How can we help?

I can't sign in — it says sign-in failed

Nearly always one of three things. First, check you're using the same method you signed up with — if you first used Sign in with Apple, an email sign-in will look like a brand new account with none of your training guides in it. Second, if you're on a shaky connection, wait until you have a stable signal and try again. Third, if you reset your password recently, use the newest link in your inbox — older links stop working once a new one is sent. If it still won't let you in, send us the email address you're trying and we'll look up what's on the account.

In the app: Sign in screen

It says sign-in is unavailable on this build

That message means the copy of the app on your phone is older than the sign-in method it's trying to use. Update Etapa from the App Store or Play Store, then reopen it and try again. If you've just updated and still see it, force-close the app fully and reopen it so it picks up the new version.

In the app: Sign in screen

The app keeps logging me out or asking me to sign in again

Your sign-in session refreshes quietly in the background, and it can drop if the phone was offline for a long stretch or the app sat unopened for weeks. Signing back in restores everything — your training guides, history and settings live on your account, not on the phone, so nothing is lost. If it's happening every few days, tell us which phone and app version you're on and we'll dig into it.

I signed in but my training guides and history are gone

This is almost always two accounts rather than lost data. Sign in with Apple can create an account under a private relay email that looks different from your usual one, so signing in a different way lands you in an empty account. Check which email is shown under Settings, and if it isn't the one you expect, sign out and sign back in with the original method. If you're not sure which one you first used, send us both email addresses and we'll tell you which account holds your history and merge them if needed.

In the app: Settings → Account

I never got the verification email

Check your spam or promotions folder first — it comes from an @getetapa.com address. If it isn't there, request a new one from Settings, and make sure the address doesn't have a typo in it. Some corporate mail servers block automated mail entirely; a personal address usually gets through. If nothing arrives after a few minutes, message us and we can verify the address from our side.

In the app: Settings → Account

How do I delete my account?

Go to Settings, then Account, then Delete Account. That permanently removes your account, your training guides and all the data attached to them — it can't be undone and we can't restore it afterwards. If you have an active subscription, cancel it in the App Store or Play Store first, because deleting the Etapa account does not cancel a store subscription and you'd keep being charged.

In the app: Settings → Account → Delete Account

My payment failed or the purchase did not go through

If the store took the payment but the app still shows you as unsubscribed, give it about thirty seconds and then force-close and reopen the app — the confirmation sometimes lands a moment after the payment does. If it still hasn't appeared, tap Restore Purchases on the paywall. Genuine failures are usually a card the store has declined or an expired payment method, which you can fix in your App Store or Play Store account settings. You are never charged twice for the same subscription; if you see two charges, send us the receipt and we'll sort it.

In the app: Paywall → Restore Purchases

I'm subscribed but the app says I'm not / new phone

On the paywall screen tap Restore Purchases. That asks the App Store or Play Store for anything previously bought with the account you're signed into on the device. Two things stop it working: being signed into a different store account than the one that bought the subscription, or being signed into a different Etapa account than the one it was bought on. Check both, then try again. If restore says no purchases were found and you know you're subscribed, send us the store receipt and we'll attach the subscription to your account manually.

In the app: Paywall → Restore Purchases

How do I cancel my subscription?

If you subscribed on an iPhone, open the phone's Settings, tap your name, tap Subscriptions and cancel Etapa there. On Android, open the Play Store, tap your profile picture, then Payments and subscriptions. If you subscribed through our website, open Settings then Manage Plan in the app. Cancelling stops the next renewal — you keep access until the end of the period you've already paid for. We can't cancel an App Store or Play Store subscription for you; only the store can.

In the app: Settings → Manage Plan

Can I get a refund?

Yes — every purchase comes with a seven-day full refund guarantee. For App Store purchases the fastest route is reportaproblem.apple.com, and for Play Store purchases it's the subscriptions page in your Play account. You can also ask from Settings in the app and we'll process it. If you're past seven days and something genuinely went wrong, tell us what happened — we'd rather sort it out than have you stuck with something that isn't working.

