I finally took the plunge and purchased an iPhone. The main reason why? All the great cycling related apps that are available. In this post I will take you through the all the bike applications so that you can compare them and choose the best apps for you.
Bike maintenance on the iPhone
When you are out cycling the chances are you don’t carry big heavy bike maintenance books with you just in case something goes wrong. Technology or more specifically the iPhone comes to the rescue. The Bike Doctor App has 20 repairs that you can easily follow step-by-step. The repairs are written in such a way that even a complete bike maintenance beginner can understand them. There are big plans for this App with version 2 promising more emergency style repairs and bike safety check functionality.
Bike route tracking on the iPhone
The below comparison table gives an overview of the functionality of the route tracking apps:
The limitation you need to be aware of with most of these apps is that they will rapidly run down the battery and are heavily dependent on GPS signal quality.
Trails
Trails allows you to record, import and export your bike routes. Of all the apps I reviewed this is the one that does this best. When importing routes you simply search on popular croute tracking sites or you import a GPX file. When exporting, you can either export to EveryTrail or to an email address. This makes it perfect for sharing with others.
When tracking your cycling the iPhone screen is locked so that no buttons are pressed by mistake. Also, battery life is conserved as the map is not being constantly loaded unless you ask it to. There is also functionality to edit waypoints and listen to music/receive call whenever. Trails is very well designed and is the bike app I use most often. There is also a lite version available with more limited functionality.
MotionX
There are two versions of MotionX available - I took a look at the lite version. Tracking your bike route is simple. You simply tap the start button and set off then tap the stop button to stop. Thankfully there is a lock button on the bottom left that stops you tapping buttons when the iPhone is in your pocket. Similarly to the Trails app there is a variety of map formats to choose from. In MotionX you can also control your iPod at the same time from within the app.
EveryTrail
The EveryTrail app is a little simpler than the first two I have featured though that can be a good thing for some. It is closely integrated with EveryTrail.com but lacks an ability to import tracks.
Distance Meter Pro
I was recommended Distance Meter Pro by JSLeFanu a while back. The application allows you to track your cycling route and then export it to either TrainingPeaks.com or MapMyFitness.com. Unfortunately in the UK the mapping function doesn’t work. There is also a lite version.
iMapMyRide
iMapMyRide is an okay app, the problem lies with iMapMyRide.com. It is so full of adverts it is impossible to use. The GPS signal quality was also a little variable. It is a useful bike app for anyone that uses iMapMyRide.com frequently.
Cychosis
Cychosis works in a different way to the rest of the iPhone bike applications. You manually enter your ride details into the application. Therefore you need a separate bike computer. The app then keeps a history of all your rides. This works well for those that don’t want their route tracked by GPS which can be a heavy burden on battery life. It is a well designed however it is expensive when compared to the rest of the apps.
More iPhone bike apps!
The Bike Computer
Having a bicycle computer is one of the most fun (And geeky!) gadgets you can have on a bike. I’m always spending way too long looking at my bike computer trying to break my speed record.
The problem with porting this great gadget over to the iPhone is that the GPS function can work with varying success which can obviously skew your results heavily. None the less, this is a great little free app to have and I recommend it to all cyclists.
Bicycle Gear Calculator
Great application to have on your iPhone though you can just as easily use Sheldon Brown’s Tool. It allows you to calculate gear ratio and gain ratio. It costs $4.99 (£2.99).
Bike your drive
This free application allows you to calculate calories burned, money saved and carbon offset for each ride. Its a great way to give yourself an extra pat on the back for being a cyclist.
Brake Lights
Hook it up to the back of your bag and you get a bicycle brake light for $1 (£0.59). Novel idea but it is probably ten times more useful to buy an actual bike light!
Thanks so much for your bike apps review for the iphone. This is exactly what I have been looking for as I am about to purchase an iphone (I think) primarily to reduce carrying phone, GPS, cyle computer, et al. I appreciate your comments.
Nice review
Devices are getting closer to converging.
I need (want) a good camera, a phone, and a bike GPS. My Nokia N95 comes close with a 5 mb camera.
But like the Iphone, it’s tough to get all things like heart rate, cadence, great (not good) photos, etc. So I still carry 3 devices …. but hopefully not for long.
Separately, as a bit of a cycling GPS geek that has explored dozens of great sites/tools, I never understand why anyone uses Map My Ride. Cluttered, advertising filled mess of a site in my opinion.
What about Motionx.
It only for the new 3gs series but, I’ve heard it’s a very remarkable app.
motionx.com as well.
Must HAVE, it’s must HAVE, not must OF.
– Ooops, my mistake. Thanks for pointing out.
I also tested many bike apps.
I came to the conclusion that B.iCycle is perfect for Biking.
I’m missing it in your list.
Didn’t you test it?
What I’d really like to see is an iphone app that replaces most of the functionality of a Garmin 705. Better yet, make a Bluetooth>ANT+ device that will let your phone do heartrate, cadence, speed & power with mainstream sensors.
Trail Guru is an app for the Iphone i have been using and has a simple interface . does twitter and facebook updates and can incorporate photos into uploaded tracks.. worth a look IMHO
The big problem with the iphone for any app that tracks your progress is..you have to be running the app all the time and listening to music, answering the phone etc…screws it up. So it’s not going to replace your gps…
Some apps handle this much better – especially in the new iPhone 3GS.
@leon The B.iCycle app lets you use your iPod simultaneously.
