on external websites.

How can I use the app when not connected to the Internet?

Currently the app is not available for use without an internet connection.

Why is my sport not covered?

Unfortunately we are unable to cover every sport on a regular basis. However we do try to cover as many major events as possible based on editorial merit.