MLB | AppleVis

Description of App

MLB.com At Bat returns for the 2014 season with live Spring Training baseball from the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues. MLB.com At Bat is the official app of Major League Baseball. New for At Bat in 2014 • Complete app re-design to optimize your At Bat experience for iOS 7 (iPhone and iPad) • Redesigned to deliver inline video playback • New league-wide scoreboard functionality for single-tap expansion ****At Bat 14 Subscription Options**** • One-time annual fee of $19.99 for the entire 2014 season, Spring Training through the World Series. • Monthly recurring fee of $2.99. • MLB.TV Premium subscribers receive At Bat 14 for free. ****Spring Training Features (Additional features and functionality will be released in an app update before Opening Day)**** • Access your MLB.TV Premium subscription to watch live video of more than 200 Spring Training games • Listen to available radio broadcasts of Spring Training games • Multi-platform live audio access for At Bat 14 subscribers (portable to Mac/PC with a valid MLB.com account) •Universal support for At Bat 14 subscribers, accessible on iPhone, iPad and other supported smartphones and tablets • Follow batter-by-batter action for every Spring Training game • Breaking news, schedules and interactive rosters and player stats for every team • Sortable batting, pitching and fielding statistics (iPad) • Customize At Bat's home screen to feature your designated favorite team (iPhone only) • Video library archive, searchable by keyword • Classic games video archive featuring dozens of baseball’s legendary games • Closed captioning for live video Access At Bat 14 for the entire 2014 season for a one-time repurchase of $19.99 or subscribe for $2.99 per month, you will we be automatically billed $2.99 through iTunes every 30 days until you cancel your subscription. Your subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. You subscription can be managed and the auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the iTunes Account Settings after purchase. No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during active subscription period. © 2014 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All Major League Baseball trademarks and copyrights used herein are the property of the applicable MLB entity. All rights reserved.

Version

7.0.0

Free or Paid

Free

Apple Watch Support

Not Known

Device(s) App Was Tested On

iPhone

iOS Version

Accessibility Comments

I'm using the iPhone 4S and it works very well.

VoiceOver Performance

VoiceOver reads most page elements.

Button Labeling

All buttons are clearly labeled.

Usability

There are some minor accessibility issues with this app, but they are easy to deal with.

Other Comments

There are some areas in a carousel view which do not read. I don't know if this will change once major league games and video highlights begin.

App Store Link

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mlb.com-at-bat/id493619333?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

Developer's Website

http://mlb.mlb.com/mobile/mobilecs.jsp

Developer's Twitter Username

@MLB

Recommendations

3 people have recommended this app

Most recently recommended by Karl 9 years 7 months ago

Options

Comments

A good initial release but has at least one big VO access issue

While this year's version does seem to be mostly accessible out of the blocks and I had no problems streaming one of the Spring training opening games today, there is indeed one important section of this App that is currently innaccessible: The Schedule and Results section. Aside from the top few elements, this important section is almost completely inaccessible using VO. The schedule can be displayed in either list or montly calendar views, both of which occupy the lower two thirds of the screen, but all of the information presented in those views appears to be unreadable by VO. Here are the elements of this section beginning from the top left and swiping right: Back: This is a correctly labeled back button. List tab: This is a correctly labeled button that will toggle the schedule into list view. Month tab: This is a correctly labeled button that will toggle the schedule into a monthly calendar view. Month and year name: This is a correctly interpreted label displaying the selected month and year. Button: This is an unlabeled button that will move to the previous month. Button: An unlabeled button whose purpose I am unable to determine. Button: An unlabeled button tthat moves to the next month. Once you move past those items, either by swiping or moving your finger around the screen, you will hear lots of VO navigation sounds but nothing will be announced and no actions will be taken when tapping. What is displayed here is the body of the list or monthly calendar view showing the dates and scheduled games. I called the MLB.com support phone number listed in the App (866-306-5311) and managed to get hold of a Supervisor who seemed to know what VoiceOver was. She took my explanation, opened a ticket, and said she is assigning the ticket to Development. I'd encourage all Users of the current version of this App to also contact MLB tech support to report this and any other issues you find. This is the third year in a row that MLB has released the At Bat App in a form that has some accessibility issues, and they've been slow but steady in fixing these issues in the past so let's not hesitate to make our voices heard again this year. Tested on ATT iPHone 4S, IOS 5.01, At Bat v5.0.1, $15 season subscription. bjones 3March2012

