One Liner Support

How do I play?

Put your finger down on the paper and draw the word without lifting it. The moment you lift, the line is finished and the AI judges it: a tick if it saw the word, a cross if not. Then the next word comes up. How to play, in the bottom corner of the start screen, walks you through it again.

Why didn’t my drawing pass?

A drawing passes when the word is among the AI’s top few guesses. After a miss it says what your drawing looked like to it, which is usually the best clue. It learned from millions of quick doodles, so draw the thing the way most people would: the outline everyone knows, big, and filling the paper. A giraffe wants its long neck, a snail its shell. A few pairs are genuinely close — a bird and a duck, a banana and the moon — so give yours the detail that tells them apart. A scribble, a zigzag or a single stroke is never taken for a word.

It said “Too short — that looked like a tap.”

The line was too small to be a drawing, usually because a finger brushed the paper. It does not use a try. Put your finger down and draw again.

I lifted my finger by accident.

Lifting always finishes the line, and what is there is judged. That is the whole game. In Practice a word you miss comes back at the end of the list, up to three tries.

How does Practice work?

Five random words, 60 seconds, three tries at each. A word you miss or skip goes to the back of the list. The clock stops while a drawing is judged and its result shows, and while the app is in the background. A line you are still drawing when time runs out is judged and counts.

How does Challenge work?

Every word in the game, each once, in your own random order. Every miss and every skip is a strike, and the third ends the run. Your score is the words you passed, then your time: the clock counts up, and stops while each result shows. Your best run is kept on your device, and goes to the Game Center leaderboard if you are signed in.

My score is not on the Game Center leaderboard.

Check that you are signed in to Game Center, in Settings → Game Center. Only Challenge runs go to the leaderboard. If you were signed out when you set a best, it is not lost: sign in and it is sent, or, if you have closed One Liner since, it goes up with the next Challenge run you finish while signed in.

How do I play a friend?

Tap Play a friend, then Open a room, and send your friend the room’s code, its QR code or a link. Your friend taps Play a friend and types the code, points their iPhone’s camera at the QR code, or taps the link.

Then each of you picks 5 words for the other to draw, from a hand of 12. New words deals another hand and keeps the ones you have picked; Pick for me picks five at random and sends them. When both of you are ready, a 3-2-1 countdown starts a 60-second clock for you both.

How is a match won?

Most words passed wins; on a tie, whoever got there first. Each word has three tries, and Skip uses one. Unlike Practice, the match clock never stops, so the moment a result shows costs a little time. The match ends as soon as the winner is certain. Then either of you can ask for a Rematch, with new words.

Can an iPhone play against an iPad?

Yes, any two devices with One Liner. Both need the same version: if you are told you have different versions, update both from the App Store and try again.

My friend can’t get into my room.

• “No room has that code” — check the six digits with each other. A room closes when its host leaves it.
• “That room already has two players” — a room is for two. Open a new one.
• “That room has closed” — rooms left unused are cleared after a few hours. Open a new one.
• “Couldn’t reach the server” — check that both of you are online, then try again.

I closed the app in the middle of a match.

Open One Liner again, tap Play a friend and type the same room code. You are put back into the match, with the drawings you had already made, on the same clock — which kept running while you were away. If your friend loses their connection instead, you will see “Your friend lost their connection”.

How many rooms can I host for free?

Three. A room only counts once its first match starts, so a room nobody joins costs nothing, and rematches in it are free. Joining a friend’s room is always free. After three, Unlimited rooms unlocks hosting for good with a one-time purchase, which Family Sharing shares with your family. Deleting and reinstalling One Liner does not give the free rooms back.

I bought Unlimited Rooms, but it is asking me to unlock again.

Make sure you are signed in with the same Apple Account you bought it with. On the card that asks you to unlock, tap Restore; hosting goes straight on once the purchase is found. If a purchase is “Waiting for approval” from a parent through Ask to Buy, hosting unlocks as soon as it is approved.

How do I share a drawing?

On the results after a Practice round or a Challenge run, tap any drawing. One Liner turns it into a short video of your line drawing itself in, with the word and the verdict, and opens the share sheet. Share in About sends a video of One Liner itself, for telling a friend about it.

Is anything about me collected?

Nothing tied to you. There is no account, and your drawings are judged and saved on your device. When you play a friend, the match goes through Google Firebase so that you can see each other draw, and it is deleted when the room closes. Google receives anonymous gameplay analytics and crash reports; Apple receives your Challenge score if you are signed in to Game Center. There are no ads and no tracking. The privacy policy sets out the whole of it.