Ride with GPS: Bike Navigation Reviews

by Nick152839

RidewithGPS is strange, not sure what the point is. The map has ZERO features, it doesnt show city names, road names, landmarks, the map has absolutely no information on it. It’s literally just a red highlighted route, on a blank map. Doesnt even show what direction is north. Absolutely USELESS tool if you’re actually trying to navigate a trail. Also the route information is not accurate, i’ve done a few rides now and RidewithGPS was very misleading (both the route description and the map)

Also the “track offline” feature doesnt work for anybody in my group. We downloaded the maps to be available offline successfully, but the maps are useless. You’re better off just using the route description, and tracing your own map on paper. Oldschool. This is also safer, in case your phone dies or breaks mid-trail

by NefariousAryq

It pains me to write RWGPS a 1-star review but there’s been a rash of recent changes that, in my opinion, are ruining what used to be the best cycling app. I’ve been a huge fan of RWGPS for years- every single ride I’ve ever done is cataloged in RWGPS. I’ve been a premium paying member for years. I evangelized RidewithGPS to anyone I knew who rode.

But that’s all pretty much over.

Ride With GPS has decided it wants to be a social network, aka another Strava... and is abandoning many of the principals that made it THE ride cataloging / tracking app for so long.

Honestly, it kinda breaks my heart. I shouldn’t feel this attached to an app, but I’ve always felt that the team at RWGPS truly listened and truly cared. My recent interactions with them make me feel like that’s no longer the case.

The world doesn’t need another Strava.

My advice to RWGPS: remember your roots. Remember the cyclists that have cataloged millions(?) of miles on RWGPS. You wanna get into social? Fine- just know that not everyone wants that. Do it right, and you can have both. But do it wrong, and you’ll lose all the people like myself who’ve been with you for so long.

by Actorbust

I got RidewithGPS because I wanted a cycling guide compatible with Apple Watch. After several rides, here’s my experience using Ride With GPS on my Apple Watch: 1) During the ride RidewithGPS keeps disappearing from the watch face. 2) Very challenging to navigate from an Apple Watch—both with RidewithGPS disappearing and unclear when to look at the watch for directions. Ended up biking with my phone in one hand to figure out where I was going—Defeats the purpose of Apple Watch compatibility. Also, dangerous as I was not prepare with a phone holder to bike with. 3) RidewithGPS drained my watch battery. After a four hour ride, I had almost no watch battery left. No other apps running. Keep in mind that I could not even see RidewithGPS most at the time since it keeps disappearing from the watch face.

Pros: There are some really good rides mapped out. If you’re just using your phone, looks like it works well.

However, for a paid app, there’s still a lot to work out so you can use your Apple Watch to navigate.

by Upzmtn

I already use Strava, but thought the idea of voice navigation on established routes would be super handy. Not stopping every 10 minutes on a new ride to check my phone would be amazing. However, the voice navigating tool is horrendous. Every minute or so it would say “in a quarter mile, stay straight”, interrupting great music. It told me to turn places I couldn’t, and let me ride off route with no voice notification at all. Occasionally it would actually mention the name of the road I was to turn on, which would be ideal, but rarely. It seems like some “simple” (understated, I’m sure) would make it a lot better, but as it is right now, the voice nav on its own is rather useless. Just saying “continue straight on xxRd for 8 miles, would be vastly better than being told to “go straight” or “turn” every time there was a slight curve in the road.

by Dog Man 1111

Want to plan a ride to my local Costco. Apple Maps doesn’t provide bike routes. Bike with GPS says you can map a ride. When researching RidewithGPS they state under Subscriptions: to unlock offline maps, voice navigation, live logging and additional features offer these subscription options. Don’t need any of those features so I download app and registered. Go to plan my ride to Costco and it tells me that is a Basic feature and is subscription based. Notice how they didn’t say that plan a ride was a subscription in RidewithGPS overview. So the only free application of the software is ride details. I already have an app that provides that. Will delete Ride with GPS for their scummy business approach.

by B.E.N.!

