The CrankPal app

CrankPal is two different programs. The workshop app is the one you use at the counter, and it's what the rest of this documentation is about. The iPhone app is the one the cyclist uses: it keeps their bikes, shows how they're doing, books with you, and follows the job while you do it.

What it is#

An iPhone app that holds together two things that usually live apart: the state of your bike and your workshop.

On one side it records how much you ride — by hand, with the phone's GPS, or by importing from Strava, Garmin and Health — and from that it estimates how worn each component is. On the other it connects you to a workshop in the CrankPal network: you book an appointment against real availability, approve quotes, follow the job, and keep the history of everything that's been done to the bike.

The app is in preview: it's free to use and every feature is unlocked, with no subscription to choose. You get in by invitation — from your workshop or from the waiting list on the website — and the route is in Installing the app.

The five tabs#

There are five tabs at the bottom of the screen, always the same ones.

Do I need an account?#

For the "bike" side, no: you can add a bike, record rides and see the estimates without signing up. It all stays on the phone.

For the "workshop" side, yes. Booking, receiving notifications, seeing quotes to approve and following a job all need a CrankPal account, because those things travel between you and the workshop. There is one account for the whole platform: if a workshop has already registered you as a customer, it's already yours — see Account, notifications and privacy.

Beyond the app#

On the iPhone the app brings a few extra things with it, none of which you have to set up.

• A widget for the Home Screen: it shows the bike's health percentage and the next service due.
• Live Activities on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island while your bike is in the workshop: they move from In progress to Waiting for parts to Ready for pickup without you opening anything.
• An Apple Watch app that records the ride and saves it to Health; the iPhone imports it by itself afterwards.
• Cranky stickers, already inside Messages as soon as you install the app. For WhatsApp there's a button in Profile.

Languages and units#

The app speaks 40 languages and follows the one your iPhone is set to. Distance, elevation and speed use your country's units: an iPhone set to British English reads miles, not kilometres, and none of these pages change because of it.

This documentation, on the other hand, exists in Italian and English only.

What changes for the workshop#

If you're a workshop, a customer with the app is a customer who reaches you on their own and whom you reach without chasing.

• They book against the slots you actually have free, and the request lands in Bookings like any other.
• They get job status notifications straight on the phone rather than by email — see the preferred channel in Customers.
• They see quotes the moment you send them and approve from there, including parts approvals once work has started.
• Their rides feed the mileage of the bikes on your records, so your wear predictions rest on real riding rather than on a guess.

While the app is in preview it's invitation-only, and your customers have the fast lane: you're the one who passes the invitation on. How that works is in Installing the app — it's also the page to send anyone who asks "how do I get it?".