Bullseye Match - free app for Android, iOS and Windows

First topic message reminder :

https://bullseyematch.app

Over the past few years, and with the help of my team and others, I've developed a new app to run the audio and timing for our bullseye matches, as well as other scoring and training functions. With the pandemic situation, as well as the recent non-availability of other apps, I feel it's time to do my part to help promote our sport.

So I'm releasing Bullseye Match, a free app which runs on Android, iOS and Windows. It looks and runs nearly identically on all three, with only small feature differences depending on platform. I truly hope everyone can run it, and enjoy it.

As of today, the Android, iOS and Windows versions are up and available on the app stores, in all markets worldwide.

Click: Links to store downloads for all platforms

Feel free to discuss here! I'm looking forward to hear what you all have to say about it, and suggest for its future.

The web page has a lot more information, including usage guide, privacy policy, history and device/OS requirements etc. Here's the pitch from bullseyematch.app

Bullseye Match performs the range officer operations for a course of Precision Pistol. It plays Prep, Slow fire, Timed and Rapid fire range calls for a "300" Gallery or full "600" or "900" Aggregate relay. It is designed to be simple and intuitive for shooters. It can be used for training, timing, or to run an entire match.

Tapping the target plays each string, and the match moves forward automatically. The calls play with regulation timing, followed by the start signal. It counts down the time, plays the stop signal and closing calls, then advances to the next round. If you finish early, tap the target to finish or cancel the round. Another tap begins the next relay, until all stages are fired.

Buttons indicating the upcoming round can be used to skip, replay or change the sequence manually. The buttons will slide to display the match clearly and make selection easy. Timer functions are available for self-timing, drills, and match preparation.

The app also provides a scoring calculator for B2, B3, B6, B8 and B16 targets, with ring scores, X count and Alibi corrections. It can capture photographs of scored targets, watermarking them with the date, time and any scoring information.

All types of audio are supported, including bluetooth, and mixed with any other streams, so it can be used while listening to other audio, if desired. Selfie-type clickers for remote control work too, great for use in club matches!

Target turning can also be controlled from the app. The PTTC Personal Target Turning Controller from Freedom Technologies is supported, initially.

And:

Bullseye Match is FREE and without ads.

We hope you enjoy using it, which was developed with the team at Riverside Gun Club. The author enjoys sharing it with the bullseye community everywhere. Please use it to support bullseye shooting activities!

The photos are stored in your phone's photo album, the app creates a new "Bullseye Match" folder that they all go into. Assuming you gave the app permission of course.

The photos are watermarked with the selected round name, and score you entered, if any. The date and time are the same for all targets in the "session", which is chosen when you take the first picture. You can reset it in the pop-up menu at any time. Filenames match the above info.

The app does not currently keep the detailed scores in any kind of log or database. I'm considering ways to do that, without getting too messy.

Thanks Tom, I uninstalled the app, then reloaded it. I took my targets and scored again and took the pictures again, it worked perfectly. I really like this app.
Stan

chopper wrote:Thanks Tom, I uninstalled the app, then reloaded it. I took my targets and scored again and took the pictures again, it worked perfectly. I really like this app.
Stan

Ok, good to hear. iPhones are a little more picky than Androids in how they manage permissions. If you ever deny a permission on the iPhone, your decision "sticks" and the app is not allowed to ask again. You have to manually go into the phone permission settings for the app and enable them. Of course, uninstalling and reinstalling is also a way to reset, so you're good.

The app does warn you if it lost a permission however, so I'm not certain that's what happened, but it's my best guess. Of course, I am assuming yours is an iPhone!

No, it's an Android, a samsung edge 7, never had a apple.
Stan

Great app for practicing! Thanks so much for sharing, you are truly a credit to the bullseye community!

Great App TOM,
I only heard about it this morning, downloaded it and ran off to the range, not far from your club, to try it.
Works great.
I like that you have;
different match points, 300, 600 & 900
different target distances and their corresponding targets
different calls, Match, Ready & none
choice of signals, Tone, Horn, Bell, Buzzer
it keeps the phone/tablet awake
other items are cool, I just don't use them.

