Looks like Komoot has been bought out

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/komoot ... s-at-risk/

This is bad. The new owner is a strip and squeeze outfit. Sack all the old staff then squeeze the punters.

wouldnt it be good, if we all went back to paper maps...like we managed pre mid 2000's. forcing all the tech people to shut.

it didnt seem any harder to plot a route IIRC.

Long live Ride with GPS!

Possibly bad news for Komoot (and komoot users).
Definitely bad news for komoot staff unfortunately

ton wrote: ↑Fri Mar 21, 2025 3:52 pm wouldnt it be good, if we all went back to paper maps...like we managed pre mid 2000's. forcing all the tech people to shut.

it didnt seem any harder to plot a route IIRC.

Ah yes, bring back the horse-carts

Whilst i can read maps, and do when walking, a gps is so much easier on a bike and nothing would persuade me to go back to paper maps for riding.

Dont use koomoot but does not sound like good news

ton wrote: ↑Fri Mar 21, 2025 3:52 pm wouldnt it be good, if we all went back to paper maps...like we managed pre mid 2000's. forcing all the tech people to shut.

it didnt seem any harder to plot a route IIRC.

If only the rest of the world had been as blessed as we are with the OS.

woodsmith wrote: ↑Fri Mar 21, 2025 4:16 pm

ton wrote: ↑Fri Mar 21, 2025 3:52 pm wouldnt it be good, if we all went back to paper maps...like we managed pre mid 2000's. forcing all the tech people to shut.

it didnt seem any harder to plot a route IIRC.

If only the rest of the world had been as blessed as we are with the OS.

I've been enjoying using backcountrynavigator. You can download map layers from all over. For example the Spanish version of OS is really good.
As far as Komoot goes, I've never really planned routes on it. I did pay for worldwide maps, which I hope I don't get screwed on now! I like it for finding walks or rides from where I am (for example I'm away in my campervan and want to head out for an afternoon in an area I know nothing about). People also seem to load up/share loads of routes/GPXs on there...

I generally find GPX files online then load them into whatever app I'm using (Komoot on my phone, Garmin on my..Garmin, Beeline for my motorbike).

The whole thing with this Bending Spoons malarkey is that it's just sad. Every app/tech thing seems to follow a similar trajectory of enthusiast startup, growing adoption from keen bean users, increased bloat/subscriptions and then horrible financial vultures destroying it. I'd say Komoot are burning up on reentry about now.

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2025/03/kom ... tftY5YJkfg

I used Komoot when I started cycling and loved it. It made discovering new places very easy. It wasn't perfect, but it was very easy to use.
I paid for worldwide maps as I thought it'd be a good investment.
Later, I got into bikepacking and paid for the Premium membership. I found the tools to be either not good/worth paying for, or i couldn't understand why would I pay for effectively promoting Komoot (creating collections which could be shared with others for example).
I cancelled my subscription and tried RWGPS.
This doesn't have all the info shared by users as Komoot does, but planning-wise it's simply a much much better tool.

Ultimately competition is good for everyone so if Komoot goes out of fashion that's not good for anyone. I guess we'll have to wait and see!

ton wrote: ↑Fri Mar 21, 2025 3:52 pm wouldnt it be good, if we all went back to paper maps...like we managed pre mid 2000's. forcing all the tech people to shut.

it didnt seem any harder to plot a route IIRC.

And not being lazy ,downloading someones gpx file. Takes all the freedom of choice away when on the bike if the gps is you guide.
Other countries have excellent topo maps . Have a Spanish one on the phone it's free and out of date but the contours and old tracks are fine. Portugal and France also do topo maps for phone.

I've made a one off payment for world maps. I'll be bloody p****d off if the robbing b******s try to charge me again!

ton wrote: ↑Fri Mar 21, 2025 3:52 pm wouldnt it be good, if we all went back to paper maps...like we managed pre mid 2000's. forcing all the tech people to shut.

it didnt seem any harder to plot a route IIRC.

