⚾ SETUP & SUPPORT

Getting Started
& Help

From download to your first pitch call. Build your roster, get the call onto the wrist, and fix the two things that trip coaches up.

Step Zero

What you need

Three things, and one of them is optional on day one.

An iPhone or iPad

Running iOS 17 or later. This is the coach’s device — it’s where you call the pitch.

An Apple Watch

Series 4 or later on watchOS 10+, worn by your catcher. This is what receives the call.

No field WiFi

The call goes phone-to-watch directly. Cloud backup catches up on its own when you’re back on a connection.

Before official play

Check your sanctioning body

One-way electronic pitch calling is permitted by most major bodies, but the rules on smartwatches specifically vary, and tournament directors often have final say. We keep a body-by-body breakdown on the Rules page. Confirm with your league before your first official game.

Part One

Set up your team

Ten minutes at the kitchen table, once. Everything after this is per-game.
1

Create your account

Your name, email, and a password, then agree to the terms and confirm you’re 18 or older. We send a confirmation link — tap it and you’ll land on a page telling you to head back to the app. Only the coach needs an account; players and receivers don’t.
PitchKallr create-account screen with name, email, password, terms agreement, and 18-or-older confirmation
Name, email, password, and two checkboxes.
PitchKallr confirmation screen telling the user to check their email for an activation link
Then confirm the link we email you before signing in.
2

Create a team — or join one

Head coach: give the team a name and a season, and you’re done. Assistant coach or parent helper: get the 6-character invite code from your head coach and use Join a Team instead.
PitchKallr teams screen showing the choice between Join a Team and Create Team
Two paths: create one, or join with a code.
PitchKallr create-team screen with team name and season fields
Team name and season. You can add more teams later.
3

Add your pitchers

Pitchers tab → +. Name, jersey number (optional), and whether she throws right or left.
PitchKallr add-pitcher form with name, jersey number, and throwing hand
Name, jersey number, and throwing hand. Jersey is optional.
4

Add her pitches

Tap the pitcher you just added, then Add Pitch. Choose the pitch type, and optionally a display label (what shows on the watch — handy if you call a drop curve “12-6”) and a speed. Each pitch you add lands in the list with a Primary / Reliable / Developing control — set that per pitch. New pitches start at Reliable.

Be honest about comfort. It’s the single biggest input into what PitchKallr suggests — a Developing rise ball won’t get recommended in a 3-2 count. There’s a full breakdown in the decision guide.

PitchKallr add-pitch sheet showing pitch type, an optional display label, and speed
Pick the type. Label and speed are optional.
PitchKallr pitcher profile listing a fastball set to Primary, changeup set to Reliable, and drop ball set to Developing
Then set comfort on each pitch, right in the list.
5

Add opponents (optional)

The Opponents tab holds opposing teams and their batters, which is what powers batter scouting and trait tagging. You can skip this entirely and build a lineup one batter at a time during the game instead.

Part Two

Call your first game

Our advice for game one: turn on Basic Mode and just call pitches. Add the count, outcomes, and scouting once the calling itself feels automatic.

Before the first pitch

1

Open Game Setup

Tap the raised Game button in the middle of the tab bar. Set the date and time and pick your starting pitcher.
PitchKallr game setup screen showing date, starting pitcher, zone layout, and game type toggles
Everything for the game is on one screen.
2

Pick a zone layout

9-Zone Grid, 4 Quadrants, or In/Out/High/Low. Fewer zones means a faster read on a small screen — start coarse and tighten it up as your battery gets comfortable.
3

Connect your devices

Tap Connect Devices and confirm the watch is showing up before you start. It’s much easier to sort out in the parking lot than in the first inning.
4

Choose your game type

Basic Mode — “Signals only — no count, outcomes, or lineup.” Just you and the pitch call. This is the one to use for your first game or two.

Quick Game — “No opponent tracking.” You still get the count and outcomes, you just skip naming the other team’s hitters.

5

Set up the opponent

If you’re tracking the opponent, pick their team here (or create it on the spot). The first time you face them there’s nothing to choose — you add batters one at a time as they come up. Once you’ve played them before, this screen also offers Use Previous Lineup so you can start from last game’s order instead of rebuilding it.
PitchKallr opponent setup sheet listing saved opponent teams with an option to create a new one
Pick a saved opponent, or create one on the spot.
PitchKallr prompt asking who is batting first, with name, jersey number, and batting side
Building as you go: each new hitter gets added at the plate.
6

Start Game

That’s it. Make sure the watch app is open on your catcher’s wrist before the first batter steps in.

