Velorki
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Free, private, no account

Ride where the signal ends

Plan the ride, find the café, follow the turns, and do all of it where the signal ends. Free, no account, and your routes and rides stay with you.

Download a region once and the whole app works without a network: the map, the routing, the place search and the spoken turns. No account, no ads, no paywall on the ride itself. Your routes and rides stay with you: on your phone, or in your own iCloud or Google Drive when you sync them, and they export any time as GPX, FIT or TCX. No server of ours is in the loop unless you ask for one.

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The Velorki route planner: a bike route on the map with waypoints, distance, ascent and the elevation profile in a panel over the map. Shown in the app's dark theme.The Velorki route planner: a bike route on the map with waypoints, distance, ascent and the elevation profile in a panel over the map. Shown in the app's dark theme.The Velorki route planner: a bike route on the map with waypoints, distance, ascent and the elevation profile in a panel over the map. Shown in the app's dark theme.

Everything on the phone is free

Planning, loops, offline maps and routing, search, navigation, recording, sensors and the Apple Watch, ride stats, the weather map and the weather along the route, GPX, FIT and TCX files, sync through your own iCloud or Google Drive, and the Strava and Ride with GPS connections — for everyone, for good. The routing data and the search index are mirrored for you at no charge.

  • Routing on the phone
  • Loops
  • Offline search
  • Offline maps
  • Turn-by-turn
  • Recording
  • Sensors and watch
  • GPX, FIT and TCX
  • Sync with your own cloud
  • Weather map and route weather
  • Compatible with Strava and Ride with GPS

What it does

Seven things you will use on every ride. Every screenshot below is the real app.

Theme
Accent

The app ships light and dark with five accents. Switching here swaps every screenshot on this page.

Planning

A route for the bike you are on

Tap waypoints on the map and the route is calculated on the phone, on downloaded 5°×5° tiles. Touring, road, gravel, MTB and direct profiles, up to three alternatives, the elevation profile and a breakdown of the surfaces you will ride on. The route can be coloured by gradient, surface, wind or rain, and one time slider sets when you leave and moves the weather on the map and along the route.

  • Five bike profiles, up to three alternatives per route
  • Elevation profile and surface statistics for every option
  • An online routing server is optional, for areas with no tiles
The Velorki route planner: a bike route on the map with waypoints, distance, ascent and the elevation profile in a panel over the map. Shown in the app's dark theme.The Velorki route planner: a bike route on the map with waypoints, distance, ascent and the elevation profile in a panel over the map. Shown in the app's dark theme.The Velorki route planner: a bike route on the map with waypoints, distance, ascent and the elevation profile in a panel over the map. Shown in the app's dark theme.

Loops

“A 60 km round trip from here via the lake”

Say how far you want to ride and, if you like, one place to pass. Candidates are generated on the phone and scored on length, climbing, surface and repeated roads, so what comes back is a ride, not a detour.

  • Round trips that come back to where you started
  • Scored on length, climbing, surface and repeated roads
  • Pick a place to pass and the loop goes through it
A generated loop: a round trip drawn on the map with its length, climbing and surface mix. Shown in the app's dark theme.A generated loop: a round trip drawn on the map with its length, climbing and surface mix. Shown in the app's dark theme.A generated loop: a round trip drawn on the map with its length, climbing and surface mix. Shown in the app's dark theme.

Offline

The map, the routing and the search, with no connection

Each routing tile brings a search index of its places, streets with house numbers and points of interest: cafés, drinking water, toilets, repair stations, shelters, bike shops, campsites, hotels, passes, peaks, viewpoints, stations and landmarks. Typing “water” lists the nearest taps by distance, and typos are corrected from the index itself.

  • Vector map areas saved per region
  • Search by category: cafés, water, toilets, repair stations
  • Online place search is one tap away
Offline place search: a list of nearby cafés and drinking water taps with their distance, found without a connection. Shown in the app's dark theme.Offline place search: a list of nearby cafés and drinking water taps with their distance, found without a connection. Shown in the app's dark theme.Offline place search: a list of nearby cafés and drinking water taps with their distance, found without a connection. Shown in the app's dark theme.

