Following a match without keeping the app open

Two ways to follow the same match

With the match code the follower sees the same scoreboard as the scorekeeper: sets, games, points and who is serving, updated within a couple of seconds. It is the right way when you have time and the match is close.

The other way is to let the match come to you. With notifications on there is no need to open the app or keep the screen on: at every game a message arrives with the names and the score, and the last one says who won. The two ways go together: you can watch a tiebreak live and leave the rest to the messages.

How to turn them on

• Open the match you follow: at the top there is the “View only · live” bar.
• Tap the bell on the right of the bar. The first time, the phone asks for permission to show notifications: allow it.
• The bell lights up and “Updates active for this match” appears among your notifications. From here you can close the app.
• To stop, tap the bell again.

What arrives, and when

At the end of every game a notification arrives with the players' names and the score: the sets already closed and the games of the current set, for example “Paolo – Andrea · 6-4 · 5-4”. Never a message at every point: one per game is enough to know how it is going, without a phone that keeps buzzing. Each message replaces the previous one, so your notifications always show just the latest score.

At the end of the match the last message arrives, with the winner and the full result, and the notifications turn themselves off. If the match is closed before the end, the message says so and gives the score at that moment.

When it helps

• You are at work or travelling: the phone stays in your pocket and you still know how it is going.
• You are about to play too: follow your friends' match until it is time to step on court.
• You follow from another time zone: you read the messages when you can, and the last one tells you how it ended.
• The match is long: three sets can take two hours, and nobody watches a screen for two hours.

Battery, network and limits

Notifications use very little: the phone only receives the score changes, a few bytes at a time. A connection is needed, on the follower's phone and on the scorekeeper's; if the signal on court comes and goes, the messages arrive as soon as it is back.

With notifications you follow one match at a time: turning the bell on in another match moves the messages there. On phones with Android 15 or later the system may pause the updates after about six hours in a row: the app tells you with a message, and you just turn the bell on again.

If you are the one playing: how to be followed

Whoever keeps score doesn't have to do anything different: every match has its own code, to copy and send in a message. It works the same with the watch on your wrist: a point scored from the wrist reaches the followers in the same way.