Wow, what a release this turned into.

The latest Urban Rider update brings quite a few things together:

Apple Watch support
Find where you parked your vehicle
Core routing logic improvements
A smoother map while riding
Pan and zoom when you are not moving

That last one was requested a lot. We originally locked the map during navigation because, on a scooter or moped, your hands should be on the handlebars and your eyes should be on the road. But many of you asked for more control when stopped, so now you can pan and zoom when you are not moving.

And now we are already working on version 4.17.0.

This release is focused on longer routes.

Routes like:

Berlin to Augsburg
Berlin to Milan
Longer cross-country rides

Right now, very long routes can sometimes fail and show a message saying Urban Rider cannot generate the route yet and that you should wait around a minute. That is frustrating, and it is something we want to improve.

The problem is that Urban Rider tries very hard to avoid roads that are technically allowed but uncomfortable or unsafe-feeling for slower vehicles. For example, in Germany a road like the B184 may be allowed, but traffic can move around 80 km/h. If you are riding a 45 km/h moped, that does not feel great.

For normal routes, we still try to avoid those roads as much as possible.

But for very long rides, sometimes there simply is no realistic route unless we allow some faster roads. So in 4.17.0 we are improving the logic for long-distance routing. Urban Rider will still respect country-specific road rules, but it will be able to use faster roads when needed to actually complete the route.

We do not want to hide that from you.

So before you start the route, Urban Rider will warn you when faster roads are included and explain why. Then, during the ride, it will warn you again before you are about to enter one of those faster road sections.

The goal is simple:

Give you routes that actually work
Keep the route legal for your vehicle
Avoid uncomfortable roads where possible
Warn you clearly when a faster road is coming up

Thanks again to everyone who tested, reported issues, and sent feedback. Urban Rider keeps getting better because real riders keep telling me what actually happens on the road.

Hi riders,

Urban Rider is coming to Android, and we are looking for beta testers.

Urban Rider is a navigation app built specifically for scooters, mopeds, motorcycles, and two-wheel riders who do not want to be routed like cars.

The Android version is now ready for real-world testing, and we need riders who are willing to try it during actual rides and share honest feedback.

What we are testing:

• Scooter and moped navigation
• Vehicle profiles
• Road-legal routing rules
• Route creation and rerouting
• Navigation stability
• Real-world Android device behavior
• General bugs, crashes, and strange edge cases

Please keep in mind that this is a beta version. Things can go wrong, routes may not always behave as expected, and some features may still need polishing.

That is exactly why we need testers.

If you ride a scooter, moped, motorcycle, or bicycle and want to help shape the Android version of Urban Rider, please join the beta test group.

Your feedback will directly help improve the app before the public Android release.

Thanks for helping us bring Urban Rider to Android.

https://play.google.com/apps/testing/app.nav.urbanrider

Hi riders,

I wanted to give you a quick and honest update on what is happening with Urban Rider.

Over the past few months, the app has grown a lot. We have added more profiles, smarter routing rules, better navigation behavior, language support, and many small improvements in the background. That is great, but it also means the codebase has become more complex.

So for version 4.16.0, I am taking a bit of time to restructure and optimize the app instead of only pushing new features as fast as possible.

The next release will still include new things, such as:

• Apple Watch support
• Nearby EV charging stations
• Alternative route options
• More routing improvements
• A cleaner and more optimized codebase

But because I am refactoring and restructuring parts of the app, there is always a risk that something works perfectly for me, but not for someone else in a real-world ride.

And with a navigation app, I take that seriously.

That is why, starting today, I am holding back App Store updates for about two weeks while 4.16.0 gets tested properly. The only exception is if something is really broken, then of course I will release a fix.

If you like testing experimental builds and do not mind that things can sometimes go wrong during navigation, I would really appreciate your help.

The more testers we have, the better Urban Rider becomes.

So if you want to be part of the test group for the next 14 days, send me a DM.

Just be aware that test builds can contain bugs. Navigation behavior, route creation, or new features may not always work perfectly yet. That is exactly why testing matters.

Thanks again to everyone riding with Urban Rider, reporting issues, and helping shape the app. It means a lot.

Version 4.15.0 will be released this week, as mentioned in yesterday's post. Just to let you know, version 4.16.0 will include Apple Watch support and alternative route support. So before you start navigating, you can choose an alternative route (you need to enable this in settings; we don't enable it by default).