Navigation

Spoken turns, on the phone

A turn banner and spoken cues while you ride a route, and when you leave it, your choice of a way back onto the plan, a new route to the destination or just the direction back, all worked out on the phone. Compass or north-up follow modes. The cues are generated from the same routing data that planned the ride, so they work where there is no network. A GPX route brings its own cue sheet and points of interest along, and the record sheet adds an elevation profile with the climb ahead, the arrival time and the cue list as swipeable pages. A GPX without turns gets them created on the phone from the map.

  • Turn banner and voice cues, offline
  • Leave the line: guided back, a new route, or just the direction back
  • Cue sheet, points of interest, climb and arrival time on the record sheet
Turn-by-turn navigation: the next turn in a banner above the map while the route is being followed. Shown in the app's dark theme.Turn-by-turn navigation: the next turn in a banner above the map while the route is being followed. Shown in the app's dark theme.Turn-by-turn navigation: the next turn in a banner above the map while the route is being followed. Shown in the app's dark theme.

Recording

It keeps recording when the phone does not

Recording runs in the background with a foreground notification on Android and a live activity on iOS, and survives the app being killed. Battery saver dims the screen and coarsens the GPS. Heart rate, cadence and power come along from an Apple Watch, a Bluetooth sensor or your health app, if you switch them on. Afterwards, ride pages with elevation, speed, heart rate, splits sized to the ride, the climbs you rode, the surface under your wheels from the offline map, and a speed-coloured track; on request calories, heart-rate and power zones, normalised power and an estimated power for rides without a meter.

  • Background recording that survives the app being killed
  • Heart rate, cadence and power from a watch or a Bluetooth sensor, all optional
  • Ride pages with splits, climbs, surface and a speed-coloured track; calories, zones and estimated power if you want them
A ride being recorded: distance, time, speed and ascent in large figures over the map. Shown in the app's dark theme.A ride being recorded: distance, time, speed and ascent in large figures over the map. Shown in the app's dark theme.A ride being recorded: distance, time, speed and ascent in large figures over the map. Shown in the app's dark theme.

Sensors

Sensors and your watch

Heart rate, cadence and power come from a Bluetooth sensor — a strap, a speed and cadence sensor or a power meter — paired once and then part of every ride: on the record screen while you ride, and kept with the ride afterwards. The Velorki app on your Apple Watch shows the ride on your wrist and sends your heart rate to the phone; start, pause and finish from the watch, and it keeps measuring through your stops, or rests at every stop if you prefer. Apple Health and Health Connect can supply a heart rate too, and all of it is free, all of it optional, and nothing happens until you switch a source on.

  • Heart-rate straps, speed and cadence sensors and power meters over Bluetooth
  • The Velorki app on your Apple Watch: the ride on your wrist, its heart rate to the phone
  • Apple Health and Health Connect as sources, free and off until you switch one on

Read the guide

Files and services

Your rides are files you own

GPX, FIT and TCX import and export through the share sheet and open-with, so routes and rides move to Komoot, Garmin Connect, Strava or anything else that reads those formats. A GPX route keeps its cue sheet and points of interest, and a Ride with GPS link opens in Velorki. Velorki works with Strava and Ride with GPS for free; share links are part of Plus. One Share button on a route or a ride holds the link, Strava and Ride with GPS.

  • GPX, FIT and TCX in and out, from Files, Mail or a browser, with cue sheets and points of interest
  • A library of saved routes and recorded rides
  • Compatible with Strava and Ride with GPS, free; share links with Plus
The library: saved routes and recorded rides as a list with their distance and ascent. Shown in the app's dark theme.The library: saved routes and recorded rides as a list with their distance and ascent. Shown in the app's dark theme.The library: saved routes and recorded rides as a list with their distance and ascent. Shown in the app's dark theme.

Cycle map

The cycle map

Bike lanes, cycle routes and one-way arrows drawn over the map from the data you already downloaded for routing. It works with no connection at all and shows up as you zoom in.

What it draws

  • Bike lanes & tracks
  • Shared paths
  • Two-way for bikes
  • One-way arrows
  • One-way streets
  • National routes
  • Regional routes
  • Local routes
  • Unpaved & bumpy
  • Barriers & steps
  • Calm streets
  • Mountain bike
  • Climbs

Each part switches on and off on its own, in the map's Layers sheet. The chips there are the legend: each one shows its line.

Stops on the map

Cafés, drinking water, bakeries, toilets and repair stations to start with, from the same downloaded data. Pick any other kind from these groups, and tap a stop to plan to it. Zoomed out, close stops gather into bubbles with a count; single stops show from zoom 15, and along a route you see the stops ahead.

