BigRingVR 8.0 is here — and the public beta is open to everyone.
We've spent this year rebuilding BigRingVR from the ground up. It starts in seconds, plays 4K without breaking a sweat, pairs with your sensors over both Bluetooth and ANT+, and runs natively on Apple Silicon. Whether you ride with us every week, haven't opened the app in a while, or have never taken it for a spin, this is the version we'd most like you to see.
Nothing to set up. Sign in with Google and your account, your rides and your settings are all right where you left them.
The short version
Bluetooth is here. Pair your smart trainer, power meter, heart-rate strap and cadence sensor over Bluetooth (BLE) — no ANT+ dongle needed — on Windows and Mac alike. Resistance and ERG target power work over Bluetooth too, and you can mix BLE and ANT+ in the same ride. If you've been waiting on Bluetooth, the wait is over.
Beyond that: startup is much faster — the app opens straight to a browsable rides grid — 4K plays smoothly on your graphics card while your computer stays quiet, and you can line up several rides and let the app roll straight from one into the next without stopping pedaling. BigRingVR now speaks six languages too — English, Deutsch, Nederlands, Français, Español and Italiano — and comes with nine themes across light and dark, so you can set it up to look the way you like.
The full list is below. Before you install, please have a quick look at the system requirements and the Getting started steps further down this email — especially on Windows, where you'll want to uninstall your existing version first. It takes a minute and saves the most common headaches.
 No subscription? Ride free until September 26
If you don’t have an active BigRingVR subscription, we’ve made 10 most recent rides (including 4K options) available for free until September 26. To access the free rides, select the “No subscription needed” option from the Show dropdown in the app’s search console (top-left corner). |
What's new in 8.0
Full ANT+ and BLE sensor support — Windows and Mac
Pair over ANT+ or Bluetooth (BLE), or mix both — e.g. an ANT+ heart-rate strap with a BLE power meter and a BLE smart trainer. The pairing screen scans ANT+ and BLE side by side, filtered to real cycling sensors. Top-bar icons turn green the moment a sensor connects, and SIM-mode resistance and ERG target power drive both BLE and ANT+ trainers — on Windows and Mac alike.
Tacx NEO control over Bluetooth
NEO-series trainers can now be controlled over
Bluetooth — no ANT+ dongle needed. When pairing, pick the
“Tacx road feel” entry to get full resistance control, plus Road Feel on the trainers that support it. (On newer NEOs, Road Feel comes through ANT+.)
Native on Apple Silicon
8.0 is a universal Mac build that runs
natively on Apple Silicon (M-series) — no more running through Rosetta like earlier Intel-only versions. That means a faster, cooler, more efficient ride, and it keeps you future-proof as Apple phases Rosetta out over the coming macOS releases.
Much faster startup
We've made startup much faster — the app opens straight to a browsable rides grid with almost no wait.
Hardware-accelerated video
Video playback now runs on your device's graphics hardware (GPU) rather than its main processor. That means rides — especially in 4K — play noticeably smoother, while your computer stays cooler and quieter and won't slow down or stutter on long rides.
Ride Queues — stitch rides back-to-back
One of the most-requested features, and it's here. Line up several rides and BigRingVR rides them one after another — great for endurance days, bikepacking prep, or just keeping the miles rolling. It
auto-advances the moment you cross each finish line, so you never stop pedaling, and every ride still saves as its
own separate activity.
(Step-by-step further down this email.)
A richer end-of-ride summary
When you finish, the End Ride screen now shows a full breakdown of your ride: distance, time, speed, elevation and power, plus
Normalized Power, Intensity Factor, TSS and calories — with a
peak-power chart (5s to 20m), a
time-in-power-zones chart, your
elevation profile, and a
leaderboard showing where you placed and whether you set a
new personal best.
Automatic updates
The app keeps itself up to date — new builds install themselves, so you won't need to download an installer every time.
More places to send your rides
Intervals.icu joins Strava and TrainingPeaks as an upload target. Just paste an API key from your intervals.icu profile → Developer Settings, then use the Test Connection button in Preferences → Integrations.
