Now our macOS friends get to use StagePlay as well.
Use code MACOSTEST at the registration screen to start testing StagePlay on your Mac 😀. Please be aware - during the alpha test, StagePlay for macOS might have weird problems or bugs not present in the stable release of StagePlay. That's why it's free during testing. If you have any problems or issues, please let us know at hello@stageplay.me.
There’s two unused buttons on the left and right handlebars of your Stages bike. Right now, they don’t do anything.
StagePlay opens up their use to anything you want via an innovative menu system. Anything from playing and pausing tracks, to using power-ups. It’s your bike and your decision on how you’ll use them.
Oh, and you also get a huge gear indicator, so you know what gear you’re in, and whether your gear shift registered. Take a look below.
Here's what StagePlay can do for you
You don't have to yell over your music to talk to someone else during your ride anymore. Just pause it, talk it out, and then resume the song.
There's nothing worse than being close to the top of the Alpe, and your playlist shuffling to something slow. Just skip past it.
Heavy on your left foot, or right foot, or do you put equal power through both pedals? StagePlay shows you your live balance between each pedal stroke.
A hundred meters from the finish, and it's time to use that Feather powerup? Choose the powerup option and make it so.
It can be hard to tell what gear you're in, or if your gear shift actually registered. When you shift up and down with StagePlay open, the gear shows up in huge readable text.
Some songs play loud, some songs play soft. Play around with the volume without dismounting.
StagePlay is being added to and improved over time. Would you like a specific integration? Let us know at hello@stageplay.me.
StagePlay works by connecting to your bike over the Bluetooth Low-Energy protocol, and listening to events that the bike produces.
It uses the events that are produced when the unused left and right buttons are pressed. Press the right button to move to the next option, and the left button to select that action.
No. StagePlay isn’t associated with Stages Bike in any way, shape, or form. It’s just an app I made because my laptop was just out of reach and I got tired of reaching for it to change tracks.
Please don’t contact Stages Bike for any help with StagePlay. They have no idea it exists and can’t help you, and if they get support calls about my app, they’re probably going to hate it, which is bad for everyone.
Because StagePlay isn’t developed by Stages Bike, it’s hard to guarantee compatibility or even safety of use with your bike. You should be cautious when using any software that is not designed by Stages on your bike that cost thousands of dollars.
I have been using StagePlay for some months now as I have developed it, and it has not produced any unintended consequences that I am aware of.
But, let’s be real about this. A Stages Bike costs thousands of dollars. It’s a sizeable investment. Despite the fact that I haven’t experienced any adverse consequences to my bike, your configuration and setup will be different. And, having not owned your particular device or setup, it’s hard to be sure that there is zero chance of any problems occurring with your bike, computer, or other devices.
Still, for the absence of doubt, I would prefer to be clear about this.
StagePlay is not developed by Stages Bike, and is not associated with them in any way. You will not hold me responsible for any direct or indirect damage caused to your devices (including your Stages Bike), and accept the risk that comes with using software that is not developed by Stages Bike, with your Stages Bike.
StagePlay works for me, in my setup. I have a laptop that runs Zwift, and I use a TACX ANT+ USB dongle. I find the ANT+ dongle to work better for bike connectivity than my laptops built-in bluetooth.
StagePlay was finally considered stable in October 2022! Work continues to improve the overall stability and experience within the app. If you have any issues, please let me know.
It’s not free. I appreciate it would be better if it was free. However, understanding the protocols involved and developing apps like StagePlay do take a lot of time. If I can have a small return on my development of StagePlay, I can allocate more time to develop more features for StagePlay, which is a win for everybody.
StagePlay uses sentry.io for bug and crash reports. This is so if a crash occurs on your system, I can diagnose what caused it.
These crash reports are very boring and contain no personally identifiable information – merely what the crash was and what caused it, so I can try to fix it on my end.
Because there’s so many different types of setups out there, it’s hard to guarantee compatibility with every single computer and every single bike.
If StagePlay doesn’t work, I would love to work with you and have you send me the logs that StagePlay produces, as well as a brief description of your setup. That way, I can hopefully extend StagePlay to work in your specific circumstance.
However, if you simply don’t have time for that (or if our troubleshooting process yields no results) and you ask for a refund, I’ll refund you. You won’t be stuck out-of-pocket and without a working app.
I’ll work to action refund requests as I receive them, but please bear in mind that this is a sole developer shop I’m running here (read: the same person doing the development is doing the storefront and refunds). So it might take a couple of days for me to process the refund, but I appreciate your patience.
I only own the Stages SB20 smart bike. The concept of StagePlay could be applied to other bikes that have Bluetooth Low Energy though. Send me a message and I’ll see if I can work something out.
StagePlay checks for updates at every startup, but if you’ve just got your license key, download the setup file here.
It might have problems that StagePlay for Windows doesn't have, so be careful! If you have problems, hit us up at hello@stageplay.me.
If you’ve got questions about StagePlay, we can help with those.
If it’s not a question about StagePlay, we can’t guarantee how helpful we’ll be. But we’ll still have a solid run at it!
The developer of StagePlay is in this channel and some troubleshooting steps might be a little quicker in this format.