Support
Something broken, confusing, or missing? Email support@benchwarmer.nl and I'll reply, usually within a couple of days. It's one person, not a support desk, so a clear description of what you tapped and what happened saves us both a round trip.
Frequently asked
How does Benchwarmer decide what's fair?
It takes the number of players on the pitch, multiplies by the number of periods and the minutes in each, and divides by how many players are available for that match. That's each player's target. What the app shows you is the difference between the minutes they actually played and that target, so a negative number means the match owes them time. Across the season those differences add up, which is why the availability screen sorts your most-owed players to the top. A player who wasn't available is never counted as owed for a match they couldn't have played.
Does my data sync between my phone and my tablet?
No. There is no server and no account, so each device keeps its own data. To move a squad from one device to another, export a backup file and import it on the other one.
How do I move to a new phone?
Open the backup screen, export your teams to a file, and send it to the new phone by AirDrop, email, or a cloud drive. Install Benchwarmer there and import the file. Player and match identifiers are preserved, so importing the same file twice changes nothing rather than creating duplicates.
What happens if I delete the app?
Your data is deleted with it, and I have no copy to restore. Export a backup before you delete anything you care about.
Does it work without internet?
Entirely. The app never needs a connection, which is deliberate — plenty of pitches have no signal at all.
Which formats and match lengths does it handle?
Every format from 5-a-side to 11-a-side, with formations for each. Matches can be split into halves, quarters, or any number of periods of any length, set per team and overridable per match.
I tapped the wrong thing. Can I fix it?
Yes, all of it. The clock can be nudged forwards or backwards. In the match log you can move an event by a few seconds, name a scorer you couldn't identify at the time, or delete an event outright. Nothing is stored as a running total, so a correction flows through to every statistic that depended on it.
Is it really free?
Yes. No ads, no subscription, nothing locked behind a purchase.
Is there an Android version?
Planned, not yet released.