Garmin Varia radar on an iPhone
It can be done — it just takes one extra free app. You set it up once,
it takes a few minutes, and then you never touch it again.
Why it isn't automatic: Safari on the iPhone has no
Web Bluetooth (Android does). It is worked around with the free add-on
beacio, which gives Safari that ability. Ridena expects it —
once you enable it, the radar behaves just like on Android.
How to do it
- Install the beacio app from the App Store — it's free.
Open in the App Store
- Run beacio once after installing. The app will walk you through
setting up Safari.
- Enable the extension in Safari: Settings → Apps → Safari →
Extensions → beacio → enable.
- Allow it for Ridena: open ridena.cz
in Safari, tap Aa in the address bar → Manage Extensions →
allow beacio for this site (or for all sites at once).
- Connect the radar in Ridena: while riding, tap the radar status button
on the map and pair the Varia. On the first connection Safari will ask for Bluetooth
permission — confirm it.
- Turn the sound on and up. Car warnings are audible — on a muted
phone the radar only blinks quietly. On an iPhone watch the side Silent switch:
with it on, the app won't beep even at full volume. After opening the app, tap
the screen once to unlock the sound (the browser won't allow it otherwise).
A detailed guide from the add-on's authors (in English, including how to check everything is on):
beacio.com/setup.
Important: with a radar, Ridena has to run
in Safari. The add-on is a Safari extension and doesn't run in an app launched fullscreen without
browser bars — Ridena wouldn't connect to the Varia. You can still have a home-screen icon, see below.
Want the home-screen icon and the radar at once?
You can — via a Shortcut that opens the address in Safari:
- Open the app Shortcuts → new shortcut.
- Add an action Open URL and paste exactly this:
x-safari-https://ridena.cz/app
That prefix x-safari- matters — it forces
opening in Safari. Without it the link would open in the default browser and the add-on
wouldn't run.
- Name the shortcut and via Share → Add to Home Screen
add it to your home screen.
The icon then opens Ridena in Safari, so the radar works.
A buddy who only follows your radar doesn't have to deal with this
Anyone you just send a shared-radar link to needs neither beacio nor Bluetooth —
their phone only reads the data from the network. For them Ridena works normally from the home-screen icon.
Sharing does need internet on both phones, though; without a signal your buddy's radar
stops and picks up again as soon as the network is back.
When the radar doesn't come up
- You are in Safari, not in the app launched from the home-screen icon?
- Is the extension enabled and allowed for ridena.cz?
(Aa → Manage Extensions)
- Have you run the beacio app at least once after installing it?
- Can't hear the warnings? Check the volume, Silent switch
on the side of the iPhone, and tap the app's screen once — the sound unlocks on the first touch.
- Is the Varia on and not already paired with a bike computer? It keeps one
connection — if a Garmin is holding it, there's none left for the phone.
- In Ridena, in the menu (☰) → Troubleshooting you'll see the diagnostics line — “Bluetooth bridge: OK” means the extension is running.
Didn't help? Write to ahoj@ridena.cz, and we'll walk you through it.