Today, Zwift released an update for the Companion mobile app which expands Meetup capabilities in two key ways.
Available now for iOS and Android, Companion version 3.13 allows us to choose any open Zwift map for our Meetups, and expands the invite limit from 50 to 100. Two bits of happy news for Zwift Meetup organizers!
6 Different Worlds
We can now schedule Meetups on any of the 6 “open” maps at any day/time. That means all open routes on Watopia, London, New York, Richmond, Innsbruck, or Yorkshire are available for our Meetups! (Crit City and Bologna are only used for official Zwift events at this time.)
This will be very welcome news to Zwifters for at least two reasons:
- Complete control over route choice: With 67 different routes available on the 6 open maps, you’ll always be able to find a route that suits your fancy! Meetup map options are no longer restricted by the guest map schedule, and that’s a very good thing.
- Less crowding: if a guest map isn’t on the guest map schedule, there will be very few riders using it. Surely savvy schedulers will look at the guest map schedule and select “off-schedule” maps where there will be fewer riders on course, allowing their Meetup to feel more like a “group-only” event. This is an especially big deal for Meetups which don’t enable the “Keep Everyone Together” option because it’s easy for riders to get spread out and lost on a busy road.
World Hacking Through Meetups!
Zwifters have been “world hacking” (finding ways to ride in off-schedule maps) for years. One side benefit of this Meetups change is it gives you the ability to “world hack” without needing to edit your prefs.xml file. Just schedule a Meetup… for yourself… on whatever route you want to ride! Then join it and ride it.
If you’re looking to grab a particular route badge, or ride on a less-populated world, Meetups may be your ticket – especially if you’re on AppleTV, where world hacking is next to impossible!
Note: you have to invite at least one person to create a Meetup. Easy! Invite a friend or spouse who follows you, and put a note in the event so they know it’s not a real invite. They don’t have to accept the invite for you to ride the Meetup. 😋
Double the Invites, Double the Fun
We used to be restricted to inviting 50 followers to our Meetups, but that has been doubled to 100. This is certainly due to community feedback as more and more clubs are using the Meetup feature to create group events, and some were bumping into that invite limit.
Doubling it to 100 should satisfy the needs of the vast majority of Meetups, but if you’re finding you need even more, let your voice be heard by in this thread.
Too Many Invites?
One possible negative side effect of this change is we may all begin receiving more Meetup invites that we aren’t interested in, as riders organize Meetups and select more riders from their list of followers. Pro tip: if you don’t want to get these Meetup invites, the easiest thing to do is simply unfollow the person who keeps sending you invites!
Other Changes
The Companion update also included unspecified “Meetup invite improvements.” We aren’t sure what these are, but hopefully part of the improvement is to make the invites pop up more reliably. (A recent game change made Meetup invites pop up earlier in game, which is also a welcome change.)
Also: Zwift is working hard on the Clubs feature! This update included unspecified but “numerous” Zwift Clubs fixes and improvements. We know many clubs out there are looking forward to being able to use these features soon, so it’s good to see continued progress being made.
What’s Next?
There are several Meetup features which Zwifters ask for regularly, including:
- Late Join: this is by far the most requested Meetups feature, because we’re cyclists, and there’s always that late guy.
- Culled Meetups: hiding all non-Meetup riders would allow you to truly track the location of other participants without the distraction of other riders on the road. Especially important in competitive rides!
- Easier Invites: being able to simply post a link for people to click and join the Meetup, instead of requiring someone to follow you before the invite. This hasn’t been implemented due to concerns about spamming, but it’s still a common request because the current invite system is a hassle!
- Group Workouts in Meetups: selecting a workout for all Meetup participants to do together. This can be done currently as a hack, but it would be nice if this could be incorporated into the Meetup system.
- Ranking in Meetups: show your placing during the Meetup and once it finishes. This would allow you to hold simple races. Combine this with the culling feature explained above and you’ll have groups holding simple races all over the place!
Zwift is asking for our feedback on what Meetup features we most want, so be sure to visit this forum thread and chime in with your thoughts!
Your Thoughts
What do you think of these changes? And what would you like to see next? Share below, but more importantly, chime in on Wes’ forum thread and let your voice be heard!
As an Apple TV user, this is great news. I wonder if this will allow riders who are course badge hunting to complete multiple courses without saving and restarting? Also can this be used to get around courses restricted to certain rider levels?
