Head-to-head

Rippin' vs REVER: an honest head-to-head

REVER is the app most American riders already have on their phone. Rippin' is the one their friends keep mentioning at bike night. I make Rippin', so I am not neutral, but I have paid for REVER Pro and I will tell you plainly where it is the better app. Everything here is current as of September 2026.

The two-sentence answer

REVER is a better navigation and touring tool, with offline maps, Butler Maps, and years of US road data. Rippin' is a better game and community tool, with turf, poker runs, points, levels, and a real local events calendar, and its free tier covers more.

Feature table

Recording and reliability

Both apps record rides for free. REVER has more history here and a bigger install base, with over a million Play installs. It also has a longer list of reliability complaints. If you read REVER reviews across multiple years, the same words come up: background crashes, lost rides, forced re-logins. Any GPS app can lose a ride, and Rippin' has had its own share of bugs to fix, but the pattern in REVER's reviews is consistent enough that I would not call it a solved problem. The iOS listing had not been updated since September 2024 as of this writing.

Rippin' is younger, which cuts both ways. Fewer years of scar tissue, but also a smaller sample of riders finding edge cases. We ship updates often, which is the fair thing to say.

Navigation and planning

This is REVER's home turf. Pro gets you turn-by-turn, offline maps, and Butler Maps, which are road ratings compiled by people who ride for a living. If you tour through areas with no signal, offline maps alone justify $39.99 a year. The routing complaints, mostly about getting sent onto gravel, are real but not unique to REVER.

Rippin' is not trying to replace your nav. The recorder gives you route options and arrival estimates, and the AI trip planner will build you a day when you do not know where to go. For the actual turn-by-turn on a long tour, plenty of Rippin' riders run Google Maps, Apple Maps, or REVER on the bars and let Rippin' record in the background. That is fine. The apps do not fight.

Community and group rides

REVER's community is large but thin. You can follow riders and see their rides. Live sharing is a Pro feature. Events come through a partnership with Knuckle HQ, which skews toward Canada and does not help much if you want to know what is happening in Oceanside on Thursday.

Rippin' is built around squads. Squads, group rides, chat, and RSVPs are free. The meets and bike-night calendar has hundreds of events across Southern California, and that calendar is the reason a lot of people open the app on a weeknight. The flip side: if you ride somewhere we have not launched, that calendar will be sparse. San Diego, Orange County, and Los Angeles are strong. Austin is launching. Elsewhere you are early.

Challenges, rewards, and games

REVER runs sponsored challenges with leaderboards, usually a distance goal tied to a brand. They are fun for a month. There is no XP, no levels, no points you can spend.

Rippin' treats the whole app as a game. Segments have KOM leaderboards like Strava. Turf Wars lets you claim map territory by riding a loop, and rivals can take it from you. Poker runs happen at real bars, dealers, and cafes. Every ride earns points and XP across 25 levels, and points go into a shop and giveaways. REVER has nothing like this, and honestly, neither does anyone else on the US market as of September 2026.

Price

REVER Pro is $39.99 a year, about $3.33 a month. Rippin' Plus is $4.99 a month, so roughly $60 a year if you keep it all year. On paper REVER is cheaper. The difference is what sits behind the paywall. REVER's best features (offline, Butler, turn-by-turn, live sharing) are Pro. Rippin's core loop (recording, squads, group rides, turf, poker runs, events, points) is free, and Plus adds conveniences like auto-start recording and extras. If you would never pay for either, Rippin' gives you more.

Who should pick REVER

• You tour long distances and need offline maps.
• You want Butler Maps road ratings in the app.
• You ride outside Southern California and Texas and want a community that already exists where you are.
• You prefer one annual charge to a monthly one.

Who should pick Rippin'

• You want riding to earn something: points, levels, turf, cards.
• You ride with a crew and want free group rides and squad chat.
• You are in San Diego, OC, LA, or Austin and want to know what is on this week.
• You want segments and KOM leaderboards for motorcycles.
• You are tired of paying for a tracker and want the free tier to actually be useful.

Verdict

If I could only install one app and I were riding coast to coast next month, I would install REVER. If I were riding the same 40 miles of good road every weekend with the same six people, I would install Rippin' and never open anything else. Most riders are the second kind more often than the first. Try Rippin' free, keep REVER if you need it, and let the two do different jobs.

Frequently asked questions

Is Rippin' a replacement for REVER?

Not for touring navigation. REVER Pro offers offline maps, Butler Maps, and turn-by-turn that Rippin' does not match. Rippin' replaces REVER for riders who care more about group rides, local events, segments, Turf Wars, poker runs, and points than about offline navigation.

How much does REVER cost compared to Rippin'?

REVER Pro is $39.99 per year. Rippin' Plus is $4.99 per month and Organizer Pro is $8.99 per month. Rippin's core features, including recording, squads, group rides, events, turf, and poker runs, are free.

Does REVER have points or levels?

No. REVER runs sponsored challenges with leaderboards but has no XP, levels, or spendable points. Rippin' has points, XP, 25 rider levels, a points shop, and giveaways.

Can I use REVER and Rippin' at the same time?

Yes. Many riders navigate with REVER, Google Maps, or Apple Maps and let Rippin' record in the background to earn points, claim turf, and collect poker cards.

Does REVER work on Android?

Yes. REVER is on iPhone and Android with over one million Play installs. Rippin' is also on both platforms.