Help & guides

Getting started

Install WipCount from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store, open it, and you're in. There is no sign-up form, no email address to hand over and no card to enter. The first month is free and everything is switched on.

The first screen is your project list. It starts empty — the only thing on it is the Import a pattern button.

The app asked for my email. Do I have to give it?

No. After your first chart, and again after your 10th and 30th, the app offers to send you how-to videos, tips and news by email. Tap Skip and nothing changes; after the 30th it never asks again. If you sign up, you get a confirmation email first, and every email has an unsubscribe link. To sign up later, change your address or stop the emails, go to the menu, then Settings, Videos and tips.

Bringing a pattern in

Tap Import a pattern and pick the file from your phone or tablet. WipCount reads the chart out of the file: the grid, the symbols and the colour key. If a page also holds photos or text, or the PDF has pages that are not chart, the app lets you draw a box round the chart or tick the chart pages.

Which files work

File	Works?
A PDF chart from your designer	Yes — this is the usual one
A PDF made for stitching apps (often labelled so in the shop)	Yes, and it reads most reliably
An OXS file	Yes
A photo or scan of a paper chart	No
A picture of the finished design	No — that's not a chart

Some designers include two PDFs with a pattern: a full one to read and print, and a chart-only one meant for apps. If you have both, import the chart-only version.

If one PDF holds more than one design, WipCount shows you each design with its size and stitch count and you tap the one you want, or add them all as separate patterns. If you import a chart you already have, the app tells you it is already in your library instead of making a second copy.

If a pattern won't import

Every publisher lays their PDFs out differently, and we add support for more of them all the time. If yours doesn't come in properly, please tell us which designer it's from — that's genuinely how the list grows.

Marking off stitches

Open a pattern and you'll see the chart. Pinch with two fingers to zoom in and out, and drag with one finger to move around. Zoom right in when you're stitching and pull back when you want to see the whole thing.

The chart opens the way the designer drew it — symbols on white, or on the fabric colour you have chosen on the chart (the layer button at the top left, then Fabric), so a pale thread on dark fabric is never white on white. As you mark squares they fill with their real thread colour and the symbol drops away, so the chart slowly turns into a picture of the finished piece. The row and column numbers stay at the edge of the screen as you move about, even when the printed ruler has scrolled off.

• To mark squares done — with the pen, tap or drag across them. They show as a see-through shade and a bar at the bottom counts them: "12 cells will mark". Tap ✓ to confirm or ✕ to change your mind. Nothing is recorded until you confirm, and the whole batch undoes in one go.
• To mark a block at once — long-press a square and a box opens, snapped to the 10×10 grid. Drag its edges or corners over the block you've finished, then confirm.
• To frog a square — switch to the eraser and tap it. The mark comes off and the square goes back to its symbol on the fabric colour, exactly as it does on your fabric.
• Undo and redo sit with the other tools: in the bar at the bottom of the chart on a phone, across the top bar on a tablet.
• To see it finished — the ✨ button fills every square with its thread colour and hides the symbols, so you can see what the finished piece will look like. Nothing gets marked; tap again to go back.

Cross-stitch and backstitch are separate layers. On a chart with both, a button in the top bar switches between them. The shade squares show in while you're picking them is yours to choose, one per layer — whatever is easiest on your eyes.

Parking a thread

Stitch in the parking style? Long-press a square that has a stitch in it, choose Park a thread, then the corner you've parked the needle in. A small wedge in that thread's colour appears in the corner — up to four on one square. A parked square still counts as unstitched: it's a reminder, not progress. Tap the bin next to a corner to unpark.

What's inside this area?

Long-press a square, choose Analyse area and drag a box. Tap the chart icon and you get every thread inside the box — symbol, number, name, and how many stitches of each are still to do, most first. Handy for deciding which thread to load next. It marks nothing, so it works in the finished preview too.

