User Guide

Open a Track and follow your route, on road or off it — offline maps stay on your phone. No account needed. Your Tracks stay on your phone. Turn on Sync and they're copied to your other device through OffTrail.

Version 1.26.1 · everything in this guide works fully offline unless noted.

Quick start

The map opens first. Three taps to your first ride.

  • 1 · Import a Track. Open the Tracks tab and tap Import GPX to pick a .gpx file. It loads with its own colour.
  • 2 · Tap Ride. The map fills the screen with your Track on it and a live HUD on top.
  • 3 · Ride. OffTrail keeps you on the line, calls your turns aloud, warns if you drift off-track, and records the whole ride automatically.

No Track yet? Open the Navigate tab and pick Round Trip for a loop of a set distance, Pick on map to route to a point, or search a place up top.

OffTrail Explore map with loaded Tracks
The Explore map — search, tabs, loaded Tracks & Ride

The Explore map

The map is the home screen — everything starts here.

OffTrail opens straight onto a full-screen map with your position on it. Along the top and bottom sit everything you need:

  • Search bar (top) — find a place, address or coordinates without leaving the map.
  • Menu (≡) — Files, Maps, Trip, Events, Groups, Sync, Settings and About.
  • Three tabs — Map (just the map), Tracks (your loaded Tracks), and Navigate (every way to set off).
  • Tracks tab — your Tracks, each with a coloured dot (up to 5 favourites in the Garage); the eye shows or hides one, the ⋮ menu renames, recolours, reverses, shares or deletes it. Import GPX and Clear all Tracks live here too.
  • Ride — the big accent button that starts your ride.
  • Right rail — locate, basemap and zoom controls.
The Explore map with the Tracks tab open
Search · Map / Tracks / Navigate · Ride

Send to OffTrail

In Route Planner, choose Send to OffTrail. On your phone, open the link or enter the code in OffTrail to import the route. Receiving it needs a connection. OffTrail saves the map around the route automatically.

Loading & following Tracks

Several Tracks at once, each in its own colour.

The Tracks tab holds your loaded GPX Tracks. Tap Import GPX to add one, then Ride to follow it.

  • Each Track carries its own colour so several stay legible on the map at once.
  • Multi-Track files — a GPX with several Tracks stays split into sub-Tracks under one entry instead of a tangled line. Expand it to show or hide, or recolour, each one on its own; the group still counts as a single Track slot.
  • The eye hides a Track without unloading it; the ⋮ menu (or a long-press) opens rename, recolour, reverse, share and delete.
  • Tap a Track in the Navigate tab to be routed to its start first, then onto the line.
Loaded Tracks listed under the Navigate tab
Your loaded Tracks, ready to follow

Vehicle & route type

Trails or tarmac — routing built for your bike.

The Route type selector at the top of Navigate shapes every route you build:

  • Off-road motorcycle — favours trails, paths and dirt for a dual-sport or enduro bike.
  • Off-road 4×4 / SSV — wider tracks a vehicle can take.
  • Road fun — sticks to sealed roads but prefers the twisty, scenic ones.
  • Road fast — the quickest sealed route to your destination.

Off-road routes show the off-road / on-road surface split and elevation before you commit. Road types give you turn-by-turn with spoken guidance. Routing needs a connection; the maps and your Tracks work offline.

Places & POIs

Route to anywhere — several ways to pick it.

Set a destination however suits you:

  • Search — type a place, address or coordinates in the bar on the map.
  • Points of interest — from Navigate, find the nearest fuel, water, food, viewpoint, shop, ATM, pharmacy, hospital or mechanic.
  • Pick on map — drop a point and route there.
  • Home / Work — one tap to your saved places.

OffTrail plots the route in your chosen vehicle profile — favouring trails over tarmac off-road, or turn-by-turn on the road — and saves it under Files → Track to. Search and routing need a connection.

The Points of interest categories
Fuel · water · food · viewpoints · services

Round Trip

Pick a distance, get a loop.

From Navigate → Round Trip, choose a loop length — 50, 100, 150 or 200 km — and OffTrail builds a circular off-road route from where you are, back to where you started.

  • See the whole loop with its surface split and elevation before you commit.
  • Tap Ride to set off, or generate another for a different loop.
  • Saved under Files → Track to, like any route.

Riding — the HUD

Eyes-up info while you ride.

