Ride with GPS: Bike Navigation App Reviews

I’ve reported the problem numerous times, and nothing has been done to fix it.

This is getting better. I really like the improvements in navigation, it is really getting useful with more warnings etc. Now if you could just turn their chime off that it sounds before it gives directions. The next thing is Apple Watch support. Cue sheet directions on the watch, map update with turns & cues, start & stop recording all would be nice. Lastly please add full BLE support for Viiiiva HRM ANT+ to BLE bridge, so the Viiiiva can multiplex ANT+ signals over BLE. Lastly, make it easier to search for a route within my routes. I have set the routes up for a local ride, so I have quite a few. I ought to be able to quickly search within the “routes” view.

GPS is off. App stops working during the ride. All this app is good for is to look up possible routes. To actually use it is a joke. Apple should pull this. Taking peoples money is criminal! DO NOT BUY a week. Worthless

I have this on an iPhone 4 and will be upgrading to an iPhone 5, but regardless this app had it all, turn by turn voice directions, customizable maps, it just doesnt quit, Ive been using it for a year now and it just keeps getting better with age, I have tried quite a few others that dont come close. It orientates maps in the direction you are traveling. I can even put an earphone in, drop it in my back pocket and listen to the voice direction

I was using paper cue sheets until this year. I did not want to purchase a separate device for ride directions- since I always have my iPhone with me I wanted an app instead so I had one less thing to carry, charge and upgrade. But I found all the other gps apps inadequate including map my ride. I like to create routes online and download them, and map my ride never seemed to do what I wanted it to. Ride with gps is almost perfect ( the almost part is an iPhone peculiarity I will explain). The online route planner is accurate, intuitive, and reasonably easy to edit existing routes. Its a popular enough app that there are lots of local routes by other people to explore, and Ive had lots of fun trying out some new routes Ive found. A huge bonus is that my local cycling club posts links to ridewithgps files of the club rides so I can download them before the ride. Let me say that compared to using a cue sheet, the ridewithgps screen is faster, more accurate, and most important lets me keep my eyes on the road more. I was concerned about putting a screen on my handlebars but trying to read a cue sheet takes much more effort than glancing at a screen for a fraction of a second to see the little blue dot on the map (me) approaching the clearly marked turn. If you upgrade to paid membership you get turn by turn spoken directions that you can hear unless you are screaming down a hill with the wind in your ears. This app has definitely made my riding safer, I can concentrate more on whats around me and worry less about finding the next turn. You have your choice of a few info bars under the map, including upcoming directions, or a speedometer/odometer display, or my favorite the ride profile. This is the elevation profile of your entire ride with a blue dot showing where you are. In unfamiliar territory you can see which are going to be the big climbs and which are the molehills, so you can have your strategy for the next hill even if its your first time down that road. I find it really helpful to know whats coming and when Ive conquered the worst climb on the route. There is a feature to take photos and attach them to your ride uploads which I havent used yet. A word about battery life: a gps app will drain your phones battery. Ridewithgps has an option to download the maps in advance, which lets you turn off cell data and navigate using cell tower gps alone. This helps but you still have the screen on the whole time. I find depending on cell signal strength you can use up to 2% of the iPhone 5 battery per mile. I found a battery case and a handlebar phone holder that the phone with battery case fits in and I completed a century with 8% of my battery left- so Im all set. The iPhone glitch is for some reason turn by turn directions will occasionally stop working. Support told me I have to be sure that the ride is being recorded to keep it working. Some days there isnt an issue, some days I have to stop and play around with the app to get it working again. I hope to see an update that removes this occasional annoyance. Nevertheless Im giving it five stars for the added enjoyment it has brought to my riding this year. I can load up a route and just ride, enjoy the scenery, and not really care where I am. And its a safer way to ride. Awesome.

With the most-recent update, the app is easy to use and very stable.

