Getting Started
Organisers. Here’s a first session, start to finish.
- Get the app on iPhone from the App Store.
- On Today, tap New Group. Name it and choose its sport, then add your players by typing their names or pasting a list from your group chat. If you’re signed in, tap Create Group before adding them.
- When everyone arrives, tap New Session and tick who’s here. Tap Continue, then Start Session, and Round 1 is drawn.
- Tap Announce to read out who plays where, then tap Start Clock. The alarms call 5 minutes, then a final warning to finish the game and be ready for the next draw, then time’s up.
- When time’s up, tap Enter Scores, add each court’s games and tap Next Round.
- When you’re done, tap End Session. The round on the courts is saved with any scores entered, and the session’s page opens, ready to share.
To see a session before your first, tap New Group, then Try a Sample Group at the foot of the sheet.
Players. You don’t need the app to play. Your organiser sends you a link or a QR code. A join link lists the sessions open for sign-ups, and you sign up for each one you can make with only your first and last name. With none open, it asks to join the group. During a session with Live Courts, the same link, or a score link, shows your court and lets you send its score. A claim link makes your name in the group yours, so you see your place on the Board and choose how your name shows on shared links. It works once, for 7 days. If yours has expired, ask your organiser for a new one.
Questions
Does it cost anything?
The app is a one-off purchase on the App Store, with everything included. There’s no subscription and there are no in-app purchases. The built-in alarms and the iPhone voice cost nothing more. If you connect your own ElevenLabs voice, it uses your own ElevenLabs credits. Players don’t need the app: signing up with a link, claiming their name, Your Account and the Board on the web cost nothing. Players who get the app and claim their name also see every match they’ve played, sign up in a tap and share their season.
Is it on Android™?
Not yet. The Tennis Broker is for iPhone and Apple Watch, and The Tennis Broker for Android is coming soon. Until then, players on any phone or computer can sign up with a link, claim their name and follow the Board on the web.
How do I give up my place?
Open the sign-up link again in the same browser you signed up in, and tap Can’t Make It on that session. Your place goes to the first person on the waiting list, and the same button takes you off the waiting list. If you signed up in the app, Can’t Make It is in the bell too. If you don’t see it, let your organiser know.
Can I plan more than one session?
Yes. Plan the first from Today, then tap Plan Another Session under its card. It starts on the group’s next playing day that isn’t planned yet, with that day’s usual times, and each day can have one session. The soonest keeps its card on Today and the rest are listed under it. Tap one to see who’s in, share its link, or set its own settings, such as its courts and round length, for that session alone. The group’s sign-up link lists every session with sign-ups open, and players sign up for each one on its own.
How are the courts drawn?
Fairly, every round. Partners and opponents change, and sitting out is shared evenly through the session. How each court is matched depends on the session’s Pairing Style. Competitive, the default, gives each court the closest match possible. Social gives everyone new partners and fair court time, and avoids one-sided matches. Rotation gives as many new partners and opponents as possible. Change the style in This Session > More Options, or for every session in Manage > Session Defaults. In padel and pickleball, you can also choose Americano or Mexicano under Format.
Can players play singles?
Yes. Turn on Allow Singles in This Session > More Options. Then, when 2 or 3 players would sit out and a court is free, two players open to singles play there instead. Players are open to singles when Open to Singles is turned on in Edit Player, or when you choose them for this session in Singles Today.
Some players arrived after the round started. Can they play?
Yes. Check them in, or add them, and they sit out the round on the courts. Swap any of them onto a court, or, when four are sitting out and a court is free, tap Choose Players on that court to put them on it for doubles. With Allow Singles on, two can play singles there instead.
Can a player stay on the court they booked?
Yes. Anchor them to it, and they play on that court every round while everyone else moves round them. In This Session, tap Courts, then a court under Anchored Players, and tick who booked it. Or touch and hold their ticked name in New Session or Check In, and choose the court, such as Anchor to Court 2. Anchors last for this session only.
Can players of very different standards share a session?
Yes. Give each player a level, A to D, and the draw keeps them on courts with those near their level. In This Session > More Options, tap Levels. Choose Next Level, where A plays with B but never with C or D, or Same Level, where each court plays one level where the numbers allow, then tap each player’s level. You can also set a level in Edit Player. When the levels can’t fill every court, the draw mixes them as little as it can and gives that place to someone different each round. The Draw shows each court’s levels. Only organisers see levels, and they never change ratings.
Can I draw every round before the session?
