Guide
Getting Started
From download to first ride. Five minutes, most of it waiting for an email.
1. Create your account
Sign up with your name, email and a password of at least eight characters including a number. We send a confirmation email straight away — open it on your phone and tap Verify Email. The app picks up from there and signs you in.
No email after a couple of minutes? Check spam, and check the address you typed. If it still has not arrived, email hello@rider-union.com and we will sort it out.
2. Choose your username
Your username is how other riders see you. It is public, it has to be unique, and you pick it once on first sign-in. Everything else on your profile — photo, bio, riding preferences — is optional and can wait.
3. Allow location
RiderUnion needs your location to show where you are and to navigate. Choose While Using to start. For turn-by-turn with the screen off, allow Always — that is what keeps guidance and ride recording running in your pocket.
4. Plan a ride
Three ways, depending on how much you have decided:
- Search for a destination, or press and hold anywhere on the map to route there.
- Ask the AI Planner in plain language — see the AI Planner Guide.
- Open a saved route from your collections.
5. Pick a route profile
Before you set off, the preview offers different answers to the same journey. Fastest is the direct line. Adventure trades some time for better roads — corners, elevation, scenery. Switching profiles redraws the route so you can compare distance and duration before committing.
6. Ride
Tap Let’s Ride for turn-by-turn guidance. The map follows you, the camera adjusts to your speed, and voice guidance works over a Bluetooth intercom. Go off route and RiderUnion recalculates without dropping the stops you asked for.
7. Keep the ride
Recorded rides land in your Ride Journal with the route, distance, duration and how the roads actually scored. Rename them, keep them private, or save the good ones to a collection.