Urban Rider for Android is finally coming, but in order to make this happen, we are looking for beta testers.

https://play.google.com/apps/testing/app.nav.urbanrider

Sunlight Mode

A new mode for riding in direct sun. When enabled during navigation, your screen is pinned to maximum brightness and the route is shown in high-visibility yellow. An optional Strip-down view replaces the standard driving panel with a minimal high-contrast layout: focused map, huge next-turn arrow, big distance, big speed, and street name. Find it in Settings > Sunlight Mode.

Smarter long-distance routing

Long-distance moped trips that previously failed with "no path found" now work much more reliably. Several new layers of automatic recovery handle dual-carriageway destinations, snap failures, mountain roads, and very long routes that exceed the routing engine's search budget. Cross-country trips just work more often.

Better road matching near difficult pins

Urban Rider is now better at handling pins that are close to a road but not exactly on one. If a destination is placed on a mountainside, near a hard-to-match road, or slightly away from the mapped road network, the app now searches a wider area to find a valid road point before giving up.

Routed to the nearest road when needed

Some places, like private parking lots, fenced areas, courtyards, or buildings without a mapped access road, cannot be routed to directly. When that happens, Urban Rider now tries to move the destination to the nearest usable public road and retry the route automatically. If this happens, you may briefly see a "Routed to nearest road" badge, and the route will end on the public street closest to your pin.

Country-aware trunk-road routing for moped riders

In countries where mopeds are legally allowed on trunk roads, such as the UK, Ireland, US, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, the app can now use them as a fallback when no smaller-road alternative exists. A new "Strict trunk avoidance" toggle is available in Settings for riders who prefer the stricter behaviour. Continental-EU riders see no change. Trunks remain banned everywhere they are legally restricted.

Customise your route appearance

Pick your route colour in Settings. Try yellow or orange for better visibility in bright sunlight. Direction-arrow size can now be scaled up to 3x for easier glancing while riding.

Better network handling

The app now responds faster when your connection is poor. If you tap Go while offline, you will see a clear message immediately instead of waiting 30 seconds. Brief network hiccups are absorbed automatically. And when you are already navigating with a route on screen, losing your connection no longer wipes the route. You can keep following it.

Clearer error messages

When something does go wrong, the app now tells you exactly what happened and what to do, including how long any pause will last and whether moving the pin to a nearby road might help.

Thanks for riding with us.

iOS version live,
Android port ready. Need 12+ testers for 14 days (Google's pre-launch requirement).
Beta runs the same free tier as the public release, 2 routes per day, up to 15 km each. Pro features (offline maps, route builder, round-trip, exports) are visible but locked. What I most want feedback on is the CORE nav: turn cues, reroute behavior, profile-aware routing for your vehicle.

Three clicks to join:

1. https://groups.google.com/g/urban-rider-android-beta/about
2. https://play.google.com/apps/testing/app.nav.urbanrider
3. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.nav.urbanrider

Hi all,

Before I can release it publicly on Google Play, I need at least 12 testers to use the app for 14 days.

That’s Google’s rule, not mine.

So I’m looking for riders who are willing to give it some real use over the next two weeks.

What it is

Urban Rider is a turn-by-turn navigation app built specifically for two-wheelers.

Routes are calculated based on what you ride:

Scooters use a 25 km/h profile.
Mopeds use a 45/50 km/h profile.
Motorcycles use an uncapped profile.

The idea is simple: your route should match your vehicle. Mopeds should avoid motorways they cannot legally use, kick scooters can be routed through bike lanes where the law allows it, and motorcycles can use faster roads.

It is not Google Maps with a moped sticker on it. The routing is configured separately for each profile, with different speed caps, road-class rules, and surface preferences.

Other features include turn-by-turn voice guidance with lane-prep hints, parked scooter memory, local-only ride history with maps, weather, and find my scooter.

What to expect in the beta

The beta runs the same free tier as the public release:

2 routes per day
up to 15 km per route

Pro features are visible but locked behind the paywall. That includes offline maps, route builder, round-trip generator, ride export, and custom routing preferences.

What I need most right now is feedback on the core navigation.

Does the route make sense for your vehicle?
Do voice cues happen at the right time?
Does rerouting work cleanly when you take a wrong turn?
Do lane-prep hints match what you see on the road?

That free-tier navigation is the part that will ship to riders on day one, so real-world miles on it are incredibly useful.

If you specifically want to test the Pro features, send me a DM with your Gmail address. I can add you to the Play license tester list, which lets you unlock the subscription through a free test transaction.

