RSA TestThe 40 m sprint test, timed by two iPhones.
No timing gates to buy, hire or carry. One phone at the start line, one at the finish line, and the phones you already own do the job: their clocks agree to a fraction of a millisecond, each camera fires as the umpire crosses its line, and every sprint is judged against the panel target with a still of both crossings kept as evidence.
Free. No account. Nothing leaves your devices.
The expensive part of this test is the timing.
Electronic timing gates cost hundreds to thousands of dollars a pair, and then have to be charged, carried, aligned and paired every time you test. Most umpires and clubs never see a set, so they fall back on a handheld stopwatch, with all the reaction-time error that brings.
RSA Test replaces the gates with two iPhones or iPads you already own. Stand one at each line on a tripod, link them, and you have a pair of gates that measure to a couple of milliseconds, keep a picture of every crossing, and print the results sheet.
What you need
- Two iPhones or iPads, iOS 17 or later. Any mix.
- Two tripods or stands, or a bench and a book.
- A 40 m course with the lines marked.
- A third phone to film the test, as the guidelines require.
That is the whole kit list.
Two phones, one link, four steps.
1. Stand the gates
A phone on a tripod at the 0 m line and another at 40 m, two to three metres to the side, looking across the line. Line the red line on the screen up with the line on the ground.
2. Link them
The finish phone shares its Personal Hotspot; the start phone joins it. The app keeps both clocks agreed to well under a millisecond for the whole session, so a 40 m gap costs nothing.
3. Set the gates
Tap Gates set. The umpire goes when ready. The start camera fires as the first part of their body crosses its line, the finish camera fires at the other end, and the time appears against the panel target.
4. Recover, repeat
A 60 s recovery countdown runs while the umpire walks back. Six sprints, a seventh if exactly one fails, and the app calls the result the way the guidelines do.
Hand timing as a fallback
If a gate misfires, void the sprint and run it again, or type a stopwatch time. Manual times are marked as such on the results sheet.
iPhone or iPad
Any mix of recent iPhones and iPads works. The camera runs at up to 240 frames per second, in portrait, so the gate line is read out by the sensor at a single instant.
Measured, not assumed.
We built RSA Test from three experiments on real devices before writing the app.
- Clock agreement. Two devices linked over a hotspot agreed to 0.2 ms across a full hockey pitch, with no drift because the link runs continuously.
- Gate detection. Two gates watching the same crossing on one line differed by 2.4 ms across passes, which is 1.7 ms per gate.
- Calibration. Any fixed offset between two particular devices is measured once, with both on one line, and subtracted from every sprint.
Commercial single-beam gates trigger on whatever breaks the beam first. RSA Test does the same, the first body part across the line, so results line up with what umpires are used to.
Panel targets
| Panel | Women | Men |
|---|---|---|
| Leading, High Potential, Centre | 6.6 s | 6.2 s |
| International | 6.8 s | 6.4 s |
Anyone can run the test; these targets are the ones the FIH sets for its umpires (guidelines updated July 2025). A sprint passes at or under the target.
What the witness signs off on.
A still of every crossing
Each gate keeps the frame it fired on, with the gate line, the detected edge, the sprint number, the gate and the time burned in. The start gate's still travels to the finish device automatically.
A results sheet
Umpire, panel, target, every sprint with pass or fail, the verdict, and signature lines for the umpire and the witness, as a PDF you can share with the National Association.
Six months, on your device
Every test is kept in a folder with its stills and data. Share it, back it up, or delete it. Film the whole test with a third camera as the guidelines require; the stills show what happened at each line.
Questions
Do I still need timing gates?
No. The two devices are the gates. That is the point: the test itself is free to run once you have two phones or iPads and somewhere to stand them.
Do I need two devices?
Yes, one at each line. Any recent iPhone or iPad running iOS 17 or later. They talk over the finish device's Personal Hotspot, or any Wi-Fi network they both join.
Does it work in daylight and on any surface?
The camera watches a band at torso height and ignores things far behind the line. Bright sun behind the camera is best; avoid pointing a camera into low sun. A tripod or anything that holds the phone still is essential.
How accurate is it compared with electronic gates?
Under 2 ms per gate in our measurements, which is well inside what commercial beam gates achieve once you account for which body part breaks the beam. The app measures its own accuracy: put both devices on one line and walk through.
Is it accepted for FIH submissions?
The guidelines ask for recorded times from electronic gates or handheld stopwatches, with video. RSA Test gives you both a time and a picture of each crossing. Whether your National Association accepts a camera-gate result is their call; ask them before test day.
Where does my data go?
Nowhere. Names, times and stills stay on the finish device unless you share them. There is no account and no server. Read the privacy policy.
Get RSA Test
Free on the App Store for iPhone and iPad.
Runs the Yo-Yo test too? That is YoYo, the sister app.