Questions, answered.

In traditional (side-out) pickleball, only the serving team can score. Win a rally while you're serving and you get a point; lose it and the serve moves on instead. Games are usually played to 11 and must be won by 2.

In doubles each team has two servers. When the first server loses a rally, their partner serves next. When the second server loses one too, it's a side out and the other team serves. WatchStats does all of this for you: tap whoever won each rally and it keeps the score, the server and the call.

In doubles the call is three numbers: the serving team's score, the receiving team's score, then the server number (1 or 2). So 4-2-1 means the serving team has 4, the receivers have 2, and it's the first server's turn.

In singles and rally scoring the call is just two numbers, server's score first. WatchStats shows the call in the middle of the watch screen and on the iPhone scoreboard.

To balance the first team's advantage of serving first, only one player on that team serves at the start of the game. The game starts as if the first server has already gone, so the opening call is 0-0-2 and one lost rally is a side out. WatchStats starts every doubles game this way.

A side out is when the serve passes to the other team. In doubles that happens after both servers on a team have lost a rally (or the single server at 0-0-2). In singles it happens whenever the server loses a rally. WatchStats shows a SIDE OUT banner on the iPhone and gives a double tap on your wrist.

With side-out scoring only the serving team can score. With rally scoring every rally wins a point, whoever served. Rally scoring makes games shorter and more predictable. WatchStats supports both, for singles and doubles.

Every rally wins a point, and the team that wins the rally serves next. There's no server number, so the call is two numbers, and there's no freeze rule. You pick the points to win (11, 15 or 21) just like side-out games, and you still have to win by 2.

A game only ends when a team has reached the target (11, 15 or 21) and leads by at least 2 points. At 10-10 in a game to 11, play goes on until someone is 2 ahead, like 12-10. WatchStats always plays win by 2.

The server serves from the right when their team's score is even (0, 2, 4...) and from the left when it's odd. The WatchStats iPhone scoreboard shows SERVE RIGHT or SERVE LEFT on the serving side, with an R or L next to the name.

Teams switch ends between games, and in the deciding game they switch once when the first team reaches 6 (in a game to 11), 8 (to 15) or 11 (to 21). In side-out doubles, WatchStats reminds you with a tap on your wrist.

Start a match from the watch's home screen (Doubles, Singles or Rally) or from your iPhone. After a short 3-2-1 count-in, tap the bottom half of the screen when your side wins a rally and the top half when the other side wins. WatchStats works out the rest.

Turn the Digital Crown down for your side and up for theirs. It takes a firm, deliberate turn to score, so a bump won't add a point by accident: the haptics build as you turn, then a firm tap confirms the point. Pause for a moment between points.

On the watch, press the undo button on the left edge of the scoreboard and choose Undo Rally. Each undo steps back one rally. On the iPhone, open the controls (the button at the bottom of the scoreboard) and tap Undo, or swipe down on the board to take the last point off.

If you end a match in its first minute, WatchStats treats it as an accident and throws it away. After that, an unfinished match is kept so you can pick it up again from Resume match? on the watch's home screen or from Recent. A match that's played to the end is always saved.

Yes. The watch runs the whole match on its own: it starts the match, keeps every point as you go and saves the workout to Apple Health, with your iPhone in your bag or at home. You can even install WatchStats on the watch by itself. Add the iPhone app whenever you want the big scoreboard, your match history and stats.

Yes, that's where WatchStats shines. Score on your wrist and the iPhone scoreboard follows every point live; start a match on either one, and tap or undo on either one. One purchase covers both.

Yes, four: one opens WatchStats, and the others start a Singles, Doubles or Rally match straight from your watch face.

Training mode records a pickleball workout on your watch without keeping score, for drills and practice. It shows the time and your heart rate, and saves the workout to Apple Health when you end it.

If a match or training session is still running but you haven't moved for 10 minutes, WatchStats taps your wrist as a reminder, so a forgotten workout doesn't keep running all day.

