Support

How to play, answers to common questions, and what to do if something looks wrong.

How to play

The goal

Time is always draining. Every dot you pop adds time back to the clock. When the clock reaches zero the run ends, so keep tapping. The game starts gentle and gets faster and hungrier as you go.

Controls

  • Tap any dot to pop it instantly.
  • Press and drag a ball to carry it, then smash it through other dots. It bursts after ten hits.
  • Use more fingers. Every finger on the screen multiplies the score of that pop, up to ten.

The dots

  • Normal (cool colours): safe. Tap for half a second of time.
  • Gold: a yellow alarm clock. Tap for three seconds. Let it fade and you lose one and a half seconds. Maximum three on screen.
  • Spiked: charcoal ball with red spikes. Never tap it. Four seconds lost, even inside a blast.
  • Decoy: red ball with a white X. A trap. Never tap it. A bomb blast clears it safely.
  • Target: royal blue ball with a white crosshair. Tap two or three times to crack it open. Blasts cannot hurt it.
  • Bomb: black ball with an orange ring. Clears a large area, but spikes caught in the blast still cost you.
  • Hold: violet orb. Touch and hold until the ring closes. Gives three seconds and a seven second NO DAMAGE shield. It drifts away if you let go.
  • Line: cyan orb with a ring. Drag it into the ring to freeze every dot for five seconds. Hazards dissolve, so use the freeze to clear the whole screen.

Events

  • Combo: rapid pops raise a multiplier up to x9.
  • Overdrive: fill the charge bar for no clock drain and double score for six seconds.
  • Boss: appears every five levels with an eighteen second timer. Beat it or it escapes and costs six seconds. From level 20 you face two.
  • Perfect Clear: empty the field during a freeze for a bonus.

New dot types unlock as you level up, so the first minute stays simple on purpose.

Frequently asked questions

Is TipTapDot free?
Yes. It is completely free with no ads and no in app purchases.
Does it need internet?
No. The app does not even ask for the internet permission, so it plays fully offline.
How do I change the name on my high score?
Open the main menu and tap the chip that shows your name (or says SET YOUR NAME). Type a new name and press SAVE. The first time you beat your own best score the game offers this automatically, once.
How do I reset my best score?
There is no in game reset button on purpose. If you really want a clean slate, open Android Settings, Apps, TipTapDot, Storage, and choose Clear data. That removes the best score, the name and the settings.
How do I turn off the music or the sound effects?
Both have their own toggle on the main menu (MUSIC and SOUND) and again on the pause screen. During a run there is also a small speaker button in the top bar that mutes the music. Your choices are remembered between sessions.
How do I pause or quit a run?
Tap the pause button in the top right corner, or press your phone back button. The pause screen lets you resume, restart, change audio or go back to the menu.
Why does the clock drain faster later in a run?
That is the difficulty curve. The drain starts around 0.9 seconds per second and climbs to roughly 2.4. Early game is meant to be calm so you can learn the dots.
The vibration is distracting. Can I stop it?
Yes. Turn off vibration for TipTapDot in your phone settings. On most phones that lives in Settings, Sound and vibration, or in the app's notification and permission settings.
Can I play with one hand?
Absolutely. One thumb works fine. Using two or more fingers simply earns a bigger score multiplier, it does not change the clock.
Will my progress move to a new phone?
Scores and the name are stored only on your device, so they do not transfer. Android backup is switched off for this app, which also means nothing about you is copied to the cloud.

Troubleshooting

No sound

Check the MUSIC and SOUND toggles on the main menu first, then your phone's media volume. If the game is muted in the system volume panel, raise media volume while the game is open.

The game will not install

TipTapDot needs Android 7.0 or newer. If Play says it is not compatible, your device is older than that.

It feels slow or stutters

Close anything heavy running in the background and make sure battery saver is off. The game is tiny and should run well on almost anything from the last several years.

Something else looks broken

Email us with your phone model, Android version and what you were doing when it happened. Screenshots help a lot. The contact details are on the contact page.

Still stuck?

devyansh.du@gmail.com

We usually reply within a few days. Please include your device and Android version so we can help faster.