I do like your scoring and photo portion, it felt a little cumbersome but in hind site probably no more than manually scoring.
Really like that you add the date, time and score to the images.
Works really well with bluetooth, I had another app where the end buzzer was shorter than the bluetooth lag, so you never got to hear it. With yours, it's flawless.

The only slight difficulty that I had was actually finding the photos. I finally found them in Bullseye Match folder inside the pictures folder which is contained in the internal storage memory.
I don't use the internal storage when I have the option.

So my only suggestion is, that it would be nice to allow the user to choose where to store images. "Internal storage" or "SD card"
Really not a big deal now that I found them.

All in all, a great job well done. Thanks for all the work you have put into this.
Sending it to everyone I know in the Nashoba Valley Pistol League so they can easily practice seeing as we canceled the season.

Best ragrds,
Dany

Thanks! Couple of things:

dpelletier wrote:Works really well with bluetooth, I had another app where the end buzzer was shorter than the bluetooth lag, so you never got to hear it. With yours, it's flawless.

I'm glad you noticed some of the background features, like not going to sleep in the middle of a match

The bluetooth behavior is another one. I discovered a lot of quirks with different BT devices, and tried to implement countermeasures. So far, so good.

The only slight difficulty that I had was actually finding the photos. I finally found them in Bullseye Match folder inside the pictures folder which is contained in the internal storage memory.
I don't use the internal storage when I have the option.

So my only suggestion is, that it would be nice to allow the user to choose where to store images. "Internal storage" or "SD card"
Really not a big deal now that I found them.

I'm guessing you use Android. Yes, it's a little bit of a problem to have "preferred" behavior on all platforms. But my app doesn't actually choose where to put the photos, it simply stores them in whatever your device considers the default photo library. This setting varies a LOT among manufacturers. Does your phone's camera app store in some other place? What brand of phone, and what version of its OS?

All in all, a great job well done. Thanks for all the work you have put into this.
Sending it to everyone I know in the Nashoba Valley Pistol League so they can easily practice seeing as we canceled the season.

Thanks! We're trying for a season in the WCPL, but even as a postal it's a challenge, and for the fall, unofficial.

I hope my app can help keep us all in the game!

-TT- wrote:Thanks! Couple of things:

dpelletier wrote:Works really well with bluetooth, I had another app where the end buzzer was shorter than the bluetooth lag, so you never got to hear it. With yours, it's flawless.

I'm glad you noticed some of the background features, like not going to sleep in the middle of a match

The bluetooth behavior is another one. I discovered a lot of quirks with different BT devices, and tried to implement countermeasures. So far, so good.

The only slight difficulty that I had was actually finding the photos. I finally found them in Bullseye Match folder inside the pictures folder which is contained in the internal storage memory.
I don't use the internal storage when I have the option.

So my only suggestion is, that it would be nice to allow the user to choose where to store images. "Internal storage" or "SD card"
Really not a big deal now that I found them.

I'm guessing you use Android. Yes, it's a little bit of a problem to have "preferred" behavior on all platforms. But my app doesn't actually choose where to put the photos, it simply stores them in whatever your device considers the default photo library. This setting varies a LOT among manufacturers. Does your phone's camera app store in some other place? What brand of phone, and what version of its OS?

All in all, a great job well done. Thanks for all the work you have put into this.
Sending it to everyone I know in the Nashoba Valley Pistol League so they can easily practice seeing as we canceled the season.

Thanks! We're trying for a season in the WCPL, but even as a postal it's a challenge, and for the fall, unofficial.

I hope my app can help keep us all in the game!

I am on Android. Samsung Galaxy Note 8 on Verizon, running Android Version 9.

As for the images, my telephone camera and other apps are set to send stuff to the SD card, I made that change when I got the phone two years ago. So I'm not sure what default setting your app used.

I didn't realize that Bluetooth was so quirky to program, but I am sure glad you took the time to make it work well. I tried it with my old little Logitech speak and it worked great.

NVPL talks about doing a postal league, but it never got off the ground. We're supposed to have a meeting in two weeks, we'll see.

Anyway, thanks again for your hard work... It will be appreciated by many I'm sure.

Dany

dpelletier wrote:So my only suggestion is, that it would be nice to allow the user to choose where to store images. "Internal storage" or "SD card"
Really not a big deal now that I found them.