What I need from you

Just use it.

Plan a route, ride it, and see how it feels. You do not need to write a long report. Something like this is already gold:

“Rode 12 km, route was mostly good, but it gave me two weird turns near the canal. Screenshot attached.”

Crashes, weird voice cues, bad routes, confusing instructions, or anything like “this sent my moped onto a road I cannot legally use” are exactly the things I need to know.

You can DM me or reply here.

How to join

1. Join the beta Google Group: https://groups.google.com/g/urban-rider-android-beta/about
2. After joining, open the opt-in link and tap “Become a tester”: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/app.nav.urbanrider
3. Wait about 5 minutes, then install the app here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.nav.urbanrider

The install link will not work until you complete step 2. Google Play needs to recognize your account as a tester first.

Cheers,
Roel

Today I ran into an unexpected issue while testing Urban Rider.

I was already outside, trying to create a route, but my phone was still holding on to my home WiFi. The signal was weak enough to be basically useless, but strong enough that the phone did not properly switch to 5G yet.

So in practice: no usable WiFi, no usable mobile data.

That meant Urban Rider could not generate the route. In the moment, I honestly got frustrated because it was not clear what was going wrong. Later, when I checked the logs, which stay only on your device, I could see exactly what had happened.

So I am adding a small but important improvement.

When you try to create a route and there is no usable data connection, Urban Rider will now clearly tell you with a message instead of silently failing or leaving you guessing.

Important detail: this only matters when creating a route.

During the ride itself, Urban Rider does not need a data connection. It only needs GPS. So if you are already riding and your connection drops, your route stays active.

And if you take a detour while offline, we will keep the current route instead of trying to reroute without data. Once your connection is back, Urban Rider will do what we normally do: calculate an alternative route to your destination.

Small edge case, but exactly the kind of thing that matters when you are actually out riding.

Most navigation apps are built around cars.

That sounds obvious, but when you ride a scooter, moped, or motorcycle, it becomes a real problem very quickly.

Last year, I kept running into the same frustration:

“Don’t take me to highways.”
“Don’t send me through tunnels.”
“Don’t route me onto roads where my vehicle is not allowed.”

Even when you select a two-wheeled vehicle in some navigation apps, it often still does not fully understand what that means in real life. It does not always tick the boxes that matter when you are actually riding.

That frustration became the starting point for Urban Rider.

Urban Rider is my navigation app for scooters, mopeds, and motorcycles. It is currently available on iOS, and every day I see it slowly growing into something more serious than the small idea it started as.

The core idea is simple:

Navigation should respect the type of vehicle you ride.

By default, Urban Rider avoids roads that are not suitable or not allowed for many scooters and mopeds in Europe, such as highways, trunk roads, and tunnels. But it is not locked into one rigid setup.

Because riders are different. Vehicles are different. Countries are different.

In Europe, a moped may not be allowed on certain roads. In the US, that could be completely different. Some people ride small city scooters. Others ride faster motorcycles. Some want the safest route. Others want more control.

That is why Urban Rider is customizable.

The goal is not to force one routing style onto everyone. The goal is to support every rider in a safe and practical way, based on where they are, what they ride, and what kind of roads they want to avoid.

Over the last year, Urban Rider has grown step by step.

Not with a huge team.
Not with a massive budget.
Just by listening, building, testing, improving, and repeating.

The user base keeps growing, and with that growth came one request again and again:

“When is the Android version coming?”

So I started building it.

The first rough Android version is now ready. It reuses the same core concept as the iOS version, and I am currently waiting for Google approval before I can start setting up the release properly.

I do not want to promise an exact date yet, but the direction is clear: the first Android version should be ready to ship soon, hopefully within this month or next month.

After that, I would love to open it up to a selected beta group, learn from real Android riders, and improve it before making it available more widely.

This is the part of building software that I enjoy most.

You start with a personal frustration.
You turn it into a working product.
People start using it.
They give feedback.
The product becomes better.
And suddenly, it is no longer just your idea anymore.

It becomes something shaped by the people who use it.

That is what Urban Rider is becoming.

A navigation app built for riders who do not always feel represented by the big navigation platforms.

A tool for people who move through cities differently.

A product that started with a simple thought:

Two wheels deserve better navigation.

If you ride a scooter, moped, or motorcycle, or if you know someone who does, I would love your support, feedback, and ideas.

And if you are interested in testing the Android version when it becomes available, feel free to reach out.