In the app: Settings → Manage Plan

It says my free trial has already been used

The trial is once per store account, not once per Etapa account, so if you've tried Etapa before on the same Apple ID or Google account the store won't offer it again. That's a store rule rather than something we set. If you genuinely haven't had a trial before, send us the email on your account and we'll check what the store is reporting against it.

My promo or coupon code won't work

Codes are case-sensitive and most have an expiry date or a cap on how many times they can be used, so a code that worked for a friend last month may have run out. Check for stray spaces if you pasted it in. If the code came from us directly and it's being rejected, send us the code and we'll either fix it or issue you a fresh one.

The subscription prices are blank or the paywall never loads

The prices come from the App Store or Play Store rather than from us, so a blank paywall usually means the store didn't answer in time. Force-close the app and reopen it while you have a decent connection. If you're on a VPN or a corporate network, turn it off and retry — those often block the store's price lookup. If it's still blank after that, tell us your country and phone model, because it can also mean the subscription isn't available yet in your region.

In the app: Paywall

My training guide failed to generate

Tap Try again on that screen first — a good number of these are a one-off timeout and the second attempt works. If it fails twice, the usual culprit is something in the setup that can't be satisfied, like a goal date that's very close, or only one available day a week for a long event. Try widening the dates or the days you can ride. Every failure sends us the error automatically, so if you tap Report a problem on that screen we get your exact setup with it and can tell you what tripped it.

In the app: Plan loading screen → Try again

My training guide has been generating for ages

A guide normally takes one to three minutes. It keeps building on our side even if you leave the screen or close the app, so you can come back to it. If it's been more than about ten minutes, close the app fully and reopen it — the finished guide often just needs the app to re-check. If it's still spinning after that, tell us roughly when you started it and we'll track down what happened to it.

In the app: Plan loading screen

It says I've hit my limit for creating guides

There's a cap on how many guides you can generate per day and per week. It exists because each one is a genuinely expensive piece of AI work, not to be awkward. The daily allowance resets overnight. If you're hitting it because you're experimenting with different goals, use Edit or Regenerate on the guide you have rather than starting fresh ones — those are cheaper and don't burn the same allowance.

My guide has the wrong sessions in it (indoor, rest days, distances)

Check the setup first — the guide follows the days you marked as available, the indoor or outdoor preference, and the fitness level you picked, and one wrong toggle there changes a lot. You can fix it without starting over: open the guide, tap Edit, and describe what you want changed in plain English, or use Regenerate to rebuild it from a corrected setup. If the guide is ignoring a setting you know you set correctly, that's a bug worth telling us about — send a screenshot of the setup and of the week that's wrong.

In the app: Plan overview → Edit

It says plan not found or the guide won't open

Usually a stale link — for example a notification or a shared screen pointing at a guide that has since been deleted or replaced. Go back to Home and open the guide from there. If your current guide won't open from Home either, pull down to refresh, and if it still won't load, tell us and we'll check whether the guide is intact on our side. Deleted guides can often be recovered from version history under Plan → History.

In the app: Plan overview → History

It says I've reached my weekly companion limit

There's a weekly cap on companion messages. It doesn't all reset on a fixed day — messages age out one by one, so waiting a day or two gives you some back rather than making you wait for a whole new week. If you're regularly running out and it's getting in the way, tell us; we'd genuinely like to know how you're using it.

In the app: Coach chat

My message was blocked as off-topic when it was about cycling

There's a filter that keeps the companion focused on cycling, training and your guide, and it occasionally catches something it shouldn't — short replies and non-English messages are the usual false positives. Tap the report option on the blocked message. That sends us the exact wording, which is what we use to retune the filter, and it's the single most useful thing you can do about it. In the meantime, rephrasing with a bit more context normally gets through.

In the app: Coach chat → report the blocked message

The companion is not replying, or the reply is cut off

Send the message again — most of these are a dropped connection mid-reply and the retry works. If it fails repeatedly, check whether other parts of the app load; if nothing loads, it's your connection or a wobble on our side rather than the chat itself. A reply that stops mid-sentence is worth reporting with a screenshot, because that's a different fault and we can only find it from real examples.