FIT activity files — smaller, richer
Rides now save and upload as
FIT, the modern standard used by Garmin, Strava and everyone else — around
30× smaller than the old TCX files, yet with more detail, so uploads are faster. Ride
dual-sided power-meter pedals? Your left/right balance is recorded too. Got a heart-rate strap that reports beat-to-beat (RR) data? Your
heart-rate variability (HRV) is saved to the FIT file too, ready for TrainingPeaks and Intervals.icu. Prefer TCX? Keep both via
File format in Preferences → General.
Guided first-run setup
A 6-page walkthrough gets you going: Welcome → Rider Profile → Sensors → Network/Video Quality → Ride Screen → Done. You can re-run it any time from Preferences → General.
9 themes
A theme picker on the top bar with 9 looks across light and dark — including
Trailblazer, the classic lime-on-charcoal BigRingVR look. Live preview, and it sticks across launches.
Now in your language
BigRingVR 8.0 speaks six languages:
English, Deutsch, Nederlands, Français, Español and Italiano. Choose yours in Preferences → General → Language — the app switches over the next time you launch it.
Playback health monitor
If a ride hits streaming or decode trouble, a banner tells you
which it is — slow network vs slow CPU — so you can pick the right fix (switch networks, pre-download the ride, or lower video quality).
🗷 One-click log upload
Hit a snag? In Preferences → General → Diagnostics, type a short description of the problem in the text box, then hit Upload Logs — it bundles everything and sends it to us along with your note, so there's no hunting for files.
A fresh, modernized interface
Every screen and dialog has been rebuilt for a cleaner, faster, more consistent experience.
Getting started
 System requirements
BigRingVR 8.0 runs on Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit) and macOS 13 (Ventura) or higher. The Mac build is universal — it runs natively on Apple Silicon (M-series) Macs as well as Intel Macs. |
 Windows: one quick step first
Uninstall your existing BigRingVR before installing 8.0 (Programs and Features → BigRingVR → Uninstall). It takes a few seconds and gives you a clean start — leftover files from an older install are the one thing that can spoil video playback, so it's worth doing.
 Mac: nothing to remove — just drag BigRingVR into your Applications folder and choose “Replace” when prompted. |
1. Windows: uninstall your current BigRingVR (see the note above). Mac: skip this — nothing to remove.
3. Install it.
Windows: run the installer — it's digitally signed with a certificate issued through Microsoft's Trusted Signing service, so it's safe to run. Because this is a brand-new release that hasn't yet built up download reputation, Windows SmartScreen may still show an “unrecognized app” notice — if it does, click More info → Run anyway. This only applies to this first-time 8.0 install; after that the app updates itself automatically, with no installer or SmartScreen prompt.
Mac: open the downloaded .dmg and drag BigRingVR into your Applications folder (choose “Replace” if prompted).
4. Sign in with your Google account. If you already use BigRingVR, your account and settings carry over automatically. The first-run wizard will walk you through the rest.
5. Pick a ride and enjoy.
Tell us how it goes
It's a beta, and you riding it is what makes the next version better. No forms, no bug tracker — just reply to this email. If you've got a minute, we'd love to know:
• How it ran on your setup — your OS, and which trainer and sensors you use
• How 4K felt — smooth, or any stutter and loud fans?
• Anything that looked wrong — a screenshot says it all
And if you hit a real snag, the app can send us everything we need: Preferences → General → Diagnostics, type a short description, then hit Upload Logs.
 Coming next: BigRingVR on phone and tablet
We're not stopping at the desktop. BigRingVR already runs on Android and iOS devices in internal testing — the same rides, the same account, your sensors paired over Bluetooth. We'll let you know the moment it's ready for you to try. |
It's been a big year of work, and this is the one we're proud of. Take it for a ride — we'll see you out there.
The BigRingVR Team
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Kent iemand een bedrijfje in Brabant die dit soort klusjes doet? Of moet ik me niet aanstellen en gewoon gaan sleutelen.
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