Urban Rider is still growing, and I am excited for what comes next.

For the longest time, I thought my problem was that I needed more boxes.

So I bought more boxes.

Plastic boxes, clear boxes, stackable boxes, little containers for inside the bigger containers. For about a week, I felt like I had fixed my life.

Then reality hit.

I still could not find anything.

The problem was not that my stuff was messy. The problem was that my stuff became invisible the moment I put it away.

A cable would go into a box.
That box would go into a closet.
Three months later I would need that cable.
I would open five boxes, make a bigger mess, get annoyed, and then buy a new cable because it was easier.

That happened with chargers, documents, tools, batteries, seasonal stuff, random adapters, little spare parts, everything.

What finally helped was changing the way I think about storage.

I stopped organizing by what looked nice and started organizing by what I would actually remember.

Now I do three things:

1. Every box gets one clear purpose Not “misc stuff”, because that is where things go to die.
2. I take a quick photo before closing a box This sounds simple, but it helps so much. My brain remembers pictures better than labels.
3. I keep a searchable list of what is inside Because future me is tired, impatient, and definitely not opening ten boxes to find one charger.

The biggest lesson for me was this:

A clean home is not the same as an organized home.

A clean home means things are hidden.

An organized home means you can actually find them again.

Once I understood that, storage stopped feeling like a weekend project and started feeling like a system I could maintain.

Not perfect. Not Pinterest. Just practical.

And honestly, that is all I needed.

Okay, small but important update.

I finally got a DM from someone saying the app was not working for them. They sent me the coordinates, and with that I was able to dig into it properly and find the real issue.

The problem was trunks.

In Europe, trunk roads are basically a no-go for vehicles slower than 50 km/h. But in the US, many states actually allow them. The tricky part is that in some areas there is no good alternative route. So when the app sees a trunk road, it blocks it and then cannot create a route at all.

Now that I know what is happening, I have started building country-based rules for trunk roads. That means the app will handle this differently depending on where you are riding, instead of applying one fixed rule everywhere.

This fix will be included in the next release, version 4.14.0.

Really appreciate the person who reached out and shared the location. Reports like that genuinely help make the app better for everyone.

Country	Trunk policy	Source basis
GB (UK)	✅ Allowed on dual carriageways & A-roads. Only motorways banned.	scooter.co.uk, Direct Bikes
IE (Ireland)	✅ Allowed on N-roads / dual carriageways. Only motorways banned.	Ireland RSA, boards.ie
US	✅ Generally allowed on US highways and state highways. Only Interstates fully ban. (State variation exists.)	Wikipedia: regulation of motorcycle access on freeways
AU (Australia)	✅ Generally allowed on state highways. South Australia advises against >50 km/h roads but doesn't ban.	mylicence.sa.gov.au
NZ (New Zealand)	✅ Allowed on state highways including expressways. Only motorways excluded.	NZ Transport Agency
CA (Canada)	✅ Varies by province; majority allow mopeds on highways.	Provincial transport authorities
NL, BE, DE, AT, CH	❌ Banned from autoweg / Kraftfahrstraße / Schnellstraße (trunk equivalent).	Continental EU AM-class rules
FR	❌ Cyclomoteurs banned from voies rapides.	French Code de la route
IT, ES, PT	❌ Banned from superstrade / autovías / vias rápidas.	Italy/Spain/Portugal AM rules
DK, SE, NO, FI, IS	❌ Banned from motortrafikvei equivalents.	Nordic AM rules
CZ, PL, SK, HU, SI, HR, BA, MK, AL, RS, ME, BG, RO, EE, LV, LT	❌ Generally banned from rychlostní silnice / droga ekspresowa / similar.	EU member state alignment

Hey Riders,

I wanted to give you a proper update, but also just talk to you like a human for a second.

I’ve been working on Urban Rider for a while now, and things are finally getting to a point where I can put it in your hands more seriously.

Android is almost here

Next week I’m going out in Berlin and testing it properly on real rides. Not just quick checks, but actual daily riding, bad routes, weird edge cases, all of it.

If that goes well, I’ll open it up to a small group of testers first.

If you want in, just DM me with:

• your device
• Android version

That’s it.

iOS is getting better too

While working on Android, I also improved a lot under the hood on iOS.

Routing is better, performance is better, and I’ve started adding languages.

First ones will be:

• German
• Dutch

You’ll be able to switch back to English anytime.

If you want your language in the app, just comment it. I’ll prioritize based on what people actually ask for.

