Frequently asked questions

Does it need internet or an account?

No. The app is fully functional with no network and no sign-in, and it will stay that way.

The one thing that uses the network without an account is the update check, and only if you said yes when the app asked on its first launch. Say no and nothing is sent; every other part of the app is unaffected either way. See Updates.

Which watches does it run on?

Wear OS 3 or newer: Samsung Galaxy Watch from the Watch4 on, Google Pixel Watch, and other Wear OS watches. A rotating bezel or crown is used when the watch has one, and everything also works by touch.

Not yet: Apple Watch and Garmin. Both are planned, after the Wear OS app.

Can I use it for padel?

Yes, and nothing needs setting. Padel uses the tennis ladder — 15, 30, 40, six games, a tiebreak at 6-6 — so pick the format you play (for the golden point, one of the no-ad formats) and score as normal. See Formats.

Does it count table tennis, badminton, squash or pickleball?

Yes. Set the sport and the Format row offers that sport's races — to 11, 15 or 21, two clear — with the serve following each sport's own rule. See Formats.

One thing it does not count, and it is said rather than left out: the traditional scoring where only the serving side scores, which is pickleball's own and squash's older scoring to 9. If that is what you play, write to support@courtovo.com and say how a match is scored — what we hear back decides what gets built first.

Does it count volleyball — on a beach, or in a hall?

Both. Set the sport to Volleyball: the beach formats switch sides every 7 points (every 5 in the third set), the hall formats change ends after each set and at 8 in the last, and the watch asks who serves where a toss decides it. A game among friends with nobody keeping score is exactly what it is for. See Formats and The score screen.

One thing to know: set Match type to Team for more than two a side. A team match goes to your club like any other.

Can it keep the score of a football, handball or basketball game?

Yes — the kind nobody else is writing down: five a side in the park, a pick-up game on an outdoor court. Tap the half of the screen of the side that scored, or turn the bezel; a basket counts two, and straight after it +1 and +3 beside Undo turn it into a free throw or a three. Pick a format with halves or quarters and the time left in the period counts down under the score; Match menu → End match → End of the period closes each one, and after the last the result stands. Final whistle ends it at any moment at the score it has, a draw included. See The score screen.

Not yet: a stopped clock, penalties, fouls and substitutions. The game goes to your club like any other match, with its sport.

Can it score doubles?

Yes. Set Match type to Doubles on the warm-up screen, and the serve rotates through four players by the rules, across set boundaries and tiebreaks. A tap, a bezel detent and a swipe score for a side, which in doubles is a pair, so nothing about playing it changes.

What it does not do is say which of the four is serving: the dot marks the serving side, as in singles. Four names do not fit a watch screen worth reading at arm's length.

Can I make my own format?

Yes: Format → New format, at the bottom of the list. You choose from the axes a format is built from — sets or games, the tiebreak, the final set, the race and its cap, the serve and when ends change — and give it a name. A match already played under it keeps its rules if you change or delete the format later. See Making your own.

Why can't I change the format during a match?

Because it would re-score every point already played. In detail: Match menu.

How many points does one turn of the bezel score?

One. A deliberate turn is always exactly one point, however fast or far you spin it, and a slow turn counts too: clockwise for you, counter-clockwise for the other side. Every point gives a short buzz, so a turn you did not mean is felt at once — swipe up to take it back.

The side buttons do nothing

On a Samsung Galaxy Watch the physical buttons belong to the system and the app never hears them. This is not a limitation: everything is reachable by touch and bezel, and nothing needs a button.

How do I undo more than one point?

Swipe up once per point you want back. One swipe, one point — deliberately, so that a mistaken gesture costs a point rather than a game.

Which side am I?

The watch has one of the two players as you, and the bezel follows it: clockwise is always your point. Under the normal setting, Server first, you are marked by the dot rather than by a side, because the two scores change places with the serve.

If the bezel ever adds a point to your opponent, the watch has the wrong one of you: match menu → "I am the other side", mid-match, no need to stop anything. Under Your side first the same row is called My side and names left or right, because there the sides stay put.

This is not only about the display: it also decides which of you the statistics call "you", and who "I retire" means.

What is the dot above the score?

Who is serving. It always sits above the serving side. Above rather than beside, so it takes no width from the score itself; a dot rather than a colour, so it survives colour blindness and direct sunlight.

What do "Break", "Set" and "Match" mean?

That the next point is a break, set or match point. Only the highest is ever shown — a match point is also a set point and a game point, and saying all three helps nobody.

Someone got injured — how do I record that?

Match menu → End match → Opponent retired or I retire. Whoever gives up loses, and the match is stored at the score it reached. Tapped it by mistake? Swipe up: a retirement undoes like a point. See Match menu.

