Varia™ vs Brompton Electric
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Varia™
Enhance your cycling safety with real-time alerts for approaching vehicles. This app provides visual and auditory warnings, helping you stay aware of your surroundings. It also allows for video recording and incident detection when paired with compatible radar and camera devices.
- Vehicle proximity alerts
- Color-coded traffic indicators
- Tone and vibration notifications
- Video recording and photo capture
- Automatic incident recording
- Headlight and tail light configuration
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When paired with a compatible Garmin Varia radar device¹, the Varia app has the tools you need to ride with confidence. Using the Varia app, you can: • Be alerted right on your phone when approaching vehicles are within 140 meters behind your bicycle. • View color-coded alerts based on surrounding traffic: Green means you’re all clear, yellow means a vehicle is approaching and red means a vehicle is coming at you quickly and you should take caution. • Receive tone and vibration alerts for approaching vehicles even when you’re not looking at your phone. With a compatible Garmin Varia Radar Camera Tail Light or Garmin Varia Vue Camera Headlight, you can: • Set the camera in the best position for capturing videos and photos. • Record videos or take photos and save them while riding with a simple button press on your phone. • Automatically record videos of incidents and save the video footage with the Incident Recording feature. With a Varia Vue Camera Headlight, you can: • Configure light mode configurations for your headlight. • Add an optional Vault subscription, which automatically backs up your Varia Vue videos and provides easy access in the Varia app for searching, filtering and sharing. By adding the Varia eRTL615 Radar Tail Light for eBikes, you can: • Configure and edit light mode configurations for your tail light. Easy to Use Pairing your Garmin Varia devices with the app is quick and easy. Once you set them up, the Varia app will automatically recognize your devices. Even if you already have a Varia device paired with a compatible Garmin device or head unit, the Varia app provides additional awareness and peace of mind while riding. ¹ Compatible devices are the Varia RearVue 820, Varia RVR315 Rearview Radar, Varia RTL515 Radar Tail Light, Varia RCT715 Radar Camera Tail Light, Varia eRTL615 Radar Tail Light for eBikes and Varia Vue Camera Headlight.
Brompton Electric
This app enhances your electric bike experience with a refreshed dashboard, battery level display, and mileage-based service reminders. It offers easy booking for maintenance or DIY options, along with improved connection stability for smoother rides.
- Refreshed dashboard
- Battery level display
- Mileage-based service reminders
- Easy service booking
- DIY maintenance options
- Improved connection stability
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We’ve rolled out key updates to make your Brompton Electric app smarter and easier to use. Enjoy a refreshed dashboard matching the Handlebar Control, a new home screen showing your level of battery, and mileage-based servicing reminders with easy booking or DIY options. Improved connection stability and performance tweaks keep your rides smoother than ever.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Varia™ at 4.4 against Brompton Electric's 3.5. Varia™ also leads on review sentiment (51% vs 26%) and ratings volume (321 vs 18). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Varia™ holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 3.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Varia™ has 321 ratings behind it against 18, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 51% of Varia™'s written reviews are positive against 26% of Brompton Electric's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Varia™ | Brompton Electric |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (321 ratings) — better | 3.5 (18 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 50.9% of reviews — better | 26.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 321 — better | 18 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.1 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 160 MB | 44 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Garmin | Brompton Bicycle LTD |
Customer experience
Varia™
Brompton Electric
Bugs and requests
Varia™
Reported bugs
3 issues- Incompatibility with older Varia models
- Screen burn-in issues on some phones
- Unreliable video recording and playback
Requested features
4 requests- Apple Watch integration for alerts
- Customizable alert sounds
- Ability to control Varia light settings from app
- More detailed vehicle information (speed, distance, etc.)
Brompton Electric
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Varia™
No in-app purchases
Brompton Electric
No in-app purchases









