Guide
Keeping score from your smartwatch
With TennisScore on a Wear OS watch the phone stays in your pocket or bag: a tap on the wrist scores the point, sets and games stay in view and, if you want, heart rate and steps end up in the match statistics. Here is how to install it, how to use it and what to expect.
What you need
- A watch with Wear OS 3 or later: Galaxy Watch4 and later, Pixel Watch and the other recent Wear OS watches, paired with the phone.
- TennisScore on the phone (Android 11 or later) and on the watch: the watch app installs from the watch's Play Store, by searching for TennisScore or in the section of apps you have on your phone.
- Bluetooth on on the phone: it is the fastest path between the two devices.
How to start
You create the match on the phone, as always, and on the scoreboard you turn on the external source with the remote icon, choosing the smartwatch. From then on the watch shows the match: half the screen for each player, sets and games at the top, the server marked. The feature stays on for the whole match, even if the phone goes into your pocket or the phone app closes, and turns itself off at the end of the match.
One tap, one point
You tap the half of the player who won the point and the watch vibrates to confirm. After a point the two halves stay grey for five seconds: a second tap at the same moment doesn't count, so an accidental double tap doesn't score two points. The point that ends the match asks for a confirmation with the ring, so you don't finish a match by mistake.
The phone remains the source of the score: if a tap doesn't get through, the watch says so instead of pretending it did. With Bluetooth off the two devices talk over the network, more slowly: the watch warns you and suggests turning Bluetooth on.
Going back
Wrong player? With the crown or by scrolling you open the match history: a ring that shows the previous points. You pick the point to go back to and confirm: the score restarts from there, on the phone and on the watch, and the removed points disappear from the match.
Heart rate and steps, if you want
At the first useful match the watch asks for the heart rate and physical activity permissions. If you grant them, during the match it records heart rate and steps and sends them to the phone in batches; in the match detail the “Movement” and “Cardio” sections of whoever wore the watch appear: average heart rate, heart rate on the key points, recovery between points, steps and estimated distance, and the records among your matches. On the watch the right crown shows duration, distance and heart rate.
This data stays on your phone and in its backup: it doesn't go to the app's servers, to spectators or to whoever receives the match. It is sports information, not a medical assessment.
Battery and screen
During the match the watch app keeps a service running for the sensors, with a notification from which you can stop them at any time. The screen dims as usual: the first tap from the dimmed screen only wakes it, the second one scores. If the match stays idle for an hour the sensors switch off by themselves and the phone asks whether to close it.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need the phone to use the watch?
Yes. The match lives on the phone, which publishes the live score, saves the history and computes the statistics; the watch is the most convenient way to score points while the phone stays in your pocket.
Does it work with the Galaxy Watch4 and the Pixel Watch?
Yes, with any Wear OS 3 or later watch paired with the phone. On the Galaxy Watch4 the heart rate comes from the watch sensor and the steps from the system step counter.
What if I tap twice by mistake?
The second tap within five seconds doesn't count: the two halves stay grey until the block ends. If you really tapped the wrong player, you go back from the history.
More guides
The scoreboard on your wrist
TennisScore for Wear OS is free, like the phone app: it installs from the watch's Play Store.