Apple TV user here as well. Very happy
To answer my own question, yes, you can do multiple route badges this way. I did Watopia mountain 8 then created a meetup on Innsbruck Lutscher CCW. Got both badges. Not only that but the course started at the top of Lutscher so I only had to climb once.
Can you please include late start for meet ups? I missed a social ride with friends by about 1 minute due to a technical issue and I couldn’t join them.
Hi Eric, thanks for the update! Creating a Meetup with ‘Me, myself and I’ as an alternative for the world hack does not work with me: I need to invite at least one of my followers to get the ‘Create Meetup’ button active. Or do I need to start following myself? Which in these bizarre times sounds really claustrophobic 😳
I was about to ask The exact same question 😀
Well problem solved: we invite each-other and agree not to join the Meetup 🤔. Hang in there! #staysafe
Quite easy – create an account with a secondary email address – follow your main acc – invite the secondary for meetup. The secondary don’t have to Have a subscription 😉
Just had a Meetup with ‘MeMyself’, last name And I. Works great. And inf you plan a few Meetups with different (short) routes after each other, you can knock off those route badges without restarting Zwift over and over again…💪
Id like to get Watopias Waistband route available on meetups !!
That’s a good news especially when Zwift is super crowded.
However, we still do not have access to all maps.
I didn’t see road to sky 💁
Have the ability to delay a meetup for late joiners. I.e. the person who created the meetup can decide when everyone starts riding
Hi Eric thanks for the update.
I’m having issues as a meetup organiser where the meetup doesnt appear in game and we therefore miss the ride. Other invited riders seem to get into the meetup but without the lead (me) and no beacon, the keep together feature fails and its all a bit of a mess.
Heard anything similar?
As far as I know, the keep together function doesn’t depend on the leader. But I could be wrong! My understanding is, the leader doesn’t need to show…
The keep together option relies on the rider in front nothing to do with the leader who may be slow up hills (me)
Any reason the Jungle Circuit route isn’t offered?
These are greatly appreciated enhancements!
An unintended consequence of your having this article will be the removal of the Zwift calendar link from my internet favorites because I can now easily ride anywhere on Apple TV. Seriously though, Eric, thanks for not only notifying us there was an update but taking the time to tease out all the implications, some of which aren’t immediately apparent or obvious, like the ability to world hack via Meetup. Your articles are always so thorough and helpful.
Until we get separate instances for meetups I see very little benefit to using this functionality.
Waistband Route please!!! It needs to be a regular route also
Over the last couple of weeks on the app, new people in notifications have started following me and when I click the follow-back button, I keep getting the message, “Could not follow user.” Also, when Zwifters I’m not following have given me Ride-Ons, I can’t follow them back either … same message. So I can’t follow them and give them Ride-Ons. People are going to think I’m being anti-social; when will this be fixed??
Route to Sky still not fixed for meet-ups then?
Correct.
Just beginning, very impressed will be more specific when I have a good grasp of this wonderful program.
Excellent update!
Thanks as always Eric!
Is there a reason the Jungle Circuit or Road to Sky are not available for meetups? They are perfect routes for friendly races…
I don’t know the reason. Perhaps it has to do with them starting from the Jungle start pens, although I’m not sure why that would matter…
Thanks. Been on Zwift long enough to know how to be patient.
I like the idea of being able to choose the route/world I want whenever I want. I’m on Apple TV and couldn’t use the xml file hack. So I’m gonna try setting up Meet Up on my own 🙂
To those who suggest riding several meetups in succession to cover several routes in one activity, how does zwift handle moving to the start of the next meetup at the designated time. Do you just teleport? and how is this reflected in strava ride distances for the activity?
When you join a Meetup (or an event) Zwift ends your current activity, saves it to Strava, etc and begins a new one.
Thanks, so on strava it will still be two activities, but it saves the hassle of restarting Zwift for each course?
after completing a route, how can I start a new route without getting out
My apple tv remote will not allow me to get to the menu to select the workout when I’m meeting up. It is driving me crazy. Generally, I hate the remote, but truly, I have not been able to figure out how to select the menu. It is on the bottom left of my tv screen, and only partially showing. I wonder if my tv screen is configured incorrectly for the game?