Regular season update

The update for the MLB season was released a day or so ago. The scoreboard access is significantly improved in the latest release. Unfortunately, the results and schedule screen (As reported by a previous commenter) still seems to be inaccessible. Still, for any baseball fan, this app is a must have!

Also reported VO issues

I have also reported the schedule issues using the same method described by the above poster. I was told that they were aware of these issues and were in the process of working on some sort of fix for this portion of the app. If I hear back from them, or if an update is released, I'll be sure to post here.

One More Thing Along With the Already Mentioned Issue

Apart from the issues already discussed, this is a great app. I do have one beef about it, but it really doesn't have to do with accessibility. At-Bat doesn't appear to archive games as MLB Game Day Audio does. This means you listen to the game live or you miss it. Like I said, not an access issue, but I hope they can introduce archiving at some point.

At Bat 12 v5.2.0 fixes VO access to the Schedule section

Just in time for the remaining two-thirds of the season, MLB has released an update to their IOS App which seems to fix the schedule and Results section of the App, a section that was completely inaccessible starting with the initial pre-release version of this year's App. Version 5.2.0 was released on May 30 and lists "Accessibility improvements" in the "What's New" section. I'm not sure what else, if anything, has been fixed, broken or modified, but the schedule is now fully accessible in both calendar and list views. The buttons are properly labeled, the dates, times & scores are properly announced, and there is even a button labeled "Phone download calendar button" at the top of the screen which offers to add your team's schedule and results to your device's built-in calendar.

Nothing But Problems with This App

Not sure how I am the only one who is having nothing but problems with this app, but I find it to be terribly inaccessible, and I had the app last year and it worked fine. I am able to listen to streams of games, but any time I go to any box score that app crashes and goes to my home screen. Additionally push notifications for updates to your favorite team doesn't work with VO. I have even uninstalled the app, reinstalled, went through reauthorizing it, and still have the same problems. I am using an iPhone 4S on the latest IOS software. Anyone else having this problem?

RE: Nothing but problems with this App.

Hi Blindgator, You wrote: 1. "... I find it to be terribly inaccessible..." Can you be more specific about which parts of the App are inaccessible? 2. "...any time I go to any box score that app crashes..." I tried this by switching to the box score screen and navigating through it with VO while gameday audio was streaming a game last evening. I was not able to make the App crash. 3. "Additionally push notifications for updates to your favorite team doesn't work with VO." I hadn't tried this feature previously, but turned it on yesterday and received the notifications. The process of enabling the push notifications was fully VO accessible. I navigated to Settings / Push Notifications, toggled on the switch for Notifications, swiped to Philadelphia Phillies in my list of favorite teams, double-tapped to open the Phillies notification settings, then double-tapped the "Enable All" tab to toggle on the four notification options: Game start, game end, condensed game & video highlight. A few minutes before game time I received a notification that the game was about to begin. After the game ended I immediately closed the App and removed it from the App Switcher. A few minutes later I received a notification that the game had ended. This notification included the score and the names of the winning and losing pitchers. Sometime overnight I also received a notification that some video content was available. If your issues persist, I'd suggest contacting MLB support if you haven't already done so. You can reach them by phone and email via the contact info listed in the Help section of the App. This info is based on MLB version 5.2.1 running on a non-JB ATT iPhone 4S with IOS 5.1.1.

love this app!

I haven't had any problems accessing this app. I haven't tried the notifications but probably will now that IU've read about all the information you get... I love being able to access the games on the iphone. I didn't use the computer version of gameday audio but love having access on the mobile device! Nice job MLB!

