What is Route Companion?
Route Companion is an iPhone and iPad app that takes a route and tells you what's ahead on it. Bring in a GPX, TCX or FIT file, pull a saved route from Strava or Ride with GPS, share one over from Komoot, or draw one in the app with road, gravel, MTB, running or hiking profiles. It then lays hourly weather along the line, timed to where you'll be at your speed, finds water, cafes, bike shops and shelters along the corridor, and works out roughly how much to eat, drink and carry.
It's made by one developer, Florian Deuerlein, and run from Switzerland. The App Store listing says no data is collected, and the privacy policy is unusually specific about what leaves your phone: routes stay on the device, stop and weather lookups send coordinates only, and what does sit on a server is narrow: a shared plan (deleted 30 days after its start time), the latest position of anyone who joins a live ride (gone within hours), and anonymous usage counters.
Key Features
Weather where you'll actually be
Hourly temperature, wind, rain and air quality mapped along the route rather than at the start point, before you leave and while you're out. It pairs that with outfit guidance, and a Home Screen widget shows the current conditions and a matched outfit.
Stops along the route, not near you
More than 20 stop types, from drinking water and cafes to gas stations, pharmacies, repair stations, camping and shelters, all searched in the route corridor. Auto-Mark spaces stops at set intervals, Quick Find jumps to the nearest match, and a filter shows only what's open right now. Stop data comes from OpenStreetMap.
Fuel plan
Carbs per hour, hydration, drink mix and a pack list from distance, climbing and the forecast. The same engine runs as a free fueling calculator on the website, next to two other free browser tools: route weather from a GPX (the file never leaves the browser) and a tyre pressure calculator.
Navigation with alerts
Turn-by-turn directions on planned and imported routes, off-route detection that draws the way back, voice alerts as a stop comes up, and the next stop or next turn on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island with Pro. There's a virtual pacer too, and Bluetooth heart-rate with zone training, which the release notes still label beta.
Group plans and follow-my-ride
Version 3.0 (September 2026) added a share link that carries the route, the marked stops, the start time and the meeting point. Anyone who joins appears on the list, and a follow-my-ride link lets someone at home see where you are while you're out. Positions are shared only after you join with a display name, and only the latest position is kept.
Export with the stops
Course points go straight to Garmin and Wahoo, the route and its stops can be uploaded to Garmin Connect, which syncs it to your device, routes go to Hammerhead, and GPX, TCX and FIT files cover everything else.
Routes to discover and keep
Discover shows popular cycling, running and hiking routes around you, and a daily suggestion picks one of them with a nudge toward roads you haven't ridden yet. Version 3.2 (October 2026) added route collections: add routes to a collection, filter the list by it, and sort by name, length or ascent.
Who It's For
- Riders and runners who plan routes elsewhere and want the weather, refill points and fueling worked out on the same map before a long day
- Anyone heading somewhere unfamiliar, where "is there water in the next 40 km" is the question that matters
- Group ride organisers who want one link instead of a GPX, a screenshot and a message thread
- People who ride with a Garmin, Wahoo or Karoo and want the stops on the head unit as course points
Worth Knowing
The Strava connection goes both ways. The privacy policy lists three permissions: private routes and segments (read_all), activities including private ones (activity:read_all), and uploads (activity:write). Saved routes and past activities are read so you can open them as routes and see your riding history in the app, a finished ride goes to Strava only when you choose, and the requests run directly between your phone and Strava, with the app's servers involved only in sign-in. Android is a beta you join through a Google Group and a Play test track; there's no public Play Store release yet. The app requires iOS 16 and comes in English, French and German. It's young, with the earliest visible version dating to June 2026 and updates landing every few days since.
Does Route Companion upload activities to Strava?
Yes, when you choose to. After a ride you can send it to Strava as an activity; the privacy policy says the app asks for Strava's activity:write permission for that and never uploads on its own. It can also read your past Strava activities so you can open one as a route.
What does Pro unlock, and is there a trial?
Pro covers weather along the route, the fuel plan, export to devices, stop proximity and arrival alerts, and the Lock Screen Live Activity. It's $1.99 a month or $14.99 a year on the App Store, and the $19.99 Route Companion Pro purchase is what the terms describe as a one-time founding-member pass with lifetime access. Every Pro feature is free for your first 3 rides or 7 days, no payment needed.
Is it on Android?
Yes. As of October 2026 Route Companion has a public Google Play listing, and the site links straight to it.
Does it work with a Hammerhead Karoo?
Yes. Hammerhead export arrived in version 2.2 and sends the route to your Hammerhead dashboard and Karoo. Garmin and Wahoo get the course points directly, Garmin Connect can take the route with its stops; anything else takes a GPX, TCX or FIT file.
