Pocket Trails · Forest of Dean
Pocket Trails is a free, offline guide to the mountain bike trails in the Forest of Dean. If something is not working, or you have spotted something wrong on a trail page, email us and a person will read it.
Last updated 12 August 2026
We are a small volunteer group, not a company with a support desk, so replies come in evenings rather than within the hour. Tell us which phone you are using and what you tapped before it went wrong — it saves a round of questions.
Yes. The trails, the downhill runs, the climb profiles, the car parks, the emergency screens and the map of the trails are all built into the app, so they work with the phone in aeroplane mode. Three things do need signal: the weather forecast, the forestry works board and the lost property board. The aerial and OS-style map backdrops also download as you look at them, so pan around the area you plan to ride while you still have signal.
Watch mode keeps your position up to date while you ride, so that if you crash, the grid reference sent to your emergency contact is seconds old rather than from whenever you last used your phone. A rider who is unconscious cannot unlock the phone and open an app, which is why it has to keep working with the screen off. You turn it on before a ride and off afterwards, iOS shows a blue indicator the whole time, and nothing is uploaded — the position and the last two hours of trail stay on the phone and are then overwritten.
It needs a GPS fix, which can take up to a minute under thick tree cover or indoors, and the app will say it is getting your position while it waits. If it never appears, check the app is allowed your location:
Grid references are worked out on the phone from the satellite fix, so they do not need signal.
The trail lines are built in and should always draw. A grey backdrop behind them means the map tiles have not downloaded, which needs signal. Ride out with the plain backdrop, or load the area at home first.
Yes. Open a trail and tap the GPX button. On iPhone the share sheet opens, so you can save the file to Files or send it straight to another app.
No, and this matters. Forestry England's status page is the only up-to-date source for closures. The app links to it and remembers what you last told it, but it cannot check for you when you have no signal. Check before you set off.
Tell us. Distances, grades, gate changes, a new line, a bad bit of surface — email mail@fodmtb.com and it gets fixed in the next release. The same goes for the works and lost property boards: reports come to us by email, a person reads them, and only then do they appear.
Delete the app. Your saved rides, notes, checklist, emergency contact and settings live on the phone alone, so removing the app removes them. There is no account to close.
Call 999 and ask for the ambulance service, then read them the grid reference from the SOS screen. If you cannot speak, you can text 999, but only if you registered beforehand — text the word register to 999 while you have signal, today, before you need it. Pocket Trails is a guide and a locator; it does not call anybody for you.