Yes. Choose Start without Watch and tap either side of the iPhone scoreboard to score. Matches scored only on the iPhone aren't saved as Apple Health workouts, since the workout comes from the watch.

Yes. The scoreboard works in portrait and landscape. You can also flip the two sides to match where you're standing, and rotate the board a quarter turn at a time if your iPhone's rotation is locked. Stand it on a tripod by the net and the whole court can read it.

Yes. Turn on Announce scores in the iPhone app's Settings and it reads out each new call, like "4, 2, 1". It briefly lowers your music while it speaks, and there's a Speak faster option.

Yes. Live board broadcasts your match to any web browser: a TV at the club, a tablet courtside, or friends at home. Open it from the scoreboard's controls and share the link or the QR code, or have them type the 6-character code at watchstats.thecloudgrid.com/scores. The web board mirrors your scoreboard point by point. It's off until you open it, and you can stop sharing or make a new code at any time.

It shares only what's on the scoreboard: names, scores, games, the call and who's serving. It never sends heart rate or other health data. See the privacy policy for how long it's kept.

Yes. During a match a Live Activity shows the names, the score and the call on your iPhone's Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island.

Yes, for your side: add your name and your partner's on the court when you set up the match. The other side shows as THEM.

Yes. Starting a game on your Apple Watch starts a pickleball workout automatically, and when the match ends it's saved to the Apple Health app with heart rate, active calories and duration, and your route when GPS allows. It shows in the Fitness app with your other workouts. In the iPhone app each match shows a heart-rate chart, average and maximum heart rate, and time in each heart-rate zone.

Yes. Every match you play with WatchStats on your Apple Watch is a pickleball workout, so its active calories and exercise minutes count toward your Move and Exercise rings, the same as a workout from Apple's Workout app. You don't need to start a separate workout: pressing Start in WatchStats (on the watch, or on your iPhone with the watch paired) does it. Matches scored only on the iPhone, without a watch, aren't workouts.

Your last 50 matches, with win rate, wins and losses, matches played, average match length, total time and your win streak. Open any match to see the score race (drag through it point by point), the format, a map of where you played and the weather at the time.

Your history is stored on your iPhone and also kept in the iPhone's Keychain, so it comes back if you delete and reinstall WatchStats on the same iPhone.

Open a finished match and tap Share. You can make a green result card, a transparent sticker, or put the result over your own photo. Cards show the winner, the score and the score race, and cards made from a match's page add time, average heart rate and calories.

Yes. Delete a single match from the bottom of its page, or several at once from the Matches list with Edit or a long press.

WatchStats is a pickleball score keeper app for Apple Watch and iPhone, made by theCloudGrid. You tap whoever won each rally, or turn the Digital Crown, and it keeps the score, the server and the call (like 4-2-1) for side-out doubles, singles and rally scoring. Your iPhone becomes a live scoreboard, Live board lets anyone follow the match in a browser, and every watch match is saved to Apple Health as a pickleball workout.

Pickleball players who'd rather play than keep count: recreational games, league and ladder nights, drills with a coach, or anyone refereeing a match. It suits doubles and singles, side-out and rally scoring, and works with just a watch, just an iPhone, or both.

$1.99, once, on the App Store, shown here in your country's currency. There's no subscription, no ads and no in-app purchases.

An iPhone with iOS 17 or later, and for the watch app an Apple Watch with watchOS 10 or later. WatchStats is made for iPhone and Apple Watch; there's no iPad version.

No account at all. Scoring, the watch and iPhone sync, Apple Health, history and share cards all work offline, so you don't need Wi-Fi at the court. The internet is only used for the Live board, the weather and the map on a match's page.

WatchStats has no accounts, no ads and no analytics. Your matches stay on your devices, and your health data stays in Apple Health. For the weather it sends a location rounded to about 1 km to Open-Meteo. The optional Live board shares names and the score so others can watch. The full details are in the privacy policy.

Visit the support page or email [email protected].

WatchStats is made by theCloudGrid.