A link is all anyone needs to watch on Aster, or to see a route someone's shared. There's nothing to install and no account to create.
Event links
Every event has its own web address based on its name (for example
…/events/dirty-reiver-2026). Open it and you get the event page — details,
route, and (when it's live) the map, trails and rider list.
- Public and unlisted event links work for anyone, no account needed.
- Private and members-only event links require signing in, and are visible only to people in the event or club. See privacy levels.
These links are perfect to post on social media or print on a poster.
Ride watch links
When someone wants to share a Just Ride, they
choose who can watch from the "Who can watch you live" control on the ride:
Just me, Followers & club, or Anyone with link. Picking one of the
sharing options creates a single live watch link (it looks like
…/ride/watch/…), which they pass on through the share sheet or by tapping
Copy. Choosing Just me stops sharing. Whoever opens the link sees the
rider's live location, trail, distance and time — with no account required.
- The link is long, random and unguessable — only people the rider sends it to can find the ride.
- There's one live link per ride, tied to the audience control. There's no separate button to deactivate a link or generate a fresh one: sharing is on while the audience is Followers & club or Anyone with link, and switching to Just me turns it off.
- If the rider pauses, the watch page says so — the marker holds position and the distance and time freeze until they resume.
- After the ride ends, the link still opens, but instead of live updates it shows a finished-ride summary — the distance covered and how long it took.
- If the rider raises an Alert, everyone with the watch page open sees it, with their location. To also get a push notification when you're not looking at the page, you need to be signed in — see Following riders and getting notified.
Route links
An athlete can also share one of their saved routes — a course, not a live ride — from My Routes. Opening a route link shows the route on a map with its distance, elevation gain and an elevation profile, no account needed, and offers a Download GPX button that works for anyone. Signing in adds two more options: Save to my routes (copies it into your own library) and Use in event or meet-up (attaches a copy to an event or meet-up you manage, if you have one). The person who shared it can turn the link off at any time; after that, opening it says the link is no longer active.
Good to know
- Sharing a link never exposes anything beyond the ride itself — a watcher sees the live ride, not the rider's account details or ride history.
- Watching by link is never limited or counted — open as many shared rides as you like, with or without an account.