The subscription is not worth it for how glitchy the turn-by-turn is. I’ve used RidewithGPS for several months now and connect to my Bluetooth headphones to get audio cues. Anything beyond a T intersection seems to confuse it. Often cues are late or don’t involve street names but the most frustrating is that it will frequently tell you to turn into a road just to make a 180 degree turn and go back out to the main road. Over the course of a 50 mile ride I will have to pull out my phone 5+ times to figure out where it led me astray. It will also randomly tell you to make sharp two-step turns on extended straight sections with no intersections in sight. If you’re looking for turn-by-turn I’d save the $50/year and put it towards a Garmin edge or something similar.

by Bibaleebu

RidewithGPS is very useful and fairly user friendly. It lets me easily plan routes and then provides navigation along the route so I don’t get lost.

It keeps track of all your rides and even pushes them to the apple fitness app so you don’t have to enter them yourself.

Only thing I wish I could figure out is how to keep the screen on while using it without changing system settings each time. The screen shuts off and I have to unlock my phone again to see my speed and other ride data. Kinda bugs me that features my isn’t coded in. (Or if it is, I can’t find it)

by JamesMcKinley

Easy to set up, easy to initiate a ride. Good library of rides from others covering everywhere. Saves all your personal rides. Only complaint is it won’t link to a Fitbit to record heart rate (links to others — given how slapdash the Fitbit software is, I’d put it down to them). With a heart rate monitor it adjusts the calorie count against an HR algorithm. Output file includes speed, gps, altitude profile, other more obtuse measurements. The compilation of rides will give totals vs calendar limits. All in all a useful robust tool.

by Ekonarske

I was a long-time Strava user until they stopped supporting Bluetooth devices. That spurred me to look at other options. I have to thank Strava for that, because other than user base, Strava is inferior to Ride With GPS in nearly every other way. I honestly have no idea how these folks have made such a wonderful app while remaining relatively unknown. Kudos to your team for the great work you’ve done. The only complaint I have is the name. Come up with something a bit more catchy, and I think you’ll unseat the king in no time.

by TGonWheels

I have been a user and then subscriber for several years. Love the web and iOS app. *Exceptional* route planning tool which IMHO is the finest in the industry that just keeps getting better. New feature to do route planning in iOS app is very helpful when on the run. I am a control freak so the web console is really my favorite method to plan. Tool is rock solid, always reliable, never crashes. The turn by turn navigation and cues are exceptional. Map accuracy and route recording is superb. All major events I ride in publish routes to this platform. So easy to pull in and use. Easy to share routes with anyone. When riding in remote areas, downloaded maps and routes are exceptional and vital. The focus on improving and adding great features is awesome. Love the new audio cue sounds - the old originals were not so great in my view. Keep up the great work on making and keeping this one of the very beat cycling tools available.

by Physicsnerd1

RidewithGPS keeps all my riding data organized and tabulated and allows me to go back and compare efforts on the same ride or hill to allow me to gauge what kind of shape I am in and to mark my progress.

It’s also very useful for ride planning as I can understand how much climbing and distance I’ll see on a planned ride. It gives me fairly accurate estimated ride times. I can share these plans with others and load the routes into my bike computer which then can guide me regarding the turns. Quite useful on unfamiliar roads.

by Ultrarunner

I’ve been using ride with gps since it first became available. I bike tour all over the world 4-6 months a year for past 15 years and develop all my routes on my PC and download routes to my Garmin Edge daily. I’ve used a Garmin Edge as my bike navigation device since ride with gps became available which has greatly been a life saver navigating through major cities in the world. Following my routes I develop on ride with gps, I’ve never had a problem. I like how I now can save all my routes in archive and collections.

by 1Gr8Ride

I have been using this app since 2015 and it has become my favorite cycling app and website. It allows me to plan safe routes for my rides in advance and then use my smart phone to navigate the route on my bike. It logs my ride, shows me stats, gives me audible turn by turn directions, shows me the elevation profile and much more. I used the free version for years and it met all of my needs. Last year I upgraded to paid version so that my wife (and friends) can track my rides in real time so that she knows I’m safe, which is well worth the money for me. Photos taken while logging a ride can be embedded into the route, which is a nice feature.

