Cyclist app
Installing the app
How to get your invitation to the CrankPal app, install it on iPhone with TestFlight or on Android with Firebase App Distribution, and what happens on first launch.
The app is in preview: before it reaches the App Store and Google Play, you try it as a test version. It's free, and so is CrankPal at this stage.
You need an invitation. It arrives by email and always takes you to the same page, crankpal.com/beta, where you choose between iPhone and Android.
Where the invitation comes from#
| Where you come from | How it works |
|---|---|
| From your workshop | The workshop emails you the invitation: your place is already reserved. The email in which it sends you a bike registered in your name works too |
| From a friend | Someone who already uses the app can invite you from their Profile: you get an email with the link |
| From the website | Go to crankpal.com/beta and leave your address |
Places in the preview aren't unlimited. When the instant invitations run out, the page offers you the waiting list: you leave your email and we write as soon as it reopens. If you arrive with an invitation from your workshop or from a friend, your place is already set aside.
Asking for the invitation#
Open the beta page on your phone
Tap the link in the email you received, or go to
crankpal.com/beta. The page works out on its own whether you're on iPhone or Android; if it guessed wrong, there's a link to the other version at the bottom.Enter the right address
On iPhone you need the address of your Apple Account, because Apple sends you the invitation. On Android you need the address of your Google account, because Google sends it. It doesn't have to be the address you'll use for CrankPal.
Wait for the email
On iPhone you get an email from Apple with View in TestFlight. On Android you get an email from Firebase App Distribution with Get started. Open it on your phone, not on your computer.
Installing on iPhone#
On iPhone, test versions go through TestFlight, Apple's free app made for this.
Install TestFlight
Search for it on the App Store and install it. You only need to do this once.
Open the invitation
Tap View in TestFlight in Apple's email. TestFlight opens and shows you the CrankPal page.
Tap Install
The app appears on your Home Screen like any other, and from then on you open it as usual. TestFlight is only there to install and update it.
Installing on Android#
On Android, test versions go through Firebase App Distribution, Google's testing service.
Open Google's email
On your Android phone, tap Get started and sign in with the same Google account the invitation was sent to.
Download and install CrankPal
Download the app from the invitation page. Your phone may ask for permission to install apps from that source: that's normal for a test version.
First launch#
The first screen offers three paths: Create an account, I already have an account · Sign in and Explore with demo data, which is only for looking around.
To create the account you need a name, an email and a password of at least eight characters. Right after, we email you a six-digit code: type it and the app moves on by itself at the sixth digit. If it doesn't arrive, check your spam folder or tap Didn't get it? Send another one.
Then a short guide starts: choose an avatar or a photo, read and accept the privacy policy and terms, decide whether to get notifications and where your rides should come from, add your first bike and find out how to report a problem. You can skip a step and come back to it: with Finish later the guide starts again at the next launch, and you can always find it in ProfileReview the getting-started guide.
If the workshop created your account, on first sign-in the guide opens with its welcome. If it has registered a bike for you, you find it there with Accept and check the details: you check what the workshop wrote and add what only you know. See Bikes and rides.
A test version#
An app under test doesn't behave like one downloaded from the store, and it's better to know the differences up front.
- Updates arrive often: that's the point of a preview. On iPhone they come through TestFlight.
- On iPhone each version expires after 90 days. When that happens, TestFlight offers you the update. You don't lose anything: your data is on your account.
- If something's wrong, shake your phone. The report sheet opens with the screen already attached: write a couple of lines and send, and it reaches the people building the app, with your phone model and the app version. While you ride the gesture is paused, so a bump doesn't open it by mistake: report at the first stop.
- When the app reaches the stores you'll just download it from there: the account is the same and your bikes will be waiting.
Common problems#
The page says the invitations have run out
The instant places for that moment are gone. Join the waiting list from the same page: we'll write as soon as it reopens. If you're a customer of a CrankPal workshop, ask them for the invitation: your place is already reserved.
The invitation never arrived
Check your spam folder and that the address was your Apple Account's (on iPhone) or your Google account's (on Android): Apple or Google sends the invitation, to that address. If you asked your workshop for it, ask them to send it again.
I opened the link on my computer and nothing happens
The app only installs on your phone. Open the same link again on your phone, or email it to yourself.
The six-digit code doesn't arrive
Check your spam folder. If it's still not there, tap Didn't get it? Send another one, or Change email address if you've spotted a mistake in the email.
The app says the version has expired
On iPhone test versions last 90 days. Open TestFlight and install the update: nothing else to do, and you don't lose any data.
I've changed phone
Install the app on the new phone the same way (on iPhone, TestFlight with the same Apple Account is enough) and sign in with your CrankPal account: bikes, workshops and documents come back from the server.