Working one colour at a time

Most stitchers work a whole colour at a time. Pick the colour from the list — each one shows its symbol, its number and its name, like × 310 Black — and the chart shows just that thread. Everything else steps out of the way until you switch.

The colour list also tells you which brand each colour belongs to — DMC, Anchor and others — and lets you change a colour if you're substituting a different thread from your stash. Where a chart gives a colour in several brands, all of them are kept and you can switch between them.

You can also tap any square in Search mode to bring that colour forward. Its squares fill with their colour so you can find them; the other colours dim rather than vanish, so you can still count holes from where you are. A badge in the top bar names the thread of whichever square you last touched. A pill at the top right says how many of that colour are still to stitch; tap Find and the chart jumps to the unstitched one nearest where you last worked, then the next, until it reads All done.

Some charts use two symbols for the same thread number, or you may point a discontinued thread at one already in the chart. The app treats them as one colour: picking either lights both, the counts add up, and the colour key shows one row for the pair, such as 2 symbols: Z + Y. The pencil on that row asks which symbol you mean.

In Settings you can add diagonal guide lines (slanting either way, or both), a heavier grid line every 5 or 10 squares, and centre markers — arrows on the edges pointing to the middle, a dot at the centre and, if you like, a crosshair — for people who start stitching from the centre. There is also a quadrant view, for working one quarter of the chart at a time.

Your progress and history

Every project keeps track of:

• How far through you are, as a percentage
• The total number of stitches you've completed
• How many you've stitched today
• Your average per stitching day, and a projected finish date worked out from it

A stitching day ends at 3 am, not midnight, so stitches put in after midnight count for the evening before. You can move that hour in Settings, anywhere from midnight to 6 am.

The percentage also shows on your project list, so you can see at a glance where every WIP stands.

A target date

Give a project a date you'd like it finished by — from the chart's stats or from Edit chart info — and the stats show what that means for today: how many stitches to do, how many done, and whether you're ahead. A missed day nudges tomorrow's number up rather than leaving a stale plan, and if the date passes the pill just says so in amber and offers to reschedule. A paused hobby is not a failure.

Stitches you bring in from a progress file (see Keeping your own copy below) count in your total but not in today's count, your average or the projected finish — a small grey line under the counts says how many were imported and when.

The History page — all your projects together

Those figures are for one project at a time. The History page adds up everything you're stitching, so you can see your work as a whole:

• Your running total — every stitch you have made in WipCount, across all your projects
• A month at a time — step back through the months, or jump straight to any month and year
• Day by day within that month, showing which project each bit of stitching belonged to
• An import from a progress file shows on its day as its own line, and is left out of the day and month totals

So if you picked up three different projects over the weekend, you can see the lot together rather than opening each one to add it up yourself.

It is worked out from the chart you have imported. For a pattern that comes out in parts, that means the parts released so far — so 100% means you're up to date, not that the whole design is finished. Add the next instalment and the percentage is worked out again against the bigger chart.

Folders, tags and finding things

Once you have more than a handful of projects, the list gets long. You can:

• Make folders and move projects into them, however suits you
• Tag a project with any label you like
• Mark the ones you love as favourites
• Search by name, or filter to finished, in progress, or favourites — the All chip shows how many charts you have
• Sort the list by date added, last worked on, name, progress or file size, each either way round. The app remembers your choice
• Switch between a list and a grid of big thumbnails, and give any chart your own photo as its thumbnail
• Keep the details with the chart — fabric and its colour, designer, where you got it, who it's for, when you started, a target date and notes

The decisions wheel

Can't choose what to stitch next? Put your projects on the wheel, give it a spin, and let it decide for you. They're already in the app, so there's nothing to type in.

Tap the button in the top corner to choose which projects go on. Everything is on the wheel to begin with, and you can tick them on and off, clear the lot, or tap In progress to load just the ones you've already started.

Working through your WIPs, one at a time

In the same place there's a switch — "Remove each project after it's picked". It's off to begin with, so the wheel can land on the same project again and again if that's what you want.