I recently had a problem with RidewithGPS where it wouldn’t go into navigation mode. I was frustrated as it was the only time in over four years RidewithGPS didn’t work flawlessly. I emailed tech support and they immediately responded. One of the company founders called me on a Saturday morning and helped get it working for me. They then updated RidewithGPS to fix the bug. Because of their excellent customer service and the unique features of RidewithGPS I rate them five stars without hesitation.

by MartyIndy

I have been logging my rides and planning my routes with Ride with GPS in the United States Europe and Latin America and it has been a fantastic tool and helped make a lot of wonderful memories that without the planning could’ve been very messy adventures instead.
The support from the team has always been terrific and it’s been a pleasure to watch RidewithGPS evolve over the years (which was super!) to the really solid great tool that it’s become.
I use the features like a first grader but I enjoy knowing that I have all of them at my fingertips.

by Ragbrai 2020

I have used Ride With GPS for about a year now first, in the free version, then the premium paid version. What I found valuable was the ability to plan a route, then edit later. Other programs I used made removing routing points difficult or impossible. I am using this program for team maps.

The program also allows another user to see my location on their phone in near real time. Helpful for family when I am venturing on forest trails. You have control on who can view your route with privacy settings.

The program also has voice turn by turn directions. I am seeing improvements in RidewithGPS as time goes on, the latest being able to plan routes on an I Phone. It also works seamlessly with routes created on a PC. Routes can be imported/exported to many GPS devices the one I am using is a Garmin 1000 Explore.

The free version has many features, the upgraded paid version has more. After testing 4 other mapping programs, this is my best.

by Shocker9

I’m a beginner/intermediate rider and I love RidewithGPS. Paired with my Apple Watch this gives me everything I need. Time, heart rate, mileage, elevation, speed. The route planner on mobile and web is incredibly easy to use. One other nice feature is that when a friend creates a route you can see it. It makes sharing routes so easy. I’ve noticed it used very little data during your routes, which is a nice plus. Turn by turn navigation and offline maps are both paid features but I don’t consider them requirements and the pricing seems reasonable to me. Great app, simple to use great interface!

by Pikebiker

I’ve been using RWGPS for years. Creating a route is very easy and really helpful. Navigation on a ride is right on, and syncing with cycle computers is easy. I love the record keeping that lets me view my stats by month, year, and career.

Our club (The Lehigh Wheelmen) uses RWGPS as our preferred app for club rides. The club feature allows us to maintain a library of over 100 LWA rides. A very useful feature on club routes is the Tag option which helps members find routes from specific start locations.

The support team at RWGPS is the best in the industry, questions are answered promptly and in detail. I highly recommend RWGPS if you are looking for a cycling app.

by JW Haupt

I started using the free version of RWGPS in 2011 for developing routes and exporting the routes to develop cue sheets for a bike club that I lead rides for. After a couple of years of being really satisfied with the online app I subscribed to the top level to thank the developers and to unlock a few of the new added features. When they added the Event feature, which allows one to show multiple rotes on a single screen, RidewithGPS went to a new level. When the mobile app was made available I set my Garmin aside and use the phone app to follow routes and record rides. Great map screen to follow routes and stats while riding. I’ve used Map My ride and Strava, but none compare to the features of RWGPS. Thanks and keep up the great work!!

by Dsw2013

this app is simply the best mapping, route sharing, and event organizing site. Widest selection of map bases, most with autorouting ability. Powerful editing tools. Elevation estimates tend to be a little low, but more accurate than other apps. Routes easy to download for use in watch or cycle computer. I have extensive experience mapping with Garmin, MapMyRide, and Movescount also. this app is much better. Have used it to plan literally hundreds of routes. I help organize two major local cycling fundraisers, lead a weekly ride series that never repeats routes, and combine routes for multi-day events. Highly recommended.

RWGPS also has activity tracking and community tools. They may be great but I have not tried because everyone around here uses Strava.

by Jbusteed

As a route planner and iPhone app, I cannot say enough good things about. RidewithGPS provides excellent turn by turn directions and excellent details. Route planning is top notch.

As a watch standalone app, it is pretty good and captures the essential details for the ride. There is a bug where RidewithGPS almost always refuses to stay in the foreground and I have to ask Siri to bring it back. This is more annoying but developers punted when I reported problem last summer.

As an integrated app, RidewithGPS frequently loses contact with the phone and almost never provides turn by turn directions. Then we do the dance of powering on and off both devices until they talk again. This is the reason why I bought RidewithGPS /watch. Now searching for replacement.