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Open Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → Pedal Diary and make sure it's set to "While Using the App". The trail starts drawing once a few GPS points have been captured — an open space with a clear view of the sky works best for the first fix.

Yes. Pedal Diary keeps recording while the screen is locked, so a phone in a backpack still captures the trail, distance and speed. iOS shows a small blue indicator in the status bar while that's happening, and tracking stops as soon as the ride ends.

Only partly. Wi-Fi-only iPads don't have a GPS chip inside them (the GPS lives inside the cellular antenna on the cellular iPad models), so a Wi-Fi-only iPad can't draw a trail or measure distance on a ride. Connecting it to a personal hotspot doesn't help either — that gives the iPad internet, not GPS.

A Wi-Fi-only iPad is still a lovely way to look back at saved rides, browse photos, choose themes, and review badges at home. For the ride itself, an iPhone or a cellular iPad is the right device.

In the app: Settings → Me. From there you can change the nickname, the avatar (symbol or photo), the age and the things they love. Everything updates straight away across the app.

In the app: Settings → Me → App look and feel → Ride photos → Save automatically. Every photo taken from inside Pedal Diary from then on will also appear in your iPhone's Photos app, where you can share, print, AirDrop or back them up with the rest of your family photos.

The first time iOS asks for permission to add to Photos, tap Allow. Pedal Diary only ever adds photos — it never reads your existing photo library.

In the app: Settings → Me → App look and feel → Ride photos → Save manually (or Don't save if you'd rather keep ride photos inside the app only). With "Save manually" a small save button appears on each photo, so nothing leaves the app unless you choose it photo by photo.

You can also turn off the "Add to Photos" permission entirely in iOS: Settings → Privacy & Security → Photos → Pedal Diary → None. Photos already added to your library stay where they are — this just stops any new ones being added.

In the app: Settings → Grown-up only → Local weather and toggle it off. When off, no weather requests are made and the weather cards disappear from the home and paused screens.

In the app: Settings → Grown-up only → Set a PIN. Choose a four-digit number and confirm it. From then on, the destructive grown-up controls (delete every ride, run welcome again) ask for the PIN before they'll do anything. The PIN is stored securely on this device and never leaves it.

The PIN is stored in the iOS Keychain and can't be recovered remotely. If you can't remember it, deleting and reinstalling the app will clear the PIN — your iCloud-synced rides and badges return automatically when you sign back in.

In the app: Settings → Grown-up only, then hold the "Delete every ride" button for 1.5 seconds. The deletion syncs across every device signed in to the same iCloud account, so rides disappear from your iPad and your child's iPhone too.

There are three layers, depending on how clean a slate you want:

1. Inside the app: Settings → Grown-up only → Delete every ride (hold 1.5 seconds) removes every ride, badge, photo and diary entry from this device and from every other device signed in to the same iCloud account.
2. Remove the app: on the home screen, press and hold the Pedal Diary icon, then tap Remove App → Delete App. That removes the app and everything stored on this device.
3. Remove the iCloud copy too: open the iPhone's Settings → [your name] → iCloud → Manage Account Storage → Pedal Diary → Delete from iCloud. That clears any rides that were syncing through your iCloud, so a fresh install on any device starts completely empty.

Do all three and there is no trace of Pedal Diary left anywhere — the app has no servers of its own, so once your iPhone and iCloud copies are gone, that's it.

Ride-buddy lets two phones running Pedal Diary pair for a single ride. While paired, each phone shows the other rider's nickname and any badges they earn during the ride. It's off by default — a grown-up turns it on in Settings → Grown-up only → Ride-buddy pairing, on both phones.

The pairing uses Bluetooth and local Wi-Fi only. It never touches the internet, has no central server, and isn't linked to anyone's Apple ID. The only things shared are the rider's chosen nickname and any badges unlocked during the shared ride. Either rider can cancel pairing at any moment, and the connection ends as soon as either ride finishes.

A grown-up first needs to turn on Settings → Grown-up only → Ride-buddy pairing on both devices. Then, while on a ride, tap Find a ride buddy on the tracker. The first match within Bluetooth and Wi-Fi range shows a confirmation card on both phones — either rider can cancel. The connection is encrypted and never touches the internet.

Tap the small theme picker in the top-right corner of the home screen — or open Settings → App look and feel → Background theme. Choose from Sky, Sunset, Forest, Underwater, Dinosaur, Space or Racing Track. There's also a "Use my own photo" option that uses any photo from your library (or one taken there and then) as the background.

Yes. If you were signed in to iCloud when the rides were saved, signing in to iCloud on a new device and reinstalling Pedal Diary brings every ride, badge, photo and theme back automatically. The grown-up PIN does not sync — it's per-device — so you'll be asked to set a new one if you had one.

The usual fix is the boring one: close Pedal Diary fully (swipe up from the bottom of the screen, swipe the Pedal Diary card up off the top), then open it again. If the map tiles still look patchy, that's normally an iOS-wide thing — open Apple Maps for a moment to check it's behaving there too.

If something looks genuinely broken rather than slow, email marc@iamcoding.uk with a quick description of what you saw. A screenshot helps enormously.

No. There are no analytics, no advertising SDKs, no third-party trackers and no servers run by Pedal Diary. Rides, photos and diary entries stay on your devices and (if you're signed in to iCloud) inside your own private iCloud — which only you can see. The full details are on the Privacy policy page.