Calling a pitch

7

Know your tabs

Along the bottom: Pitch, Scouting, Pitcher, At-Bats, and Offense. In Basic Mode you only see Pitch. Everything below happens on the Pitch tab.
PitchKallr pitch calling screen showing the count strip, hitter bar, and pitch type grid
The Pitch tab is where you’ll spend the whole game.
8

Pick the pitch, pick the spot, send it

Tap a pitch type, tap a target zone, then Send Pitch. It lands on the watch with a haptic tap. You can add a short note if you want the catcher to see one. On Pro, a recommendation sits above the grid — tap it to see why.
PitchKallr zone picker with the send pitch button
Tap a pitch, tap a zone, send. Under a second once you have the rhythm.
9

Record what happened

The screen leads with Spot Accuracy — did she hit the spot you called, or miss it? Then Pitch Result: Strike Looking, Swinging Strike, Foul, or Ball. If the at-bat ends there instead, use In Play, Batter Out, or HBP. There’s a separate Runner Out button for caught stealing and pickoffs, which leaves the screen open.

Don’t skip the spot question. It’s what separates what you called from what she threw, and it’s what makes the zone analytics worth anything later.

PitchKallr record-outcome screen showing spot accuracy, pitch result, and end-at-bat options
Spot accuracy first, then what the pitch did.
10

Mid-game adjustments

The hamburger opens Change Pitcher, PitchOut, Intentional Walk, Lineup, Manual Override, Inning Stats, the game clock, Connected Devices, and End Game. Misclicked a pitch? There’s an Undo button right in the header.
PitchKallr in-game slide-out menu with change pitcher, pitchout, lineup, and end game options
The hamburger holds everything you need mid-inning.
11

End the game

Game menu → End Game gives you a recap with your pitch mix. Everything lands in the History tab, split into Games, Practices, and Analytics.

Part Three

Practice mode is free

The fastest way to get comfortable before a real game — and a genuinely useful bullpen tool on its own.

Open the menu on the right and tap Practice. Pick a pitcher and a zone system, and start logging. No opponent, no lineup, no game clock.

You get pitch-type distribution and spot accuracy per zone, and a summary at the end with room for notes. It’s the same calling interface as a game, so a bullpen session doubles as a rehearsal. Included on every plan, free ones too.

Part Four

Setting up the Apple Watch

There is no pairing screen in PitchKallr, and you're not missing it. The watch app is a standard companion app — if the watch is paired to your iPhone, PitchKallr can already reach it.
1

Install it from the Watch app

On the iPhone that’s paired to the watch, open Apple’s Watch app → My Watch, scroll to PitchKallr, and install. If automatic app install is on, it may already be there.
2

Open it before the game

The idle screen reads “Waiting for pitch...” and “Keep app open during game.” Take that literally — if your catcher swipes back to the watch face, calls stop showing up.
3

Ending from the wrist

Press and hold the screen for about a second and confirm End Game?. Useful when the catcher gets to the dugout before you do.
PitchKallr on an Apple Watch showing the pitch type and target zone
What your catcher sees. Pitch type, zone, and a haptic tap.
Most common support issue

“Health Access Required”

The watch app will block with this message:

“PitchCaller needs Health permission to stay running on your wrist during games. Without it, watchOS will close the app after a few minutes.”

It’s not collecting health data. The app starts a workout session because that’s what tells watchOS to keep an app on screen instead of closing it after a couple of minutes.

The fix

Turn on Workouts for PitchKallr

On the watch: Settings → Health → App Access → PitchCaller → turn on Workouts.

Then return to the app. You may also see a Health permission prompt on the iPhone during setup — same reason, allow it.

Two more things to know

  • “Session lost — tap to restart.” If this banner appears, tap it. The session restarts and no pitch data is lost.
  • 30-minute idle timeout. A game with no activity for half an hour ends itself. Fine between innings; if a rain delay leaves you with a dark screen, just reopen the app.

Want more than one watch? Your phone drives a single Apple Watch directly. To get the call onto a second, third, or fourth wrist, each of those players runs Receiver Mode on their own iPhone and it relays through to their own watch.

Prefer a purpose-built receiver over an Apple Watch? The dedicated PitchKallr Watch is in development — join the waitlist there.

Part Five

Getting the call on more than one watch

Your phone drives one Apple Watch directly. Receiver Mode is how you reach the rest of them — each player runs it on their own iPhone, and the call relays straight through to the Apple Watch on that player's wrist.
1

Tap Receiver Mode on the login screen

On the player’s iPhone — the one paired to their Apple Watch — install PitchKallr, open it, and tap Receiver Mode below the sign-in form. No sign-up, no password, nothing to set up. Players never need an account of their own.
PitchKallr login screen with the Receiver Mode button below the sign-in form
Receiver Mode sits right on the login screen — no account needed.
2

Name the device and connect

It asks for a name so you can tell devices apart in your list — use the player’s name or position. Then tap Connect. iOS will ask for Local Network permission the first time; tap Allow. Repeat this on each player’s phone — there’s no pairing limit to work through, they all connect to the same session.
PitchKallr receiver mode asking for a device name, with the Connect button
Name it something you'll recognize in the coach's device list.
3