No it would be sh1t. I hate mahoosive maps spread over a tiny table with stupid folds and bits you can’t see because the paper rub has eradicated it. Then there’s those stupid map measurers or string and having to buy a map just for three inches of coverage. Folding them into map carriers is nigh on impossible as is using them in a gale or monsoon. Plotting a route has no undo or elevation profile so you’ve got to count contours blah blah blah I’m all for progress me.

Bike hike - free (although I bung it a few quid now and again) and surprisingly powerful for route planning.

I use bikehike and occasionally ridewithgps. I never really got on with Komoot - the default settings seemed, hmm, weird. It seemed/seems to have its own idea of where your route should go regardless of where it actually lay and would alter things without warning.

The times I’ve used it for routing it didn’t differentiate between footpaths and bridleways that well so I’ve only used it on multi-say hikes since.

well i have never used any kind of gps app in the UK either on or offroad.
i have OS maps which i use to check directions now and again.
when touring abroad i use cycle.travel which is pretty flawless.

I alway try the garmin custom route builder with the gravel setting first. Another way is looking at veloviewer heat map and if a light blue track shows up I will try it if it's close to a direction I am heading. My other half usually uses Komoot to check for routes, then looks at a map.
Have this idea in my head that the other sites when using an auto generated route will end up being a super highway for cycling.

Saves everyone who uses it getting lost eh, good riddance I say. never like the look of it all myself RWGPS ftw

Leerowe76 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 23, 2025 3:22 am Saves everyone who uses it getting lost eh, good riddance I say. never like the look of it all myself RWGPS ftw

I nreally don't get all the hate for Komoot on here? I guess this forum is quite contrary?
I've always found it clear and easy to use,unlike RWGPS , which IMHO is a clunky, unuseable mess!

I guess this forum is quite contrary?

I could not disagree more
Its certainly its own little niche but as memory map user( or garmin conmect for road) i have no dog in this fight/ no opinion to offer re koomot or rwgps etc.

BridlewayBimbler wrote: ↑Sun Mar 23, 2025 12:55 pm

Leerowe76 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 23, 2025 3:22 am Saves everyone who uses it getting lost eh, good riddance I say. never like the look of it all myself RWGPS ftw

I nreally don't get all the hate for Komoot on here? I guess this forum is quite contrary?
I've always found it clear and easy to use,unlike RWGPS , which IMHO is a clunky, unuseable mess!

I don't know about hate but my dislike stemmed from how you'd upload a route from a trusted source and it often thought it knew better and would offer to tweak it for you.

The maps were no better than OSM for trying to work out what was a bridleway and what was a footpath, the best bit really was the easy sync with your handlebar mounted device.

Garnin have since pulled their finger out and connect on my phone does that very well too now.

The first thing that comes to mind though was the absolutely relentless torrent of influencers waxing lyrical about it in the early days. You can definitely have too much of a good thing...

johnnystorm wrote: ↑Sun Mar 23, 2025 3:40 pm but my dislike stemmed from how you'd upload a route from a trusted source and it often thought it knew better and would offer to tweak it for you.

This. I remember Chris Ellison (who organises the Dales Divide) mentioning that some riders had complained that the GPX track wasn't accurate, like seriously not accurate. He was puzzled as he had plotted it really exactly to the point that he kept the route on the correct side of roads when going round corners. It turned out the riders had loaded the file into Komoot which had promptly gone "Nah, you don't want to go that way, this way is better" and redrawn it. Even worse, doing so without telling the user that it had done so and auto-saving so that the original, correct, line was lost.

I talked to guy a few years ago who seemed to know the people behind Komoot and RWGPS. He said that Komoot put all their efforts into marketing and the development of the app was secondary and that the team at RWGPS couldn't give a f##k about marketing and the functionality of their product was paramount. Its certainly been bourn out by my experience.

I couldn’t work RWGPS on my phone whereas Komoot works ok for me

Never use it for planning though, I’ll use paper maps for that but I’ll use Komoot for route plotting once the idea is formed

Currently trying out the HiiKER app, seems ok at the moment (ditched the OS app now)

voodoo_simon wrote: ↑Sun Mar 23, 2025 7:37 pm Currently trying out the HiiKER app, seems ok at the moment (ditched the OS app now)

I got a years OS sub for £12 in a recent offer and I'm not convinced that was good vfm if I'm honest.