How Auto-Pause Works & Troubleshooting Guide

Overview: What is Auto-Pause?

When you stop at a traffic signal, pause at an intersection, or pull over to adjust your gear, you usually do not want your recorded average speed to drop or your ride time clock to keep ticking.

SuperCycle's Auto-Pause feature automatically halts ride timer accumulation and stops tracking stationary data while you are stopped, and seamlessly resumes the moment you start riding again.

The Dual-Trigger Movement Engine

Unlike basic bike computers that only look at GPS speed, SuperCycle uses an intelligent dual-channel movement evaluation engine (isMovingOrPedaling). Every second, the app evaluates two independent inputs:

Evaluation	Input Sources (in priority order)	Trigger Condition
Moving (`isMoving`)	1. FTMS Smart Trainer wheel speed 2. Bluetooth Wheel Speed sensor 3. Power Meter wheel speed 4. Phone GPS Speed	Instantaneous speed ≥ minimum speed threshold (approx. 2.0 mph / 3.2 km/h / 0.89 m/s).
Pedaling (`isPedaling`)	1. Bluetooth Speed & Cadence crank sensor 2. Power Meter crank cadence 3. FTMS Smart Trainer crank cadence	Cadence > 0 RPM (any active pedaling detected by the crank sensor).

Instantaneous Auto-Resume via Pedaling Cadence

One of the greatest frustrations cyclists experience with GPS-only bike computers is wake-up latency. When a traffic light turns green and you pedal away, phone GPS often takes 2 to 4 seconds to detect that your location coordinates are shifting, leading to delayed unpausing and lost startup distance.

In SuperCycle, either moving OR pedaling releases auto-pause instantly:

Zero-Delay Resume: As soon as your cadence sensor or power meter registers even a single pedal rotation, the app immediately dispatches a speed resumed event (speedResumed) and switches from pausedAuto back to active recording with zero delay.
Immunity to GPS Fix Delays: Even under tall downtown buildings, tree canopies, or when pulling out from under bridges where GPS satellite reception may momentarily lag, your cadence sensor guarantees immediate ride resumption.

Cadence & Wheel Sensors: While SuperCycle functions great using phone GPS alone, pairing a dedicated Bluetooth cadence sensor and wheel speed sensor provides the most responsive, professional auto-pause experience available.

Coasting & Indoor Trainer Safeguards

Because SuperCycle monitors both speed and cadence independently, it handles common cycling edge cases gracefully:

Coasting Downhill: When descending a hill at 30 mph without pedaling, your cadence is 0 RPM. However, because isMoving is true, auto-pause will never trigger while coasting at speed.
Indoor Trainers Without Speed Sensors: If you are riding an indoor trainer with a cadence sensor but no wheel speed sensor, your speed is 0 km/h. Because your cadence is active (isPedaling is true), recording will remain continuous and will not falsely pause.

Configuring Auto-Pause Delay

By default, SuperCycle pauses after 1.0 second of no movement and no pedaling. You can adjust this duration to suit your riding style:

Open SuperCycle and go to Settings → Ride (or Auto Pause).
Toggle Auto-Pause ON or OFF.
Adjust the Auto-Pause Delay slider between 1 and 60 seconds (default: 1.0 second).

When to increase the delay slider:

Mountain Biking & Technical Climbs: If you are riding steep rock gardens or track-standing on technical switchbacks where speeds drop below 2 mph for a moment, set the delay to 3 to 5 seconds to prevent unwanted audio chimes or pause toggling.
Stop-and-Go Urban Riding: If you find short pauses at yield signs annoying, increasing the delay to 2 to 4 seconds keeps the timer running smoothly across quick roll-stops.

Manual Pause vs. Auto-Pause (The Override Latch)

SuperCycle distinguishes between an automated pause and a conscious manual pause by the rider:

Auto-Pause: Triggered automatically when you stop moving and pedaling. The status indicator displays Auto-Paused, and moving or pedaling will automatically resume recording.
Manual Pause: When you tap the on-screen Pause button, SuperCycle sets a manual override latch. In this state, movement or pedaling will never automatically unpause the ride. Recording stays safely paused until you explicitly tap the Resume button.

Troubleshooting Auto-Pause Issues

1. Auto-pause will not release when I start riding

Check for Manual Pause: Verify that you did not manually tap Pause. If the screen shows a green "Resume" button, the manual override is active. Tap Resume to restart tracking.
GPS Battery Saver Sleep (Android): If phone screen was turned off, aggressive OEM battery management may have put the GPS chip into deep sleep. Ensure battery optimization for SuperCycle is set to "Unrestricted" (see Android background GPS optimization).
Sensor Battery / Disconnect: If using a speed or cadence sensor, check whether the sensor has gone to sleep, disconnected, or suffered battery sag in cold weather (see Sensor paired but no data displayed).
Speed Below Threshold: The default activation threshold is approximately 2.0 mph (0.89 m/s). If walking your bike very slowly, speed may not cross the threshold until you pedal up to riding speed.

2. Frequent false pauses while still riding

GPS Drift Under Trees or Urban Canyons: If you rely solely on phone GPS, dense foliage or tall buildings can cause satellite signal bounce, making instantaneous GPS speed intermittently drop below 2 mph. Adding a Bluetooth wheel speed sensor completely eliminates GPS-induced false pauses.
Increase the Auto-Pause Delay: Move the delay slider from 1 second to 3 to 5 seconds in settings. This buffers out temporary slowdowns.

Paused vs. App Terminated? If tracking stops completely when your phone screen turns off and never resumes even when pedaling, the operating system is terminating the app in the background rather than engaging auto-pause. See our dedicated guide: Prevent the OS from terminating SuperCycle in the background (Android & iOS).

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