Howzat support

How to play

Howzat runs on iPhone with iOS 17 or later and is played with the phone held sideways.

The first time you tap PLAY, a short lesson asks you to hold the pad, slide and release. You can use Skip lesson or practise again through Learn the pad on the main menu.

1. Use the trackpad. Drag inside the wide pad to pull the bat. Move back for a backlift, forward to swing, or down to defend a low ball. Raising the target raises the hands; the wrists and body guide the blade angle. Touches outside the pad do not steer.
2. Release to recover. Lift your finger to let the bat and batsman settle back into guard.
3. Hit the numbered rails. A struck ball can score 1, 2, 4 or 6 runs. Each ball scores once. The two small numbered gaps in the ceiling's OUT rail are dropped catches worth 1 and 2 runs.
4. Defend the wicket. Any ball hitting the stumps or bail is BOWLED. Your shot can be CAUGHT at a charcoal OUT rail until it next touches the ground. After that bounce, an OUT rail absorbs the ball for no runs. The bat touching the stumps or bail is HIT WICKET.

Your score is your runs. Strike rate is an informational statistic and does not multiply your score. Reaching 50, 100, 200 or 300 runs triggers a milestone celebration while play continues.

Why did the ball become faint?

Each ball allows one bat strike. After that strike it becomes faint and passes through the bat and other balls. It can still score or hit the wicket. Resting balls fade away so the next delivery can arrive.

Can I score behind the wicket?

Yes. An angled, open blade can glance a ball toward the FOUR or SIX rails behind the batter. The ceiling above that area is still OUT, so lofting too high is risky.

Controls and footwork

• Adaptive footwork is the default. The batsman steps forward or back as you move the bat.
• Planted footwork keeps a fixed stance. Choose Settings › Footwork › Planted if you prefer it.
• Bat Size defaults to 95% and is adjustable from 75% to 125% in Settings. A bigger bat covers more space.
• Left/Right controls put the pad in the corresponding bottom corner and mirror the field and bowling direction. Choose Settings › Controls.
• Player offers Male and Female appearances with the same batting controls.

Bat size, control side and appearance can change from the menu or while paused. The pause screen's gear opens Settings; closing Settings leaves the innings paused until you choose Resume. Footwork changes apply at the next innings.

Bowlers and innings

Each six-ball spell can be Spinner, Medium or Fast, including repeated styles. Spinner deliveries can use standard spin, topspin or backspin, which changes their pace off the pitch. The scoreboard shows the speed of each delivery when it is bowled.

A new delivery waits until the previous ball has gone. Fours, sixes and milestones add a wait before the next ball while you can still move the bat. Each innings takes place in daylight or under floodlights.

Sound and haptics

Settings › Feedback has separate Sound and Haptics switches. Sound controls both cricket effects and the quiet crowd ambience. The crowd continues through dismissal, the final scorecard and replay. It stops in the main menu, during pause and READY, and while the app is in the background.

If you cannot hear the game, check the Sound switch, your iPhone's volume and Silent mode. Howzat respects Silent mode and mixes its sound with music you are already playing. Its cricket recordings are bundled with the app and work offline.

Scores and Game Center

Tap the trophy to open Scores:

• Career shows your best innings and local lifetime statistics. Detailed totals cover completed innings saved with a full scorecard.
• Bowlers compares your results against Spinner, Medium and Fast. Its painted pitch heatmap shows first-bounce length, with Runs / ball, Balls and Outs views. Tap a band or use the previous/next buttons to inspect its exact results.
• Recent shows the latest 10 of up to 20 saved innings. Recorded career totals continue after older cards leave the list.
• Worldwide shows optional Game Center personal-best rankings. These are best-innings runs, not worldwide career totals or an average of every innings.

Career, Bowlers and Recent work offline. Bowler analysis covers completed innings recorded with that feature; abandoned innings and older history do not fill in missing results. To use Worldwide, connect to the internet and choose Sign in to Game Center in Scores or Settings if needed. An account already signed in to Game Center can submit scores automatically. You can play the whole game without Game Center.

Earlier installs may have only partial score history. Missing dates, balls or shot counts are shown as unavailable rather than guessed or treated as zero. There is no iCloud sync for the local scorebook.

Why does strike rate not change with every delivery?

The bracketed number on the scoreboard counts every delivery bowled. Strike rate uses the delivery count at the latest scoring or dismissal event and is rounded down to two decimal places.

Optional tips and reviews

Settings › About › Support Development offers five one-time tip options through Apple's In-App Purchase system. Tips are optional and unlock no content or features. Apple handles payments and purchase history; Howzat keeps a local verified-transaction record for the thank-you count.

The tip sheet uses a light paper background in either device appearance. Larger accessibility text places each price below its explanation; scroll to read all five options. In an iPad compatibility window, the game keeps a horizontal field and the sheets fit the available window.

After five consecutive days with a completed innings and an innings of at least 50 runs, Howzat may request Apple's review sheet after you return to Main Menu. Requests are at least 120 days apart, limited to two in a rolling 365 days, and require a newer app version. Apple decides whether to show the sheet and does not tell Howzat whether you rated the game.

See the privacy policy for the local records used by these features and how data deletion works.