Your voice takes every road it can.
Kolvoy sends voice two ways at once: directly from phone to phone, and over the internet wherever a phone has signal. Whichever arrives first is what you hear. You never switch anything.
Mesh: phone to phone
Phones link directly using Wi-Fi Aware, Bluetooth LE and Wi-Fi Direct. No SIM, no data plan, no tower. Each phone also relays for the others, so a voice can travel down the column further than any single phone reaches.
Internet: where there is signal
When riders have mobile data, the same encrypted voice also goes through our relay server, with no distance limit. A rider who stopped for fuel ten kilometres back still hears the group.
Range, in real numbers
We would rather you know this before the ride than find out on it.
| Phones in pockets | ≈ 100 m between two bikes. |
|---|---|
| Phones on mounts | More, with line of sight between handlebar or tank mounts. |
| The whole column | Hop by hop. As long as each rider is in range of the next one, the group stretches further than one hop. |
| With mobile data | No limit. The internet path covers any gap the mesh cannot. |
Your headset, your music
Any Bluetooth helmet headset works, and so do wired ones. Music stays in HD while the group is quiet and lowers while someone speaks. Classic Bluetooth cannot carry HD music and an open mic together, so during a conversation most headsets play music at call quality, then return to HD a few seconds after the last word. Push-to-talk, LE Audio headsets and a separate helmet mic keep music in HD. Headsets vary; the app's audio setup tells you what yours gets.
Hands-free first
Smart hands-free is the default: once a conversation starts, you just talk and reply. On classic Bluetooth the helmet mic needs a moment to open, so the first words start with one tap of the headset button or "Hey Google". LE Audio headsets and a helmet mic plugged into the phone listen all the time. Prefer push-to-talk? Use the headset button, a handlebar remote, or the large button on screen.
Private by design
Voice, positions and names are end-to-end encrypted with a key that only your group holds. Our relay server passes the packets along and cannot decrypt them. Invite links carry the key after the # sign, which browsers never send to any server.
A map of the group
Every rider's position on a live map, and a notice when someone stops or falls behind. Download your area first and the map works with no signal. Without it, riders still show on a grid with distance and bearing.
What it can't do
- It can't reach a rider nobody is near. With no signal and no other phone within range, that rider is out of contact until the gap closes. The app shows them as reconnecting.
- It can't promise a number. Terrain, weather, where the phone sits and the phone model all change range. Test with your group.
- It can't replace emergency services. SOS alerts your group and contacts. It does not call an ambulance.
- It can't detect a crash. SOS is always sent by a person.
Ride with your crew this weekend.
Free to talk. Works with the headset already in your helmet.