Pocket Trails: Forest of Dean

Pocket Trails is a guide to riding the Forest of Dean that works when your phone has no signal — which, out in the trees, is most of the time. Everything it needs is on the phone: the waymarked loops, the downhill runs, the trail map, the climb profiles and the car parks. The map's trail lines are built in and draw with no signal at all; the background map fills in when you have one. Check what the trails will actually be like before you set off. Pocket Trails works out how wet the ground is from the last seven days of rainfall and tells you which loop is worth riding, rather than leaving you to guess from a forecast. If something goes wrong, the app gives you an OS grid reference worked out on the phone itself, with no signal needed. That is what UK emergency services and mountain rescue ask for. It can read the reference aloud if your hands are shaking, point you back towards the Cycle Centre, and get a text ready with your position for a contact you have saved — you send it yourself. The app never calls or messages anyone on its own. Turn on watch mode before a ride and your position keeps updating with the phone in your pocket, so if you crash the grid reference is seconds old rather than from whenever you last used your phone. The app only asks for location "While Using the App"; watch mode keeps updating in the background while you have it switched on. You can also ask to be notified when the Forestry Works Board or the Lost Property Board changes. It is off unless you switch it on, one switch per board. The check happens on your phone, and nothing about you is sent. There are no accounts, no adverts and no sign-in. We never see where you ride. It is made in the Forest, by riders, and it is free.