I looked into this a bit more. It turns out that the app's photo storage location is a little bit special on Android. You are running Android 9, which is Android API level 28 ("P"). And in fact in that case I'm passing a flag that will save photos in your phone's DCIM folder.

I'm reluctant to add an option for internal vs external. For one thing, it's gross. For another, it's Android-specific, and probably even different depending on Android platform customizations. Things changed in "Q". Maybe I can slipstream into some existing system setting, for the downlevel phones.

I'm going to have to do some more research. Thanks for the report.

Thanks for your time into this App, Tom! Since I upgraded my iPhone this was a major void. I’m excited to get back to practicing my first shot for Sustained Fire.

This week I'll shoot a 900 using your app.
Now when I used it last week for a 300, this was my sequence;
Shoot slow, score slow, take picture.
Shoot Timed, score timed, take picture
Shoot Rapid, score rapid, take picture.

Question... I can I just shoot everything and at the end score and photograph?

Thanks.

Tom, Thanks for all the hard work. One thing I always liked about the old Android app was the ability to dry fire while aiming at the phone. The animation of the target turning was helpful. Perhaps a future feature?

dpelletier wrote:Question... I can I just shoot everything and at the end score and photograph?

Yes, absolutely. You can photograph the targets at any time. The timestamp will be a little different, since it's chosen at the time of the first photograph. All targets in the session will share the same one.

You can use the camera icon in the main screen, if you don't want to use the calculator. It will prompt you for a manual score, which you can leave blank.

If you're going to shoot multiple matches, you may want new timestamps and photo filenames. In this case, use "clear scores and reset session" at the bottom of the "capture" popup menu before taking the first picture of the additional strings. You'll know this is needed if/when one or more of the strings has the little "camera check" indication in the menu.

Basically, click the camera icon at the end, and go through your stack of targets then. Or, do it after every one!

mspingeld wrote:Tom, Thanks for all the hard work. One thing I always liked about the old Android app was the ability to dry fire while aiming at the phone. The animation of the target turning was helpful. Perhaps a future feature?

You mean, as part of the Shot Drill function? Hmm, maybe, I'll give it some thought. Right now, I'm getting an update ready that will add a shot drill interval delay, it's going pretty well.

I queued a new build to all three app stores just now, look for it to appear in the next day or two hopefully.

The new Shot Delay interval adds a pause timer, and I came up with a different way of adjusting the times, it's using the existing on-screen buttons. I think they're pretty easy this way, and once you use a setting, it will be remembered for future rounds, so it's set-and-forget, if you like. The Match Prep timer has a similar change. Let me know if you love or hate these!

I also implemented the requested alternative 600, as 2 NMC's, and a 900 as 3 NMC's, too.


1.2 build 103 - 23 November 2020

Fixes:
- Fix huge About section in settings on some devices
- Fix off-center buttons in 600/900 on some devices
- Fix calculator narrow buttons and clipped text on some devices
- Improve clarity for manual score entry when photographing target, also allow cancel
- Corrected turning inhibit when no long line

Enhancements:
- Shot Drill interval delay (0-10 seconds)
- Shot Drill and Prep Time on-screen adjustments
- New matches: 300×2 and 300×3 (2 and 3 NMC's)

Already up, just downloaded it.
On google play.

Thank you very much. I have always been jealous as an Android user of the shooters with the range commands app.

(I put this together a few days ago.  If anything below has changed and I missed it, Sorry!)

I finally looked it over and like a lot of the features, but a couple things came to mind:

1: Is there a way to add silence to the Tone/Buzzer/etc. list?  Are these already silenced when using a turning system?

2: Since this is being offered to the entire Precision Pistol (BE) community, you may want to go through chapter 10 of the rule book and use the rule book commands for consistency in training and across all venues that do follow the rule book commands.  That would be helpful for both new shooters and new Match Directors and allow moving to the app to be more seamless.

Things I like (in no particular order):

1: Clean and simple layout.  My previously mentioned program was too overpowering with separate buttons for everything all over the screen, even though there was a single button that would step through the entire match.

2: App worked in landscape and portrait, instead of forcing one.

3: Audio was very clear. The Caller (Arny Buckman? Any relation to Matthew?) had a good understandable voice.

4: Everything seemed easy to use.