All working with the latest update

Hey Brian, I had been having all the problems I listed, but with the latest update to the app which came out a day or two ago, I am now able to view a box score and receive the push notifications. Previously I had uninstalled the app and reauthorized it and it just kept constantly crashing to my home screen any time I pulled up a box score. When that was the case I just used it to listen to games, as I have found another app called sports alerts which is totally accessible and allows you to navigate a box score by row and when you navigate to a player and through the box score it will announce what row you are in regarding at bat, run, hits, RBIs, etc. I would love to see MLB At Bat do the same with their app as now when you navigate the box score it just reads the entire line off, and if you have VO set real fast like I do sometimes you have to slow it down to understand anything. For now though, I am very happy with the MLB app update and their focus on accessibility

At Bat for 2014!

All: Just downloaded the new At Bat for 2014 and noticing some strange issues! For one thing, on the scores tab, even though the current day is selected, I'm getting information for games that aren't occuring today. Its telling me that the Yankees are playing the Red Sox, which I know isn't happening. Also, when I select my favorite team tab, in my case the Red Sox, I am unable to pull up the schedule. Double tapping this button either gives me Red Sox news or else it does nothing. Noticing a few other oddities throughout the app, but these are the glaring ones thus far! I know it is early in the Spring season, but with MLB's past commitment to accessibility, this is disappointing. Is anyone else experiencing these issues? Any work arounds? Jim

I'm seeing the same thing. I

I'm seeing the same thing. I contacted mlb about this with no reply yet.

At bat scores tab.

Hello, the scores tab is supposed to show all days, in a scrolling manner. Yes, this isn't very nice, but it's incredibly doable if you swipe from day to day with 3 finger swipes left or right. I'm requesting that the status be changed to "accessible and easy to navigate".

Community Input

Hi Daniel, Thanks for letting us know about how the scores tab is supposed to work. Has anyone else used the 2014 MLB At Bat application--and if so, what were your experiences in terms of accessibility? Particularly, has anyone else had issues obtaining team schedules using the button described in comment #10?

The MLB 2014 App.

I have used it since last evening and I am having the same problem getting my team schedule to come up. I find it very frustrating, because I want to download the schedule onto my phone's calendar, which used to be an option. When I double tap on schedule, nothing happens.

I am also experiencing the unresponsive "Schedule" button

I am experiencing the issue where double-tapping or split-tapping the "Schedule" button produces no response. In addition, I am experiencing the same lack of response when attempting to activate the News, Videos, Shop, Tickets & Citizen's Bank Park buttons. MLB At Bat App version 7.0.0, Build 2798 iPhone 5S, AT&T, IOS 7.0.6 Default Team set to Philadelphia Phillies

First impressions

I just got the At Bat app today, and I must say I am impressed with its accessibility to this point, though I haven't had much time to play with it yet. I read the comments here about the schedule not being accessible, but I had no issues bringing it up on my iPad Air, running iOS 7.1 and version 7.0.2 of the app. There is an issue, though, when navigating through the team schedule. It seems to treat every game like a road game. For example, when viewing the Colorado Rockies schedule, every Rockies home game is announced by VoiceOver as, "At Rockies." Visually, the opponent's name appears on the screen, but VoiceOver doesn't announce it. I noticed the option to download the schedule to the iPad calendar, but I haven't checked that out yet.

RE: #16: First impressions

Hello Dvdmth, Thank you for posting your experience using the app on an iPad. The At-Bat app version 7.02 is a universal app and it seems to be laid out very differently on the iPad versus the iPhone. I can replicate on my iPad Mini the bug you mentioned where every game in the schedule view on an iPad is treated by VO as a road game. This bug does not exist in the same version of the app running on my iPhone 5S. Similarly, the bug where some choices such as "News" and "Schedule" are difficult to activate exists on my iPhone but not on my iPad.

Version 7.1 released

Version 7.1 of the MLB At-Bat app was released today, March 31, 2014. For the most part this app seems nicely accessible using VO on my iPhone & iPad, but as far as I can tell, the bugs mentioned in comments 10 through 17 still exist. I'm interested to hear how things are working for other folks.

