Frequently asked questions

HockeyUmpire is a match control app for field hockey umpires. You can run a full match flow on iPhone or Apple Watch, or run a standalone Quick Shoot-out on iPhone.

You always need an iPhone for setup and history. Apple Watch is optional, but recommended for hands-free control during play.

Core match control is free. Some advanced features are available as optional Pro features. Without Pro, History shows your 8 most recent matches; your complete match history unlocks with Pro. Matches you already had before this limit was introduced stay visible.

Enable notifications, verify battery on iPhone and Watch, and optionally enable Apple Health logging in Settings. If Health logging is enabled, be ready for first-time permission prompts on Apple Watch. When you send a match to Watch, open HockeyUmpire on Apple Watch so battery status can be verified first.

Quick Shoot-out is a standalone flow on iPhone. Open Home > Quick Shoot-out, set team names and colors, optionally adjust shoot-out settings, then start directly.

Open Match setup, choose Outdoor or Indoor, choose 2H or 4Q, set teams and colors, review segment, card and shoot-out settings, then start on iPhone or send to Watch. For Watch starts, review the Watch readiness advice first and optionally enable Rain Mode before sending.

Yes. You can edit segment types and durations, choose clock mode, and configure green and yellow card durations, including the default yellow duration.

Yes. You can save a standard setup and quickly start it on iPhone or send it to Watch. You can also update or delete it later.

Entering team names, colors, and match structure is faster on a larger screen.

Set up the match on iPhone, send it to Watch, open HockeyUmpire on Watch, and start from the match screen. During handoff, HockeyUmpire checks Watch battery first and can recommend a lighter send mode for that match if needed.

Enable Rain Mode in iPhone Match setup before sending. On Apple Watch, the cloud icon lets you lock the screen to avoid accidental touches in rain or with sleeves. Turn the Digital Crown to temporarily unlock controls; after inactivity, the screen locks again. To disable Rain Mode, turn the Crown and long-press the cloud icon.

No. A match runs on one device (iPhone or Watch) at a time for reliability.

Start, pause and resume timing, move between segments, change score, run the penalty corner timer, issue cards, and complete end-of-match save flow.

Yes. On iPhone, long-press +1 goal to open correction actions. On Watch, use the dedicated minus-goal controls.

Yes, when the corresponding Pro features are enabled: goal type (Field, PC, PS) and optional player number.

You can issue green, yellow, and red cards per team. Yellow duration follows your setup options. Optional recipient labels and card reasons are available when enabled.

Yes. In Match History details, card reasons can be updated when card-reason editing is enabled.

Yes. You can use two paths: (1) regular match flow: enable shoot-outs in Match setup and start them from Final edit at 0:00 when level; (2) standalone flow: Home > Quick Shoot-out on iPhone.

Yes. You can use FIH profile or custom rules for sessions, starter logic, sudden-death behavior, and attempt duration.

Yes. When you complete a Quick Shoot-out and tap Done, it is saved in History with shoot-out details, even without running regulation time in the app.

Yes. Enable coin toss in Settings to run the toss flow on iPhone or Watch.

Yes. Match timing is designed to continue and recover reliably across app state changes.

You can start the penalty corner timer when the corner begins. The Watch taps at the thresholds you set and three times at 0:00; the iPhone gives a warning vibration and a short buzzer at 0:00 while the app is open. You can also assign the penalty corner to a team for better history summaries and stats.

Yes. You can assign a penalty corner to Home or Away when it starts if Pro is enabled. That improves match summaries and Personal Umpire Stats, including penalty corner efficiency. You can also adjust it later in Match History details.

With the app open: the buzzer at end of period, end of card and end of penalty corner, with settings for longer signals, a buzzer even when the iPhone is on silent, and the start tick for cards and corners. In the background or when the phone is locked: notifications 2 minutes and 1 minute before the end of a period, at the end of a period and a card (with the buzzer sound), and 10 seconds before a card ends. If you switch on ‘End of penalty corner’, you also get a notification when a penalty corner runs out; it is off by default. End-of-period and end-of-card notifications are marked as urgent, so iOS can show them while a Focus such as Do Not Disturb is on, if you allow it when iOS asks; the ringer switch still silences them.

By default the buzzer follows the ringer switch. While a match runs with the app open, a banner warns you when the phone is on silent or the volume is low. Turn on ‘Buzzer even when iPhone is on silent’ in Settings > Notifications & signals to hear the buzzer anyway while the app is open. Notifications on the lock screen always follow the ringer switch.

Yes. You can enable the 10-second card expiry warning in Settings > Notifications & signals, under the period notifications.