Turn it on and each winner comes off the wheel once it's been picked, so you work through everything with no repeats. When you've been all the way round, Start again puts them all back.

The wheel remembers where you're up to, so you can work through your WIPs over weeks rather than in one sitting. Close the app and come back — the projects still waiting to be picked are exactly as you left them.

My Stash

A record of what you already own, so you're not buying a second skein of 310.

• Threads — picked from the built-in DMC list, so there are no numbers to type. Other brands you enter by hand
• Fabrics — type, count, colour and notes, plus a photo if you like: take one or pick one from your gallery, and tap it later for a full-size look
• Patterns & kits you own
• Charting companies and designers — your own lists. Tap a name to change it

The stash lives on your device, and for subscribers it is backed up with everything else — photos included.

Backup, sync and a new phone or tablet

Your stitching is saved on your device first, always. Backup happens quietly on top of that — when you leave a pattern, when you close the app, and every few minutes while you're stitching. No internet? It waits and sends later. The app never stops to ask.

What actually gets backed up

Backup is part of the subscription.

• Free month: nothing is saved to the cloud. Your patterns and your stitching live on this phone and nowhere else. Lose the phone and it is gone — so export your progress now and then and keep the file somewhere safe
• Subscribed: everything is saved — your stitching, your pattern files, and the small things: settings, favourites, tags, folders, chart details and target dates, palette edits, My Stash with its fabric photos, the photos you've chosen for charts, the decisions wheel and your history. Sign in on a new phone and it all comes back, with nothing to re-import

If you stop subscribing, we keep your backup for 12 months in case you come back. After that it is deleted. Delete your account and it goes straight away. Whatever is on your own phone is never touched — the phone is always the master copy.

Pattern files are large, so WipCount sends them over WiFi by default and lets your stitching go first. That way an evening's work is never stuck behind a chart.

What the little badge on each project means

Badge	What it means
Backed up	Safely saved in the cloud
Waiting for internet	Saved on this device, not sent yet
Backing up…	Sending now
Couldn't back up	Something's wrong — tap it to see what
No badge at all	You're not signed in, so there's nothing to report

Getting a new phone or tablet

Install WipCount on the new device and sign in with the same Google or Apple account. Your settings, stash, tags, folders and history come down first. Your charts are offered on the Cloud backup screen with a Get my charts back button — press it and they arrive over WiFi, each one prepared as it lands, with its stitching already on it. It's a button rather than automatic because a big chart takes a little while, and you may not want all of them on a phone. Sign in on both devices and they stay in step from then on.

Stitched on two devices while they were both offline? Nothing is lost. Every square you tap is saved on its own, with the time it happened, so the two devices are added together rather than one replacing the other — a square finished on either counts as finished.

They also never have to be online at the same time. Each device sends its stitches whenever it next has internet, and it doesn't matter which one goes first.

Signing in with a different account

Nothing on your phone or tablet is removed. Your charts, your stitching, My Stash, your settings and your history all stay exactly where they are. The account only decides where your backup is kept.

One subscription pays for one email at a time. A new email starts unpaid, so backup pauses. Tap Already subscribed? Restore it and the plan moves to the new email: its backup starts, and the old email stops backing up. Nothing of the old email is deleted. So if you simply used the wrong email, or you change email, you lose nothing and pay nothing extra.

If the device was set up with a different email, the app tells you so before it carries on, and you can go back.

One thing to know: if two people share one device, the second person to sign in will see what is already on it, and can move the plan to their own email with Restore. Only one email is backed up at any time. If you want a device to start empty for someone else, sign out first, then uninstall and reinstall WipCount before they sign in.

Keeping your own copy

You can export your progress to a file at any time and keep it wherever you like. Importing that file puts your completed stitches back onto the pattern. WipCount also reads the progress files other stitching apps export, so work you did in another app comes across with the chart.

