Accuracy, honestly
How accurate is it?
SwingDino gives you good estimates for training and fun. It is a trend tracker, not a radar gun. For tee work in good light, our modeling puts your exit velo within a few mph, and it is built to be repeatable so your progress over time is real. We're validating against a pro radar next, and we'll publish exactly how close we get.
Off a tee, in good light. Slow and medium swings are the sweet spot, in our own testing, that's where the estimate is tightest and most repeatable session to session.
Most backyard and cage sessions with a bright, clear view of the ball crossing the screen.
The very hardest adult swings (90+ mph), dim or indoor light, and soft toss, where the ball moves toward or away from the camera. We flag low-confidence sessions instead of hiding them.
The receipts
We ran every test clip we own through the app, and published the misses.
Our whole test library, ages 4 to adult, baseball and softball, backyard and a dirt field, run through the exact pipeline that ships in the app. No cherry picking: here is what it measured and, more importantly, what it refused to measure.
The 8 refusals, in the app's own words
This is the part we're proudest of. One clip produced a believable 87 mph number from something that wasn't the ball, and the app threw it out instead of showing it. A blank beats a fake, every time.
- 87 mphImplausibly high. Likely a decoy, so no number was shown.
- 45 mphThe tracked flight was not straight. Probably not the ball, so no number.
- 26 mphThe tracked flight was not straight. Probably not the ball, so no number.
- no readFlight found, but it failed the plausibility gates.
- no readFlight found, but it failed the plausibility gates.
- no readFlight found, but it failed the plausibility gates.
- no readNo clean ball flight was tracked at all.
- no readNo clean ball flight was tracked at all.
One anchor swing from this set was cross checked two independent ways, from ball physics frame by frame and against the sound of contact, and both agreed with the app's read. Radar gun validation is the next step, and those results go here too, win or lose. Numbers only: the video itself is measured then deleted.
Want to test it yourself? Got a radar in the bat bag? Run ten swings with your phone next to it.
Join the free betaHow it measures your swing
Your phone films at 240 frames a second. You calibrate once so it learns the distance and your ball's size, then, on every frame, the ball acts as its own ruler. Because it knows exactly how big a baseball or softball is, it re-checks the scale on every single frame instead of trusting one setup. That is what keeps a pulled or inside-out ball from throwing the number off.
Why consistency is the headline
One hard swing is luck; ten hard swings is a skill. So instead of obsessing over a single number, we track how tightly your exit velo clusters across a session. A steady 70 mph beats a one-off 80 with a bunch of mishits. It is the truest sign you are actually getting better, and the hardest thing for a cheap radar gun to show you.
When it would rather say nothing
The app only shows a number when the camera actually tracked the ball through enough of its flight. A read that came from a short or messy track is marked rough, and a swing it could not see cleanly gets no number at all, just a tip on the fix. A shaky read can never sneak in and crown a personal record. We would rather hand you fewer numbers than one confident wrong one. We learned exactly where this line should sit by filming a real family of six and watching which swings measured clean and which did not.
What changes the reading
The single biggest factor is not the phone, it is the light. A bright scene keeps the ball sharp; a dark cage smears it and widens the estimate. Setup matters too: a steady, level phone set to the side, aimed across the plate so the ball crosses the screen, gives the cleanest read. And a handful of swings beats one, because we band your session, not a single cut.
Accuracy questions
How accurate is SwingDino?
For tee work in good light, our modeling puts exit velocity within a few mph, and it is built to be repeatable so progress over time is real. It is a trend tracker, not a radar gun. Radar validation is the next step and the results get published here, win or lose.
Why did my swing not get a number?
Because the camera did not track the ball cleanly enough to trust the read. SwingDino refuses a bad read instead of showing a confident wrong number. Better light, a steadier phone, and a side-on angle fix most no-reads.
Does it work in a batting cage or indoors?
Light is the single biggest factor. A bright cage works; a dim one smears the ball and widens the estimate, and the app flags low-confidence sessions instead of hiding them.
Is the video of my kid stored anywhere?
No. The video is measured then deleted, on the phone. Only the numbers are kept.
Our promise
We would rather show you a number that is a touch low than one that is inflated. SwingDino is for training and fun, not official measurement, and never a medical or performance guarantee. As we test against pro radar guns, we will publish exactly how close we get, by age and setup, right here. And we only show the numbers a phone can honestly earn, here's why we show fewer of them →
