A tennis scoring engine for iPhone and Apple Watch that knows deuce, no-ad, tiebreaks, serve rotation and when to change ends. Unlimited undo, works offline.
Tennis Score Keeper₊ is coming soon to the App Store.
A format is not a label on a match - it changes the set target, the deuce rule and the tiebreak length. Choose it once at the start and every call for the rest of the match follows from it.
| Format | Set target | At deuce | Tiebreak | Where it is used |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best of 3 tiebreak sets | First to 6, by two | Advantage | At 6-6, to 7 | Club, school and most junior draws |
| Best of 3, match tiebreak third | First to 6, by two | Advantage | Third set replaced, to 10 | Doubles and time-limited draws |
| Best of 5 sets | First to 6, by two | Advantage | At 6-6, to 7 | Long-format singles |
| Pro set | First to 8, by two | Advantage | At 8-8, to 7 | One-court, one-slot events |
| Fast4 | First to 4, by two | No-ad | At 3-3, to 5 | Fast formats and busy club nights |
| Single set or custom | Your own target | Either | Optional | Practice sets and ad-hoc matches |
A game is won by two clear points, so 40-40 is deuce and the game repeats through advantage until someone leads by two. A set is won at six games with a two-game margin, which is why 6-5 is not a set: it goes to 7-5, or to 6-6 and a tiebreak. In a set tiebreak the player due to serve serves one point, the two then alternate serving two points each, ends change every six points, and the player who received first in the tiebreak serves first in the next set. Ends also change after every odd-numbered game, and at the end of a set only when that set was an odd number of games.
How tennis scoring works · Deuce, advantage and no-ad · Tiebreak rules in full · When you change ends
All Tennis Score Keeper₊ guides
Yes. Tennis Score Keeper₊ runs a real rules engine rather than a tally counter, so it takes the game to deuce at 40-40, tracks advantage, and starts a tiebreak on its own when a set reaches 6-6. It also knows no-ad games, win by two margins, serve rotation, and when a set or a match is actually finished. You tap who won the point and the correct next score is already on screen.
Yes. The Apple Watch app is independent and scores a whole match with no iPhone present and no connection of any kind. The score is always the largest thing on the screen, the server and the serve side stay visible, two large tap zones take the point, and a haptic tells you when to change ends. It runs a workout session so it survives a two hour match, and the match lands in Fitness with heart rate and calories.
Yes, and undo is unlimited all the way back to the first point of the match. Scoring is kept as an append-only list of point events that is reduced into a score, never as a score that gets edited, so stepping back rebuilds the exact state you were in, including the server, the serve side and the game count. On the Watch you can undo without opening a menu.
Yes, Tennis Score Keeper₊ works completely offline. Scoring happens on the device, with no account and no server of ours in the loop, so airplane mode, a dead spot on the back courts or a club with no Wi-Fi changes nothing. Every point is written to disk the moment you score it, so a crash or a force quit in the middle of a match costs you nothing.
No account and no sign-in are needed, and your matches are stored on your own device. If you switch on the optional backup, matches mirror to your private iCloud database, which only you can read. If that backup ever fails it quietly falls back to local only, and it can never delete a match you have already scored.
Yes, doubles is supported, including the serving and receiving order. The app fixes the serving order at the start of the set, shows which of the four players is serving and whether the point is played into the deuce court or the ad court, and keeps that rotation correct through a tiebreak. If your league plays no-ad, the deciding point is handled too.
It supports best of three tiebreak sets, best of three with a 10-point match tiebreak in place of a third set, a pro set to eight games with a tiebreak at 8-8, Fast4, a single set with a custom games per set count, and best of five. Fast4 is scored the way it is played, first to four games with no-ad and a tiebreak to five at 3-3. You choose the format before the first point and the rules engine follows it to the end of the match.
Yes, when you chart points. Tagging a point as an ace, a double fault, a first serve in or out, a service winner, a winner, an unforced error or a forced error takes one extra tap, is never required, and is included for everyone. Those tags produce first serve percentage, points won on first and second serve, break points created, converted and saved, longest streak, and points won per set, which you read in the stats dashboard that the optional one-time unlock adds. You can also skip charting entirely and score a full match with two buttons.
Scoring is free and is never gated: every format, the rules engine, unlimited undo, serve and changeover tracking, the Apple Watch app and point charting are all included. The optional one-time unlock covers the analysis layer, which is the stats dashboard, PDF and CSV export, and the player-centric history that follows one player across matches. You can keep scoring matches forever without it, and anything you charted stays on your device either way.
The player whose turn it is to serve serves one point from the deuce court, and after that the players alternate two points each, always starting from the ad court. Ends change every six points and again when the tiebreak finishes. A set tiebreak is first to seven points and must be won by two, so it can run past seven, and the set is written down as 7-6. A 10-point match tiebreak uses the same serve rotation but is first to ten, win by two.