Deleting a project

Deleting removes a project from this device, your other devices and the cloud, and there is no undo. Because that can undo months of work in one tap, the app asks first, names the pattern, and tells you how many stitches you would lose.

The free month and subscribing

You get a full month with everything switched on, and we don't ask you for anything to start using WipCount.

At the end of the month, if you haven't subscribed, the app goes read-only. That means you can still open every pattern, see everything you've stitched, and export your progress — you just can't mark new squares, park threads, or bring in new charts or progress files. Tags, folders, notes, the stash, the wheel and your settings all still work. Nothing is deleted and nothing is hidden.

Subscribing is handled by Google Play or the App Store, not by us, so your card details never come near WipCount. It is a yearly plan that renews by itself each year until you cancel, and the store tells you before each renewal. To cancel, you use the same store — see the terms for where to find it. Cancelling stops the next payment; you keep everything until the year you have paid for runs out.

I paid on my Android phone — does my iPad work too?

Yes, as long as you're signed in on both. The two stores don't talk to each other, so we record your subscription against your account rather than against the store you bought it from. Sign in and you're covered wherever you are.

Free, subscribed, cancelled, lapsed — what lives where

One rule underneath all of it: your device is the master copy. Everything you do is saved on the phone or tablet first. The cloud is a copy that catches up, and only for subscribers. Nothing you do with the subscription ever removes anything from your device.

Where you are	On your device	In the cloud
Free month days 1 to 30	Everything works: import, stitch, park, organise, stash, wheel, history, export	Nothing — even if you sign in. Lose the phone and the work is gone, so export a copy now and then
Day 31, not subscribed	Everything stays and opens. Read-only: no marking, parking or importing. Organising, stash, wheel and export still work	Nothing
Subscribed	Everything, no wall	Your stitching, your chart files, and the small things — settings, tags, folders, favourites, chart details, stash and photos, wheel, history. Shared with every device signed in to the account. Chart files and photos: up to 5 GB (about 250 charts); write to us if you need more. One subscription covers one WipCount account: if you restore it under a different email, the plan moves to that email and the first one goes back to free (nothing on the phone is lost)
Cancelled, year not over	Exactly as subscribed until the paid period ends. Nothing changes on the day you cancel — the Subscription screen shows the date it ends	Backed up as usual until that date
Subscription ended	Everything stays and opens. Read-only again, until you subscribe once more	Kept for 12 months but nothing new goes up and the charts aren't served. Subscribe again and it all comes straight back. After 12 months it is deleted
Account deleted	Untouched. Every chart and every stitch stays on the device	Gone straight away — the account, the stitching, the charts, the small things, the photos. Deleting the account does not cancel the subscription; do that in the store

The subscription lives on your account, not on the phone. Sign in on a new device and you're covered; if the store needs reminding, tap Already subscribed? Restore it on the Subscription screen. Managing and cancelling are done in Google Play or the App Store — the Subscription screen's Manage button takes you to whichever store holds your plan, even from the other kind of device.

When something goes wrong

A pattern imported, but the chart looks wrong

Most often the wrong PDF was picked — the printable one rather than the chart-only one. Try the other file if the designer supplied two. On the chart, tap the ⓘ button at the top and then Report a problem with this chart: you can show us where the colour key is, fix a thread, draw a box round the chart on a page that also holds photos or text, or tick which pages of the PDF are the chart. If it still looks wrong, tell us the designer and pattern name.

My percentage looks wrong

The percentage counts every stitch in the chart you imported, including the ones you haven't started.

On a pattern that is published in parts, the chart only holds what has been released. So the percentage tells you how far you are through the parts you have — not through the finished design, which nobody can count yet. When the next instalment comes out and you add it, the total grows and your percentage is worked out against the larger chart.

It says "Couldn't back up"

Tap the badge and it will tell you why. Nearly always it's no internet, or being signed out. Your stitching is still safe on the device either way.

Something else

Write to us. Tell us what you were doing and what happened, and include the app version from the About page if you can find it — it saves us a round of questions.