In the app: Coach chat

The companion told me something that looks wrong

Flag it. There's a report option on companion messages, check-ins and ride tips, and it sends us the exact message along with the context that produced it. That's how we find and fix bad answers — we can't reproduce them from a description alone. Etapa's guidance is AI-generated and is not medical advice; if something concerns your health, please speak to a doctor or physio.

In the app: Long-press the message → Report

My Strava rides aren't showing up

New rides come across automatically but not instantly — give it a few minutes after the ride appears in Strava itself. If nothing arrives, open Settings then Integrations and check Strava still shows as connected; the connection can lapse if you changed your Strava password or revoked access there. Disconnecting and reconnecting fixes most cases and doesn't delete anything already synced. Note that only rides count — runs, walks and gym sessions are deliberately left out. If a specific ride is missing while others sync fine, send us the ride date and we'll trace that one.

In the app: Settings → Integrations → Strava

I can't connect Strava — the connection screen fails

Make sure you're approving the request while signed into the right Strava account, and that you accept the permission to read your activities — declining that one leaves the connection half-made and nothing will sync. If the browser window closes without coming back to the app, try once more; if it still doesn't stick, force-close Etapa, reopen it and start the connection again from Settings.

In the app: Settings → Integrations → Strava

My Whoop or Garmin data isn't coming through

Recovery and sleep data arrives on the device maker's schedule, which is usually a few times a day rather than immediately, so a gap of a few hours is normal. Check the connection is still live under Settings then Integrations. For Garmin the data goes Garmin Connect first and then to us, so if it isn't in Garmin Connect it can't reach us. If the connection looks fine and there's been nothing for more than a day, tell us the date range that's missing and we'll check what the provider sent us.

In the app: Settings → Integrations

What happens if I disconnect Strava, Whoop or my devices?

Disconnecting Strava stops new rides syncing but keeps everything already synced. Disconnecting Whoop or a device connection removes the recovery and device data we hold and stops new data arriving. Neither one touches your training guides or your account. You can reconnect later at any time; Strava will re-import recent rides when you do.

In the app: Settings → Integrations

I'm not getting any notifications

Check notifications are allowed for Etapa in your phone's own settings first — if permission was declined once, the app can't ask again and has to be turned on there. Then check Settings then Notifications inside Etapa, where each type can be switched off separately. There's a Send test notification button on that screen: if the test arrives, permissions are fine and it's a specific notification type that's off. If the test doesn't arrive, tell us and we'll check whether your device is registered with us.

In the app: Settings → Notifications

I get too many notifications

Every type can be turned off individually under Settings then Notifications — reminders, check-ins, nudges and updates are all separate switches, so you can keep the ones you want. If you'd rather have none at all, turning Etapa's notifications off in your phone settings stops everything without affecting anything else in the app.

In the app: Settings → Notifications

Find a goal came back with nothing, or with events far away

The search looks for real events on the web, so thin results usually mean thin listings rather than a broken search — small regions and narrow date windows are the common cause. Widening the date range or the distance you're willing to travel makes the biggest difference. If it returns events in the wrong country entirely, that's a bug: send us what you typed and we'll look at the search itself.

In the app: Goals and events → Find a goal

Find a goal says I have used up my searches

There's a daily cap on event searches because each one runs live web research and costs real money. It resets each day. If you're hitting it often, opening a search you already ran from your recent searches doesn't count against the cap — only new searches do.

In the app: Goals and events → recent searches

An event has the wrong date, distance or price

Event details are gathered from organisers' own pages and they do go out of date, particularly for next year's editions before entries open. Always double-check the organiser's site before you enter or book travel. You can correct the details on your own copy of the event by editing it, and if you tell us which event is wrong we'll fix it at the source so nobody else gets the stale version.

In the app: Event detail → Edit

Bike fit says my photos are unusable

The analysis needs to see your whole body and the whole bike clearly, and three things break it more than anything else: the phone being held above saddle height instead of level with it, the room being too dark, and part of the bike or a leg being cut off. Set the phone on something at saddle height, get a window or a light behind the camera rather than behind you, and check the full bike and rider are in frame before you send it. Wearing something that contrasts with the wall helps more than you'd expect.