However you start, the map fills the screen behind a clean heads-up display:

  • ETA · speed · progress across the top, with the engaged Track or destination.
  • Off-track banner in the middle, with a bearing and distance back to the line if you drift — plus an optional wrong-way alert.
  • Right rail — locate (north / course-up), basemap (off-road / satellite), zoom + / – / •••, and controls to lock the screen clean. With the default auto-lock, the screen locks itself while you're moving — rain and glove touches can't move the map.
  • Surface rail — a slim vertical line on the left shows the Track's surface segments in order (orange = off-road, navy = road) with a dot at your position, so you always know what's coming.
  • Configurable cards — tap a corner card to choose its metric: speed, altitude, climb (D+) since you set off, ETA, trip, weather, compass and more.
  • POI radar — during navigation a small chip shows the nearest fuel ahead with its distance; tap it to change the category.
  • Recording runs automatically in the background — every ride is saved to History.

The map shows your basemap — off-road detail or satellite — once tiles have loaded online or from your offline maps.

The ride HUD with an off-track warning
ETA & speed over the map, with off-track guidance

Road navigation & voice

Serious turn-by-turn when you're on the tarmac.

Pick a Road route type and OffTrail switches into full turn-by-turn navigation:

  • Spoken guidance calls each turn — junctions, exits and distances — so you can keep your eyes on the road.
  • The next manoeuvre and the one after show on screen with their distances.
  • Road fun seeks out the bends; Road fast takes the quickest way.
  • Voice guidance can be turned off in Settings if you'd rather ride in silence.

Recording a Track

Lay down a clean, named Track as you ride.

Every ride is saved automatically to History. Beyond that, Record mode lets you capture a Track deliberately — start and stop it yourself.

  • Turn on Record mode in Settings (or from Navigate), then start your ride. The HUD gains a record card with ● Rec / Pause / Stop.
  • The breadcrumb draws live on the map; pause to break the line, resume to continue.
  • Drop waypoints as you go — start, finish, danger, fuel and more.
  • Stop to name and save it; it lands under Files, ready to share or ride again.

Files — recordings & routes

Everything you've ridden and built, on your phone.

Open Files from the Menu (≡). System folders plus your own collections:

  • Garage — the Tracks on your map.
  • History — the automatic recording of every ride. Rides under 100 m are discarded.
  • Recordings — Tracks you captured deliberately with Record mode, waypoints and all.
  • Track to — the routes and loops you generated (places, Round Trip).
  • Collections — folders you create to organise imports.

Rename, share the GPX, preview, or load one back onto the map. All stored locally.

  • Join — select several rides and merge them into one Track (History and Recordings). The result keeps the oldest ride's name and date, with the elevation stats recalculated.
  • Delete many — the same selection mode deletes several at once, in all three lists.
  • Previewing any entry opens the same full map preview as the garage — elevation, surface split and a share button next to Ride.
Files screen
Garage · History · Recordings · Track to · Collections

Share your adventure

One tap turns any ride into a card worth posting.

From a Track preview, a ride in Files, or the garage menu, tap Share and OffTrail builds a story-ready card:

  • Your line over a satellite map, with distance, duration and climb (D+).
  • The three surface percentages — off-road, road and unknown — just like the preview.
  • A vehicle badge (moto or 4×4) you can change or remove before sharing.
  • A stamp that tells the story: "Let's Go!" on a plan you're about to ride, "Done!" on a ride you've finished.
  • Rename the title, then share to any app — the card is a plain image.
The share card with stamp, vehicle badge and surface percentages
Map, stats, stamp & vehicle — ready for stories

Sync across devices

No account needed. Your Tracks stay on your phone. Turn on Sync and they're copied to your other device through OffTrail.

Open Sync from the Menu (≡) to keep your Tracks in step across two devices — handy if you run a phone on the bars and keep another in your pocket.

  • On one device tap Create a sync code; on the other, Enter a sync code. Up to two devices.
  • Add or delete a Track on one and it appears — or disappears — on the other right away.
  • With device sync, Tracks, History, recordings and Track-to routes sync between your devices.
  • Sync needs a connection; each device still works offline. Sync is not a backup.
The Sync screen with two paired devices
Create a code on one device, enter it on the other

Offline maps & POIs

The map saves itself around your route — ready when the signal drops.

