Tennis, with your iPhone as the racket
Swing the phone like a racket from the baseline: up for topspin, soft for a slice, down on a high ball for an overhead. Matches are short — first to four games — and every point is decided by your wrist, read 100 times a second by the phone's gyroscope and accelerometer. Have a code? Open the court
How the swing works
- Topspin
- Swing up. The ball dips into the court and kicks off the bounce.
- Slice
- A soft swing plays a low, skidding slice.
- Overhead
- Swing down on a high ball, timed well. Mistime it and it comes out as a drive.
- Drive
- A flat swing. Sweep sideways to send it left or right.
- Serve
- One serve, anywhere in the other half. Land it on your own side and it is a fault — and the point.
The rules it plays by
- Fast-format matches: the first to four games wins, and four points win a game.
- No advantage: at 40–40 one deciding point takes the game.
- The serve changes hands every game.
- Every ball is played after the bounce — there are no volleys.
- A singles court, a little shorter than a real one — 21 m instead of 23.77 m — so rallies reach the baseline sooner.
Who you play
- The computer, at five levels: Rookie misses about one return in six; Unbeatable misses nothing.
- A friend on the same screen: Versus splits the court in two, each player swinging their own iPhone from their own end.
- A friend anywhere, or whoever is searching right now with quick match — each player sees the court on their own screen.
- Your Apple Watch can be the racket instead of the phone, and every match of a minute or more can be saved to Apple Health as a tennis workout.
What you need
An iPhone, and any screen with a web browser on the same Wi-Fi — a laptop, an iPad, a desktop monitor. Open smashphone.app on that screen, type the 6-digit code the app shows, and swing. No screen nearby? The phone can be the court as well as the racket, for matches against the computer. Smashphone is made for iPhone and Apple Watch; there is no Android version, but the court runs in any modern browser.
Questions
Can I use my iPhone as a tennis racket?
Yes. In Smashphone you hold the iPhone like a racket and swing; its gyroscope and accelerometer read the direction and force 100 times a second, and the court shows on any screen with a web browser, or on the phone itself.
What scoring does the tennis game use?
A fast format: first to four games wins the match, and at 40–40 a single deciding point settles the game. A match takes a few minutes.
Is the tennis game free?
Tennis comes with a plan bought in the app. The download is free, and badminton against the computer is free, so you can try how the swing feels first.
Can I play tennis with an Apple Watch?
Yes. Wear the watch and swing your wrist — it streams your swings to the phone, and the phone can be the court. A watch match also records calories and heart rate.