In the app: Bike fit → Upload photos

Bike fit failed part-way through the analysis

Try again from the start — photo analysis is the heaviest thing the app does and it can time out on a slow connection while the images upload. Being on wifi rather than mobile data makes a real difference. If it fails twice with good photos, send us the time you tried and we'll see what went wrong at our end. Bike fit findings are a starting point, not a substitute for a professional fit if you're in pain.

In the app: Bike fit

The app can't open my camera or photos

Permission was declined at some point, and once that's happened the app can't ask again — it has to be switched on in your phone's own settings, under Etapa, where you'll find camera and photo access listed separately. Turn on the one you need and come back to the app. On iPhone, if photo access is set to selected photos only, you'll also need to add the photos you want to use.

A route or map won't load

Maps are downloaded as you look at them, so a blank map is nearly always the connection. Try again with a stronger signal, and turn off any VPN, since those often block the map tiles specifically. If the map loads but the route line is missing, go back and reopen the route once. Persistent blank maps on a good connection are worth reporting with your phone model.

In the app: Routes

I can't download a GPX, or my GPX upload failed

For downloads, the route needs to have actual points on it — a route with no stops drawn yet has nothing to export. For uploads, we accept standard GPX files as exported by Strava, Komoot, Garmin and the like; files that are actually TCX or FIT renamed to .gpx won't load. If uploading tells you an update is needed, that's exactly what it means: the feature needs a newer app version than the one on your phone, so update from the store first.

In the app: Route detail → Export

Sharing a route or trip didn't work

Share links need a connection when you create them, so retry if you were offline. If the person you sent it to gets an error opening it, the link may have been turned off — check the sharing switch on the route or trip is still on. An invite that says it's already been used means that rider is already on the trip, so nothing more is needed.

In the app: Route or trip → Share

The app says I have to update before I can carry on

We only force an update when an older version would genuinely break — a payment problem, a security fix, or something that would corrupt your data. Update from the App Store or Play Store and everything comes straight back; nothing is lost. If the store still offers you the old version, it can take a few hours to propagate, so try again a little later.

There is a "no connection" strip across the top of the app

That appears when the app can't reach our servers, which is usually your own connection but can occasionally be us. It clears by itself as soon as we're reachable again. Anything you were part-way through will need doing again once it clears. If you're clearly online and the strip stays put, force-close the app and reopen it; if it comes straight back, check whether a VPN or a work network is blocking us.

The app crashes or closes by itself

Update to the latest version first, since a crash you're hitting has often already been fixed. If it's still crashing, restart the phone — that clears a surprising number of them. If it happens at the same point every time, that's a real bug and we want it: tell us what you tap right before it closes, your phone model and your app version, and we'll match it against our crash reports and get it fixed.

I keep seeing "Something went wrong"

That's our catch-all when a request fails without a more specific reason. Retry once, since a good share of them are transient. If it keeps happening in the same place, tell us exactly which screen and what you were doing — that detail is what lets us pin down which one it was, and without it a generic message is very hard to trace.

My changes aren't saving

If you were offline when you made the change it won't have reached us — reconnect and make it again. If you're online and it still won't stick, force-close the app and reopen it before retrying, because a stale session can silently reject writes. If a specific field refuses to save every time while others work, that's a bug and worth reporting with a screenshot.

What do you do with my data, and can I get a copy?

We hold what you give us plus what you connect — your training guides, rides synced from Strava, and device data if you've linked one. It's used to build and adjust your guides, and it isn't sold. Ask us for a copy of everything we hold and we'll send it. Deleting your account removes it all permanently. The full detail is in our privacy policy at getetapa.com/privacy.

Is there a real coach behind this?

No — the guides and the companion are generated by AI, drawing on established cycling training principles. That means they're available at any hour and adapt to what you actually ride, but also that they can be wrong, which is why there's a report option on everything the AI produces. It is not medical advice. If you have a health condition, or you're in pain on the bike, please talk to a doctor or a physio before following a plan.