COBI.Bike

Long term bad.

I’ve used this app with increasing distain for five years as there is no other option when you have a bike with a Bosch motor. It’s always been rubbish and still is today. Plus they have now introduced an annoying pop up asking to share data. If you click ‘no’ it comes up every time you open the app. So it’s still rubbish and definitely a reason to not get Bosch the next time I’m looking for a new bike.

Unfortunately the map databases in the UK available to use do not have all the cycle paths so the device sometimes takes you on to the road

Edit 4. It is fairly obvious what has happened here. Bosch bought cobi.bike and stopped developing it - instead they rolled the technology into what is now Bosch Smart System. Cobi.bike cost a lot of money and caused too many problems. Remaining problems are - The internal battery never holds charge for longer than 2 days, so the phone cannot make a Bluetooth connection and wake the bike without the bike being being plugged into mains. (The instructions say you can also cycle around for a few minutes to start the charge from the bike battery but this has never worked either). The cobi.bike instructions are awful, just a mess, they are not helpful. I had an error message and nowhere in the instructions did it get mentioned, customer service also wrongly told me the symbol meant something else entirely. The phone holder hardware is fragile, usb connection fell off once and spring retainer failed on other one(2 replacements). Navigation in the uk normally directs me along footpaths and fields that are only accessible via foot/style etc so ‘quietest’ route planning is out of the question for a heavy ebike. Navigation also does not recognise bridleways/canals as cycle routes, unless you are already on them. Every time i take a photo with the phone camera or stop for a few minutes the app restarts my workout so I end up with 4x10km rides instead of 1x40km ride and associated data. Thanks for the developer response. But I don’t see how you can fix all of this without real active development. The smart system is clearly the chosen path and why not? - The Smart System software and hardware design choices are superior. I would upgrade to Smart System if it was possible (Cube 2019 reaction EXC500) At least now cobi.bike is stable on the iPhone and the problems are predictable. The Bosch motor/battery part of my bike is well loved and has been well cared for by Bosch when it ran into to trouble. Your dedication to my happiness here has been faultless. But my investment in cobi.bike, which was clearly a system developed by devoted enthusiasts and had a lot of potential, has proved less than satisfactory after your takeover and subsequent sideline. Ha, I am clearly upset by this! But…. I use the system almost every day and as an integrated solution which was available in 2019 it is still better than anything else out there. The advice to others still stands though. DO NOT INVEST IN THIS, THE FRUSTRATIONS WILL NEVER END. HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT STALLED A

Been using this for a couple of years now and it varies with every update from poor to just about usable. It always fails to connect without a full shutdown and then after the ride it only updates Strava about 20% of the time. When this happens you have to connect a cable to the phone and download the ride via iTunes. Really? They seriously need a rethink with this.

I am struggling to understand why this app has such poor reviews. I find it fantastic. Works like a dream and no issues at all. Notice some of the reviews are very old and maybe things have improved. If I was buying my bike again I would spec it with this and the smartphone hub. I use with iPhone so maybe that is why it works so well?

Navigation on this app is lethal and COBI.Bike should be removed from the App Store until it is fixed. Shame on you Apple for allowing it to be downloaded.

The Cobi system is OK. Just OK. The software isn’t bad, and will allow you to use the rather clunky satnav which has very poor mapping ie it took me down a dirt track that went nowhere claiming it was a through route - it wasn’t!! The use of open source mapping isn’t great, and Cobi will not allow you to use any other mapping such as Google or Apple maps. It is a nice idea poorly executed. The biggest issue is that if the Cobi mount battery is low then you cannot start your ebike at all. The only solution is to connect to the ebike charger! Not easy when you have travelled a long way to make that long planned for scenic ebike ride! The Cobi mount battery doesn’t charge from the main bike battery so even if you have a full ebike battery, if the hidden Cobi integrated battery is flat then you cannot start your bike! Bit of a nightmare if you are miles away from home! So for this reason I wouldn’t recommend Cobi or it’s app. Honestly it’s best avoided - save your money and buy something nice - like a weekend break!

1/ Doesn’t give turn by turn directions. Using Komoot route, not sure if that is issue. 2/ Doesn’t show ETA (only shows current time). 3/ Can’t find anyway to contact support. So basically really annoying.

Neither directly nor through eBosch whatever. Utterly useless.