5: The scoring portion was quite helpful.  I can see myself using it for verifying scoresheets when running matches.  However, in landscape, on a tablet, the multiple scoresheet layout made the buttons a bit small.  On my S5, only a single scoresheet was displayed and the buttons were quite comfortable in both portrait and landscape.

Thank you for putting in all the work to make this available across the entire community!

Since I'm not familiar with how this app would interface with hardware to run a turning system, where can I learn about this.  I have made turning systems in the distant past and if I ever was thinking about making more, I would like to be able to make them compatible with your app.  Bluetooth can't work reliably at 25 yards, can it?  I would expect to have to build (or purchase) something to interface between your app and my target.  Could you point me toward something to study?


Great Job!

The 1.2 update is live in all three stores, Apple pushed it just now.

Ed Hall wrote:(I put this together a few days ago.  If anything below has changed and I missed it, Sorry!)

Thanks!!

1: Is there a way to add silence to the Tone/Buzzer/etc. list?  Are these already silenced when using a turning system?

I considered adding Silence and originally thought it made sense. But I found it really confusing to have only a visual start signal. The rulebook requires either a signal or turning target. And, the very last thing I want is for shooters to be looking at the app when shooting. Checking the time, ok. Watching it, nope.

Yes, the signals are silenced when a turning target is in use. But there are some exceptions:

1) If the turning command fails (wifi disconnection, error from the controller, etc), the app will sound the signal instead.

2) If the "long line" string is being shot, i.e. the 50/25yd range selection, and slow fire, the signal is used instead of turning. Except for Camp Perry, this is true of all ranges I have seen. In any case, this can be overridden by selecting any other distance.

I'm open to suggestions if these aren't the best approach. But I don't want to have lots of fiddly little settings for each and every exception. My goal is simplicity!

2: Since this is being offered to the entire Precision Pistol (BE) community, you may want to go through chapter 10 of the rule book and use the rule book commands for consistency in training and across all venues that do follow the rule book commands.  That would be helpful for both new shooters and new Match Directors and allow moving to the app to be more seamless.

Couple of responses here too:

1) These are the calls the way we do them at our club. If this app really catches on nationwide, I'm ok with a broader review!

2) I don't think I have ever heard the calls spoken exactly the same way in two places, even at the National Match. Especially all the extra commands that range officers use depending on the situation, like "magazines out" "guns on the bench" "empty chamber indicator in place" etc etc. I prefer to leave those out entirely, as it really clutters up the script.

I'd love your feedback on the best script, and I'll PM you offline if you're willing.

1: Clean and simple layout.  My previously mentioned program was too overpowering with separate buttons for everything all over the screen, even though there was a single button that would step through the entire match.

2: App worked in landscape and portrait, instead of forcing one.

Thanks, and yep! The app actually will work in a wide range of layouts not limited to phones and tablets. Try the Windows (desktop) version, and resize the window, it's kind of fun.

Believe it or not, I can build this app to run on a Samsung Smart TV. I have in mind that such a thing might hang over the range, where it's visible to all shooters. Does that sound interesting to anyone?

3: Audio was very clear. The Caller (Arny Buckman? Any relation to Matthew?) had a good understandable voice.

He'll be happy to hear this, but I have no idea if he's related. [edit: nope!]

5: The scoring portion was quite helpful.  I can see myself using it for verifying scoresheets when running matches.  However, in landscape, on a tablet, the multiple scoresheet layout made the buttons a bit small.  On my S5, only a single scoresheet was displayed and the buttons were quite comfortable in both portrait and landscape.

So, I struggle with this kind of thing. Screen sizes, and font sizes, are all over the place. What I can say is that the app does its best to fit the scoring boxes in a single vertical stack, or roughly-even horizontal stacks side-by-side, whenever possible. Sometimes, this means wasting some space, or scrolling. But it leads to a consistent experience. The new iPhone SE is especially maddening, by the way. But the app does manage ok on it! Well, now it does.

Buttons are a special problem. They need to be large enough to tap, and tap reliably. This is a huge pain. One thing to mention though, there was a bug in version 1.1 (and not in 1.0 or 1.2) that squished the buttons on some devices. I upgraded a library, and it revealed an issue in my layout definition. Oops.

