With all the apps in the Apple app store, it’s not surprising to see MTB-specific apps. Unlike Garmin watches, the native Apple Workout app doesn’t include mountain biking as a workout. This made the third-party developers fill the vacuum with their own set of mountain biking apps.
We’ve scoured the internet for hours, and have narrowed down the best Apple Watch Apps for Mountain biking. Whether you have the latest Apple Watch Series 7, or the budget ones like Apple Watch SE or Series 3, these MTB apps would work fine with any of them.
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Top 5 Apple Watch Apps For MTB:
These apps take advantage of the built-in sensors of the Apple Watch (GPS, Heart Rate, Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Altimeter, Compass) and offer everything from track recording and turn-by-turn navigation to off-road topography maps and weather forecasts.
Some of them have training plans that allow you to build up your MTB skills over time, while others allow you to compete and grow within a community of MTB enthusiasts.
Not all MTB apps need an iPhone paired to the Apple Watch, and this is much appreciated. But some might need it, so you should better be prepared for it. Though the base version of these apps is free, you encourage you to pay for the premium if you want richer stats, expert-driven training plans or want to get a better sense of your performance.
If you are here for Trail fork or MTB Project, you won’t find either of them on this list. Despite the fact that they are available for iPhone users and offer more features for Mountain bikers than any of the apps on this list, their respective companies haven’t released the Apple Watch app yet.
Komoot: Cycle, Hike, MTB, Run
(Works without iPhone: No) | Pricing: Free (in-app purchases)
Komoot is one of the best apps not only for MTB but also for hiking and cycling. The Apple Watch version of the app provides real-time access to key stats such as directions, distance, and speed. Also, it offers expert guidelines, turn-by-turn voice navigation, and offline topographic maps.
The app has a healthy community of MTB enthusiasts that actively share the real-time experience of trail routes all over the world. You can share your rides and hikes with GPS tracking, add photos and Highlights, and even become a local Expert.
You get tour recommendations based on your current location with thorough feedback from other MTB riders in the town.
In addition to this, komoot syncs data with a range of devices (iPhone, iMac, Garmin, etc) and it does integrate well with Apple Health. The best part? It’s free to download. However, there are in-app purchases to unlock extra features.
Bikemap – Cycling Map & GPS
(Works without iPhone: Yes) | Pricing: Free (in-app purchases)
Bikemap offers detailed cycle maps for mountain biking. It has a vast collection of over 8 million routes worldwide and a search function that allows you to find the perfect route for your needs, and you can also plan routes on the website and have them sync with the app.
The app also has voice navigation, which will give you spoken turn-by-turn directions. You can also track your ride in real-time, and view your stats such as distance, duration, elevation, and ETA. It supports HealthKit, so you can sync your bike data with all your other health and fitness apps.
You can purchase a premium subscription to get access to more features such as offline maps and navigation, bike-type optimized routing, advanced cycling maps, 3D route preview, fall detection, and premium support.
There are no membership fees for Bikemap. The majority of the app’s features are free to use. Bikemap Premium, on the other hand, offers a slew of extra features for £28.90 / $34.99 / €29 per year or a one-time payment of £89 / $99 / €99 for lifelong access.
Strava: Run, Ride, Swim
(Works without iPhone: Yes) | Pricing: Free (in-app purchases)
You might know about Strava as a Fitness app, but it offers a lot of features for mountain biking. You can use it to track your distance, heart rate, elevation gained, and calories burned. Also, it allows you to attach third-party sensors from Garmin, Wahoo, and Polar for advanced metrics like speed, cadence, bike power. The app uses HealthKit to export your rides into the Health app.
Strava also has extensive performance metrics that you can dive deep into. You get the freedom to customize your training and workout plans (set distance, time, or segment goals for all rides).
You can also use it to map out new routes, challenge yourself with monthly challenges, and compete with others. It has the largest community of cyclists to share rides, routes, and photos.
Strava is a free app that offers in-app purchases for an ad-free experience, monthly challenges, workout plans, and advanced performance metrics.
WorkOutDoors
(Works without iPhone: Yes) | Pricing: $5.99
Work outdoors is yet another great Apple Watch app for mountain biking. Of many great features of the app, the top two are vertical maps and the GPX import/export option for offline usage.
For those who don’t know, Vertical maps can help you see the elevation of a trail and plan your rides accordingly, whereas GPX files are GPS data files that contain tracklogs and other information. This information can be used to create maps and view stats like elevation gain, speed, and more.
It provides a breadcrumb trail of your route, intuitive map navigation, “map only mode” to view the map without starting a workout, and the ability to import GPX routes.
Also, it includes configurable data screens with over 300 live metrics, interval schedules, automatic laps, and summary information. And then there are splits for pace, distance, time, heart rate, calories, elevation, and steps.
There is no free version of the app so you have to pay about $6 each month for the features offered free on other picks. But it is totally worth the investment if you prefer rich mapping features as you ride your mountain bike on challenginig trails.
AllTrails: Hike, Run & Cycle
(Works without iPhone: Yes) | Pricing: Free (in-app purchases)
If there is one app MTB community swear by, this is it. AllTrails has over 200K MTB trails available right now which you can find by map or searching by location or name.
Thanks to its huge community of cyclists all over the world, you can see photos and reviews from other users. It also has turn-by-turn directions, and you can record your trip.
We really appreciate the safety features of the App, which allows you to share your real-time location and trail route with friends and family members.
AllTrails is free to download, but you can upgrade to AllTrails Pro for £29.99/year. The pro version offers an ad-free experience, topo maps customization, real-time map overlays, incident detection, and offline map support.
Conclusion:
All of the apps listed above are great for mountain biking, with each one offering its own set of features and benefits. If you’re looking for an app that offers extensive mapping capabilities, WorkOutdoors is a great choice. If you want an extensive collection of TOPO maps and real-time overlays, AllTrails Pro is a good option. And if you are more into fitness and health tracking, Strava is the right choice for you. Whichever app you choose, be sure to have fun and enjoy those challenging trails!