In development
Room to ride, with lines everyone can see.
Parents draw where riding is fine. The rider turns on RideZone on their Apple Watch, and is warned before they reach a line. Parents hear when one is crossed.
"Don't forget to turn on RideZone."
- Riders
- Apple Watch, with iPhone coming
- Parents
- iPhone, with Android coming
Not in the App Store yet.
How it works
Four steps, and the rider takes one of them.
Draw the zones
On a map, draw the areas where riding is fine, and the no-go zones inside them: the creek path, the gas station lot. Any zone can keep a weekly schedule, down to sunrise and sunset.
Set the rules
Riding times, a curfew (a clock time, sunset or dark), a speed limit, and a short checklist before each ride: helmet on, brakes work.
The rider turns it on
Start ride, on the watch. Nothing runs until the rider starts it, and the watch shows the ride for as long as it is on.
Everyone knows where they stand
The watch warns the rider before a line. If they cross it, parents get an alert. When the ride ends, it is recorded for parents, with an alert unless they turn it off.
On the rider's wrist
A warning before the line, and the way back.
A buzz that only says "you're out" leaves a kid stopped at a corner, looking around. RideZone says which way.
A tap that means RideZone
Its own pattern of taps, not the usual notification buzz, so it does not get lost among messages. Two taps near the edge. Three strong taps once outside, repeating until the rider is back in.
Which way is back
One big arrow and a distance, turned to the way the rider is facing, so "turn around" is clear at a glance. When the watch cannot tell which way that is, a small map shows the way instead.
Works with no signal
The watch checks every position against the zones itself, so a warning never waits on a connection. The ride is saved on the watch and sent when signal comes back.
A watch of its own
Designed for a child's own cellular watch, set up with Apple's Family Setup. It talks to RideZone itself, not through an iPhone. Family Setup testing comes with the first App Store build.
Ending a ride is on the record
A rider can end a ride at any time. End ride sits on its own page, so a sleeve is unlikely to press it, and every ride's end is recorded for parents.
two taps
three taps, repeating
one tap
For parents
The ride, as it happens and after.
On iPhone. Parents see where a rider is only while a ride is on.
Live view
While a ride is on, follow it on the map as the watch reports in, about every 10 seconds while it has signal.
Alerts that matter
Leaving the zones, entering a no-go zone and a lost signal always come through, as Time Sensitive alerts on iPhone. Each parent chooses the rest, from ride started to past curfew.
Ride logs
Each ride's route for 30 days, drawn on your zones and colored by speed, with where any zone alert began and ended.
A dashboard per rider
Rides, distance, time riding, average and top speed, and zone alerts, from the last 7 days to the last 12 months.
Guardians
Invite a grandparent, a sitter or a coach to see rides and get alerts, for as long as you choose. They change nothing.
Two homes, one set of lines
Parents are equal: either can draw the zones, sign the agreement and get the alerts, from either home.
The ride agreement
Written together, signed by everyone.
Rules work better when the rider helped write them. RideZone gives the family one place to write them down.
Rules from the rider's own settings
Their zones, riding times, curfew, speed limit and checklist become rules, each with what happens if it is broken, in the family's own words. Anything else goes in as plain writing.
Signed by finger
Each parent signs on their own phone. The rider signs on a parent's phone, handed over.
On the watch, too
"My agreement" on the watch shows the rules, so the rider can check them any time.
RideZone records. The family decides.
The app never hands out a consequence. Each rule is tied to the alerts it covers, so the conversation after one starts from what everyone agreed. One rule is in every agreement: RideZone is on whenever I ride.
Ride agreement
Maya's rules
- RideZone is on whenever I ride.
- I stay in my zones: Neighborhood and Park loop.If not: we talk before the next ride.
- Home by sunset on school days.If not: no riding the next day.
- Helmet on, every ride.If not: the bike stays home that day.
Privacy
How RideZone treats your child's data
A child's location is about the most sensitive thing an app can hold. These are the rules RideZone is built on, in plain words.
The rider turns it on
Location is collected only while a ride is on, and a ride is on only while the rider's watch says so on screen. There is no hidden mode, and no way for anyone to start it from afar.
Nothing between rides
When the ride ends, location stops. RideZone does not follow a child through the rest of the day.
Stopping is never hidden
A rider can end a ride at any time. Its end is recorded for parents, and if the watch goes quiet in the middle of a ride, they are told that too.
Zones are checked on the watch
The warning comes from the watch itself. During a ride, the watch sends its positions to RideZone so parents can see the ride and get alerts.
Routes are deleted after 30 days
A ride's route is deleted 30 days after the ride. What stays is its numbers, like distance and top speed, and its zone alerts, and none of those hold a location. Removing a rider deletes their rides.
No photos of children
A rider's picture is a drawing of what they ride, picked from a set. There is nowhere to upload a child's photo.
No account for a child
A rider has no email and no password. Their watch is paired with a code a parent enters on their own phone, and a parent can remove it at any time.
No ads, no trackers
No ads, and no analytics or advertising code in the apps. Alerts go straight to Apple, never through a relay service, and they name the rider and the zone, never a position.
Designed for under 13
RideZone is designed from day one for riders under 13 and for COPPA, the US law that protects their privacy. The parent holds the account.
This website keeps the same rule: no cookies, no analytics, no forms, and nothing loaded from anyone else.
Where it stands
In development, and working in testing.
RideZone is not in the App Store yet. This is what is built and working in testing, and what comes next.
Built
- Drawing zones, no-go zones and their schedules
- Riding times, curfew, speed limit and the checklist
- Pairing a watch with a code
- Rides on Apple Watch, with warnings and the way-back arrow
- Parent alerts, the live view, ride logs and the dashboard
- The ride agreement, on the phone and the watch
Next
- A rider mode for iPhone
- Android for parents
- The App Store