HockeyUmpire warns when battery drops below a safe threshold to reduce the risk of a device shutting down during a match. When you send a match to Watch, the app checks Watch battery first and can recommend a lighter send mode for that match to help the Watch last through the match.

Yes. In Settings > Notifications & signals you set the countdown moments for penalty corners, cards and periods; 0:00 always taps. You can also switch the pause reminders (every 10 seconds while the clock is stopped), the reminders between periods (every 30 seconds) and the longer end signals on or off. With longer end signals on, a period ends with four quick taps and a card with two slow taps, so you can tell them apart. Everything is synced to the Watch, and the same thresholds drive iPhone vibration while the app is open.

Yes, optionally. You can log matches as workouts. Outdoor GPS route logging is available when the related Pro feature is enabled.

No. It is optional and can be turned on or off in Settings at any time.

This is expected when Health logging is enabled. On first use, watchOS asks for workout and health permissions. Complete these prompts before starting match timing.

Open History on iPhone. Matches are stored locally and shown with date, score, and shoot-out result when available. Completed Quick Shoot-out sessions also appear there. Direct links to official match registration systems are available from match history where supported.

Without Pro, History shows your 8 most recent matches. Older matches are not deleted — they stay safely stored on your device and unlock again with Pro, along with Personal Umpire Stats. If you already had more matches saved before this limit was introduced, those stay visible for free.

You can share match text summaries and a rendered match graphic with score, timeline, cards, and shoot-out data. This also works for completed Quick Shoot-out sessions.

A Pro screen with filtered stats (goals, cards, penalty corners, timing patterns, penalty corner efficiency, and highlights) plus a shareable stats graphic.

Yes. In History, use Edit mode or swipe to delete.

Your complete match history, the Live Apple Watch scoreboard on your iPhone, Home Screen widgets, Personal Umpire Stats, goal player numbers, card recipient numbers and labels, goal-type tracking, card reasons, workout GPS route (outdoor), and your own header photo. One-time purchase.

Control the match on your Watch and your iPhone shows a read-only live scoreboard in the app, the Live Activity and the Dynamic Island, with a clear connection status. Enable it in Settings on both devices and keep the Watch in range of the iPhone; it never takes over match control. Home Screen widgets show match status, not live score or clock.

Go to Settings. Apple shows the current regional price. Purchase Pro as a one-time in-app purchase through StoreKit, or tap Restore Purchases to ask Apple to restore an existing purchase.

Match timing continues. Use the Lock Screen Live Activity, the Dynamic Island, the app or the Watch for live score and clock. If the match runs on Apple Watch, live iPhone surfaces update while the Watch is in range of the iPhone.

Enable Rain Mode in iPhone Match setup before sending. On Apple Watch, the cloud icon lets you lock the screen to avoid accidental touches in rain or with sleeves. Turn the Digital Crown to temporarily unlock controls; after inactivity, the screen locks again. To disable Rain Mode, turn the Crown and long-press the cloud icon.

Before handoff, HockeyUmpire checks Watch battery. If Apple Health logging or GPS route tracking would add too much battery load, the app can recommend a lighter send mode for that match.

Usually not. HockeyUmpire attempts to restore the active match state automatically.

Open HockeyUmpire on Apple Watch and resend from iPhone Match setup. The app includes a retry flow and status feedback.

If an active match stayed open for a longer period, the app asks whether to resume, close, or return to the main menu to prevent accidental continuation.

Whether a match is running, and when the app last updated it. Tap it to open the live match. It shows no countdown or score: iOS decides when widgets may refresh, so those numbers could be wrong. The Lock Screen widget is free.

Between matches: your last match, your umpire stats, or a combined dashboard that includes a workout summary with your GPS route shape when available. During a match: a status card with the teams, the match format and the kick-off time, and a tap to open the live match — deliberately without score or clock.

Yes. Long-press the widget and choose Edit Widget to pick the content between matches, what a tap opens (the shown content or the app home screen), and a light, dark, or system appearance.

Because iOS, not HockeyUmpire, decides when a widget may refresh — sometimes only every 15 to 60 minutes. A widget clock would keep counting from its last refresh, so after a pause or the final whistle it would look live while being wrong. For an umpire that is worse than no clock. Widgets therefore show only that a match is running. Live score and clock are in the Lock Screen Live Activity, the Dynamic Island, the Watch match screen in the app and on the Watch itself — updated in real time as long as your Apple Watch is in range of your iPhone.

A quick glance of active match status with score and time context. Full match control remains inside the Watch app.

Yes. Tap the pencil on the photo, or go to Settings, Header photo. Pick one of the standard hockey photos or let them rotate daily. With Pro you can use a photo from your own library; HockeyUmpire never uploads it, it is kept on this device only and excluded from Apple backups, and location data is removed on import.