Supported devices
What works with Ride Director, what doesn’t, and what to buy if you need something. We’ve tried to be straight with you about the difference between “this should work” and “we’ve tested this”.
Nothing here has been tested on real hardware yet
We have built support for these devices and they follow published Bluetooth standards, so they should work. But no strap, cadence sensor or bike has been connected to a shipping build of Ride Director by us. Everything below says "Expected" for that reason, and it will keep saying it until we have tested each one. If you try something on this list, we would genuinely like to hear how it went.
Not sure? Describe your kit
Name your bike, strap or sensor and we’ll tell you straight whether it works, whether it should work, or whether it can’t. Answers come from the same list below, last updated 2026-08-18. If it isn’t on that list, we’ll say so rather than guess.
The short version
- A heart-rate chest strap works with almost anything and costs about $35. That is the single best thing to buy.
- Cadence needs a $23 clip-on sensor that rubber-bands to your crank arm. It fits every bike ever made, including a gym bike with no electronics at all.
- Your bike itself probably cannot talk to us — most cannot, and Peloton and newer Echelon bikes deliberately do not. The $23 sensor is the way round that, and it works on those bikes too.
- An Apple Watch gives you heart rate with nothing else to buy. If you have both a Watch and a chest strap, we use the strap, because it is more accurate on a bike.
- Power meters are supported, but they are expensive and watts are not comparable between brands, so we never rank riders on them.
Where you can use a sensor
iPhone & iPad app
Pairs sensorsConnects directly to Bluetooth heart-rate straps, cadence sensors and power meters. Pair them in Settings ▸ Devices.
Built August 2026. This is the only way to use a Bluetooth sensor on an iPhone or iPad — see the note about browsers below.
Web — Chrome or Edge on a computer
Pairs sensorsPair sensors straight from the class screen using the browser's own Bluetooth support.
Works on Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS. Safari and Firefox do not support Web Bluetooth on any platform.
Web — Chrome on Android
Pairs sensorsSame as the desktop browser: pair from the class screen.
An Android app is not out yet; Chrome is the way in for now.
Web — any browser on iPhone or iPad
No sensor pairingSensors cannot be paired from a browser on an iPhone or iPad. Use the app instead.
This is not something we can fix. Apple requires every iOS browser to use its engine, and that engine does not implement Web Bluetooth — so Chrome on an iPhone will not help either.
Apple Watch
Built-in heart rateStreams your heart rate from the Watch's own sensor. Nothing to pair, nothing to buy.
The Watch cannot connect to a bike or a cadence sensor for us — watchOS limits how many Bluetooth connections an app may hold through a workout, so the phone owns any bike link.
What the labels mean
We have connected this exact device to a real build and watched the numbers come through.
This device uses a standard we support, so it should work. We have not tested this particular model ourselves, and we would rather say so than imply otherwise.
We haven't built this yet. It is possible, and it may come later.
A hard limit of the hardware or the manufacturer, not something we can fix with software. We would rather tell you now than have you buy something.
Sensor types
| What it is | iPhone / iPad app | Web browser | Apple Watch |
|---|---|---|---|
Heart Rate Chest straps and armbands | Expected | Expected | Not supported The Watch uses its own sensor rather than connecting to a strap. |
Cycling Speed & Cadence Pedal RPM from a clip-on crank sensor | Expected | Expected | Can't be supported watchOS cannot hold this connection through a class. |
Cycling Power Watts from power pedals or cranks | Expected | Expected | Can't be supported watchOS cannot hold this connection through a class. |
FTMS (fitness machine) How most modern smart bikes introduce themselves Planned. Until it lands, a smart bike will not appear in the pairing list at all — a $23 crank sensor works on it in the meantime. | Not supported | Not supported | Can't be supported |
Apple HealthKit Heart rate from your Apple Watch The one thing on this page we use every day and have watched work. | Verified | — | Verified |
ANT+ The older Garmin-world radio No iPhone has ever had an ANT+ radio and no app can add one. If your sensor also does Bluetooth — most modern ones do — use that. | Can't be supported | Can't be supported | Can't be supported |
Manufacturer-private Peloton, and Echelon since mid-2025 These bikes scramble their data or route it through the maker's own servers, so no third-party app can read them. | Can't be supported | Can't be supported | Can't be supported |
Bikes
Most indoor bikes cannot send us anything, and that is normal rather than a fault. A clip-on cadence sensor solves it for every bike on this list.
Keiser M3i / M3iX
ExpectedCadence, power and gear
Broadcasts to many apps at once, so a whole studio can read one bike.