The opponent never turned up

Retire before the first point and the app records a walkover — "won (w.o.)", with no score, because none was played. There is nothing extra to set: a retirement with no points in front of it can only be a walkover.

Can I throw a match away instead of saving it?

Yes, in two places. During the match: End match → Discard match. Afterwards: open it from History and use Delete match at the bottom. Both ask a second time, and neither can be undone.

We played without the watch — can I still add the result?

Yes: History → Add a result. Pick the sport, the format and the day, then enter the sets; the watch checks each against the format, and saves once somebody has won. A retirement or a walkover goes in the same way, with How it ended. It has no points, so no statistics, and it goes to your club like a played match. See History.

Does the app save my matches?

Yes. Every point reaches the disk before it reaches the screen, and if the watch runs flat or the app closes, the match can be resumed. See History.

Why does it ask which sport every time I open it?

Because the sport decides what the screen offers and what the watch measures, and you find out it was wrong on court — in front of a warm-up screen with no match to start. Being asked costs one turn of the bezel; the alternative costs a session recorded as the wrong thing.

If you play one sport, say so once: Settings → Sport → Ask at launch, off. The app then opens on the warm-up screen, using whatever the Sport row says. Turning it back on is the same switch.

The app disappears when I turn my wrist away

Only when no match is running. On the screens before one — picking the sport, the warm-up, the settings — the watch face takes the screen back once you have clearly stopped looking, the same as every other app on the watch.

The watch reports a wrist turned to look from another angle exactly the same way as an arm that dropped, so the app waits about ten seconds before handing anything over. Turn away and come back inside that, and you are where you left off; drop your arm and walk off, and the watch face is waiting.

During a match it does not happen at all — the score stays on the dimmed screen. See Heart rate and battery.

Can I change what the training screen shows?

Yes — turn the bezel during a session. One figure is large in the middle, the rest sit around it, and a turn moves a different one into the middle. What you leave there is what you get next time.

All five are always on the dial: time, heart rate, calories, steps and distance. A figure the watch is not measuring is simply not there, and comes back when a reading arrives.

Does it measure my heart rate?

Yes, if you grant the permission. It samples every 30 seconds by default so a long match does not flatten the watch, and every metric switches off separately — mid-match too. See Heart rate and battery.

Can the watch tell me when my heart rate is too high?

It can tell you when it is above a number you chose: Settings → Heart-rate limit. Your heart rate turns amber and the watch buzzes once. It is a training limit, not a health warning, and it waits for three readings in a row so a single jump from gripping the racket does not set it off. See A heart-rate limit.

My club uses Joinovo, but my booking is never offered

Two situations look identical from the watch: having nothing booked today, and belonging to a club whose Joinovo plan does not include court bookings. Bookings are not part of the free plan, so a club that keeps only a member list has none to send, and the watch has no way to tell you which of the two it is.

If the offer has never appeared even on a day you definitely had a court, it is the second one — ask your club. Nothing else is affected: matches still upload, results are still shared, and you can always name the players yourself.

I play doubles at my club, but there is no Partner row

The row appears only when a court booking can answer the question, because the names come from the booking and from nowhere else. It is missing when you did not pick a booking, when you are not on the booking yourself (somebody booked without adding you), or when more people are on it than a court holds.

The match is played and recorded as doubles in every one of those cases. Only the names are missing, and you can add them in Joinovo afterwards.

I already let my club see my matches. Why is it asking again about training?

Because they are two different questions. Agreeing to share what your watch measured during a match is not agreeing to share every session you record — a warm-up, a gym hour, a hit against a wall — and consent under the GDPR only covers what it was actually given for. So Joinovo asks separately, per club, and the watch reads the two answers separately: a yes to one is never taken for the other. Withdrawing one leaves the other exactly as it was.

Will I know when there is a new version?

Only if you let the app tell you. Ask it to check — on the first launch, or later under Settings → Updates — and an Update available row appears on the warm-up screen when you are behind. Tapping it opens the Play Store, which does the installing.

If you would rather it asked nobody, the Play Store still updates the app on its own while the watch charges on Wi-Fi, as it does for every app on the watch. You simply find out later.

Not yet: there is no screen telling you what changed in a new version.

I found a bug, or something is missing

Write to support@courtovo.com. Both kinds of mail are wanted, and the second is the one that decides what is built next: a feature the app does not have yet counts as much as something broken. courtovo.com has the same two links, with the subject line already filled in.

For a bug, four lines beat a long description: which watch (the model, not only the brand), which Wear OS version, which Courtovo version — Settings → About shows it — and what you did against what happened instead.

There is no account, no form and no ticket number. It arrives as an email and a person reads it.