The estimated reading time for this post is 4 minutes
Today starts the Sweet Sixteen. (If you think this post is about teenagers, you may be in the wrong place.) Last week I wrote about March Madness Apps but since then I have discovered some new apps that are so exciting, I just had to share them with you.
Although these apps will greatly enhance your enjoyment of the NCAA Basketball Tournament, these apps also cover many other sports, including major US sports leagues, and international sports such as cricket, Australian Rules Football and rugby leagues. So even if you’re not a college basketball fan, you should check out these apps.
What makes these apps special, and why I’m so excited to bring these to you, is that each of these apps brings a unique social media feature to sports. If you can’t be with your buddies but want to enjoy watching sports with them anyway, these apps are the next best thing to getting together to watch the games.
PlayUp
This updated app is so new, the paint isn’t even dry yet on the icon in the iTunes App Store. This new app has been updated this morning with even more social media features than the original app.
PlayUp, one of the top 10 free sports apps in the iTunes App Store, gives you real-time scores from games and lets you start chatrooms with your friends from within the app. You can use private chatrooms or join public ones to experience watching the games together. No need to text your buddies, join each other in your chatroom and celebrate or commiserate with everyone.
When PlayUp was launched last week, the app broke into the top five most downloaded free sports apps in the iTunes Store immediately. Today’s update adds Facebook and Twitter integration, improved speed and graphics, and allows you to message across multiple chatrooms and get notices when your friends login to the app.
PlayUp covers NCAA Basketball and Football, NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and international sports including soccer, cricket, and Australian Rules Football.
Get this free app in the iTunes App Store for your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
Thuuz
If you’ve ever wished for an app that would alert you whenever your team was playing an exciting game, your wish has been granted. Thuuz is an iPhone, Android and Google TV app that uses an “excitement meter” to detect when a game is getting exciting and alerts you that you should be watching. Thuuz utilizes a sophisticated proprietary algorithm to measure point differences, upsets, comebacks and other factors in calculating the excitement score on a 1-100 scale. You can sign up in the app to be notified if games get exciting, based on how much excitement you want. When the app sends you an alert, it doesn’t spoil the surprise by telling you what’s going on, just that the game is getting exciting.
The app currently covers NCAA Basketball and Football, NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, soccer, cricket, and rugby. Pick your favorite sports, teams and excitement level you want. You can set the app to notify you about exciting games for just your team or for an entire sport.
The app also has a social media element to it. You can connect with your friends via Facebook or email and notify them of exciting games with a “Thuuz It” button. You can see which games your friends have recommended with a Thuuzes icon on your dashboard.
Thuuz is available for free for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch in the iTunes App Store for Android devices free at Google Play, for Google TV at Google Play.
Thuuz is available free for the Kindle Fire and other Android devices in the Amazon Appstore. (Note that an update to the Thuuz app is due to be released today in the Amazon Appstore, Version 5.0, which gives you the social media features but not the alerts).
FanCake
If you and your friends love to predict what the next play will be when you watch games, you’ll love FanCake. FanCake is an app that connects you with your friends on Facebook and Twitter and lets you compete as you guess what happens next. Earn trophies and medals when your predictions come true, not to mention bragging rights among your friends.
As with PlayUp, you can join a general chatroom or create chatrooms for your favorite teams in FanCake. You can also compare your prediction scores with others on the global Leader Board or with your friends who use FanCake. Your favorite team might not win, but you can still be a champion!
FanCake covers NCAA Basketball, NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL, with more sports planned for the future. FanCake is available free for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch in the iTunes App Store.
Do you enjoy using apps when you watch sports? Do you like watching games with your friends even when you can’t be in the same room? Are you amazed that The Wonder of Tech is covering a cricket app? How about Australian Rules Football? Let us know in the Comments section below!
* World Basketball image by Mike Licht
Hi Carolyn,
These sounds like great apps for the sports fans! It is amazing what they come up with and thank you for sharing it all!
Hi Cathy, I agree. These apps take the fun elements of watching sports and makes them even more fun! When I found out about these great apps, I just had to share them. 🙂
Cool beans, def going to download PlayUp. I’ve been using an ESPN app but this seems to have more stuff on it; I’ll let you know how I like it…..
Thanks for the visit at Gini’s today.
Hi Bill, I’m glad you like these apps. Once you use PlayUp for one sport, you may enjoy it for other sports as well.
Great post at Gini’s. Well done in sharing your expertise! :-bd
Great apps for the Sweet 16 fans. Which really isn’t me, but my spouse is glued to the TV each and every night a game is on! Or DVR’ing his favorite games. So I sent him your post. Looks like we have a winner! Or two actually … it’s a toss-up between Playup and Thuuz. Now he has the game on AND his iPhone going too. At least I have my books to read. 🙂
Hi Carol, You husband should really enjoy these apps. They’re all free, so he might want to download them to give them a try. I think once he starts to use them, he’ll be hooked. They make watching games a lot more fun! 🙂
great Apps Carolyn sounds like so much fun i suppose i better get into the swing of things.
Hi Andrew, If you’re a sports fan you will love these apps! 🙂
Okay, I thought it did have to do with sweet 16 until I saw sports tacked on to that and then I started to scratch my head a bit. Huh!!!
I can see why sports fans would love this one. That’s definitely not me but I do know a few so I’ll be sure to throw this cool mention their way. They might think I’ve changed my mind! Or maybe not, just trying to help them out.
Thanks Carolyn, as always keeping us in the loop.
~Adrienne
Hi Adrienne, I think your friends will really appreciate your telling them about these apps. All of my sports fan friends I have told about the apps have been really excited to learn about these apps!
Have a fantastic weekend, Adrienne!
Yesterday I left you a comment on this post and it disappeared. Today I commented on your other post so I guess it was a momentary glitch.
Anyway, even though I am not into basketball, I will definitely share these apps with the many who are.
True Confessions: I did think it was the other Sweet Sixteen. This Sweet Sixteen was never a thought form.
Hi Janet, Yesterday you commented on the Sunshine Award post and included your thoughts on my moving the sharing icons to the right side. Is that the comment you were remembering perhaps?
My daughter, who is 16, also thought that these apps were about being 16. That’s why I had full disclosure at the beginning of the article!
Thank you very much for sharing this articles with others, Janet. Sports fans will love these apps!
Have a great rest of the weekend, Janet. 🙂
P.S. Yesterday I also told you I like your share buttons on the right hand side. To me, it makes your blog look cleaner and I am not distracted by having the buttons covering part of the words.
Hi Janet, Thanks, I’m glad you like the change. It was suggested by a Wonder of Tech reader and I really appreciated the suggestion! :-bd
Hi Carolyn ,
I am happy to visit this post because I am interested in sports apps and these apps are awesome.
Hi Pete, I’m so glad you like these apps! I don’t usually cover the same topic twice in a week, but these apps were so great and so timely I couldn’t resist. I hope you find some new favorites here! 🙂
Hey Carolyn,
Good selection of Apps, I Just downloaded PlayUp and am loving it 🙂
Thank you and keep sharing the good stuff.
Hi Jarod, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! I’m so glad you enjoyed PlayUp. Give the others a try as well. They’re free and you will likely enjoy those too. 🙂
Hey Carolyn….
Really nice sharing I m biggest fan of Sports apps hopefully I managed some time for trying PlayUp apps in my smartphone.
Hi Rizwan, Welcome back to The Wonder of Tech. I hope you enjoy PlayUp. As a fellow sports fan, I think you’ll really appreciate it!
Nice apps and thanks for sharing them with us. They were good ones too. Hope you can post more later on in the future.