Whether you’re new to cycling or a seasoned professional, making good use of the range of free cycling apps for iPhone and Android is a great way to get the most out of your rides.
There’s a wide array of cycling apps out there today to help with various different aspects of the sport — so, whether you need to plan your routes, check the weather before setting off, brush up on road safety, or perhaps keep track of your indoor cycling progress, we’ve put together a list of the best free cycling apps available to you.
Contents
Planning your routes and tracking your progress
Checking the weather
Road safety and first aid
Indoor cycling
Planning your routes and tracking your progress
Of course, the main reason you’re probably looking at this list is to find cycling apps that can help you plan and save your routes as well as track your speed and improvement over time. Many cycling apps do this as standard, but below is a selection of some of the best cycling apps for planning your routes and tracking your progress.
Strava
Strava has a wide range of features that make it stand out as one of the most popular apps for cyclists. With Strava, you can record your rides (as well as 30 other sport types), but you will need a subscription to access its route-building feature.
However, Strava’s free features include Strava Beacon, which you can use to share your location with up to three contacts whilst you’re out and about on your rides for added peace of mind. As a further safety and privacy feature, Strava also offers the ability to hide segments of your rides from other users to protect your anonymity. It’s always a good idea to make use of features like this; Cyclist even reports that some users’ routes have identified secret military bases in the past.
If you’re looking for a challenge, you can compete against other riders on Strava Segments by aiming for the best time for a portion of your journey. You can even follow professional athletes on the app for inspiration or even to try and beat their best times. Strava Segments are also a great way to track your own progress as the app records your stats for your top ten attempts for free.
Available on: iOS and Android devices including your phone, smartwatch, tablet, and laptop.
Komoot
Designed for use on your mobile, tablet, and smartwatch, Komoot can help you plan routes for cycling, hikes, and running. Whether you’re looking for routes suitable for road biking, mountain biking, or touring, Komoot has a wide range of pre-planned routes for you to choose from, or you can create one entirely of your own.
Komoot is also great for connecting with other cyclists. You can find routes posted by other users with photos and tips from the original poster, giving you a better idea of what different routes have to offer from someone who’s already done it.
It’s worth noting that although the app is free, only your first region comes free forever. If you want to explore further afield, you’ll need to purchase some upgrades within the app. Despite this, it’s still a great choice for exploring routes and connecting with cyclists in your local area.
Available on: iOS and Android devices including your phone, smartwatch, and tablet.
CycleStreets
Advertised as a UK-wide cycle journey planner made for cyclists by cyclists, CycleStreets offers the opportunity to plan your routes ahead of time with the ability to choose both faster and quieter route options. Another feature worth mentioning is the app’s ability to plan your route without taking you up steep inclines and taking advantage of downhill slopes, allowing you to enjoy your ride without the looming presence of an upcoming hill if you want to avoid them. If you’re looking for some new routes to try, check out our blog on The 11 Best Cycling Routes in the UK.
CycleStreets even includes a Photomap for cycling advocacy, which allows you to submit pictures of issues or suggested changes on your route to improve the cycling experience of those local to you.
Available on: iOS and Android phones.
Checking the weather
It’s no secret that UK weather can be unpredictable, so it’s wise to factor this in when you’re planning your rides. Beyond the apps you’re likely already aware of, such as BBC Weather and AccuWeather, there are some weather apps made specifically with cyclists in mind.
Epic Ride Weather
Epic Ride Weather can connect with other cycling apps such as Strava, Komoot, and Ride with GPS. Linking Epic Ride Weather with one of these apps provides you with a weather forecast for the entirety of your ride and is updated every ten minutes. The app can also use information from your linked cycling app, such as your route and pace, to tell you what time of day is best for your next ride.
Paired with Strava, Epic Ride Weather can show you Strava Segments organised by up-to-date weather conditions in that area, including tailwind, wind speed and yaw angle. Epic Ride Weather is free for your first 1,000 forecasts; after that, you will need to purchase more forecasts if you want to continue using the app.
Available on: iOS and Android devices including your phone and tablet.
Road safety and first aid
Whether you’re cycling on or off-road, your safety and the safety of those around you should be your primary concern. The apps below all include features that could help you feel safer on your journey, as well as help make journeys safer for other cyclists and drivers.
Flare
Flare is a personal protection app that has a number of safety features useful to cyclists. This includes incident avoidance and detection and hazard warnings. Flare can alert drivers to your presence when nearby, ensuring they know to practice caution whilst passing you to prevent accidents.
If the worst were to happen, Flare can identify when you’ve been involved in an accident and send an alert to your emergency contacts with your GPS location (you have 30 seconds to deactivate the alert before it’s sent out).
As a UK cyclist, you’re already likely to be familiar with hazards like potholes. The Flare app offers the ability to report these hazards, as well as be notified of ones reported by others, including things like black ice or fallen trees from bad weather.
Available on: iOS and Android phones.
Fill That Hole
Better yet, if you get Fill That Hole as well as Flare, you can report hazards such as potholes or broken traffic lights, which are sent straight to your local highway authority to be fixed. As many as 21% of UK cyclists have been involved in an accident because of a pothole, so the more people that use the app, the safer our roads will be for cyclists.
Available via: Web app download from the Fill That Hole website.
St John Ambulance First Aid
The St John Ambulance First Aid app gives anyone the opportunity to learn the basics of first aid. The app includes advice and protocols in case you should come across anyone in need of first aid on your ride, so it’s great to have in your arsenal for emergency situations.
Available on: iOS and Android devices including your phone and tablet.
Indoor cycling
If you’re interested in indoor cycling, you likely won’t be interested in the tracking apps we’ve mentioned above, but there are free indoor cycling apps out there too, which are great for adding to your experience as an indoor cyclist.
MyWhoosh
If you don’t want to pay the £12.99 a month for Zwift, MyWhoosh is a great free alternative to the indoor cycling app. This virtual cycling app offers a range of workouts, rides, and races, all with a virtual interface for you to watch whilst you ride, transporting you to places such as Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain.
You can track your progress through the recorded stats in the app alongside training plans put together by professional coaches. If you’re interested in a bit of competition, the MyWhoosh app runs esports events with cash prizes against other cyclists on the app.
Available on: iOS and Android devices including your phone, tablet, and laptop.
Look after you and your bike with specialist cycling insurance through Cycleplan
Whilst there are a number of apps that can improve your cycling experience and help keep you safe, protecting yourself and your bike with specialist cycling insurance can provide you with that extra piece of mind whilst you’re out and about.
Through Cycleplan, you can get cover for a range of bicycles including road, mountain, electric, and more. You can also build your own bespoke policy based on your specific needs, including things like Public Liability, theft, and Personal Accident cover.
If you’re interested in finding out more about specialist cycling insurance through Cycleplan, follow this link or get an online quote today.