Yes. Before Round 1, turn on Draw All Rounds in This Session > More Options, and choose how many rounds. The Draw on Today then shows them all, and you can swap players in any round before it’s played. Tap Draw Again beside a round to draw just that round again around the others, which stay as they are, and Undo if you prefer the one before. Tap Lock beside a round to keep it as it is when you tap Draw the Rest Again, Draw Round 1 Again or Reshuffle. If someone arrives or leaves, the rounds to come are drawn again, though a locked round stays while everyone on its courts is still here.
Can I change a setting after the session starts?
Yes. Most settings in This Session apply from the next round. Format, Scores and how courts move on are chosen before the session starts, but until a round is saved you can still change them in This Session. Round 1 is then drawn again, with everyone still checked in.
Can I prepare the draw the day before?
Yes, when a session is planned with I’ll Add Them and draws all its rounds at the start. Once you’ve chosen who’s coming, tap Prepare the Draw on the session’s card on Today, or on its own page when it’s listed under it, check its settings and draw the rounds. Each session planned has its own draw. You can then swap players, draw a round again, lock rounds and download the announcements at home. On the day, Start Session uses the draw as it is when the same people come. If one person comes in place of another, the newcomer takes their place in every round. Any other change draws the rounds again, keeping locked rounds where everyone on them came. The draw is kept on your iPhone. If another session is played before it, draw it again, as ratings and partners will have moved.
Can I add time to a round?
Yes. On Today, + beside the time adds a minute and − takes one off, for this round only. The end time and the alarms follow, and the next round goes back to Round Length. When the clock is paused, Restart starts the round again from its full length. The warm-up and the Round Timer have the same keys, and you can do both on Apple Watch too.
Can players send their own scores?
Yes, with Live Courts, in a session scored in games or points. Turn it on in This Session > More Options, then share the link or QR code from Score Link on Today. Players see their court and send its score from any browser, or in the app once they’ve claimed their name. Scores sent fill in the score boxes on Today, never over one you’ve typed, and if two scores differ, Choose shows both. You still tap Next Round yourself.
How do I fix a score or delete a round?
On the latest session’s page, tap the pencil to open Edit Session. Tap a score to change it, or a name to change who played. If you ticked the wrong person, choose Someone Else to put in whoever really played. Someone listed as sitting out who wasn’t there, checked in by mistake? Tap their name under Sitting out, then Wasn’t Here, and they’re taken off that round. If you keep track of court costs, the cost is split again among those left. To take a round out of the session, tap Delete Round at its foot. Every rating is recalculated after each change. To add more rounds to a session you ended too soon, tap Reopen Session there.
How do ratings work?
Everyone starts at 50. Each match moves the players’ ratings up or down by how it went against what was expected, so beating a stronger pair counts for more. A session without scores, or a court left at 0–0, doesn’t move them. On the Board, you’re ranked once you’ve played a third of the season’s sessions so far, or 3 if that’s fewer. Until then, you’re under Not Ranked Yet.
How do I keep track of who has paid for the courts?
In Manage > Court Costs, turn on Keep Track of Court Costs, then set the Session Cost: one figure split among everyone who plays, or a price each, and who paid for the courts. In How Players Pay, paste your own payment link from SumUp, Monzo, PayPal, Revolut, Starling or your bank, or add a note such as “Cash at the courts is fine too.” When a session ends, each player’s share is worked out, and Who’s Paid opens from the session’s page and from Today. Tap Send the Cost to send the group one message from your own messages app, tap each name as the money arrives, and swipe a name left to remind one person. For a session played in the last 30 days before you turned it on, tap Charge for This Session on the session’s page. No money passes through the app, and only the group’s organisers see who has paid.
Which voices does the app use?
The round alarms are built into the app in The Tennis Broker voice, male or female. Each alarm is said in several ways, in a new order each session. Court calls are read in an iPhone voice, which works offline, or in your own ElevenLabs voice. Choose in Settings > Sounds, where the alarms can use an iPhone voice or your ElevenLabs voice too.
Do the alarms play when iPhone is locked?
Yes. While a round’s clock runs, each alarm plays once through iPhone, or the speaker it’s using, even with iPhone locked. Apple Watch taps your wrist at 5 minutes, at the final warning and at time’s up. Allow notifications when iPhone asks, or later in the Settings app, so an alarm still sounds if the app has closed. To check the volume, play them in Settings > Sounds > Hear the Alarms.
What can I do on Apple Watch?
