Can’t drop a Ride On bomb in Zwift? Try this quick fix.

One Zwifter recently sent me a screenshot of their Companion app, asking “Why can’t I tap my location arrow and give a ‘Ride on bomb’ to nearby riders like I used to do?”

(If you’re unaware, this is standard Companion app functionality: while active on Zwift, you can tap your location on the live map screen in Companion to give a Ride On to 5 nearby Zwifters.)

The fix for this Zwifter was simple, although perhaps not intuitive. He needed to zoom in! I’m not sure why, but in Companion if you zoom out too far, the Ride On bomb gets disabled. Zoom in and that white circle will reappear around your arrow, telling you it’s ready to be tapped to spread some Ride On love.

Here’s a quick video showing how it works:

Now go drop some Ride On bombs and share the love!

Questions or Comments?

Share below!

Eric Schlange
Eric Schlangehttp://www.zwiftinsider.com
Eric runs Zwift Insider in his spare time when he isn't on the bike or managing various business interests. He lives in Northern California with his beautiful wife, two kids and dog. Follow on Strava

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Arend
Arend
6 months ago

Or…. just click it anyway and it will still work (at least on Android it does). 😀

anderfo
anderfo
6 months ago
Reply to  Arend

Just confirming, it works even at the lowest zoom on my android phone.
But if I’ve already handed out ride ons to everyone nearby me (for example in an event) it stops working.

Sasha Deieso
Sasha Deieso
6 months ago

How come my companion app won’t go to the event and just stays on the home screen. Sometimes when it is on the dashboard/map it reverts back to the Home Screen?

Joey Z
Joey Z
6 months ago
Reply to  Sasha Deieso

Probably it looses connection to your wifi network. Your Companion device and your Zwifting device need to be connected to the same wifi network.

Steve
Steve
6 months ago
Reply to  Sasha Deieso

Also make sure if you have a VPN app on your phone to turn it off. I had that problem when I had it enabled at work (to play certain games) and came home to do a ride and wondered why the companion app would not connect to my zwift session.

Thorsten
Thorsten
6 months ago

Is there any rule-book, how often i can drop the ride on bomb? At some point, my canon is empty and no-one can receive ride ons from me. When is the next point where my canon is loaded again, assuming no new rider joins the gruppetto?

Thorsten
Thorsten
6 months ago
Reply to  Eric Schlange

Can I only give one ride on per rider? I have the feeling that I could give another ride on to a specific rider after half an hour, 25 km or whatsoever…

Tony Lane
Tony Lane
6 months ago
Reply to  Thorsten

AFAIK it has always been just one ride-on per rider per ride, regardless of how long the event/ride is

Philip Barnes
Philip Barnes
6 months ago
Reply to  Thorsten

The next point, assuming there are ‘new’ riders around you, is when the white circle is complete again. When you tap it and it sends the ride on’s the circle disappears then re-builds

Emilio Lence
Emilio Lence
6 months ago

Hi. Is there any short key for the Ride On bomb. I normally use the keybord, and use F3 to give RideOns.

Tim Schneider
Tim Schneider(@tasmobile)
6 months ago
Reply to  Emilio Lence

When you select the F3 key, it only says “Ride On!”. No actual Ride On is given. You are encouraging those around you, however.

Tim Schneider
Tim Schneider(@tasmobile)
6 months ago
Reply to  Tim Schneider

You need to use the Companion App to drop a Ride On Bomb.

Emilio Lence
Emilio Lence
6 months ago
Reply to  Tim Schneider

Are you telling me that I’ve been 1 year and 3 months thinking that I was giving Ride On to other players but none was given. I can’t use companion when zwifting, soit seems that only clicking in each rider can i give a Ride On.

Xavier
Xavier
6 months ago
Reply to  Emilio Lence

All you did was shout «Ride On!»
Shout on 🙂

Emilio Lence
Emilio Lence
6 months ago
Reply to  Xavier

Curiously, It shout RideOn at two diferent speeds. Sometimes it says it quickly, another times more slowly. I thought that maybe the difference was that the rider closest to me was alredy given a RideOn by me so that is way it said it quickly.
By the way, anyone know why the people get a lot of RideOns while in the pens, becuase we are stopped and there was no multiplying effect.

Warren
Warren
6 months ago
Reply to  Emilio Lence

Does the ride-on button on the companion app bottom menu give a genuine ride-on or only a shout too?

Mathew
Mathew
6 months ago
Reply to  Emilio Lence

I wish zwift would make F3 also work as the ride-on bomb. Seems like they intentionally make the keyboard less functional. I personally don’t like having the companion app running and trying to tap the screen with my sweaty fingers.

Lathon
Lathon
6 months ago

Thanks for the tip. I’ve been trying to figure this out for the last two months of why I could t give ride-on bombs anymore.

Glenn Houston
Glenn Houston
6 months ago

Can you send 5xRO’s from regular Zwift or can it only be done from Companion ?

Eric Clopper
Eric Clopper(@eric-clopper)
6 months ago

Related Ride On question. Are some riders, using say a PC or Mac, able to return a ride on back to you, by using some keyboard action, shortly after you have given them a Ride On? With my Ride On given either via bomb or touching their dot on the companion app map. I feel like sometimes I get a reply Ride On from a rider I just gave one to. I am not able to figure out how to do this, I Zwift from an iPad.

Emilio Lence
Emilio Lence
6 months ago
Reply to  Eric Clopper

If the rider is close to you, when yo get the Ride On beside their name in the list at the right of the screen apperars the symbol of RideOn. You only need to clik with the mouse in it to give it back. But if the rider is not close to you, taht option is not possible, unless you search for him in the list.

Tony Lane
Tony Lane
6 months ago
Reply to  Emilio Lence

The symbol also appears if they have done something like set a PR or complete a workout, so that you can give them a ride on by way of congratulations. With my set up i have to get out of the saddle and lean over the bars to get the mouse, so i often cannot get there before the icon disappears.

I had always assumed that iPad users could do this my tapping the icon on the screen next the rider’s name.

nasa
nasa
6 months ago

Throwing ride on bombs is not an effective social approach. I spent a lot of time over the day removing thousands of people who followed me, and there were hardly any people I knew in there. Because the number of people following me is all for naught, people who are not familiar with each other on zwift are actually almost socially ineffective.

S. K.
S. K.
6 months ago

Now, this one might be bit out off topic (apologies), but not by far… That video showing the ZWIFT Companion with all those icons on it. One of them, specifically “waving👋hand”, is pretty much to the left of the screen. I’m using it a LOT, mostly as a “Thank you” gesture for receiving 👍 Ride On and so for. However, this icon getting “buried” very often, as soon as I gain a Power Up, or my Avatar approaches the turn and direction arrow ⬅️ pops up! Well, I can live with the later one, because I got my “hand👋back” as… Read more »

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