Smugglers Path test ride · Saturday 30 May
Welcome,
Smugglers
We're just six months in to building Aster, a new mobile app for tracking and sharing rides and races.
You're the first real riders to put the app to the test in a real event.
We want you to break it, share what you find, don't let bugs ruin your ride.
Thanks for being in.
Three things to do now
Install the app. Join the group.
Tap the link on your phone. The WhatsApp group is for everything — bugs, kit questions, race-day chat, the post-ride debrief.
APK · sideload
Android
Open in Drive- Drive → Download → tap the .apk
- You'll need to allow installs from your browser once
- Open Aster, sign up or sign in
TestFlight
iPhone
Open TestFlight- Install TestFlight from the App Store first if you haven't
- Open the link, tap Accept, then Install
- Open Aster, sign up or sign in
Tester group
- Bugs, questions, compliments, complaints
- Founder's on it — replies fast
- Pre-ride chat happens here too
Saturday morning
Race-day walkthrough
Open the Smugglers Path event and tap Enter
Find the event under Events → Discover in the bottom nav, or open the event link directly. Tap Enter as rider, confirm your display name, and you're in.
Once entered, the event shows up under Events → Enteredwith a “Starts in” countdown. Do this the day before if you can — it's a one-tap action but takes a quick network round-trip, and the start area might have patchy signal.
At the start, open the Track screen and wait for the Start button to enable
15 minutes before the gun, the Start button on the Track screen enables. Tap it once and you'll see Tracking Armedin the status banner and feel a short buzz — that's the app confirming GPS is live and ready.
If you tap Start too early, the button is greyed out with an “Opens in X” countdown — that's normal, just wait for the window.
You can lock the screen now if you want, or leave it on — up to you. The countdown beeps fire either way.
Listen for the countdown — tick-tick-tick, GO
In the final 5 secondsbefore the gun, your phone ticks once a second (T-5, T-4, T-3, T-2, T-1), each with a short haptic pulse. Then at T=0 you'll hear a longer beep and feel a long buzz — that's the gun. Your race clock starts.
If your phone is in silent mode you'll only feel the haptics — the visual “GO!” flashes briefly in the banner so you can confirm it fired.
The Track screen label changes from “Tracking Armed” to “Racing” the moment the gun fires.
Ride. Don't touch the phone.
Tracking runs in the background — lock the screen, drop the phone in a jersey pocket, top-tube bag, or bar mount, and forget about it. Aster sends a position every few seconds while you have signal and quietly buffers them on the phone when you don't.
When you hit a dead zone, your position pauses on the spectator map. The moment signal returns, the buffered positions upload and the map catches up. You don't need to do anything.
If you genuinely need to stop the ride, use Pause (for breaks, mechanicals, aid stations) or Abandon(if you're done) — covered below.
What the buttons do
Pause vs Abandon
Mechanical, aid station, nature break, helping a fallen rider. Pause stops sending GPS pings — your position freezes on the map for watchers — and saves battery while you're not riding. The race clock keeps ticking (it's wall-clock time from the gun, same for everyone, never pauses). Tap Resume when you're rolling again. Use this freely.
Genuinely done. You'll type a 4-digit code shown on the screen — small friction to stop accidental taps on a bar-mounted phone. Followers get a 'rider abandoned' notification. There's no Undo for this one — only tap it if you mean it.
Actual emergency. Triggers a 4-digit confirm code, then alerts the event organiser with your live position. Two-way chat opens. Don't test this on the day — we'll do it pre-event.
About your battery
Battery questions, answered
How much battery does Aster actually use?
Should I bring a battery pack?
What does the app do when my battery drops?
Aster has an automatic battery ladder — as your phone's battery falls past 30% / 15% / 8%, the app drops down one tier (Live → Standard → Endurance → Ultra) so tracking lasts longer. You don't need to do anything; a small banner pops up to tell you the mode just changed.
Want to forecast exactly how long your phone will last in each mode?
Open the battery calculator →What happens if my battery dies mid-ride?
Should I use airplane mode to save battery?
Anything else I can do to extend battery?
- Lock the screen when you're not checking it — the display is the single biggest battery drain after GPS
- Drop your screen brightness if you do leave it on
- Close other apps before the start — Spotify, Strava, navigation apps all compound the drain
- Keep the phone out of direct sun if possible — heat reduces battery efficiency significantly
- Bar-mount + power bank cable plugged in = a phone that charges while you ride. Some riders swear by it for long days
One thing to check · Optional
Samsung phones — turn off Sleeping Apps (optional)
Samsung is aggressive about killing background apps to save battery. For a 2–4 hour race it can interrupt tracking. Two taps to fix it permanently:
- Settings → Device care → Battery → Background usage limits
- Sleeping apps → if Aster is in the list, remove it. Or add Aster to Never sleeping apps.
iPhone — nothing extra to do. Pixel + most stock-Android phones don't need this either. Xiaomi, OnePlus, and Huawei have their own version of the same setting buried in different places — search “battery optimisation” in your settings if you're on one of those.
On the day · Follow it live
Family + friends can watch live
Share the link with anyone you want watching. No login needed for them — they can find the Smugglers Path event and follow your dot on the live map. Works on any phone or laptop, incognito too.
One link. One screen. They see every metre.
Follow it liveAnything else
Talk to us
Bugs, compliments, confusion, kit questions, “should I take a spare battery” — all of it. The WhatsApp group is fastest.
Not a Smugglers tester? See what Aster is.