I’ve shown the iPhone a lot of love previously here on London Cyclist for the simple reason that it is the phone I use. However, when I released my Bike Doctor application, there was a ton of emails asking me about if there would be an Android version. So I figure it’s about time I spread the love to the Android mobile users out there. After all they are 200,000 Androids activated everyday according to recent news. Here is a list of applications for cyclists with an Android phone. Oh, and yes, Bike Doctor will be making its way over soon too.
Bike Doctor
Bike Doctor for the Android looks after your bike by providing instructions to the 24 most common bike repairs. Using it helps you save money by avoiding expensive trips to the bike shop. Each repair comes with a colour picture and a short, clear description of what you need to do to get your bike fixed.
Find out more in this post: Bike repair on your Android
Cycling GPS trackers for the Android
SportsTracker
SportsTracker which is integrated with Facebook and Twitter allows you to track your cycling and monitor your performance. It shows you what speed you are moving at, a map, the distance you’ve covered and plenty of other similar stats. The free version holds a total of 5 tracks. The application can also be hooked up to a heart rate and cadence sensor to give you even more information. It generally comes well recommended from its users. This comes in a free and a paid version. The paid version costs £5.99.
My Tracks
My Tracks is a free Android application by Google allowing you to GPS track your cycling and export it to view on Google My Maps. It is pretty well refined and well trusted. Great for keeping track of your routes. It also has plenty of statistics such as speed, distance and elevation.
BreadCrumbz
BreadCrumbz is an app I came across by mistake and I’m so glad I did. It is a really innovative way of sharing routes with friends. You can add photos of way pointers and tag points of interest. You can then share the routes online and discover routes other people have added.
SportyPal
SportyPal similarly to all the other apps shows speed, distance, tempo, pace, altitude and calories burnt. It will graph your performance and also display your route on a map. The app provides voice feedback and also links in with the social networks. The app is free to download.
RunTastic
RunTastic links in with the online community to allow you to upload your training data. The app comes in both a lite version with adverts and a professional paid version. It allows you to track all the classic things and has a nice clean design that is easy to use.
AboveRoad
AboveRoad is a free app for the Android that tracks your GPS movements. It includes speed, distance, start, stop time and calories burnt. Unfortunately it doesn’t show the distance in miles for UK users.
RunKeeper
RunKeeper tracks all the classic things and is a fairly well designed app although could do with a little added functionality. It also links in with a good online community which is where this app becomes useful.
EveryTrail
EveryTrail allows you to capture your route on a map using the GPS and also includes functionality to add any pictures you take. It links in with their online community.
CardioTrainer
CardioTrainer is an excellent workout trainer. It integrates with your music player and has clever features such as an autopause when you are stopped at traffic lights. The premium version for $2.99 also has weight loss and race against yourself functionality. A great, refined cycling and running app for the Android.
Gear Calculator
FixedGears allows you to calculate gearing ratios.
Cycle Hire Scheme on Android
The various cycle hire schemes throughout the world are well catered for on the Android. In London there are applications such as London Cycle Hire Live which costs 50p and Cycle Hire Widget which is available from the Android Market for free.
Please feel free to leave any app recommendations for cyclists you have in the comments.
See also:
- Bike apps for the iPhone
- iPhone bike mounts
- Bike Doctor bike repair application
- Using GPS coordinates for cycling
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As seen on The Guardian, BBC and The Independent.
Also check out Endomondo for iPhone and Android. Its another app for tracking your favourite activity and uploading to compare with your friends.
Endomondo is good because it will pause its tracking and calculations if the cyclist stops. For city riding, this gives more accurate data. Runkeeper is great, but it lacks the pause function (at last check).
what are some cheap android phones? i am unemployed so when i say cheap i need cheap, thank you
They are all fairly cheap with most availible for free – it just depends on the cnotract you get. It’s not just HTC releasing them now either; LG, Samsung and even Acer have all released handsets in recent weeks.
You can get a contrant on an Android phone for as little as a tenner a month BUT this does not have a data ‘bolt’ with it which costs extra and means using the internet will be expensive and sort of defeats the object of having a smart phone. You can buy one like an LG Optimus for about £70 but would have to research the pay as you go data packages. My daughter has an Optimus and this does pretty much everything my more expensive phone does just in a slightly less flashy package, screen etc..
Also check out Velox (free) and the Pro paid version. I managed to upload gpx files with some success for cycle touring.
What about Nokia 5800 Symbian Operating system. Does anyone know of an app for that.
Thanks
Odie
For Symbian phones (and Android, in Beta) – I use ViewRanger for my hill-walking. It works well with recording routes, tagging photos, real-time tracking for others to see you etc.
The maps aren’t free, but they are proper 1:25,000 OS maps, so are really detailed.
I’d recommend it – works really well and is rich in functionality.
http://www.viewranger.com
You may want to check out iMapMyRun – for cycling, runners or hiking. Free currently on Android, and available for Phone and Blackberry also
Cheers
Stef
Has anyone come across an app covering cycle parking, cycle hire and cycle route mapping? i.e a one stop shop?