  • Cycling stops
  • Overnight
  • Landmarks

Online cycle map

CyclOSM's map is the alternative when you have a signal: it adds bike shops and parking, and needs a connection.

Offline from your downloaded areas: no extra download, no server.

How the map layers work

The cycle map in Chelsea, New York: the Hudson River Greenway, protected lanes on the avenues, local cycle routes, one-way arrows and café and drinking water stops on the map. Shown in the app's dark theme.The cycle map in Chelsea, New York: the Hudson River Greenway, protected lanes on the avenues, local cycle routes, one-way arrows and café and drinking water stops on the map. Shown in the app's dark theme.The cycle map in Chelsea, New York: the Hudson River Greenway, protected lanes on the avenues, local cycle routes, one-way arrows and café and drinking water stops on the map. Shown in the app's dark theme.
The Layers sheet: the cycle map switched on with a chip for each part, the online cycle map, and stops with their kinds. Shown in the app's dark theme.The Layers sheet: the cycle map switched on with a chip for each part, the online cycle map, and stops with their kinds. Shown in the app's dark theme.The Layers sheet: the cycle map switched on with a chip for each part, the online cycle map, and stops with their kinds. Shown in the app's dark theme.

Velorki Plus

Ask for the ride you want

Plus is the optional subscription for what needs our servers. Most of it is the assistant: you say what you have in mind, and the route is still planned on your phone.

  • Describe a ride

    “A gravel loop of about 80 km on quiet roads” becomes a request the planner understands: a distance, a shape, places to pass. The route itself is planned on your phone.

  • Ask about the route on the map

    Have the route checked, find coffee around halfway or a tap to refill. Each finding has its place on the map, and Add as stop or Avoid changes the route in one step that Undo takes back.

  • A description for your routes

    Describe this route writes a paragraph from what the phone knows about the route: its climbs, surfaces, towns and the cafés along it.

  • Share links

    Share a route or a ride as a link that opens in any browser, with the map, the stats and a GPX download.

  • Finer weather along the route

    The free weather along the route comes from a coarser public forecast. Plus asks local weather services instead — the US National Weather Service, the Deutscher Wetterdienst's station forecasts in Germany, MET Norway elsewhere — for finer wind, rain and temperature, with gusts and the chance of rain.

  • Rain radar across Europe

    Where the free map has only satellite estimates, such as in France, Spain, Italy, the UK, Switzerland and Scandinavia, Plus shows real radar from EUMETNET OPERA and Radar-DPC (Italy): 1 km cells, a new image every 5 minutes, the last 2 hours.

The assistant asks before it sends anything: what you type and, only if you allow it, your position rounded to about a kilometre. No account, no route history.

Monthly or yearly through the App Store or Google Play, with a free trial. The Plus page lists the price in your country.

What Plus includes →How the assistant works →
The assistant on the Plan tab: a request for a 40 km gravel loop with a café stop, what it understood, and the loop it planned on the map. Shown in the app's dark theme.The assistant on the Plan tab: a request for a 40 km gravel loop with a café stop, what it understood, and the loop it planned on the map. Shown in the app's dark theme.The assistant on the Plan tab: a request for a 40 km gravel loop with a café stop, what it understood, and the loop it planned on the map. Shown in the app's dark theme.
The Velorki Plus page as a subscriber sees it: the features it includes and the active subscription. Shown in the app's dark theme.The Velorki Plus page as a subscriber sees it: the features it includes and the active subscription. Shown in the app's dark theme.The Velorki Plus page as a subscriber sees it: the features it includes and the active subscription. Shown in the app's dark theme.

Free vs Plus

Free is everything that runs on the phone

Velorki Plus is a small subscription only for the parts that need our servers. Everything else is free, for everyone, for good.

