Riding Places vs OpenCycling
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side ā with what reviewers say about each.
Riding Places
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Riding Places turns the rides you already do into rewards. Ride to the places your groups pick and your visit counts automatically, raise money for a cause as you ride, or climb your group's leaderboard. Free, with offline maps, turn by turn navigation and Strava sync. RIDE TOGETHER WITH RAMBLES Rambles are how groups ride together. Join a cycling club, employer, or local shop, confirm the Rambles you want, and your rides count from there. Each Ramble gives your group a shared way to ride: explore a new place, rack up visits, chase your best ride, reach a group goal, raise money for a cause, or climb the leaderboard. Take part and you can earn real rewards from the group that set it up. DISCOVER GEOZONES AS YOU RIDE GeoZones are our patent-pending, location-based rewards. Local businesses, employers, cycling clubs, and event organizers place them around the places you ride, and you complete them automatically as you go. No manual check-ins, no stopping to scan codes, just ride through and earn points. NAVIGATE ANYWHERE, EVEN OFFLINE ⢠Turn-by-turn guidance with street names ⢠Download maps for offline use anywhere in the world ⢠Real-time off-route warnings with visual feedback ⢠Auto-pause when you stop for coffee or photos ⢠Export TCX routes to Garmin or Wahoo devices BUILD ROUTES & RECORD RIDES ⢠Visual route builder with riding surface info ⢠Live ride recording with GPS tracking ⢠Offline-first design, so you never lose ride data ⢠Automatic ride import from Strava (if connected) ⢠Import outdoor cycling rides recorded on your Apple Watch, through the Apple Health app GROUPS & RAMBLES ⢠Join employer groups, local shops, cycling clubs, or friend groups ⢠Confirm the Rambles you want, then just ride ⢠Many kinds of Ramble: visits, best ride, group goals, charity, leaderboards ⢠Live individual and group leaderboards ⢠Earn real rewards for taking part DISCOVER & COMPLETE GEOZONES ⢠Find GeoZones from local businesses, employers, and events ⢠Automatic completion detection as you ride through ⢠Earn points for distance, commutes, and completions ⢠Real-time notifications when you complete a GeoZone TRACK YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ⢠Track CO2 saved based on EPA/DEFRA emission factors ⢠Choose replaced transport: car, bus, train, or motorcycle ⢠See your cumulative environmental impact over time FREE FOR RIDERS All rider features are completely free: route building, offline maps, turn-by-turn navigation, Rambles, and more. Already use Strava? Connect once and we'll import your rides automatically. Ride with an Apple Watch? Your outdoor cycling workouts import automatically through the Apple Health app, read-only, so nothing is ever written back to Health. Download Riding Places and discover what cycling has to offer: connection to places, people, and experiences, one ride at a time.
OpenCycling
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Your trainer. Your data. Your ride. OpenCycling is a free indoor cycling app with structured workouts and smart trainer control. Connect your trainer and sensors over Bluetooth, pick a workout, and ride. No account required. STRUCTURED WORKOUTS 25+ workouts across VO2max, threshold, sweet spot, endurance, and recovery categories. Every interval is scaled to your FTP so the training adapts to your fitness. ERG mode controls your trainer's resistance automatically. REAL-TIME METRICS See power, heart rate, cadence, speed, calories, and interval targets as you ride. Post-ride summaries show your averages, peaks, and time in zone. YOUR DATA STAYS YOURS No accounts. No cloud. Everything is stored on your device. Share rides to Strava when you choose. Export as standard FIT files that work with any platform. WORKS WITH YOUR GEAR Connects to Bluetooth smart trainers and sensors from Wahoo, Elite, Tacx, Stages, and more via FTMS, heart rate, power, and cadence protocols. COMPLETELY FREE No subscriptions, no in-app purchases.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Riding Places at every 5 days against OpenCycling's every 3 weeks. OpenCycling's advantage is device support (3 vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Riding Places ships an update every 5 days, OpenCycling every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Riding Places | OpenCycling |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 5 days ā better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, iPod ā better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 15.0 ā better |
| Further details ā not scored | ||
| Size | 41 MB | 35 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Eric Lynn | Sami Wiktorin |
In-app purchases
Riding Places
No in-app purchases
OpenCycling
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Riding Places free?
Is OpenCycling free?
Do Riding Places or OpenCycling have ads?
Which is updated more often, Riding Places or OpenCycling?
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