New version live: groups and longer athlete codes

Version 2.1 just went live on the App Store — make sure to grab the update soon. Even if you're not managing a team large enough to benefit from the new groups yet, the longer athlete codes alone should be a major everyday improvement. Both extensions exist because users asked for them; thanks to everyone who made clear how much these mattered.

Athlete codes: from 6 to 12 characters

Athlete codes previously maxed out at just 6 characters. That made it harder to assign meaningful names and then quickly recognize, mid-session, which code belonged to which athlete. We heard you. Athlete codes can now be up to 12 characters long, with international character sets fully supported as before — as long as a code doesn't go overboard in the screen space it takes.

As a general guideline: any code a bit shorter on screen than WWWWWW — six times the letter W — is fine. Since character widths vary, the add-athlete dialog now makes this concrete for you with detailed error and hint messages, so you'll know immediately whether a code fits.

Groups: tags for whole squads

Some heavy users pointed out that they time multiple groups of athletes — so many athletes, in fact, that selecting the next set meant a lot of scrolling. So version 2.1 adds tags you can assign to athletes to define and select groups — not unlike labels in a modern email app, if that's a comparison that helps.

Deliberately, there is just one added view, and it does double duty for assigning and filtering:

• Assign tags: select a set of athletes, then tap the Athlete view's title to give those athletes new tags.
• Filter by group: with no athletes selected, tap the title to choose the group tags the Athlete view should be limited to.

Tag your sprinters, your Tuesday lane, your U15 squad — then pull up exactly that group in two taps when the session starts. No scrolling past forty names to find the five you're timing.

Where to learn more

The in-app user guide has new "Managing Groups" sections covering all of this in place. There is also a growing online user guide with a dedicated part on managing groups. The online guide is a work in progress, by the way — it complements the in-app guide, and I'll keep adding to it over time. Feel free to help me prioritize what gets written next by sending your most pressing questions.

Looking forward to more feedback — and thanks for being with us!