Once a session or the Round Timer has started on iPhone, you can run it from your wrist. Start, pause or restart the clock, add or take off a minute, skip or end the warm-up, and start the Round Timer’s next round at time’s up. In a session, enter each court’s games with the Digital Crown, then move on to Next Round or End Session, or undo the last round before the new one starts. Announce reads the courts on iPhone at any point in the round, or only the changes after a swap. Scores saved out of range of iPhone wait on Apple Watch and go across when iPhone is back in range. Check In, swaps, settings and sharing stay on iPhone.
Does it work without signal?
Yes. The draw, the round clock and its alarms, scores and the iPhone voice all work offline. Sync and sign-ups catch up when you’re back online. Live Courts, the weather and court calls in your own ElevenLabs voice need a connection, and without one, court calls are read in an iPhone voice. When a session draws all its rounds, tap Download Announcements, the arrow at the top of The Draw, while you have signal. Announce then plays each round in your ElevenLabs voice without it, apart from the standings, which change with every score.
Can court calls sound like The Tennis Broker voice?
Yes, very close. Our Voices gives the description each of our voices was designed from. Make one in your own ElevenLabs account with Voice Design, then choose it in the app in Settings > Sounds > Your ElevenLabs Voice.
Can I use the app with VoiceOver?
Yes, on iPhone and Apple Watch. Accessibility sets out what the app supports, from VoiceOver to Reduce Motion, and what’s coming.
Do I need an account?
No. One group lives on your iPhone without one. An account lets you open sign-ups with a link, keep your groups on every iPhone you sign in on and invite other organisers, and it lets players claim their names. Create one in Settings. You sign in with a passkey, so there’s no password, email address or phone number.
What if a player who left comes back?
Add them by name as usual. If their results are still in History, you’re asked whether it’s them. Bring Back adds them with their rating and their matches. For someone new with the same name, add a surname or an initial, or add them as “Priya Shah 2” and change the name later in Edit Player. A name erased from the group’s records is never matched.
What if the wrong person claimed a name?
Unlink it. On the player’s page, tap Claimed, then unlink the name from their account. The name, its record and ratings stay in the group, and claim links you sent before stop working. Send a new claim link from the same page. It works the same when someone’s passkey went with an old phone. To unlink your own name, tap it in Settings > Your Account, or choose Unlink My Name in Your Account on the website.
Can I bring in players from another group I run?
Yes, when both groups are saved to your account. In Add Player, From Your Other Groups lists the other groups you run. Open one, tick who comes and add them. They start at 50 here, as each group’s ratings are its own, unless they were in this group before. Then you can bring them back with their record here. Anyone who has claimed their name there is asked to accept it here, in the bell or in Your Account on the website.
What if two organisers change the group at once?
The app combines the changes by itself the next time it syncs. Where both changed the same thing, such as a player’s Say It As, the change on the iPhone that synced second is kept, and a note says so, with Review. Review lists what was combined, and Earlier Copies keeps the other copy as it was before combining, so you can restore it. If the app can’t be sure, for example when both saved a round, it asks which copy to keep.
What does “Too large to sync” mean?
A group with years of sessions can grow too large to send in one go. Its changes stay on your iPhone and in its backups, and Manage says “Too large to sync”. Before you switch to another group, keep a copy when the app offers to, so you can restore it later. Contact Us if you see it.
How do I move to a new iPhone?
Sign in on the new iPhone, and the groups in your account are there. Every group also backs itself up to your own iCloud Drive, while iCloud Backup (in the app’s Settings) and iCloud Drive are on. To bring one back, open Your Groups (tap your group’s name or initials, or Your Groups on Today), tap + and choose Restore from iCloud. In the app’s Settings, iCloud Backup says when the latest backup reached iCloud, or what’s stopping it.
How do I delete my account?
In the app, go to Settings > Your Account > Delete Account, or sign in to Your Account on the website. To keep your own record of every match, choose Download My Data there first. If you run a group on your own, you choose a player with an account to take it on, or close it. A group nobody takes on is deleted 30 days later, with its earlier copies.
What happens to my data?
The Tennis Broker keeps only what’s needed to run sessions, such as names, attendance, results and ratings. Signing up and making an account need no email address or phone number, and your data is never used for advertising or sold. The Privacy Policy explains what’s kept and why, and the Terms of Service set the rules for using the app. To get a copy of your data, claim your name, then choose Download My Data in Your Account. To have your name corrected or removed, ask your organiser.
How do names show on shared pictures and reels?
By first name and initial, such as Sam L., unless whoever shares them chooses full names or initials. Anyone set to show as initials keeps them, and a hidden rating stays hidden. To choose for yourself, claim your name, then turn on Initials on Shared Links or Hide My Rating on Shared Links in Your Account.
Contact
A question, a problem or an idea? Write to us, and we’ll reply by email.