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Making Stuff, Trying New Things, Going on Adventures
- 24 Dec, 2025 *
Part of what I enjoy about biking is exploring new trails, and getting out of my neighborhood. At the time of writing, my preferred tool for navigating on a bike in unfamiliar places is an app called Komoot, but I have reservations about recommending it to others.
Why I Use Komoot
- While Gooogle Maps has a cycling mode, its routing algorithm prioritizes direct routes, generally on streets (though it does prioritize streets with bike lanes, when available) over routes that I’d actually want to ride. Just because cycling is legal somewhere doesn’t mean cycling is safe, let alone pleasant. Komoot is a lot better than…
Making Stuff, Trying New Things, Going on Adventures
- 24 Dec, 2025 *
Part of what I enjoy about biking is exploring new trails, and getting out of my neighborhood. At the time of writing, my preferred tool for navigating on a bike in unfamiliar places is an app called Komoot, but I have reservations about recommending it to others.
Why I Use Komoot
- While Gooogle Maps has a cycling mode, its routing algorithm prioritizes direct routes, generally on streets (though it does prioritize streets with bike lanes, when available) over routes that I’d actually want to ride. Just because cycling is legal somewhere doesn’t mean cycling is safe, let alone pleasant. Komoot is a lot better than Google Maps at creating bike routes I actually want to ride.
- Turn-by-turn directions are fairly useful when being used audio-only. (I don’t have a phone mount on my bike, so when I want navigational guidance, I use one wireless earbud, leaving my other ear free for situational awareness.)
- Unlike Google Maps, the default behavior when you make a wrong turn is not to reroute. I prefer this because it helps me improve my sense of direction and knowledge of the area. It also means that I won’t unexpectedly be rerouted onto a highway.
- Komoot’s route planning features are usable within your local area with a free account (but see below)
Why I wouldn’t necessarily recommend you use Komoot
- Alternatives exist. I found Komoot useful enough that I never tested any competing apps, like RideWithGPS. (I did use Strava’s route planning tool briefly and found it pretty much useless for my needs, but that was like 3 years ago, and it may be more usable now)
- Komoot was bought out by private equity in 2025, and most of the staff were laid off 1. Enshittification is almost certainly imminent.
- Last summer, the app stranded me in Maryland, forcing me to either pay real money or use another app. I had decided it was well past time to use my mountain bike for some actual mountain biking, so I ventured from my home in DC out to the Fairland Skills Park, in Montgomery County (I cheated a little, starting from the Silver Spring Metro). When you set up a free Komoot account, they let you pick one "map pack" to have for free. I had picked DC and Fairfax, VA. I had kind of just assumed that MoCo would be part of the same region. And the app didn’t stop me from navigating to Fairland Regional Park. It only informed me when I wanted to plan a route home, that Montogomery County was not in my map pack. I could buy the Montogomery county map for a couple dollars, or have access to every region map pack for $30. A more principled person probably would’ve just used Google maps or downloaded another alternative. I paid the $30, because I was tired and hungry, and I figured it would come up again if I kept using the app.
- After all that, the app still badgers me to buy a subscription! (It was doing this every time I opened the app for a while, but when I tried to get a screenshot for this blog post, it seemed to have stopped nagging me)
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2025/05/komoot-team-goodbye.html↩