Apps or other ways for a spouse to track a cyclist in real time?

[JustinW]

Hi all,

As my wife finds my solo cycling wanderlust a bit stressful (“Can’t you just plan a route and stick to it?”), I was thinking that having a way for her to track my route in real time might help. I think I read that some of the Garmin devices have this functionality, but I don’t have that sort of thing; I use Strava on an iphone.

So, is there some other app available that would work in this fashion? Should I just have her use the existing Find My Friends functionality, for example, or is there something better?

Cheers,

Justin

Topic

[ShawnoftheDread]

One of my coworkers and his wife just use the find my friends app.

[scorchedearth]

I got a pair of Upright Cyclist jeans. They look pretty good however they need to be hemmed before I can take them out for a ride.

[Emm]

Someone told me google plus has this functionality. https://support.google.com/plus/answer/3302509?hl=en looks like it explains it.

My garmin vivoactive watch tracks me, and it was under $200 so worth it for the added biking and running features. One of the reasons I got it was because I was biking 30-40 miles from home and wanted my husband to be able to find me in case of an emergency. I know you dont have a garmin device now, but it may be worth considering in the future.

[dkel]

@ShawnoftheDread 130528 wrote:

One of my coworkers and his wife just use the find my friends app.

This. Works a treat for Team D-Rock.

[cvcalhoun]

After trying out several of these apps, I settled on Glympse. It allows you to share your location for up to four hours. It sends your spouse a text message, with a link to a real-time map showing where you are at all times. You can put in a destination, at which point it will calculate for her, based on your speed and the distance, how long it will take you to get there. Once you get there, it shuts off the sharing to preserve battery life.

If you commonly don’t have a destination, you could also use the RoadID app. It’s similar except that you don’t put in a destination. So if you’re riding around all day with no specific destination, it will enable her to see where you are, without suggesting that you are ever intending to come home.

[dkel]

Find My Friends also has a notification feature, though I’ve never been able to get it to work. :p

[huskerdont]

And here I thought part of the reason for cycling was that you couldn’t be easily found.:p

[peterw_diy]

The Road ID app looks nice BUT it’s bad that the “eCrumb” maps use unencrypted http URLs, with relatively short “secret identifier” phrases in the URL as the only access control. And I don’t see any way to delete old maps, which persist after your ride ends.

Does it require a paid membership to do this with Strava? They seem to have a much better handle on privacy and security.

[Lt. Dan]

“find my friends” gets me in trouble with the wife when I’m on rides….

“You said you would be home in Bristow 30 minutes ago- It says you’re still in Purcelville!!!”

[dkel]

@Lt. Dan 130614 wrote:

“find my friends” gets me in trouble with the wife when I’m on rides….

“You said you would be home in Bristow 30 minutes ago- It says you’re still in Purcelville!!!”

This is what the “stop sharing my location” button is for. Alternately, “airplane mode.”

[cvcalhoun]

@peterw_diy 130558 wrote:

The Road ID app looks nice BUT it’s bad that the “eCrumb” maps use unencrypted http URLs, with relatively short “secret identifier” phrases in the URL as the only access control. And I don’t see any way to delete old maps, which persist after your ride ends.

Does it require a paid membership to do this with Strava? They seem to have a much better handle on privacy and security.

FWIW, the Glympse maps may not be a whole lot more secure, but they do not persist after your ride ends.

[DCAKen]

If you have an Android device, there’s the Real-Time GPS Tracker 2 app

[baiskeli]

@cvcalhoun 130534 wrote:

After trying out several of these apps, I settled on Glympse. It allows you to share your location for up to four hours. It sends your spouse a text message, with a link to a real-time map showing where you are at all times.

It’s even better than that – if the spouse has Glympse, I think it will show a map with the location as it changes – no need to keep opening new links or get them by text. It’s pretty much exactly what Justin is looking for.

[Author]

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