Friday, 3 May 2024
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Use Your Android Phone as a Bike Computer: The 6 Best Apps

Want a way to track your performance when out biking? These Android apps will turn your phone into a cycling computer.

It is still up for debate whether cyclists really need a bike computer every time they go biking. Bike computers are essential in providing real-time data to track your progress like speed, distance, and trip time. But despite their usefulness, they can be quite expensive, which is why an excellent alternative is your smartphone, especially for beginners.

A bike computer app can give you all the information you need on your smartphone. Here are the top Android bike computers for when you go riding again.

1. Jepster

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Homepage Jepster cycling app statistics and maps on Jepster Routes on Jepster

Jepster is an Android app that uses your smartphone like a bike computer. It uses GPS to give you real-time information on the performance of your ride. There are a wide range of features on this app that will help you keep track of your progress while enjoying your ride.

With Jepster, you can add routes from your file storage or download specific routes to your map. This makes them easily accessible when on your bike. If you use Strava, you can download your specific routes and add them to Jepster.

The GPS on this app tracks your cycling to show you the distance, time, and speed of each ride. You can also divide your rides into laps. Other data types displayed include the cadence, heart rate, humidity, and laps.

An interesting feature of this app is the auto-pause function that stops tracking your activity whenever you stop riding. You can also add your personal details like weight and gender for more accurate data.

Download: Jepster (Free, in-app purchases available)

2. Bike Tracker

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Homepage bike tracker app Maps on Bike Tracker Settings on Bike tracker

Whether you are a beginner, an experienced cyclist, or trying out your first electric bike, Bike Tracker is a great option. This bike computer will measure your time, distance, average speed, altitude, and calories when cycling. The map uses your smartphone’s GPS to track where you are riding and how fast, and you can also import data from other devices to the app.

You can edit your personal details like weight and bike type on the profile section on Bike Tracker, and the history tab holds all your riding data for you to view at a later date. However, to see your full history, you will have to pay for the premium version of the app.

Download: Bike Tracker (Free, in-app purchases available)

3. Bike Computer

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Data on Bike Computer Profile on Bike Computer Bike Computer homepage

One of the most well designed apps in our list, Bike Computer has the simplest of displays to help you get the data you need every time you glance at your phone.

Unfortunately, you will need to pay to access amazing features like the ‘keep me safe’ function. With this feature, you can send emergency texts to your contacts, along with your location details.

Like the other apps on this list, you get to enjoy the auto-pause function that pauses your track each time you stop. The measurements available on this bike computer include temperature, elevation, and distance. You can also add sensors to monitor your heart rate and cadence. There is also a bike community on this app you can interact with and go to for advice.

Download: Bike Computer (Free, in-app purchases available)

4. CycleDroid

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Homepage on Cycledroid cycledroid-additional-stats Settings on cycledroid

Another bike computer app you can use when cycling is CycleDroid. This app is great at tracking your bike rides and showcasing data like current speed, distance, altitude, and ride time. Easily swipe right to get access to other parameters like bearing, slope, time, and net pace.

This is a very simple app for beginners to use. You get to use the GPS-enabled map on the app to find your route and navigate to your destination. With CycleDroid you can prevent your smartphone from sleeping and keep tracking even when your phone is not in use.

The graphs feature is available when calculating speed and distance, altitude distance, and speed and time metrics. You can add your specific details like your weight, gender, and age in the settings section. This is important to get accurate data when calculating calories if you don’t have other apps to track your diet and exercise.

Download: CycleDroid (Free, in-app purchases available)

5. Ride With GPS

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Homepage for Ride With GPS Ride With GPS settings

Ride with GPS is an easy-to-use bike computer app for Android users. It makes it easy to plan your routes online before getting on your bike, then record your rides. The map on Ride with GPS is laid out with paths you can ride while getting real-time data.

Some of the information includes speed, elevation gain, distance, and duration. Like other bike computer apps, Ride with GPS has an auto-pause feature to stop recording once you stop riding the bike.

You get to enjoy turn by turn voice navigation on the map so that you focus on your ride. After enabling Bluetooth, you can add other devices and sensors to provide more biking information for you, like heart rate data.

Download: Ride with GPS (Free, in-app purchases available)

6. Strava

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Homepage for Strava Tracker Settings on Strava Tracker Profile page on Strava TRacker

The last Android app on this list is Strava. This app is a popular exercise tracking app for swimming, running, and cycling. Although it is not mainly for bike riding, it still offers all the details you need for tracking your rides. This is a straightforward app without too many details or distractions.

Many of the features on Strava are behind a paywall, like the training dashboard, planning routes, and heart rate data. You can only build new routes on your computer and not the app. With the Strava app, you can add sensors and other devices to measure heart rate as well.

Download: Strava (Free, in-app purchases available)

Get More Out of Every Ride With Bike Computer Apps

These Android apps work as bike computers on your smartphone. This way, you don’t have to carry many gadgets with you when biking. All you need is your smartphone and you will have the details to keep track of your rides.

Bike computer apps offer real-time data on distance, speed, and heart rate when cycling. This information is suitable for measuring biking progress over time. With these bike apps, you can also add your own customized routes or download them from other apps.

Bike Tracker and Jepster provide adequate biking information that will suit most cyclists. If you are looking for a familiar and simple app, you can try out Strava. Your rides won’t be the same now that you can keep track of all your cycling data from your smartphone.

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