Explanation of the Switch to Team App

For many years, our organization used RainedOut to send text & email alerts to our parents & players. It as always free which allowed us to use the service without increasing player registration fees. In an effort to prevent increasing fees and to align more with current communication trends, we are going to try out a mobile app for smartphones (available on both Google Play & the App Store). This app is free for everyone who uses it and it gives us more features. Instead of receiving text messages from PYS or your coaches, you will now receive push notifications similar to those you receive from other apps on your phone. If you do not have a smartphone, you can still sign up for the app and will receive emails instead of push notifications. Additionally, anyone will be able to send a message or start a chat room. This will allow parents to message each other, coaches to contact their team members, PYS to send out messages to all members, and more.  We are excited to give this new communication method a try! Since this is new to us as well, we ask for your patience as we work through any initial issues. Please let us know if you have any issues and we will do our best to help.

Using the Portage Youth Softball Team App

NOTE: We are working on an updated user guide and hope to release it soon. The update will cover any issues we have already encountered and better explain the necessary steps to get started with Team App.

Note: All screenshots below are from the Android/Google Play version of the app. The process should be similar for this using iPhones/App Store. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us.

1.   Download "Team App" from either Google Play or the App Store.

2.   ​Select "Log In or Sign Up" as shown. In order to keep our app in your Team App and to receive notifications, you will need to be signed in. You can sign up using email or sign in with an existing Google or Facebook account.

Step 2

Step 2

3.   Once signed in, find our Team App by selecting "Find your Team", searching for "Portage Youth Softball", and selecting it

Step 3

Step 3

4.   In order to keep our app within your account, you will need to request to join our app by clicking the banner that appears at the top of the screen

Step 4

5.   When prompted, check the box to give us access to your membership details and then fill in the required information. Only name and email address are required. Photo (profile picture) and Phone (phone number) are optional. Select "Save" to officially join our app.

Step 5

6.   You have now officially joined our app. If you close Team App and then open it, you should see our app saved to your account. If not, follow steps 3-5 again. You are now set to receive all public announcements and alerts sent by PYS by default. In order to receive team or event specific events, you will need to join one or more access groups. You will be informed that you have not requested access to any groups. To do so, select the settings icon in the top right and select "Access Groups". Select any groups that you wish to join. Note: Each team will have its own access group after registration so that coaches can send alerts directly to their team through the app. No teams are viewable right now. We will send out a public announcement one teams are available for you to access. Once added to Access Groups, you will be able to see information for those groups/teams and will receive notifications for those groups/teams by default.

Step 6

Step 6

Most features of the app are self-explanatory and easy to use/understand. However, if you have any questions, please contact us. If enough people have questions, we can create more detailed instructions.

If you do not have a smartphone, but would like to join the app, you may do so via the website version of the app which will allow you to receive email updates instead of push notifications. To do so, visit the Team App website and follow the directions as detailed above.