DashTag turns your Apple Watch into a football player tracker

DashTag wants to make it easier for more footballers to track performances on the pitch with its new Apple Watch app.

The free app makes use of the startup's own algorithms and Apple's onboard sensors to track data, which is largely driven through sprints. So, it'll record top speed, acceleration, distance covered, stamina, number of sprints and steps.

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It can then use that data to offer insights for players and coaches into a player's workload, intensity levels and endurance. When we spoke to its co-founder Dirk Van den Berg last year about DashTag's first football tracking device, he gave us some insights on why it's focused on sprints for its algorithms.

"From sprints we can say something about player stamina. So if you cannot maintain high intensity sprints when the match is getting to the end, for instance," he told us.

Before the Watch app, DashTag's software was packed into a clip-on wearable that was worn on your shorts. It opted against the kind of vest and pod-style design that Catapult and StatSports player tracking systems use to track performance. The move to an Apple Watch app for its player-centric system is with a view of making that performance data accessible to more players for the first time.

DashTag is also embracing augmented reality to deliver those performance metrics using Apple's ARKit platform to display how your performances compare to pro players. Users will be able to see how to set up training drills and record sprint videos that can be compared to the game's elite to see how you match up.

The DashTag Apple Watch is set to launch in the Fall and will be available for free. There will be the option of a $1.99 subscription, which gives you access to features like personal coaching and personalised adaptable exercises.

It's an interesting move from the startup whose story started back in 2015. Originally from the Netherlands, it had a high profile development partner in the shape of Dutch football giants PSV Eindhoven to help deliver a system that players would want to use.

Whether moving from the shorts to the wrist will pay off will be interesting to see. After all, wearing watches and jewellery is often not encouraged in training and games. Apple Watches aren't exactly cheap either. Maybe DashTag will see more smartwatches on the football pitch if it really has come up with something groundbreaking with its Apple Watch app.