Manual
The owner’s manual
This manual covers safety, setting up, care and the small print.
Matchbox is in a private beta. A beta Matchbox is hand-built, so if yours came with a note about power or its buttons, that note wins.
Thank you for your Matchbox. It shows live matches as light: the pitch, the ball, the score and the moments that matter, across a room. The app sets it up and decides what it shows.
Important safety information
Read these before you plug in or hang your Matchbox.
Power
- Plug the charger into a wall outlet that is easy to reach, so you can unplug it quickly.
- Don’t use a charger, a cable or a Matchbox that is damaged. If the charger, the cable or the Matchbox has been dropped, crushed or wet, unplug it and contact us.
- For indoor use only. Keep the Matchbox, its charger and its cable away from water, rain and damp places, such as a bathroom.
Heat
- The LED panels get warm in use. That is normal.
- Leave space around the Matchbox, and don’t cover it or hang anything over it. Don’t put it near a heater, a fireplace or in direct sunlight for long.
Children
- The Matchbox is not a toy.
Setting it up
- Plug it in. It wakes up and says HELLO, then shows its name, a six-digit code and ENTER THE CODE ON YOUR PHONE.
- Open the app. Make an account, then pick your club, your competitions and any other teams you follow. Then the app finds your Matchbox nearby, and your phone asks for the six-digit code on the wall. Your Wi-Fi name and password go in once, from the app. The wall says JOINING and your network’s name, then restarts by itself and takes it from there.
- Hang it, or stand it.
What you need:
- Wi-Fi on 2.4 GHz with an internet connection.
- An iPhone with the Matchbox app.
- A free Matchbox account.
The matches reach your Matchbox from our service, over the internet.
One account controls a Matchbox. Every phone that changes it signs in to that account. An account made with Sign in with Apple signs in with Apple on phones with the same Apple ID; for any other phone, give it a password first, from the phone that set up your Matchbox: note the email under Account (Settings, then your Matchbox), tap Sign Out, then Sign In, Forgot Password? and Use My Matchbox. The help centre has the steps.
Your Wi-Fi password goes straight from your phone to the Matchbox. It is never sent to us.
Power
- The Matchbox has no battery. It needs to be plugged in.
- It updates itself over Wi-Fi. While it says UPDATING and KEEP IT PLUGGED IN, leave it plugged in.
The buttons
On a beta Matchbox there are four buttons: UP, DOWN, BOOT and RESET. “One button” is UP or DOWN, never BOOT; “both buttons” are UP and DOWN; and tap RESET once, never twice.
| To | Do this | The wall says |
|---|---|---|
| See which Matchbox it is | Press either button once | Its name (MBOX-…) and its software version, for a few seconds |
| Pair it again (new Wi-Fi) | Hold one button and tap reset once | Its name, a six-digit code and ENTER THE CODE ON YOUR PHONE |
| Reset it completely | Hold both buttons as you plug it in, about ten seconds | FACTORY RESET, KEEP HOLDING, then EVERYTHING FORGOTTEN |
A complete reset forgets your Wi-Fi, the phones it knew, your club and the secret code it keeps. Let go before the line fills and nothing changes.
What the wall tells you
| It says | It means |
|---|---|
| NO CONNECTION, and SINCE with a time | It has lost its own connection to the internet. It keeps trying by itself, and may restart while it does. |
| NO SCORES | Your Matchbox is fine; the scores have stopped arriving from our service. It carries on when they come back. |
| NO FEED, with a count | The match’s data has paused. The count says for how long. |
| NO BALL DATA | The ball’s position has paused. The score and the clock are still live. |
| REPLAY and a date | It is playing back a match from that day, not a live one. |
| QUIET HOURS | Your club is playing in your quiet hours, and you let it wake the wall. |
| CAN’T JOIN, or CAN’T FIND, and your network’s name | It couldn’t get onto your Wi-Fi. The app says what to try. |
| COULD NOT REGISTER | Contact us. |
The full list, and what to do about each, is in the help centre.
Everyday use
You change everything from the app’s Settings:
- Brightness;
- Quiet Hours, when it dims and rests, and whether your club’s matches wake it;
- Spoiler Delay: the wall runs a minute behind, for a stream that runs behind;
- Evening Replay.
Care and cleaning
- Unplug the Matchbox before you clean it.
- Dust the front with a soft, dry cloth. Don’t spray anything onto it, and don’t use cleaners, solvents or anything abrasive.
- Don’t press on the LEDs.
- Wipe the frame with a soft, dry cloth.
Updates
Updates arrive over Wi-Fi by themselves. If your club’s match, or a match you’ve pinned, is on, the update waits, for up to four hours.
Open-source software
Your Matchbox’s software, and the Matchbox app, are built with open-source software written by others. For the app, their licences and notices are in the app, under Settings, then Help & Contact, then Licences.
Privacy, help and contact
Privacy. No ads, no tracking, no location. Your Wi-Fi password never reaches us. We keep your email and your Matchbox’s settings so the app and the wall can work, and a 30-day history of what your Matchbox did, so we can help when something goes wrong. The whole policy is our privacy policy.
Help. In the app: Settings, then Help & Contact. The help centre: matchbox.football/help.
Contact. Tethered Solutions LLC · support@matchbox.football. Your Matchbox’s name (MBOX-…) is on the label on its back.
Disposal and recycling
Don’t put your Matchbox, its charger or its cable in household rubbish. Take them to an electronics recycling point.