Phone remote

The phone remote is a small control page that PlayOverlay serves to phones on the same local network as the laptop, usually the same wifi. There is no app to install: the phone opens it in its web browser. It doesn't need an internet connection.

It is off by default and stays off unless you turn it on.

Set it up

1. On the laptop, open System Settings → Phone Remote and switch it on. The default port is 3006. The status should read Running.
2. Connect the phone to the same network as the laptop.
3. Scan the QR code shown in System Settings, or type the address shown there into the phone's browser. It looks like http://192.168.1.20:3006/, with your laptop's own address.
4. Enter the six-digit PIN shown in System Settings. The phone now shows the live score, clock and on-air screen.

System Settings also shows how many phones are connected. More than one can be paired at the same time.

What the phone can do

• Add or remove a goal for either team.
• Pause or resume the running clock.
• Step to the next match phase. This is also how you start each half from the phone.
• Switch the on-air graphic: score bug, match title, scoreboard, penalties, end screen or none.

For anything else, such as stoppage time, scorers or penalties, use the dashboard.

Staying in sync

The phone mirrors the live match, so it always agrees with the dashboard and with any other paired phone. A tap on the phone goes through the same controls as a click on the laptop, so it can be undone in the same way.

If a phone drops off the wifi, it reconnects by itself without asking for the PIN again. If PlayOverlay is offering to restore a match after a crash, the phone's controls pause and say why until someone answers on the laptop, so a tap can't overwrite the recovered score.

Security

While the phone remote is on, it listens on all of the laptop's network connections, so any device that can reach the laptop on your local network can open the page. It isn't reachable from the internet unless the network forwards that port to the laptop, which venue and home routers don't do by default.

• Pairing needs the six-digit PIN. A new PIN is made every time you turn the remote on and every time PlayOverlay restarts, so paired phones need the new PIN after that.
• Repeated wrong guesses are rate-limited per device. A device guessing PINs only locks itself out, never your phone.
• Other web pages can't send it commands.

It is built for a trusted club or home network, not a busy public one. Leave it off when you don't need it, and treat the PIN like a password.

Phone can't connect? See troubleshooting the phone remote.