Riding solo, safely: share your location while cycling, live, with your loved ones
Heading out alone on the bike is often the best moment of the week. It is also the moment when a puncture or a fall has to be handled with nobody around. The simplest safeguard fits in one sentence: someone knows where you are. Since version 1.3.4 of the iPhone app, VéloCore lets you share your location while cycling with your loved ones through a simple link, for free, with nothing for them to install. Here is how it works, what they see, and what stays private.
Cycling safety when you ride alone: the real risk is isolation
On a busy road, a cyclist who has stopped is eventually seen. The risk grows as soon as you move away from it: forest tracks, small country roads, rides at dawn or late in the day. If something goes wrong, the time before help arrives depends on a single question: does someone know where you are, right now, and not just "somewhere on the 60 km loop" mentioned at breakfast?
Share your location while cycling with loved ones: how it works
Everything happens from the app's SOS screen, where the three-level alert and fall detection already live. A row called "Live tracking for my loved ones" creates the link and opens the iPhone share sheet. You send it through the app of your choice, with a ready-made sentence: "Follow my bike ride live, no app needed", followed by the link.
The link is ready before you even leave: your loved ones read that the tracking "starts with the ride", and the position appears as soon as the ride recording starts in the cockpit. Four things to remember:
Your loved ones open the page in any browser, with no account and nothing to install. The map is OpenStreetMap.
Your position is sent every 15 to 60 seconds, with speed, distance and time. The track keeps one point every 100 m.
Riding, on a break, no news for five minutes, ride finished, breakdown or emergency: the page says what is going on.
It lives 2 h after the last update of a ride in progress, 1 h after you arrive, 6 h after an emergency SOS, or until you stop it.
Live cyclist tracking: what your loved ones see
The link's page fits on a phone screen. At the top, the first name and the status: "Marie is riding", "Marie is taking a break" or "Marie has finished the ride at 17:42". Below it, the map with the track so far and the last position, then distance, time, speed and the time of the last update, "just now" or "3 min ago". As long as the page is open, it refreshes every 15 seconds.
Two buttons complete the screen: "Directions to their position", which opens the last position in Google Maps, and "Recenter the map". The page exists in French and in English.
With no news for five minutes, the page says so, "No news from Marie for 7 min", and keeps the last known position. When the signal comes back, the first update carries the position and the whole track ridden in the meantime. In battery-saving mode, the app sends at least one update per minute, even when you are stopped.
Breakdown or emergency: live tracking relays the SOS
Live tracking is wired to VéloCore's SOS. If you report a breakdown (level 2, "Technical assistance"), your loved ones read "Marie reported a breakdown": a request for help went out to nearby riders. If you raise the emergency alert (level 3, "Life-threatening emergency"), or if fall detection raises it for you after its twenty-second countdown, the page turns red: "SOS: Marie is asking for help", with the instruction to call the emergency services if the person cannot be reached, and a button to call 112 or the local emergency number. After an emergency SOS, the link stays readable for six hours instead of two.
Privacy: a first name, one ride, a short-lived link
Your loved ones see your first name (the first word of your VéloCore name), your position rounded to the metre, the track, the distance, the time, a possible break and a breakdown or emergency SOS. Not your e-mail, not your profile, not your ride history.
The link holds a key of 24 random characters, never sent to the server that hosts the page, and nobody can list the trackings in progress: only whoever holds the link can read the ride, while the link is alive. You stop it at any time with the "Stop" button, and only you can; otherwise it switches itself off, and the data is erased at the latest seven hours after the last update.
Where to find live tracking in VéloCore
- Open the SOS screen of the iPhone app (version 1.3.4 or later) with your account signed in: live tracking is free, like all of VéloCore's safety features.
- Tap "Live tracking for my loved ones", then send the link to one or more people. The SOS screen card then reads "Live tracking shared", with the "Send the link" and "Stop" buttons.
- Start your ride in the cockpit, prepared if you like in the free web route planner. When you arrive, the link shows "has finished the ride" for one hour, then switches off.
The details of the free and Premium features are on the features page.
Riding solo safely: the habits that complete live tracking
- Still say where you are going: the link shows the position, not the plan. Send the planned route and your return time too.
- Leave with a charged battery. Tracking is light, but your phone remains your map, your cockpit and your lifeline.
- Keep the SOS within thumb's reach. Safety info, technical assistance or life-threatening emergency: the three levels stay available during tracking, and fall detection keeps watch.
Frequently asked questions about sharing your location while cycling
Do my loved ones need to install VéloCore to follow me?
No. The link opens a web page in any browser, with no account and nothing to install. They see your first name, your position on an OpenStreetMap map, the track so far, distance, time, speed and the time of the last update, in French or in English.
How long does the tracking link stay active?
Two hours after the last update of a ride in progress, one hour after you arrive and six hours after an emergency SOS. You can stop it at any time from the SOS screen: the page then shows nothing at all. The data is erased at the latest seven hours after the last update.
Is sharing your location while cycling free in VéloCore?
Yes. Live tracking is free, like the three-level SOS and fall detection, and only needs a signed-in VéloCore account. It is available in the iPhone app since version 1.3.4, from the SOS screen. The GPS cockpit, the route planner and the GPX export stay free as well.
Ride alone, but never without a safety net
One link from the SOS screen, and your loved ones follow your ride live, for free, with no app. Available in VéloCore on iPhone.