Open Maps from the Menu (≡). It has two tabs:

  • Offline — Optional whole-country downloads are available in Maps. You can refresh or delete them there.
  • POIs — choose which points of interest appear on the map: fuel, food, water, lodging, viewpoints, peaks and more.

Maps also auto-cache as you browse.

On Wi-Fi, OffTrail saves the map around your Track automatically. On mobile data it asks first. Without a connection, saving resumes when the network returns.

Offline maps screen
Optional country maps · POIs

Trip meters (A/B)

Two resettable trip computers.

Open Trip from the Menu (≡) for two independent trip meters — Trip A and Trip B — that tot up as you ride:

  • Max and average speed, distance, and total, moving and stopped time.
  • Keep one for the whole trip and reset the other per day or per leg.
  • Each resets on its own; a trip also resets automatically after 8 hours idle.
The Trip A / Trip B meters
Two trip computers — speed, distance & time

Group ride

Ride together, see each other live.

Open Groups from the Menu (≡). Create a group to get a code, or Enter a group code to join. Everyone shows up live on each other's maps.

  • Needs Wi-Fi or cellular. Sessions are ephemeral — nothing is stored, and they end on their own after the set time.
  • Set your rider name in Settings so friends recognise you.
Group ride screen
Create a group, or join with a code

Events

Join an organised ride with a code.

Riding an organised event that uses OffTrail? Open Events from the Menu (≡) and enter your registration code to join it.

  • The event's Tracks and any live information appear in the app for the ride.
  • You only need a code from the organiser — nothing to set up in advance.
Events screen
Enter your event registration code

CarPlay & Android Auto

The map on the car or motorcycle screen — phone in your pocket.

Plug into any Apple CarPlay or Android Auto screen — factory car unit or an aftermarket motorcycle display — and OffTrail appears with the live map, your garage, search and turn-by-turn guidance.

  • Engage a Track from the garage (or start Ride on the phone) and the car screen follows along, with the same voice guidance.
  • The surface rail runs down the right edge while a Track is engaged — the segments ahead and your position, same as the phone.
  • Auto-lock screen (optional, in the car's Settings or the phone's): once you've been moving for a few seconds the screen locks against accidental touches — vibration and rain can't disturb navigation. One tap on the padlock unlocks; on Android Auto a double-tap anywhere works too. It re-locks by itself.
  • The rail has voice mute, orient / recentre and zoom; Settings on the car screen holds the basemap, day / night and auto-lock.

Curious what hardware we ride with? See our field-tested displays at offtrailapp.com/devices.

OffTrail running through Apple CarPlay on a 5-inch motorcycle display
OffTrail on CarPlay — a 5" display on one of our motorcycles

Controllers

Ride with gloves on — a handlebar remote.

Pair a Bluetooth remote and map its buttons to OffTrail actions — zoom, recentre, orient, drop a waypoint, lock the screen or auto-zoom — so you can control the map without touching it. Set it up in Settings → Controllers.

  • A ready-made profile for the ARN Rally remote, plus a generic mode where you teach each button.
  • Pair the remote in your phone's own Bluetooth settings first.
  • Full details at offtrailapp.com/devices.

Settings

A few knobs; sensible defaults.

  • Rider name for group ride.
  • Language (English / Português / Español), appearance (light / dark / system) and units (metric / imperial).
  • Record mode, screen rotation, the wrong-way alert sound and voice guidance.
  • Auto-zoom, auto-recenter, POI radar and lock-while-moving — all on by default; each can be turned off.
  • Lock screen while moving in CarPlay / Android Auto — the car-screen auto-lock (off by default).
  • Controllers — Bluetooth handlebar-remote profiles — and downloads on cellular.
  • Storage — how much space Tracks, recordings and maps use.
Settings screen
Rider name, language, appearance, units & more

About & supporting OffTrail

Free, and built by one rider.

OffTrail is free. If it's earned a place on your bars, there's an optional tip jar in About.

About also has the website, this user guide, contact, a share button and a link to rate the app.

About screen
About — support & links

What's new

After an update, a short summary shows once.

When you open a new version, OffTrail shows a brief "What's new" with the headline changes and a link to the full changelog. Tap OK to dismiss — it won't show again until the next update.

See every release at offtrailapp.com/changelog.

What's new screen
Shown once per update

Get OffTrail

Download on the App Store Get it on Google Play