Bike Hub for Android/iPhone:
http://www.cyclestreets.net/mobile/
Endomondo rocks! And for non-gps days you can still log your workouts by using the very easy to use ‘draw route’ feature. It has a great calendar feature and you can import/export all sorts.
I’m currently using both endomondo and sports track live pro together until I can decide between them. I use one on my android, then export the data from one to the other online – that way I can trial them both while maintaining a full workout log.
STL shows lots of lovely stats, but I think endomondo will catch up and it has a nicer interface on the web. I did get an imediate response to a support question from the maker of STL though – thumbs up!
Thanks for the great articles – my concern lies in the vibration issues assosciated with attaching to the bike. Loose connections are the highest fault cause in electronic equipment!
I’ve had support responses from Endomondo, so they do listen! It also works well with the Zephyr bluetooth HRM.
Do any of these Apps have functionality to guide you back to your starting point either by voice or screen navigation? Something quite handy when trying to explore new routes.
Thanks for the links, I found that the My Tracks seams to be exactly what I wanted (something while biking that would give speed, and save the course, that I later can add up all the distances later)
Thanks again.
I’ve been using Cardio Trainer and My Tracks, and noticed enormous discrepancy in the elevation. I live in Seattle, and as much as I don’t really care how many calories I am burning (it’s more just for novelty) it would be nice if this thing was accurate as I know I am burning more calories going home (up-hill) than going to work (down-hill). Does anyone know of any apps that are elevation-accurate and integrate this data into your work-out?
I finally ended up using B.iCycle for Android.
It either runs with a nice bike map or in the background with screen turned off for long battery life.
I get my route on a special bike map and the app shows me top/avg speed, distance, time, calories elevation and elevation gain values. I can also review and email tracks with a value overview and an attached GPX/KML file that I can load into GoogleEarth
What I really love about B.iCycle is that it is just super easy to use and
that it has a GPS auto-stop feature that cuts off all standstill and near-standstill segments -
this gives a much better view on the recorded values.
Cheers,
Alex
Use Endomondo myself, like the online interface and stop/start function, though this doesn’t work too well if hiking, continually turns off and on, with voice message too if you have that switched on, ammoying! Fine for cycling though.
My vote goes to Endomondo, athough admittedly I haven’t given the other ones mentioned here a good try out.
I love endomondo because of the interface and the fact that it caters for cycling well. You get to upload your stats online too, which is awesome to check out after a good ride. I uploaded my recent London to Brighton ride up here so you can have a look at what you can expect:
http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/kxuX5pUBj5Q
Endomondo does not measure elevation. Also, B.iCycle permit to load a map from your area saved into a phone and read nicely. in this way, you don’t need the gps or data connections that reduce battery life on roads.
Also B iCycle has auto-oause feature like endomondo (as they say in descriptions ).
I will try B.iCycle to see. I tried already Endomondo. It’s nice but no elevation or possibility to load my map stored offline ( its possible only if an existed map is on the WEB site ).
can you use a belt to track your heart rate with this tipe of app? thank you
I use a zephyr heart rate monitor with Endomondo on my Android phone. It gives a heart rate and relates that to the map. So on the website you can scroll a cursor along a graph looking at your heart rate and speed and see exactly where you are on a map of your route. It is serious fun! see how your heart goes up and your speed goues down when you hit those long hills!
Strava kicks ass
Does anyone know of an Android app for indoor cycling? A friend uses Spin Mentor for her iPhone but I can’t find anything for Android. Any help is appreciated.
The “Sports Tracker” link in this article goes to “sportstracklive.com” which is not Sportstracker. Sportstracker, which is a superb programme, is free (yes free!) for Android and Nokia, and is a paid app for iPhone (never mind iphone users – you’re worth it!) and does everything sportstracklive does and more. Sportstracker can be found at http://www.sports-tracker.com Well worth downloading this one, a great app!
Updating the article now..
The article still hasn’t been updated. The link goes to http://www.sports-tracker.com, which is the best of all the “sports-tracker” apps and is now available on most platforms for FREE.
There is no charge to download or use this app and the developers keep it bang up to date. I’ve used it now for 4 years, first on a Nokia (symbian), now on a Samsung S2 – brilliant app that never fails!
?? The link goes to http://www.sports-tracker.com/ which is the correct link?
This one popped up in the market about a month ago. It’ decent and getting better:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.twelvegauge
It is brilliant using your phone as a track reader, but what about all the vibrations it experiences while using it on london roads. This will definitely shorten the life span of the phone.
As far as I’m concerned OsmAnd (Open Street Maps Android) is the best navigation app for cyclists on the Android platform.
I know Google maps now have a cycling option but it is nowhere near Osmand in terms of plotting the best route for cyclists.
Osmand has turn-by-turn voice instructions (install Osmand Voice) and you can use gpx tracks with it.
I create my own GPX tracks online at http://www.ridewithgps.com and use them with Osmand.
Brilliant!
will you be making a list of apps for windows phones?
and, is there a list of bike shops in london ,again, for windows phones?
Hey Mark, please see:
http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/bike-apps-for-windows-mobile/
For a list of bike shops in London I recommend this thread on the LFGSS forum:
http://www.lfgss.com/shops.html
thanks so much!