Free is everything that runs on the phone
FeatureFreePlus
Route planning, five bike profiles, alternativesIncludedIncluded
Elevation profile and surface statisticsIncludedIncluded
Loops and round tripsIncludedIncluded
Offline map and routing regionsIncludedIncluded
Offline place and POI searchIncludedIncluded
Turn-by-turn with spoken cuesIncludedIncluded
Ride recording, stats, splits, climbs, surface, calories and zonesIncludedIncluded
Heart rate, cadence and power from sensors, watch and health appIncludedIncluded
Library of routes and ridesIncludedIncluded
Sync between your devices through your own iCloud or Google DriveIncludedIncluded
GPX, FIT and TCX import and exportIncludedIncluded
Weather map: rain radar, clouds and wind, with a time sliderIncludedIncluded
Weather along the route from a coarser public forecast: wind, rain, temperature, a summary and the best time to leave, and the route coloured by gradient, surface, wind or rainIncludedIncluded
Compatible with Strava: upload rides, import your routesIncludedIncluded
Compatible with Ride with GPS: routes and trips both waysIncludedIncluded
Finer weather along the route from local weather services, with gusts and chance of rainNot includedIncluded
Real rain radar across Europe where the free map has only satellite estimatesNot includedIncluded
The assistant: a sentence becomes a routeNot includedIncluded
Share links for routes and ridesNot includedIncluded

The code for all of it is here, so you can also run your own relay and skip the subscription entirely.

Velorki Plus →

Private, and anyone can check

Everything runs on your phone and there is no account. Your routes and rides stay with you, or in your own iCloud or Google Drive, and leave as GPX, FIT or TCX whenever you like. The code is public, so anyone can check that and improve it: the app, the relay and this website are open source under the AGPL. Everything it draws, routes on and searches in comes from OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.

Read the source on GitHubCredits and licences

In the browser

Plan on a big screen

The planner also runs in the browser: free, nothing to install, no account. It computes routes on your computer with the same routing as the app, from the routing data for the area you plan in.

What it does

  • Routes with the Touring, Road, Gravel and MTB profiles, variants and loops
  • Distance, ascent and the elevation profile, coloured by gradient or surface
  • Place search, the cycle map, stops along the way and the weather map
  • A library of your routes and rides, synced through your own iCloud or Google Drive, and GPX files to download

What stays in the app

  • Recording rides and turn-by-turn navigation
  • Map areas kept for riding without a signal
  • Strava and Ride with GPS

The app is for riding: it records, navigates and works offline on the way.

Open the plannerGet the app

Velorki Plus is bought in the iPhone and Android apps; signed in to the iCloud or Google account the app syncs with, it works in the browser too. Get the app

The Velorki planner in a browser window: a route along the coast of Madeira from Funchal to Caniço, with distance, ascent and the route coloured by gradient.

Questions

Frequently asked

Do I need an account?

No. There is no account and no sign-up, not even for Velorki Plus — a subscription is restored through the store you bought it in, without an account with us. Sync, if you want it, goes through your own iCloud or Google account.

Does it really work without a connection?

Yes. Download a region once and the map, the routing, the place search and the spoken turns all run on the phone. Only the weather, the assistant, sync, the Strava and Ride with GPS connections and share links need a network.

What does Velorki cost?

Everything that runs on the phone is free: planning, loops, offline maps and routing, search, navigation, recording, heart rate, cadence and power from your sensors, ride stats, the weather map, the weather along the route from a public forecast, GPX, FIT and TCX files, sync through your own iCloud or Google Drive, and the Strava and Ride with GPS connections. Velorki Plus is a subscription for the server-side features; the Plus page lists its monthly and yearly price per country, as the App Store and Google Play show them.

What is Velorki Plus?

A small subscription for the parts that need our servers: the assistant, share links, finer weather along the route from local weather services and rain radar across Europe. It is bought, managed and cancelled in the App Store or Google Play.

What leaves my phone?

Nothing, unless you ask for it. Routes, rides and settings are stored on the device; when you sync them, they go to your own iCloud or Google Drive, never to us. The assistant asks for consent before any text leaves, and rounds the position it sends to about a kilometre. Map tiles and online search are fetched only when you are not using downloaded data.

Where does the map data come from?

From OpenStreetMap, under the ODbL. The map, the routing and the place search all run on that open data; the projects and licences behind it are on the credits page.

Credits and licences

Is Velorki really open source?

Yes, so anyone can check what it does with your data. The app, its pure-Dart packages, the relay and this website are AGPL-3.0-only; all of it is on GitHub. The name, logo and icon are reserved, so a fork has to rebrand before publishing it to a store.

Can I run the server parts myself?

Yes. The relay, a routing server and a tile host can all be self-hosted; the repository has the compose files and the systemd units. A fork that points at its own relay needs no subscription at all.

Get the app and ride

Free on both stores. No account, no ads, no trial on the parts that run on your phone, and the source is on GitHub for anyone to check.

Download Velorki