You don’t need a cadence sensor for this bike — it already sends its own.
Stages SC series
ExpectedCadence and measured power
Life Fitness IC series (WattRate consoles)
ExpectedCadence and power
Wattbike Atom / Pro
ExpectedCadence and power
Schwinn IC4 / Bowflex C6
Expectedaround $500Cadence and estimated power
You don’t need a cadence sensor for this bike — it already sends its own.
YESOUL, MERACH, Renpho indoor bikes
Expectedaround $350–600Cadence and estimated power
Technogym Group Cycle
ExpectedCadence and power
Peloton Bike / Bike+
Can't be supportedNothing — it is wired to its own screen and does not broadcast
A $23 crank sensor gives you cadence on a Peloton, and it is what Peloton themselves support for riders on someone else's bike.
Echelon Connect (firmware after July 2025)
Can't be supportedNothing — a firmware update routed it through Echelon's own servers
A $23 crank sensor. Older Echelon firmware was readable, but we cannot tell you not to update your bike.
Most hotel, apartment and gym-floor bikes
Can't be supportedNothing — no radio at all
A $23 crank sensor. It rubber-bands on in two minutes and comes off just as fast, which is the point for a bike you do not own.
What to buy
Heart rate — best all-round
Garmin HRM 200
~$80Connects to three things at once, runs about a year on a coin cell, and has no charging cable to lose.
Heart rate — budget, or kitting out a studio
CooSpo H6
~$35Same Bluetooth standard as the expensive ones for half the price. Twenty of them is about $700, which fits out a whole room.
Heart rate — if you dislike chest straps
Scosche Rhythm+ 2.0 armband
~$50Goes on your forearm instead. More accurate than a wrist sensor on a bike, less accurate than a chest strap.
Cadence — fits any bike ever made
CooSpo BK9C or Magene S314
~$23Rubber-bands to your crank arm in about two minutes and runs roughly 500 hours. This is the single highest-value thing on this page.
Power — only if you really want it
Favero Assioma UNO pedals
~$495Real measured watts. Needs clip-in cycling shoes. Worth knowing that watts are not comparable between brands, so we will never build a leaderboard on them.
Don't buy a cadence sensor for these bikes
A Keiser M3i, a Schwinn IC4 or a Bowflex C6 already broadcasts its own cadence. Buying a clip-on for one of those is money you don't need to spend.
Don't buy the Wahoo RPM
It was the obvious recommendation for years, but it was discontinued in June 2026 with no replacement. If you see one cheap, it still works — we just can't point new riders at hardware nobody is making.
Prices are rough US figures and drift. The links are ordinary Amazon searches with no affiliate tags on them — we don’t sell any of this, and we don’t earn anything if you buy it.
When it doesn't work
My bike won't pair — it worked in its own app a minute ago
Almost every bike accepts one connection at a time. If the bike's own app, Zwift or another training app is holding it, we get a busy signal. Close the other app completely — not just to the background — and try again. Keiser bikes are the exception; they broadcast to everything at once.
It says connected but no numbers appear
A chest strap only starts sending once it has contact with your skin — wet the contacts and put it on before pairing. A cadence sensor stays asleep until the crank turns, so give the pedals a spin. Connected and silent is the most common thing people report, and it is nearly always one of those two.
Why can't I pair a sensor in Safari on my iPhone?
No browser on iPhone or iPad can pair Bluetooth sensors — not Safari, and not Chrome either. Apple requires every iOS browser to use its engine, and that engine has never implemented Web Bluetooth. Use the Ride Director app on your phone instead, which talks to sensors directly.
I have an Apple Watch and a chest strap. Which one is used?
The chest strap. A wrist sensor is at its least accurate on a bike — your wrist is braced on the handlebars, gripping tightens the tissue it reads through, and it lags hard efforts by several seconds. Your Watch keeps recording the workout either way, so the ride still closes your rings.
My sensor is ANT+ only
Then it cannot work with an iPhone, now or ever — no iPhone has an ANT+ radio and no app can add one. Many sensors do both ANT+ and Bluetooth, so check yours before replacing it.
Does my data leave my phone?
Your heart rate and cadence go to the class you are in, so your coach and the other riders can see them — and you can turn either of those off per ride in the app. Nothing is shared with the sensor's manufacturer by us.
How many riders can actually produce these numbers
These are our own estimates from a model-by-model survey of what riders actually own, not a published figure. We would rather show you the reasoning than a confident number we can't source.
Tried something on this list?
Tell us how it went and we’ll update this page — especially if it didn’t work. Every row here says “Expected” until someone has actually tried it, and riders reporting back is how that changes.