More impressions

Since my first post here a few days ago, I have had more time to use this app, and although the app is generally accessible, I have now run into some issues. First off, I have found at least one section within the app where VoiceOver performs poorly, and that is when viewing details of a game. The buttons for accessing content such as the box score, highlights, etc. do not work. With the vision I do have, combined with the Zoom feature, I can tell that the VoiceOver focus is over a blank part of the screen when one of these buttons is supposed to have focus. I can't tell where the buttons actually are, but they aren't where VoiceOver thinks they are, which is why double-tapping the buttons does nothing. This is, again, on an iPad, so it may be different on other devices. Also, this year we have a subscription to MLB.TV, something we are getting through our TV provider as part of a subscription to MLB Extra Innings. I found, while using the MLB.TV player, that one button is mislabeled. The VoiceOver label for the button says, Jump to Live, but it actually moves forward 30 seconds instead. It visually looks similar to the button that jumps back 30 seconds, which is correctly labeled. At least the buttons actually work. It's too bad MLB doesn't provide archives or DVR-like controls for audio content, only their video content, or else I would more likely be using the audio feeds instead of video. I often can't catch a game live, so I have relied heavily on prerecorded games. There is also an option within the settings that is supposed to hide scores when it is turned on, in order to avoid spoilers. Near as I can tell, though, this is not affecting what VoiceOver outputs. Even with the option turned on, I still hear scores while navigating through the app, in every location where I hear scores with the option disabled. This means if I want to avoid these spoilers, I have to navigate quickly to ensure that VoiceOver doesn't make it to the score when reading what's on the screen.

Version 7.1.1

I got version 7.1.1 yesterday, and they fixed a VoiceOver issue with this update. It showed up for me in the scoreboard section, when trying to get details about a particular game, such as the box score or highlights. The buttons for those features were not working with VoiceOver in the previous version, but they work now. This is on an iPad Air.

I haven't noticed any other changes in this version to this point.

Video out of sync on iPad 2 7.1.1

Hi, has anyone noticed out-of-sync issues with the highlights on an iPad 2 using iOS 7.1.1?
The video is about 2 seconds behind the audio and it plays like it's in slow motion.

Re: Highlights out of sync iPad 2 on 7.1.1

I followed the steps recommended by MLB support:

1. Force close all apps on iPad.
2. Perform a hard reset by holding power and home button together until screen goes black and Apple logo appears.

Now, my highlights play great without any issues!

archiving

If you have an MLB gameday subscription or an MLB.TV subscription, you can listen to the games you miss on the computer. Archiving would be nice, but I'm pretty sure it would make the app much too large.

It's a little confusing for

It's a little confusing for me to navigate in landscape mode, especially since I essentially have to turn the iPad upside down to do it. (I keep all my iDevices portrait locked.) Also, I sometimes have difficulty finding the settings in the most recent release of the app, especially while listening to a game. If anyone has any tips I would be ever so grateful.

Confusing bug in latest version

So I am using the 2019 version of MLB At Bat and just noticed a really odd and confusing bug. When you view the team schedules, by selecting the tab with the name of your team and then choosing schedule, Voiceover is reading the games incorrectly, they are off by one day. For example, it says the Red Sox play the Seattle Mariners on March 27 at 6:05. That game is actually happening today, March 28.
So, if you are using At Bat, you may want to doublecheck the schedule with another source.
Just wanted to make folks aware of this odd bug, hopefully MLB Media fixes this quite soon.
Jim

That is Strange

They are usually pretty good about fixing bugs, unlike other companies I could name [coughAppleCough]. Hopefully it will be fixed soon.

MLB TV in 2021 Season

Hi,

T-Mobile, my cell provider, included a free subscription for MLB TV this year so I've used that from time to time instead of just audio. Has anyone else found that none of the text you can dispaly during a TV broadcast is read by VoiceOver any longer. There is a top panel for scores and a bottom panel for things such as batting averages and more that you can turn on with VO actions. But when they are on, for me on iOS 14.5, nothing is read.

If I turn on screen recognition, some of the text is read but this doesn't work all that well in this app.