Start hosting on your phone

The receiver shows “Searching for Coach” until you host. On your device: game menu → Connected Devices → Start Hosting.
PitchKallr receiver showing Searching for Coach and a reminder that the coach must start hosting
Stuck here? The coach hasn't started hosting yet.
4

The call lands on their watch

This is the part that matters: the receiver phone doesn’t just display the call, it relays it on to the Apple Watch paired to that phone. Your catcher, your pitcher, and anyone else you’ve set up all feel the same tap at the same moment, each on their own wrist. The phone itself shows a full-screen backup — pitch type and zone in large type, plus the count, outs, inning, batter, and pitch count — and stays awake while it’s running, so it works just as well sitting in a dugout pocket.
5

Keep them in range

This is a direct device-to-device link, not an internet one, so every receiver phone needs to be in the same place as yours. No field WiFi, no cell service, nothing to pay for. Each player’s phone still needs to be near their own watch, exactly as it would be normally.

Part Six

What's in Free vs Pro

Calling pitches, practice mode, game history, and cloud backup are free forever. Pro is about scale and analysis.

Feature

Free

Pro

Pitch calling to Apple Watch

Included

Included

Practice mode

Included

Included

Cloud backup

Included

Included

Game history & pitch counts

Included

Included

Teams

2

Unlimited

Pitchers per team

5

Unlimited

Devices on your account

1 at a time

Multiple

PDF game recaps

Monthly limit

Unlimited

Pitch recommendations

—

Included

Zone heatmaps & analytics

—

Included

Batter weakness insights

—

Included

Team invitations

—

Included

Pro includes a 14-day free trial and no card is required to start it. If you decide not to continue, you roll back to the free tier and keep all of your game data. Full pricing is on the pricing page.

Part Seven

Troubleshooting

The things that actually go wrong, and what to do about them.
The watch says “Health Access Required.”+
On your watch, open Settings → Health → App Access → PitchCaller, then turn on Workouts, and return to the app. PitchKallr runs a workout session so watchOS keeps the app on screen during a game. Without that permission, watchOS closes the app after a few minutes and the call stops arriving.
The watch app closed itself in the middle of a game.+
Two usual causes. First, the workout session was interrupted — look for a “Session lost — tap to restart” banner and tap it; no pitch data is lost. Second, the game sat idle for 30 minutes and auto-ended. Between innings that timer is fine, but after a long rain delay just reopen the app and it reconnects.
My catcher isn’t getting the call.+
Work through it in this order: the PitchKallr app is open and on screen on the watch, not on the watch face; the watch and iPhone are both awake and within normal Bluetooth range of each other; and Connected Devices in the game menu shows the watch as connected. Pitch calls travel iPhone → Apple Watch directly, so field WiFi and cell service have nothing to do with it.
Only some of my players are getting the call.+
Each extra watch is reached through that player’s own iPhone running Receiver Mode, so check the chain for the players who are missing out: their phone shows Connected rather than Searching for Coach, the PitchKallr watch app is open on their wrist, and their phone is near both you and their watch. A player who drops out mid-game usually just needs to reopen Receiver Mode and reconnect — you don’t have to restart the game.
My games or roster changes aren’t showing up.+
Open Settings and tap Reset Sync. In the app’s words: “If games or roster data appear stuck and won’t upload, use this to re-queue them. Your data is not deleted.” Give it a minute on a real connection. If records still won’t upload after that, email support.
I signed in on a second device and it’s read-only.+
Free accounts are limited to one active device at a time, so the second device can view but not edit. You can either transfer the account to the device in your hand, or upgrade to Pro to use several devices at once.
I can’t add a third team or a sixth pitcher.+
Those are the free-tier limits: 2 teams, and 5 pitchers per team. Pro removes both. Nothing you have already created is affected.
The receiver phone can’t find me.+
The coach has to be hosting: open the game menu → Connected Devices → Start Hosting. Both phones need to be in the same place — this is a direct device-to-device link, not an internet one — and iOS will ask for Local Network permission the first time. Tap Allow.
I never got the account confirmation email.+
Check your spam and promotions folders first. The confirmation link opens pitchkallr.com/auth/confirmed — if you land there, your account is active and you can sign in. If nothing arrives, email support and we’ll confirm it manually.
Can I use PitchKallr for baseball?+
Not yet. PitchKallr is built for softball — the pitch types, the zone systems, and the strategy behind the recommendations are all fastpitch. Baseball support is on the roadmap.
Is this legal in my league?+
One-way electronic pitch calling is permitted by most major sanctioning bodies, but the rules on smartwatches specifically vary, and tournament directors often have final say. We keep a body-by-body breakdown on the Rules page — check it, then confirm with your league before official play.

Still stuck?

Email us with your team name and what you were doing when it went wrong. A coach reads every one of these.

support@kenparsolutions.com

Also worth a look: FAQ · Rules by sanctioning body · How the engine thinks

Ready to call your first game?

Download PitchKallr, build your roster, and turn on Basic Mode. You can be calling pitches in the time it takes to finish infield.

Download on the App Store