How RallyBook works
From upload to start line, in plain language.
Two flows live side by side — what an organizer does to publish an event, and what a rider does to join it. They meet in the middle the moment the rider types your event password or accepts your invite.
You set the event up. Riders find their way in.
01
Create your event and upload the roadbooks
Give the event a name, pick the dates and location, drop in a banner image. Drag your stage files into the upload zone — GPX from your favorite planner, or .cap files from RallyCAP. We encrypt them on the way in and store them safely; the originals never live anywhere a casual click could leak them.
02
Set the event password
One memorable string — DAKAR26, AVENTURADESERTO, whatever fits — replaces your shareable folder link. Choose if you want to approve riders manually or let everyone with the password in automatically. You can pause it whenever you want; new joins stop immediately.
03
Share with riders, the way you already do
Put the event password in your sign-up email, your event WhatsApp group, the notice board at the riders' briefing — wherever your riders already are. Or invite riders by email from the entry list, and the event is waiting when they sign in. If you have names and bibs ready in advance, pre-list them and their entries lock in automatically.
04
Approve and run the show
Riders appear in your participants list as they join. Approve them one by one (with notes, bib numbers, anything you need) or skip approval entirely for open events. You see live counts and country flags the moment they join.
Sign in once. Your event is on your phone.
01
Install RallyBook and sign in
Free download from the App Store. Sign in with Apple, Google, or email — whichever account you want your library tied to. The same account works across your iPhone and iPad.
02
Type the event password
Tap Join Event and enter the password your organizer shared — or accept their email invite and skip typing anything. If the event needs approval, you see a friendly 'waiting for organizer' card; if it's open, the event lands in your library immediately.
03
Download before you leave signal
Tap the event card to download the stages while you have Wi-Fi. They're stored encrypted on your phone — pulling them onto another device or out of the app does nothing. Travel to the start, no signal needed from here on.
04
Navigate
Open the roadbook, follow the waypoints, complete the rally. RallyBook works fully offline — you don't need a cell tower in the dunes. After the event ends, the roadbooks tidy themselves up and disappear from your phone; the card stays in your library as a history.
The four layers, in plain language.
Other platforms protect roadbooks the same way email protects attachments: not at all. Here's what RallyBook actually does to keep your work yours.
The file on the phone is scrambled
The roadbook your rider downloads isn't a readable GPX. It's a scrambled blob that only opens inside the RallyBook app, under the rider's account. AirDropping it to a friend doesn't share anything useful — there's no roadbook on the other side.
It's locked to the rider, not the device
Access is granted to a RallyBook account, not a phone. If a rider gets a new phone they reinstall, sign in, and their library is back. If they lend their unlocked phone to a friend, the friend sees the rider's library — not their own. Anyone trying to use a borrowed file from a different account hits a closed door.
Access ends when the event ends
You set the start and end dates when you create the event. After the end date passes, the rider's phone deletes the local copy on next refresh, and our servers stop handing out the key. The card stays as a history entry — but nothing inside it is openable anymore.
The share sheet is disabled
iOS's normal 'send file' menu is turned off for online roadbooks. There's no 'open in Files', no 'send to Mac'. The roadbook only exists for the rider who unlocked it, and only inside RallyBook.
We're honest about what this isn't: a determined, jailbroken-phone attacker with a debugger could probably extract decrypted bytes from memory. No DRM system on a general-purpose computer survives that. RallyBook is built to stop the 99% — the casual forward, the well-meaning rider who wants to share with a friend, the riders-on-the-grid stealing your IP from the previous edition's leftover files.
A few things organizers ask before signing up.
What file formats can I upload?
GPX from any rally planner (CompeGPS, BaseCamp, etc.) and .cap files from RallyCAP. We handle the encryption automatically.
How many riders can join one event?
As many as you can fit on a starting line — there are no participant limits during early access.
Do my riders pay anything?
No. The RallyBook app is completely free for riders — no subscription, no pass, no in-app purchase to open the roadbooks you deliver. Distribution is covered by the organizer's plan.
Can a rider use the roadbook offline?
Yes. Once they've downloaded a stage on their phone, it works without any data connection. That's the point — riders are usually 200 km from the nearest cell tower.
What if a rider loses or breaks their phone?
Their account stays — they sign back in on a new device and re-download from the library. You don't have to do anything.
Can I revoke a rider's access mid-event?
Yes. Open the participants list, hit Revoke. The roadbook disappears from their phone on the next refresh.
Do you support Android?
iOS first. Android is on the Phase 2 roadmap — same account, same access, same protection model.
Ready to publish your first event?
RallyBook is free while we're in early access — enough to run a full rally end-to-end, riders included.