Apple TV is giving your iPad a major multiview upgrade this MLS season.
The MLS Season kicks off today (Feb. 21) with Inter Miami CF taking on Real Salt Lake at 8 p.m. ET. To watch it you'll need to dust off your MLS Season Pass from Apple TV — the home of every MLS game and the exclusive home of this kickoff match. However, the season really gets going this Saturday with 11 matches taking place over the day, and at 8:30 p.m. ET there will be eight matches occurring simultaneously.
Luckily for soccer fans, Apple TV gives you the ability to watch any four of these matches on the same screen thanks to multiview. The feature works for MLS Season Pass and MLB Friday Night Baseball content and previously had been limited to Apple TV smart TV apps or streaming devices like the Apple TV 4K.
But this season multiview functionality will be expanded to the iPad as well. That's a massive upgrade for sports fans, especially since it's a feature YouTube TV's multiview feature is sorely lacking.
Apple TV multiview scores a winner with this upgrade
Starting this season, multiview will work for MLS Season Pass on the iPad OS Apple TV app.
This version of multiview is the same, full-featured version you get on the Apple TV app, including the ability to customize which games — up to four — you can watch at once. If there aren't enough games on, you can even add other MLS Season Pass content like studio shows and original featurettes to your multiview. You even get touch gesture controls to take your viewing experience up another notch.
That's a major advantage over the YouTube TV version of multiview, which is only just starting to roll out the ability to customize your multiview game selection. Currently, YouTube TV multiview only works on select smart TVs and streaming devices — it doesn't work on web browsers, laptops or any mobile devices.
Of course, this isn't to say Apple's multiview is flawless. It still doesn't work on an iPhone, though Apple did just launch a brand-new Apple Sports app to make following your favorite teams easier. It also only covers MLS and MLB content, whereas YouTube TV has access to a wider range of sports and even news, weather and more for its multiview options.
But bringing multiview to tablets is a big improvement and a major advantage for Apple TV. Hopefully, YouTube TV will steal this feature soon because it's sorely needed.