Another special problem is font size. In addition to being inconsistent across brands, users are allowed to make them HUGE, for accessibility. Again, the app attempts to adjust, without clipping text.

With the current approach, I honestly think I've done the best I can. But maybe there are ways to improve! Any HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) engineers here?

Thank you for putting in all the work to make this available across the entire community!

Since I'm not familiar with how this app would interface with hardware to run a turning system, where can I learn about this.  I have made turning systems in the distant past and if I ever was thinking about making more, I would like to be able to make them compatible with your app.  Bluetooth can't work reliably at 25 yards, can it?  I would expect to have to build (or purchase) something to interface between your app and my target.  Could you point me toward something to study?

Great Job!

Bluetooth can go pretty far in open air. The top-class spec is 100 meters, and regular consumer stuff is still 10m.

Fenton's PTTC uses Wifi, which is what my app interfaces with. His page is here: http://freedomtech.duckdns.org/index_files/pttc.htm

I can add other target turning in the future, if that's of interest. There are tons of USB-type devices that can trigger dry contacts, or bluetooth peripherals for both input and output. Only thing to bear in mind is that this app has no desire to become a feature pit, nor do I want to start writing and maintaining platform- and device-specific code. Other than that, I'd love to support other approaches.

Thanks again for the thoughtful comments.

The silence was really for running turning targets.  If it already does that, then all is good.  Good choice for the goal of simplicity.

Don't try to add in all the extra stuff, like the unload, etc.  The more basic, the better. For matches, unless you expect it to do a lot of the commands, descriptions aren't necessary in the app.  That's where my program was way overdone by supplying everything.  All my current controllers are now limited to only supplying the five standard commands prior to the firing.

PMs are fine,  I've cleaned out some space so there should be room.  Please note that I often take a while to reply.  Many reasons for this.  If I take too long, don't feel bad about, "waking me up."

I should have realized wifi instead of Bluetooth.  I remember now an IP greeted me when I looked at the Custom setting.  If I do research an interface, I'll contact PTTC (Fenton).

Ed Hall wrote:2: Since this is being offered to the entire Precision Pistol (BE) community, you may want to go through chapter 10 of the rule book and use the rule book commands for consistency in training and across all venues that do follow the rule book commands.  That would be helpful for both new shooters and new Match Directors and allow moving to the app to be more seamless.

I reviewed section 10.7 just now. I'm quoting it below, but in a nutshell, the app differs from the text in only the "Load" commands.

The Timed and Rapid Fire rules say "With 5 rounds, load". The app says "Load 5 rounds", which differs, but is perhaps an identical command.

The Slow Fire states a more complete description, "10 shots flow fire, 10 shots in 10 minutes, load". The app however uses the same "Load 5 rounds" as it does for timed and rapid, but states in the intro that 10 rounds may be loaded.

At my club, we use the modified load commands because our range box did them this way (https://www.bullseyematch.app/history). I rather prefer them, because they're shorter, not repetitive, and they preserve the same cadence for all the rounds. And of course we're all used to them. But I guess I could be convinced to recite the load commands to the word. As I said earlier though, I'm skeptical that these exact words are used faithfully in matches. I'd also have to convince Arny to record them, mind you!

Another possibility is to play simply "Load" for the Slow Fire round, since the 10 shots part is in the intro, prior to "shooters to the line". This seems too brief a command, to me.

NRA Precision Pistol Rules wrote:...
10.7 Firing Line Procedures and Commands

When ready to start the firing of a match the Range Officer commands “RELAY NO.1, MATCH NO._ (or naming the match), ON THE FIRING LINE.” The competitors in that relay immediately take their assigned places at their firing points and prepare to fire but do not load. The Range Officer then states “THE PREPARATION PERIOD STARTS NOW.” Range Officers check the location of each competitor as to correct firing point by comparing the number of each competitor’s firing point with the relay and target number on the score card or on the range assignment card. At the end of the 3 minute preparation period the Range Officer states “THE PREPARATION PERIOD HAS ENDED.”

The Range Officer having made sure that the range is clear (in timed and rapid fire the targets must be turned out of firing position) then commands “WITH 5 ROUNDS LOAD.”