I found the Bike Your Drive stats to be off by miles (no pun intended) when I converted the units to metrics. Otherwise, it was rather promising.
After trying out a few apps, I’ve finally settled on RunKeeper Free as my cycling GPS logger … for now.
What I really want is for Sporty Pal to be approved by the App Store. Loved using it on the Android phone.
Would also like to see a review of Athlete Daybook
New devices are really making our life more sophisticated but they really helps in day to day complex situations. i want to buy one in which i get all facilities of iphone, gmail and GPS
Agreed. I have seen this especially when travelling. I can just lookup and book hostels on my iPhone anywhere there is wifi and I can keep up with blog comments.
I downloaded sportypal, works fine. It’s finally available, really cool design and UI, it should be mentioned here.
Sportypal
Can anyone help me here. I’ve just bought an iphone to replace the many gadgets I might carry on a tour. I’m riding around the Uk in 2011 and want to download National Cycle Network routes to the phone and use the gps to follow them or track my progress. has anyone tried this? I’ve been on Bikely.com, which seems good. any help is welcome
Cheers
graeme
Hey Graeme – I think you could do with an app like trails that can show opencycleroute maps. I have listed it in the above list just find it to download.
Otherwise you need to plot the route yourself as unfortunately sustrans don’t provide any app for the iPhone
Cheers Andreas. apparently Memory maps are bringing out an app in the New Year, so that’s cool. It will mean that you can download sustrans NCN digital maps direct.
Happy New Year to all (when it gets here!!)
Just noticed a waterproof bike mount for the iPhone which seems a perfect match for all the bike apps mentioned above: http://www.ibikeconsole.com
Thanks for the extra app recommendations guys
Check out http://trackmytour.com/ It’s not a real-time tracker like other apps, so it’s good for longer bike tours when you want to make periodic updates.
SportyPal is approved, and is on the Apple Store, the application has good future, although it needs a lot of work to be done yet, but their community it’s good, nice training results and stats from the workouts with 3d map.
“Bicycle Stats” is now available at the App Store.
You can log and analyze your bicycle ride. Good for training.
I tried mapmyride but found it to be a bit off in terms of location. Since then I picked up CycleMeter (http://www.abvio.com/cyclemeter/) which I have found to be excellent in terms of recording route (time, location, etc.).
The export facility is good as well as emailing the route taken to your chosen email address.
Has some twitter features too but I’ve never used them
Unfortunately, it currently doesn’t have an import facility which is the only negative about the app I have
Agree wih Higgs – Cyclemeter is ace. Regular updates too which shows they’re continuing to refine it
Yep – it’s covered in my new post titled: 3 new iPhone bike apps
I have recently got into biking in a big way and was planning to do Lands End to John O’ Groats next year. I was hoping I could track my route before hand and then stick it on my iPhone with one of these apps and have it easily navigate me. The problem I have at the moment is having to stop, look at the map and then memorise the next few turns and then stop again. Potentially, I am thinking I could just use a sat nav app as the whole journey will be on road. Although I am thinking these apps will be useful in training, to make sure I get to the required level of fitness.
Another issue I may have is battery life and signal. I have seen dynamo chargers around but I am not sure how well they will work or whether I would be better off getting one of these battery packs and charging it every night ready for the next day. I am guessing I will be needing at least 10 hours battery if I aim at doing 100 miles a day. I would turn off Wi-Fi and probably 3G, but would probably have bluetooth headphones connected to hopefully listen to music and hear voice directions. Another problem, is that all of these apps require a data connection. I can’t guarantee that I will have a signal the whole way so I really need the maps on the actual phone not over data, which kind of makes me lean towards a sat nav app again.
Is a sat nav app good enough for on road biking or am I being a bit amateurish in thinking such a thing?
Okay let me see if I can address some of your questions..
RE: 3G and Wifi – these ofcourse will need to be off. Simply having a normal phone signal is enough to load maps.
For a journey the length of Lands end to John O’Groats I would recommend not an iPhone bike app but instead a proper GPS computer for your bike such as a Garmin. This will last longer, be more reliable and a bit more weather resistant. You can then use your iPhone for music. (Or alternatively have a separate iPod for music – they have 24 hour battery life compared to iPhone small battery life)
If you do it using your iPhone I would recommend Outdoors as you can load up a route and it has already pre-downloaded the maps so you don’t need to use battery life downloading them.
Nice review.
I have yet to see a better route tracking and stats program than Google myTracks on android.
Best of all, it’s free. This coupled with the fact that android phones are generally cheaper than iPhones makes it a must have.
People I ride with have bought an android phone days after seeing my Nexus One running this program.
My advice if you don’t want to leap onto the iPhone bandwagon is to get a deal on an HTC Desire or other android 2 device and enjoy.
Thanks for the tip Mark. I’m sure non-iPhone users will be interested in that. Good to see Google have a good app available for the Android as no doubt route tracking is something many people want to be able to do.
I was reading up on another blog and found this website: http://en.pedalbrain.com/home
A real-time cycling computer, training website and coaching platform. I believe it’s not out yet but looks really promising! They’re even thinking about creating a carbon fiber iPhone bike mount! How cool would that be!…
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Thanks for the reviews. Has anyone come across a decent app for planning cycle routes (around london). I normally use the TFL cycle route planner, which hasnt appeared as an app yet… I want one that takes me down the quieter, safer cycling routes rather than the “fastest” main roads.
Cheers
Thanks for posting these apps, It will help me in my next ride..