Questions and answers

The tablet

I paired my iPad, but it asks me to pair again

Safari and the home screen app are two different places, so a pairing done in Safari, including one done by opening the QR code from the camera app, does not carry over.

Install first, pair second. In Safari tap Share, then "Add to Home Screen", then "Add". Open Freeball Scorer from the home screen and pair there, either by pasting the pairing code or with Scan QR code with the camera inside the app.

The tablet says re-pair needed

That device was revoked on the Devices page, or it was removed. Create a new device, then press the re-pair prompt on the tablet's Matches screen and scan or paste the new code.

It also appears when the person the tablet was set up under is no longer a manager, coach or admin here, or has left the organization: a tablet only scores while its owner still can. The Devices page says so next to that device. Ask an admin to create a new device and pair the tablet again.

Nothing on the tablet is lost by re-pairing: anything not yet uploaded is kept. Do it before wiping anything.

We use one tablet for two schools

That works. Pair the tablet to whichever organization you are scoring for today, and score. The Matches screen only ever shows that organization's matches, and only those upload.

The other school's matches stay on the tablet, untouched. A line on the Matches screen says how many are waiting, and they come back, along with anything of theirs that had not uploaded, the moment the tablet is paired there again.

To clear them out for good, tap More on the Matches screen, then Forget matches from other organizations. It asks first, it deletes them and everything they recorded, and it never touches matches for the organization the tablet is paired to now. Make sure the other school has its matches uploaded before you do that.

Can two people score the same match on two tablets?

No. One tablet per match. Two tablets scoring the same match would each record the same rallies, so every point would be counted twice, and there is no safe way to merge two people's versions of a rally.

A second person can watch on the match page or the live page while the first one scores. If you have to hand over mid-match, hand over the tablet.

What happens if the gym has no wifi?

Nothing changes about scoring. The tablet keeps everything as you tap it, and the status line by the scoreboard shows how many taps are still queued. When it finds a connection it catches up on its own. A crash or a flat battery loses nothing: reopen the app and you are back on the same score, rotation and lineup.

Open the scorer once on wifi before you leave, so the matches, rosters and rule sets are on the tablet. The between-set AI summaries need a connection too, and say so instead of holding up set setup.

Scoring and fixing

Can I score the way I did in my old app?

Mostly, yes. The tablet has a second capture layout called Classic: the roster down the left as numbered buttons, and four columns of labelled buttons (IN-RALLY, EARNED, ERRORS, FAULTS) down the right. If you scored on SoloStats 123, your fingers already know it. Tap the player, tap what happened, tap ENTER, or tap the same action twice.

Switch it on from More then Capture layout inside a match, or with the Layout button on the match list. It is a setting on that tablet, so two scorers can each use the layout they prefer and switching mid-match is fine. Both layouts record the same things, so every report and export comes out the same.

Button by button, it is in the scorer's own help sheet under Classic layout, and on Match day.

A stat went to the wrong player. How do I fix it after the match?

On the match page, open the Rally log, expand the rally and press Edit on the line that is wrong, or Remove if it should never have been scored at all. Coach and above. The stats are recalculated immediately and the public page and the exports follow. Nothing is deleted: the original stays, tagged as amended or removed, with who did it and when. To undo a correction, correct it again.

Stats cannot be typed in by hand. Every number comes from the play-by-play, so that is where you fix it. If the whole match looks off rather than one player, press Rebuild stats on the match page.

Why is there a warning banner above the box score?

Something unusual was recorded: more substitutions than the rule set allows, a player named who was not on court, a set started while another was open. Freeball warns and carries on rather than blocking the scorer mid-rally, because the referee decides what is legal and the app's job is to record what happened.

It does not mean the box score is wrong. Read the rally log around the point in question and correct anything that actually is.

The match is not on the tablet

Press Refresh on the tablet's match list if you have wifi: matches created on the web since the tablet last checked arrive that way. With no wifi, use New match on that screen. The match is created on the tablet and uploaded later.