NOTE: In slow fire events, which are scored after 10 shots, the command should be “10 SHOTS SLOW FIRE, 10 SHOTS IN 10 MINUTES, LOAD.” (The number of rounds to be loaded by the competitor in slow fire stages will be determined by the competitor.)

The Range Officer then asks, “IS THE LINE READY?” Any competitor who is not ready or whose target is not in order will immediately raise the nonshooting arm and call, “Not ready on target....

The Range Officer will immediately state, “THE LINE IS NOT READY,” and the Range Officer will immediately investigate the difficulty and assist in correcting it. When the difficulty has been corrected, the Range Officer calls, “THE LINE IS READY.”

When the Range Officer asks “IS THE LINE READY?” and the line is ready, he then calls, “THE LINE IS READY.”

The Range Officer then commands, “READY ON THE RIGHT. READY ON THE LEFT.” Competitors may point their guns toward the target after the command, “Ready on the right.” The Range Officer will then command, “READY ON THE FIRING LINE.” In approximately 3 seconds the targets will be exposed, or the signal to commence firing will be given. The Range Officer then commands “COMMENCE FIRING” which means to start without delay as timing of the string is started with this command. “COMMENCE FIRING” may be signaled verbally, or by a short sharp blast on a whistle or by moving the targets into view.

“CEASE FIRING” is the command given by the Range Officer at the end of time limit for each string or at any other time all firing is to cease. FIRING MUST CEASE IMMEDIATELY. Even if a competitor is about to let off a carefully aimed shot the competitor must not fire and open the action of the gun. Failure to immediately obey this command is one of the worst infractions of range discipline. On this command cylinders shall be opened or slides locked back, empty chamber indicator inserted, and all guns placed on the shooting stand and not handled until the next command of the Range Officer. “Cease Firing” may be signaled verbally, or by a short sharp blast on a whistle or by moving the targets out of view.

When the command to cease firing is given at the end of a string the command is “CEASE FIRING - ARE THERE ANY REFIRES? (IF A SHOOTER EXPERIENCES A MALFUNCTION, THE SHOOTER SHALL RAISE NON-SHOOTING HAND AND NOT ATTEMPT TO CLEAR PISTOL UNTIL IT HAS BEEN CLEARED BY A RANGE OFFICIAL) - UNLOAD - CYLINDERS OPEN - MAGAZINES OUT - SLIDES BACK - EMPTY CHAMBER INDICATORS IN PLACE - GUNS ON THE TABLE.” The Range Officer then asks “IS THE LINE SAFE ON THE RIGHT? IS THE LINE SAFE ON THE LEFT?” On this command all Assistant Range Officers and scorers check their competitors to make sure each one obeys the command before signaling the Range Officer that their portion of the firing line is safe. When all Assistant Range Officers and scorers have given a signal that the range is safe, the Range Officer commands “THE LINE IS SAFE, GO FORWARD, SCORE TARGETS AND PASTE” (or “CHANGE”).

When the Range Officer has ascertained that all personnel have returned to the firing line after scoring or changing targets, the command “THE RANGE IS CLEAR, YOU MAY HANDLE YOUR GUNS” will be given.

Other commands used less frequently are:

“POLICE FIRING POINTS” means pick up fired cartridge cases, empty cartridge cartons and “tidy-up” the firing line.

“AS YOU WERE” means disregard the command just given. For example, if the commands were given “READY ON THE LINE RIGHT” followed by “AS YOU WERE” it would mean someone was not ready. “CARRY ON” means proceed with whatever was being done before some interruption occurred.

Should a target blowout of the frame or otherwise become unserviceable the Range Officer will report the condition immediately to the Chief Range Officer who will issue such commands and directions as seem advisable.

Note: Commands controlling the start of the firing sequence commencing with “Ready on the Right” should have approximately a 3 second interval between firing line commands.

True, the commands are pretty close, but things like, "pistols down" is a local venue command and probably should be replaced with,"Cease Firing" for national distribution.  I don't want to cause friction with Coach Buckman or yourself, but just suggested the standard set of commands as something to consider for across the BE community consistency.

Your app is a great app and you guys put in some effort.  The last thing I want to do is chill you in your project.

Keep up the great work.

Great App thank You

Update to version 1.3 queued to all stores. Some UI improvements, no major new functionality (for now!). But check out the new Settings screen.