Event Information

RunSignup’s free RaceDay Mobile Timing App has evolved. Now rebranded as RaceDay Mobile, Version 6 reflects the app’s expanded capabilities that serve both timers and race organizers. This session will walk you through the latest updates and show you how to leverage the app’s growing feature set.

• Learn about the new branding and why RaceDay Mobile Timing is now RaceDay Mobile
• Discover updates to Announcer Mode for delivering real-time participant data to announcers at the finish line or throughout the course
• Explore enhancements to Photo Capturing including automated interval capture and seamless integration with results
• See improvements to Backup and Scoring features that make manual timing and backup operations more reliable
• Walk away with practical knowledge to implement these tools at your next event

Who should attend: Timers and race organizers looking to maximize the RaceDay Mobile App’s capabilities

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Summary of Webinar

Why the Name Change?

The app has grown well beyond timing. Features like announcer display and photo capture aren’t timing functions, and the rebrand to RaceDay Mobile better reflects where the product is headed. Expect more non-timing features to be added going forward.

Three Core Features

1. Real-Time Announcer Mode

Announcers are one of the highest-impact elements of a race day experience. Hearing your name called as you cross the finish line is memorable and keeps participants coming back. RaceDay Mobile’s announcer tool integrates directly with RaceDay Scoring over a local network — chip reads flow in real time to any connected mobile device on the same network.

Key benefits:

• Works on phones and tablets, giving announcers the freedom to move around rather than being tied to a laptop
• Displays a card view with participant name, finish time, age group, hometown, and any custom data fields configured in RaceDay Scoring
• Simple, clean interface designed to minimize what stands between the announcer and calling the name

2. Automated Race Photos

Photos have become a core part of why people participate in events — they want to share the experience. RaceDay Mobile makes it easy to capture and automatically tag photos without professional photography equipment.

How it works:

• Any volunteer or staff member with a device running the app can take photos
• Photos upload automatically to RunSignup, where bib numbers are detected and participants are tagged automatically
• Tagged photos appear on each participant’s individual results page
• Multiple bibs in a single photo are all detected and tagged

Coming in Version 6: Photo capture triggered by chip reads from RaceDay Scoring — when a read is detected at a defined location, the app automatically snaps a photo. No manual tapping required.

Coming later (summer): Human detection auto-capture — the app detects a person entering a defined area in the camera frame and triggers the photo automatically, independent of chip data.

Photo management is handled entirely on the RunSignup platform, not on the device. Photos are removed from device storage as soon as they successfully upload. If photos appear stuck on the device, check the on-screen indicators and contact support before deleting the event. Improvements to platform-side photo management (bulk delete, download, album moving) are in final review and coming soon.

Device recommendation: iPad mini or similar tablet. Aim for 8GB RAM minimum; no less than 4GB. Use dedicated company-owned devices rather than personal phones to control who can upload photos to your event.

3. Backup Timing

Backup timing is a best practice for any timer. Participants want results posted quickly, and a backup time is always better than no time.

Today: RaceDay Mobile records backup times and sends them to a Dropbox folder, which can be pulled into RaceDay Scoring as a stream. Best practice is to assign this stream to its own dedicated timing location so backup reads can be reviewed via a data check rather than mixed into main scoring.

Coming soon (within 1–2 months): Photo-based backup timing — RaceDay Scoring will pull tagged photo data (bib number + timestamp) from RunSignup and use it to automatically generate backup reads. Combined with chip-triggered photo capture, this creates a nearly fully automated backup timing workflow requiring minimal manual interaction.

Important: Photo-based backup is a supplement to chip timing, not a replacement. Bibs that aren’t visible in photos won’t be captured, just like manual backup timing. This is designed to reduce missed reads at the margins, not eliminate the need for chip hardware.

Key Takeaways

• RaceDay Mobile is no longer just a timing app — it’s a full race day toolkit covering announcer, photos, and backup timing
• The announcer tool integrates with RaceDay Scoring in real time and works on any mobile device on the same local network
• Auto photo capture triggered by chip reads is coming in Version 6; human detection auto-capture follows in summer
• Photo-based automated backup timing is coming to RaceDay Scoring within 1–2 months
• All photo management (tagging, albums, deletion) happens on the RunSignup platform, not on the device
• Remind participants to wear their bib on the front, fully visible, and raise their hands at the finish line