Guides DerbyOn is here
DerbyOn is here
Turn the walking, running and cycling you already do into a race across a real map. Out now on iPhone and Android.
DerbyOn is here. It is available now on the App Store and Google Play, for iPhone and Android, and it is free to download.
It is a fitness app, but not the kind that lectures you. DerbyOn takes the walking, running and cycling you already do and turns it into a race across a real map — against your friends, your colleagues, or the version of yourself who didn't go out yesterday.
Why we built it #
Almost everyone we talked to while building this had the same story. They'd started something — a couch-to-5K, a step goal, a resolution — and it had worked for about three weeks. Then it stopped. Not because it was too hard. Because it got boring.
That's the real problem. A walk on its own is invisible. Nothing depends on it, nobody notices whether you went, and the reward is a number in an app you stop opening. Motivation built purely on discipline runs out, and for most of us it runs out fast.
What doesn't run out is not wanting to lose. If a friend is 4 km ahead of you on the way to Rome and you can see it on a map, going for a walk stops being a chore you owe yourself and becomes a move in a game you're already playing. That's the whole trick, and it's the reason DerbyOn exists.
Our mission is to contribute to people living healthier, more active lives — by making everyday movement social, visible and genuinely fun, so that staying active is something you want to keep doing rather than something you keep restarting.
What it actually does #
You pick a route between two real places — Berlin to Dresden, Krakow to Katowice, or a ready-made classic like Race to Rome. You invite whoever you want with a short code. Then everyone goes out and records their own walks, runs and rides, wherever they actually live.
Every kilometre you cover pushes your marker further along that route on the map. You can watch it happen live: who's ahead, who just passed you, how far is left. First person to cover the distance wins.
What you can do on day one #
There are four things people tend to use DerbyOn for, and all of them work from the moment you install it.
Race your friends. Create a challenge between two places, share the invite code in your group chat, and settle it over a week. This is DerbyOn at its best — a handful of people who know each other, one route, and bragging rights.
Build a habit on your own. Skip challenges entirely. Record your walks and runs, and let the streak counter, personal records and levels do the work. The consistency heatmap is quietly the most motivating screen in the app.
Get a team moving. Offices, running clubs and classes use a single public challenge over a few weeks. Everyone joins by link, everyone can see the standings, and participants can vote to wrap it up when it's run its course.
Travel somewhere, slowly. Take on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu on foot or the Danube Path by bike, and cover it a few kilometres at a time from your own neighbourhood. It takes weeks, and finishing feels like it.
What's inside #
- Three activities — walking, running and cycling, each tracked and scored on its own terms.
- Real routes between any two places, plus eleven ready-made ones from a 2.7 km Golden Gate crossing to a 160 km century ride.
- A live map with rivals, checkpoints at 25%, 50% and 75%, a replay of any past session, and a territory view of everywhere you've been.
- Invite codes and links — eight characters, no confusable letters, so you can read one out over the phone.
- Streaks, personal records and XP, with levels and six tiers from Rookie to Legend.
- Background recording that keeps running with your phone locked, and keeps recording when you lose signal.
- 14 languages, including right-to-left support for Arabic.
Free and Premium #
Nearly everything is free, and we mean the parts that matter: recording, racing, joining challenges, the live map, your full performance stats, streaks, records, XP, and both the challenge and global leaderboards.
DerbyOn Premium is an optional subscription for people who want more room. It lifts the cap on how many challenges you can run at once, unlocks private and fully custom challenge creation beyond that cap, lets you tap through to other racers' profiles, and puts a badge on your name. Pricing is shown in the app in your local currency, and you can cancel any time.
Where we're going next #
This is version one, and it is a real product rather than a preview — but there's plenty we still want to build. More ready-made routes and regions. Better team and club tools. Richer ways to look back at what you've done over a season.
We would genuinely rather hear from you than guess. If something is confusing, broken, or missing, tell us at muhshuh2000@gmail.com.
Get started #
Download DerbyOn, create a challenge, and send the code to one person. That's genuinely all it takes to find out whether this works for you.
New to it? The getting started guide walks you through your first session, step by step.