Slewcraft: Crane Simulator support

1. Choosing a lesson and reopening saved progress

All 12 lessons are free and open from the start. You do not need to complete them in order and nothing is locked behind earnings or completion.

• On the yard screen, use Choose any lesson to pick a lesson, then tap Start lesson. Or tap Browse all lessons to see all 12 as cards with their cargo, fee and your best score.
• Inside the cab, the lesson selector at the top of the mission panel lets you switch to any other lesson without returning to the yard.
• Every lesson begins with a short pre-lift briefing: tick the four checks, answer the briefing question, then tap Enter the cab.
• Your last selection, lesson results, LiftCoin balance, reputation and company rewards are saved on the device automatically. Reopen the app and the yard shows where you left off. Your logbook holds the last 100 attempts.
• Free practice lets you repeat a full lift with your own choice of load, weather and landing height. It earns no coins and does not count towards lessons.

2. Landscape controls, creep mode and swing guidance

Landscape orientation is recommended. Turn your iPhone or iPad sideways before entering the cab so the two joysticks, instruments and site radio all fit on screen.

Touch controls

• Left stick: slew left and right, trolley in and out (up the stick for out, down for in).
• Right stick: hoist. Push up to raise, pull down to lower.
• Both sticks are proportional. Small movements near the centre give fine control.
• Stop brings all drives to a controlled stop. E-STOP latches the emergency stop; use the radio reset to clear it.
• Request detach asks the slinger to release the load once it is supported and stable.
• A connected keyboard also works: A D slew, W S trolley, R F raise and lower, Z creep, Space stop, X emergency stop, E detach, C radio check, G swing help, P pause, 1 to 4 camera views. Compatible gamepads are supported too.

Creep mode

The Creep button (or Z) reduces the maximum speed of every drive so you can make the final approach and landing in small, controlled movements. Lessons start in creep. Tap it again to return to normal speed for travel. The input status line at the bottom of the screen shows which mode is active.

Swing guidance

The swing instrument in the cab shows the load's swing direction and angle in degrees, with a plain-English label such as "Steady". Tap Swing help (or G) at any time for practical advice on preventing swing before it starts and reducing it once it has begun, including transit height, building and reducing speed smoothly, and using creep for fine work. The same guide is linked from the lessons and career screens.

Camera views

Switch between Cab, External, Hook cam and Site views from the toolbar. In the external view you can drag to orbit the scene. The Follow hook button keeps the load in frame.

3. Buying Career Pack and restoring a purchase

Career Pack is an optional, one-time in-app purchase that unlocks the 12-contract career. It is not a subscription. Everything else in the game stays free whether or not you buy it.

To buy

1. From the yard, tap Career in the top navigation.
2. The Career Pack panel at the top of the contract board shows the price returned by the App Store for your country, a Buy Career Pack button and a Restore Purchases button.
3. Tap Buy Career Pack. Apple's own payment sheet handles confirmation and payment. The app shows "Career Pack owned" once Apple confirms the purchase.
4. Open one of the first three available contracts, complete its briefing and enter the cab. The remaining contracts open as you earn reputation through gameplay. Buying does not skip those ranks.

To restore on a new device, after reinstalling, or if the pack shows as locked

1. Make sure the device is signed in to the same Apple Account that made the original purchase. The purchase belongs to that account, not to the device or to your game save.
2. Connect to the internet.
3. Tap Career, then Restore Purchases.
4. The app reports either "Career Pack restored" or "No Career Pack purchase was found. Check the Apple Account used to buy it." Restoring never charges you again.

4. Restoring a purchase is not the same as importing a save

Slewcraft keeps two separate things, and it helps to know which is which.

Importing a save file never unlocks Career Pack, even if the save came from a device that owns it. Restoring a purchase never changes your coins, lessons or reputation. If you move to a new iPhone, do both: import your save, then restore the purchase.

5. Exporting progress before deleting or reinstalling

1. On the yard screen, tap the LiftCoins balance at the top right to open the wallet.
2. Under Ledger & saves, tap Download save file. iOS shows the share sheet; save the file to Files, iCloud Drive or another location you choose. You can also export a CSV of your ledger for your own records.
3. To bring progress back, open the wallet on the new installation and use Choose save to restore, then pick the file. The app checks the file and will refuse one that is damaged or edited, leaving your current progress unchanged.
4. After importing, tap Career → Restore Purchases if you own Career Pack (see section 4).

6. Purchase unavailable, pending approval or connection problems

"Price unavailable" or "The App Store is unavailable"

• Check that the device is online, then tap Refresh store in the Career Pack panel.
• Make sure you are signed in to the App Store (Settings → your name → Media & Purchases).
• The app never shows a made-up price. If Apple does not return the product, the Buy button stays disabled until it does.

"Purchases are disabled on this device"

Screen Time or a device management profile is blocking in-app purchases. Check Settings → Screen Time → Content & Privacy Restrictions → iTunes & App Store Purchases. You can still restore a previous purchase.

"Awaiting Apple approval" (Ask to Buy)

If the Apple Account is a child account in a Family Sharing group with Ask to Buy enabled, the purchase waits for the family organiser to approve it. Career Pack unlocks automatically once Apple confirms the approval. Nothing is charged until then. See Apple's Ask to Buy guide below.

"Apple could not verify the purchase" or "Could not check your purchase"

Tap Restore Purchases while online and signed in to the purchasing Apple Account. If it persists, email us with the details in section 8.

"Career Pack is no longer active on this Apple Account"

Apple has refunded or revoked the purchase, or you have signed in to a different Apple Account. The career locks again but your coins, lessons and reputation are untouched. Restore Purchases checks again with Apple.

Lost connection during a purchase

Apple finishes the transaction when the connection returns, and the app picks it up on its next launch or when you tap Restore Purchases. You will not be charged twice for one purchase.

7. Apple purchase and refund assistance

Apple processes every Career Pack payment and holds the purchase record. Refunds for App Store purchases are decided by Apple, not by us, so please use Apple's channels for refund requests. These are Apple's current official pages:

• Request a refund for apps or content you've bought from Apple
• reportaproblem.apple.com (Apple's Report a Problem site; sign in with the purchasing Apple Account)
• If your payment method has been declined in the App Store
• If a message says "billing problem with previous purchase" or "verification required"
• Approve what your child can purchase with Ask to Buy
• Contact Apple Support

If Apple asks you to contact the developer, email us at chris@patientthread.com. We can check how the app behaved, but we cannot see your payment details or issue App Store refunds ourselves.

8. Reporting a bug

Email chris@patientthread.com with the subject "Slewcraft bug report". The more of the following you can include, the faster we can reproduce it:

Please do not attach your save file unless we ask for it, and never include your Apple Account password, verification codes or payment details. We aim to reply within two working days.

9. What Slewcraft is, and is not

Slewcraft is a fictional crane simulation and practice aid built around a made-up tower crane and a simplified physics model. It is designed to teach the feel of a careful lift and the habits of good site judgement.

It is not accredited training, an assessment, a licence or a qualification of any kind, and completing lessons or contracts does not make anyone competent to operate real lifting equipment. Real crane operation requires supervised training, a competent appointed person, a lift plan and the manufacturer's instructions for the actual machine. The in-app field guide links to independent industry references for further reading; those organisations are not connected with Slewcraft.

LiftCoins are fictional rewards earned by playing. They have no cash value, cannot be bought, withdrawn or exchanged for money, and cannot be used to buy Career Pack.

Read the Slewcraft privacy policy for what the app does and does not do with your data.