Support & FAQ
If the answer isn't here, write to matrecordapp@gmail.com and I'll get back to you. It's one person, so it may not be instant, but it will be a real answer.
The basics
Do I need an account?
No. There is no account, no sign-in and no password. Open the app and start entering results. This is also why there is nothing to recover if you lose your phone. See the backup question below.
Does it work without a signal?
Yes, completely. Everything is worked out on the device. The only things that reach the internet are downloading an event list and opening a link, and both happen only when you ask for them.
This is deliberate. A tournament venue with four hundred people in it is exactly where phone service stops working.
Is this an official app for any individual organization, such as the ATA?
No. MatRecord is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to ATA Martial Arts or any other organization. The ATA setup it ships with was built from public information, the same way you could build a setup for any other organization yourself. Standings, schedules and rules in the app come from what you entered or copied in. Always confirm anything that matters with your organization directly.
Is there a subscription?
No. It's a one-time purchase, with no in-app purchases, no adverts and no upsell once you have a season's work inside it.
There is a connected version in mind for later, where a result reaches the rest of a family or a coach without anybody sending a file. That would be a subscription, because it would mean running a server. It would also be a choice, added beside what you already bought rather than taken out of it. The app you buy today keeps working exactly as it does today, whatever happens to that.
Is there an iPhone version?
Planned, not yet released. Android is first. If you want to be told when iOS arrives, send an email and I'll keep a note.
Keeping your records safe
Your season lives on your device, which means nobody has a copy of it but you. Export a backup after every tournament. It takes about fifteen seconds and it is the difference between a lost phone being annoying and being a lost season.
How do I make a backup?
Open Share, leave the filters alone to include everything, and choose Download file. That file is plain readable JSON and it is yours: put it in Drive, iCloud, email it to yourself, or drop it on a memory stick.
To restore, open Share on the device you want it on and open the file.
I lost my phone. Can you restore my data?
No, and I want to be straight about that rather than have you find out at the worst moment. There is no account, and no copy of your records anywhere except the device you entered them on, so there is nothing here for me to send you. If you have an exported backup file, import it onto the new phone and you are back. If you don't, the records are gone.
Your phone's own backup, Google's app backup on Android or iCloud on iOS, may have captured it, depending on your device settings. That's an arrangement between you and your device maker; it's worth checking, but don't rely on it.
Why does the app ask for the camera, microphone and photos?
Each permission is used only for the feature it belongs to: the camera and microphone for filming at a tournament, photos and media for saving what you film into your gallery, notifications for reminders you switched on, and files for saving backups.
You can refuse any of them. The feature that needs it stops working and the rest of the app carries on. Nothing is sent anywhere as a result of granting any of them.
Something isn't working: the camera won't open
Go to Settings → Data → Advanced and run What this device can do. It reports which piece is actually missing, whether the permission, the plugin, or the recorder, and there's a Copy the result button. Paste that into an email and it will save us both a round of guessing.
The desktop companion
Scoring a ring works fine on a phone. Entering a whole season's back results does not. That's a job for a keyboard and a big screen. So everyone who buys MatRecord gets access to the same app running in their computer's browser.
How do I get to it?
The address is in the app you bought, under Settings → Preferences → Features, in the Use it on your computer card, with a button that copies it so you can paste it straight into your computer's browser. It's there rather than on this site because the desktop companion is included with your purchase rather than offered separately.
Why doesn't my data show up there automatically?
Because nothing syncs by itself today. Your phone's records live on your phone and the browser's records live in that browser. They're separate stores, and neither can see the other.
Moving a season between them is a deliberate export and import, the same one you'd use to send results to a coach. The steps are below.
This is the roughest edge in the app today, and it's the main thing cloud sync would fix if and when it gets built.
Moving a season from your phone to your computer
- On your phone: open Share. Leave every filter untouched to send the lot, or narrow it to one competitor or season if that's all you need.
- Tick what should travel: score sheets, rankings, logos, photos, settings. Photos are excluded by default because they're personal; include them if you want them on your computer too.
- Choose Share to hand the file straight to Drive, email or Messages, or Download file to save it on the phone and move it across yourself.
- On your computer: open the desktop companion, go to Share, and open the file you just sent across.
- Check the review screen. It shows what will be added, updated, left alone, or is in conflict, and lets you resolve each conflict side by side before anything is written.
- Confirm. If it went wrong, undo it from the import history. Nothing here is one-way.
Chrome on Android only lets an app hand over certain file types,
and JSON isn't one of them. MatRecord works around it by offering
the file as .txt or .csv instead. The
contents are identical and import reads any of them. If sharing
still refuses, use Download file and move it across
with Drive or a cable.
And back the other way?
The same steps in reverse: export from the desktop companion, get the file onto your phone, and open it from Share. Records match on their identifier first, so re-importing a season you already have updates it rather than duplicating it.
Can I just use the desktop companion instead of buying the app?
It's for people who've bought MatRecord, and a few things only work in the installed app: saving video to your gallery, reminders, and downloading the event list among them. It's a companion to the app rather than a replacement for it.
Sharing with other people
How do I send results to a coach or another parent?
Open Share and filter down to what they should have: one team, one season, one competitor. Team data only sends a squad's results and roster without everyone's personal records.
On their end, opening the file shows them exactly what will change before it changes, and it's undoable.
Will everyone end up with four copies of the same tournament?
No. Records match on their identifier first and then on natural keys: a competitor by name and member number, a tournament by date, name and state. The same event arriving from four different families consolidates into one record.
What about photographs of other people's children?
Competitor photos are left out of shares by default, with location data stripped and the image downscaled if they are included. That's the app being careful; the judgment is still yours.
Before you send a file, think about what's in it. If you're an instructor recording competitors who aren't your own children, getting whatever permission your jurisdiction requires from their parents is your responsibility.
Rankings and the event list
Why do I have to paste standings in by hand?
In a browser, one website isn't allowed to read another unless that site invites it, and the organization's site hasn't. That's a rule browsers enforce, not a limitation of the app, and no amount of rewriting would get around it.
So: open the standings page from the link in the app, copy the table, paste it in. MatRecord reads the whole block at once, all eight sections of a standings page, and matches the names against your roster.
What's the division code box for?
Pick a division, belt rank and age group and the app assembles the
code your organization uses, so Girls, Color Belt, 9–10 becomes
GCOB, and the ranking buttons open that exact division
instead of the general page. You can also borrow a competitor's code
or type one in.
Clear it and the buttons go back to the main standings pages, so a button never leads nowhere.
Why can the installed app download the event list but the browser can't?
Same reason as the standings above, but an installed app isn't a browser tab, so it isn't bound by that rule and can fetch the schedule directly. It's one of a handful of things you get by installing rather than using the browser version.
Still stuck?
Write to matrecordapp@gmail.com. If it's a bug, running Settings → Data → Advanced → What this device can do and pasting the result into the email will get you a useful answer much faster.