Rosters and imports

Why does a player show as "Player #7" after an import?

A SoloStats or Rotate123 file carries jersey numbers and no names. Each jersey is matched to the team's roster, and when nobody on that team wears that number Freeball creates a placeholder player called Player #7 so the stats have somewhere to go. Every one of them is listed in the import report at the bottom of the match page.

Rename the placeholder on the Players page, which keeps its stats, or add the jersey to the team roster and import the file again into a fresh match. Placeholders are never added to the team.

What if I import the same file twice?

You get two matches. An import never merges and never replaces: it creates a new private match from whatever file you hand it. There is no delete button for a match, so check the match list before working through a season's backlog. A duplicate can be edited to say so, and it stays private unless somebody publishes it.

The roster photo came back with mistakes

That is why the review step exists: nothing is saved until you press through it, and every cell is editable there. Fix the rows that are wrong, untick anything that is not a player, then apply.

If most of the sheet is wrong, retake the photo. Hold the camera square to the page, fill the frame with the sheet, and get as much light on it as you can. A dim photo taken at arm's length across a table is the one that loses rows.

The same athlete plays JV and Varsity

Add her once as a player, then add her to both teams. The jersey number belongs to the team, so she can wear a different number on each, and the match roster lets you set a third number for one night. Her stats stay on one player page throughout, because Freeball follows the player and not the number.

Public pages and notifications

Why does the live page show numbers instead of names?

Because the athletes are minors and that is the default. An admin can turn names on in Settings with "Show player names on public live pages", and even then it shows a first initial and a last name, only for your own players, never the opponent's. Treat it as an athletic department decision rather than a display preference.

Nobody can see our match

A new match is private, and a private match has no public page at all. A coach can change Visibility on the match form: unlisted gives it a page that works for anybody with the link, and public also lists it on your organization's live page. An organization still awaiting approval has no public pages of any kind yet.

How do notifications work on an iPhone?

An iPhone or iPad cannot send notifications from Safari itself. The fan has to add Freeball Live to the home screen first (Share, then "Add to Home Screen") and open it from there; then the Follow button works. The page shows those steps instead of a button that would not work.

On Android and on desktop Chrome, Follow works straight from the page. Either way one notification is sent when a followed match starts, carrying the team and opponent names only, because it lands on a lock screen. Following both an organization and one of its teams still gets you one notification.

A parent cannot find our team page

Send them the link rather than the name. It is your organization's Freeball Live link, which is shown under the name on the Settings page. The box on the Freeball Live front page also accepts a pasted link or the organization's full name. Organizations they have opened before come back as Recently viewed buttons, but only on that phone.

People and settings

How do I remove somebody, or change what they can do?

Members, admins only. Change the role select on their row and press Save, or press Remove to take them out of the organization. Removing somebody does not delete the matches they scored.

What about the last admin?

Freeball refuses to remove or demote the last admin of an organization, and says so. Promote somebody else to admin first, then change or remove the original. An organization with no admin would have nobody who could add one back.

The invitation email never arrived

When you add somebody who has no Freeball account, the page after the form shows a one-time set password link. Send it to them yourself; it works whether or not the email turns up. It expires in 15 minutes and is not shown again, but Send new link on their row issues a fresh one, and they can always use Forgot password? on the sign-in page.

Which clock are match times on?

Your organization's. It is set at sign-up and changed by an admin in Settings. Every time you read or type inside the organization, on reports, on the public live pages and in the emails Freeball sends, is on that clock. Change it and every time in the organization follows, including ones already recorded.

Our pages show a review notice

Your organization has not been approved yet. Every new organization is checked before it opens, and until that is done its pages show the notice, no tablet can be paired to it, and it has no public live pages. The admins who signed up get an email either way. If it was rejected, the reviewer's note is on that page.

Why am I being asked to accept the terms again?