I will ride 4,000 miles this year using a combination of Map My Ride and the Google Maps App with the Cycling layer. I keep coming back for one more test of Ride With GPS, primarily because I have cycling buddies who have carefully groomed Ride with GPS routes that I would like to use. However: Four bucks a week is insane. A forty week cycling season means that this single app would cost me as much per year as two months of my entire cellular service. Save your money. Use Google Maps with the cycling layer, and log your trips with Strava or MapMyRide.

Pros: 1. Routes can be planned for riding later, or routes can be saved as trips that have already taken place. Great if one does not have his device with him on a particular ride but still wants some data entered. 2. Downloads the map of local area and the user can view it, including his own position on it, even without an internet connection. 3. Does a decent job of recording routes on the map; although it does tend to draw straight lines arcoss curved roads several times within a single ride. Cons: 1. Constantly shows that I am riding at various speeds ranging from 0.2kmph to 18kmph when I was standing still and taking a break. 2. Records imaginary miles (or kilometers) whist I take my breaks, even with the ride paused. 3. The iOS app took a whole day to fully sync and display the correct number of rides I added thorugh the wensite. 4. Premium is too expensive

Not clear at all on how to create a route easily enough. My solution is just ride and dont worry about the darn map.

Great web app. Laughable j -app purchase system. $3.99 for only week of access. Talk about price gouging developer.

Ive been using it to find places to ride when Im in strange cities on business. This weekend I was using it in Canada, where I dont have a data plan, so the ability to preload the map and route before the ride (on the hotel wifi) was a life saver. If I could change anything, it would be to add some route finding ability so when youre following a route and find the way blocked by construction or something it would also help you find your way around the obstruction and back to the route. Also I noticed that if you rejoin a route at a turn, it gives you the turn direction based as if youd been on the route, so for instance if you hit a tree junction that you would have had to turn right if youd been on the route but you approach it from the other side so you have to turn left, it will still tell you to turn right. Also I wish it would display the map "track up" instead of north up. I got confused a few times because of that.

While I love all the routes, and the maps are fine, the turn by turn directions are worse then useless. Directions are frequently inaccurate, confusing, late (after youve already pass an intersection) and incomplete. If you go off route, the app gives you no help to get back on. These are the turn by turn directions I would have expected 10 years ago. Google maps has set the bar far higher than this app can reach. At four dollars a week, they are ridiculously expensive.

Excellent app. Even the free version does all sorts of things. I have no idea why some folks complain about cost. Try it and youll see what I mean. Highly recommend

Long-time user of the website and have been looking forward to this release- did not disappoint! Navigation worked flawlessly! Looks like my Garmin 800 is going to start collecting dust…

I love this app and website. Either a superior product or fantastic alternative depending on what youre comparing it too. I love that it the best route planner available and then provides the option for turn my turn directions (gotta pay, but worth it).

Update- app delayed saving my ride. Hours later it finally appeared. Very strange. I hope this is not normal. ******** App appeared to be logging my ride, but app failed to save my ride & no history of my usage at all. I could see the info was there when I clicked to save the ride, but it was apparently deleted instead. Good thing I had another app logging my ride at the same time.

The pricing structure is weird. Why a 7 day period instead of a monthly or discounted annual rate? If I invest the time to document my various rides, why wouldnt I want to continue using the paid in app features? Im just not seeing the value at $207.48 per year.

Have the app but do not use it because of the pricing structure. I ride an average of 10-12 miles per day. What is the incentive to pay for this app by the week? None.

Works well to provide turn by turn route navigation for your bike rides (with audio!). Just go to the RWGPS website to sign up for a monthly or yearly subscription. I can connect my iPhone to Bluetooth 4.0 bike sensors and a Wahoo RFLKT. The data fields on the RFLKT are the same as in the app. To select a different category to display, touch and hold the data field in the app. One small problem is that the GPS tracking has a snap to road tendency that is a bit too aggressive but if you stick to riding roads and not smaller bike trails then it wont be a problem.

Dont waste your time. You have to pay for everything in order to do anything.