You should be able to control your Proton from across the court using either your phone or an Apple Watch. There’s not much margin, however, especially for the watch, so if the wireless environment is challenging you may see the connection dropping. A lot of wireless traffic in the area (wifi, other phones etc.) makes the connection worse, as do multiple devices connected to your phone over bluetooth. There are a few things you can check to see if the trouble is your machine or just a tough environment.

On the pairing screen the signal strength (RSSI) is shown. -70 is better than -80, and by about -90 the connection will become unstable. You can check this number about 6 feet from your Proton, at the net, and at the far side of the court. Refresh the screen 3 times and use the middle number, since the measurement is quite noisy. If the number from 6 feet is -70 or worse, there may be a problem with your antenna. If you are able, repeat the test at a more remote court, or at home, and see if it changes.

The Proton does automatically reconnect, so if the connection is marginal at your courts, walking a few steps towards the net may restore the connection. I also recommend using the “loops” feature so you can just get 20 balls or so at a time without having to stop the machine manually.