Because the terms changed. Every version has a date, and when a new one is published everybody with an account is asked to accept it once, at the next page they open. There is a short What changed note when there is something worth calling out. Press I accept and you land back on the page you were going to.

Nothing is lost while you are on that page, and a tablet on the bench is not affected: it keeps scoring and uploading either way. Public live pages are unaffected too. If you would rather not accept, Sign out works, as do the terms themselves and this help center. An admin can see who has accepted, and which version, in the Terms column on the Members page.

Where a number came from

How do I get a one-page summary for my staff?

Set the filter bar on Reports to the matches you want - a season, a team, a date range - and press Print summary just under it. You get a single page built from exactly those filters: the record and the team numbers, recent form, the three rotations leaking the most side-out, where the points came from on both sides, the most common errors, how the top passers were graded, and what happened while your top servers were serving. Every number carries the chances behind it, and the page says in words which matches it covers, so nobody has to remember what was selected.

Press Print at the top of that page to print it, or choose Save as PDF in your browser's print dialog to email it round. The link itself carries the filters too, so you can bookmark the one you use every week.

How do I get this into MaxPreps?

Press MaxPreps export at the bottom of a scored match page and upload the .txt file it gives you through the MaxPreps stat import, as the coach for that team. It is one line per player who played, in jersey order, in the format MaxPreps documents. Freeball is not an accredited stat supplier, so upload it as a coach.

Where does the AI summary come from, and what is sent?

After each set, Freeball asks AI for a few sentences about the set and two or three suggestions for the next one. What it sends is the rule set basics, the set score and winner, your players' stats for the set, the rotation numbers, serve runs of three or more, and how the opponent scored their points. Players are identified by jersey number only. No names, no notes, and the opponent is never named.

Summaries appear on the tablet's set setup screen and on the match page, where a coach can press Generate or Regenerate on any completed set. They are not written automatically for imported matches.

Our players' points do not add up to the score

They are not meant to. A player's Pts is kills plus aces plus solo blocks plus block assists, and a block assist counts in full for each blocker, which matches the NCAA box score. Points the team scored on the opponent's errors belong to no player at all. See Stat definitions.

Why is a player's serve rating blank?

None of her serves has been graded yet. Aces and errors alone never make a rating, so a match scored without Grade serves shows a blank rather than a zero. Grading is a per-match option, Grade serves on the match form: a match scored with it off produces no graded serves, though an ace or an error still counts. See Stat definitions.

Why is the shot chart empty?

Either the match was scored with Track attack detail off, or nobody's swing got a zone even with the option on: both the type and the zone are optional, tap by tap, and a swing nobody described leaves nothing to shade. Detail can still be added afterwards with a correction in the rally log. See Attack breakdown and corrections.

Why does a stat say "recorded in 3 of 8 matches"?

Because that is how many of the matches in front of you have that kind of data. Grading serves, tracking touches and describing each swing are options on the match form, set match by match, and a match scored with one of them off simply has nothing to report for it.

The line is about the recording, not about the team. What was not written down is left out of the number rather than counted against anybody, so a thin section means "we only tracked this three times", never "we played badly". If you want the full picture next time, turn the option on when you set the match up. See sample sizes and coverage and the match form.

Why did my record change when I switched the filter?

The Matches box in the filter bar starts on Completed matches only. Switch it to Include matches in progress and the match being played right now joins every percentage on the page -- but it has no winner yet, so it does not join the record. That is why the rates move and the record does not.

It works the other way too: if you had been looking at a page with a live match folded in, switching back to completed matches only drops its rallies out of every rate. Nothing was recalculated and nothing was lost; you asked about a different set of matches. The line above the summary cards on the Overview always says which set you are looking at. See the Reports pages.

I edited a rule set and an old match did not change

Correct. The rule set is copied onto a match when the match is created, and the match is scored and reported against that copy, shown as Rule set snapshot on the match page. A match that has already started cannot have its rule set swapped either. Otherwise editing one rule set would quietly rewrite the history of every match that ever used it.