About speed cameras

In the next release (4.12.5), there’s a fix and expansion here.

We now cover around 200,000 known speed cameras.

Important to be clear:

• This does not include temporary setups
• But if you’re riding somewhere new and there are known cameras, it should just work

The privacy thing (this is important to me)

Urban Rider does not track you.

No ride history stored
No tracking profiles
No selling data

The only thing that touches the server is what’s needed to calculate your route, and even that is not logged.

I made that decision early and I’m sticking to it.

But I’ll be honest, it makes things harder.

When something breaks, I don’t have logs to look at. I don’t see what went wrong on your device. I’m basically blind unless someone tells me.

About the 1 star reviews

This part is frustrating, so I’ll just say it straight.

We mostly get:

• 5 stars from people it works for
• 1 star from people where it doesn’t

And a lot of the time, those 1 star reviews come with no message, no context, nothing.

In many cases it’s probably:

• country not fully supported
• something device-specific
• or a bug I could fix quickly

But if nobody reaches out, I can’t do anything about it.

So if you try it and something feels off, just tell me. Here on Reddit or via DM is perfect.

What I actually need from you

• Android testers
• People willing to give honest feedback
• Language suggestions
• Weird edge cases you run into

I’m not trying to build just another navigation app.
I want to build something riders actually trust and enjoy using.

If you feel like being part of that, now’s a really good moment.

Thanks for reading, seriously.

Roel

Hey everyone,
Good news for Android users!
90 percent of the development is complete. We will finalize the build this week.
Real-world testing on mopeds and scooters starts next week, followed by beta testing the week after.

I am not an Android user myself, so I bought a device specifically for testing. We are also adding extra security measures because Android security is weaker in general.

Plus I am new to the Google Play Store process, so any delay after beta will likely come from there.

All said and done, we aim to release Urban Rider version 1.0.0 on the Google Play Store by the end of May.

Thank you for your patience. Excited to finally get this in your hands!

Roel

Hey everyone!

I’m currently working on some massive changes to the core logic of the app, specifically to make Scenic routing even better. These core updates have a huge impact on how routes are calculated, and I want to make sure they're perfect before a wide release.

I need your help! If you're planning on putting in some serious miles (or kilometers!) this week and next, I’d love to have you in the test group.

How to join: Drop me a DM with your Apple ID, and I’ll get you added to the beta.

Since these are big changes, I’m specifically looking for riders who will be out on the road a lot over the next 14 days to give the new logic a proper stress test. Let’s build a better ride together! ✌️

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to check in with you all about version 4.12.4. I’ve been testing it quite a bit myself in real-world use, and from my side everything feels solid and smooth. But real-world usage always tells the full story, so if you run into any issues at all, please let me know in the comments.

And if everything’s working well for you, I’d honestly love to hear that too. It’s always great and motivating to see how you’re all using Urban Rider in your daily rides.

The reason I’m asking is because I’m at a bit of a turning point. Right now, the app feels stable enough that I’d like to shift most of my focus toward Android for the rest of the month. I’ve already started working on it. I even picked up an Android phone to make sure I can test things properly. The first prototype is up and running. It’s still very early and basic, but the core routing is there and working well, which is a big milestone.

For those who are curious, the iOS version is built fully native using Xcode. I chose that approach because it lets me tap directly into what Apple already provides instead of relying on wrappers. It makes things faster, more stable, and more reliable. I’m taking the same approach with Android by building it in Kotlin.

That said, the apps won’t be identical. Even though the core logic is the same, some things like maps will differ between platforms. It’s just part of keeping everything native and optimized.

So for now, my main focus will be Android. But if there are any major issues on iOS, please don’t hesitate to shout. I’ll jump on them as quickly as I can.

Thanks again for all your support. It really means a lot.

So as you noticed, I keep posting bugs ;-) It's just that I am driving around with my laptop, fixing driving, fixing driving. And I notice things you don't see in the simulator behind a desk.

So please be patient.

Bug: The distance left still had an issue
Bug: The road name never progressed to the next step.

I am sorry that this happens. Once these minor issues are resolved, I will release only once every 2 weeks.

Why does this happen? Well, the codebase is extremely complex, so a change has bigger effects down the line.

Okay, let me share what we have so far for Android, since people don't believe we actually started working on it.

https://preview.redd.it/8drgpv5n85vg1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=3cbddc7f85d7a758b5fbe856fd1deac7a0e96e50