Truckloop

Truckloop is a navigation and routing app built specifically for truckers

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Inspiration

As a former truck driver, I could never find a navigation app actually built for truckers. The ones that existed had no idea about bridge heights, truck-restricted routes or weather, and one wrong turn can mean a $1,500 ticket or a lost license.

What it does

Google Maps and Waze don't take the truck profile into account at all. Not a poor one: none. They will happily send a 13'6" trailer under a 12'4" bridge, because to them the whole world drives a sedan. Bridge strikes are one of the most common complaints on trucker forums: a destroyed trailer, a blocked highway, a lawsuit, and possibly a lost CDL. One bad navigation choice can end a career.

Truckloop is GPS built around the truck:

  • Truck-safe routing: enter height, weight, length, axles and hazmat class once, and every route respects them, with low-bridge and restriction warnings
  • Diesel prices by brand along the route, with brand logos on the map and a filter for the chains you actually use
  • Truck stops, rest areas, weigh stations, parking and repair
  • Live weather radar and severe weather alerts on your route
  • Big, readable lane guidance, voice guidance in 10 languages and automatic rerouting
  • Full Apple CarPlay app: guidance, alerts and hazard reporting on the car screen
  • Offline maps for dead zones, community hazard reports, trip history and a Lock Screen Live Activity

How we built it

  • Native SwiftUI app (iOS 26, Liquid Glass) with seventeen feature modules (Navigation, Trips, Truck, CarPlay, Weather, Search, Onboarding, Subscription, OfflineMaps, Reports and more), each owning its views, controllers and services through a shared dependency container
  • CarPlay scene, plus a WidgetKit extension for Live Activities
  • Mapbox maps and navigation, Firebase (Auth, Firestore, Cloud Functions) and a NestJS backend
  • RevenueCat is the single source of truth for the Pro subscription. Superwall renders and tests paywalls, but every purchase and restore goes through RevenueCat via a custom PurchaseController, and RevenueCat's customer info stream is mirrored back so the two never disagree. RevenueCat webhooks feed a server-side mirror for secure gating.
  • PostHog, Sentry, Customer.io and Intercom for analytics, stability, messaging and support

Monetization and traction

Truckloop Pro: Weekly $4.99, Monthly $14.99, Annual $99.99, each with a 3-day free trial. In the first two months (Aug 1 - Sep 30, RevenueCat production data):

  • $543 revenue, $382 MRR, 20 active subscriptions
  • 61 trials, 24 converted to paid (39%)
  • 487 new users, paying users in 5 countries
  • RevenueCat Benchmarks vs Utilities apps: 5 of 7 metrics above median

Challenges we ran into

So many edge cases in trucking. Bridge clearances aren't static, and the safe answer changes with conditions. The number of axles changes the routing. Trucks haul different things every trip, so the profile has to be adjusted before every trip. On the money side: App Review and TestFlight builds run on sandbox receipts while promotional grants are production entitlements, so the paywall and the app briefly disagreed about who was subscribed. We now read entitlements across all environments so there is one answer everywhere. We also check real trial eligibility with Apple through RevenueCat, so we never promise a trial Apple will refuse.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Finally shipping a tested version we're happy to release to the world, then shipping v1.2 three weeks later from driver feedback. Real drivers in the US, UK and Europe are paying for it, and it holds a 5.0 rating on the App Store.

What we learned

If I knew how hard it was, I would have just built a calorie tracker. More seriously: drivers navigate right away rather than planning ahead, because they rarely know where the next load is coming from, so the paywall belongs at "start navigation". And the US brings in about 70% of revenue.

What's next for Truckloop

  • Android version, using the same RevenueCat project
  • Voice weather alerts during navigation
  • A load profitability check: real miles, tolls and diesel cost before accepting a load, so owner-operators can negotiate with brokers using evidence
  • Fleet plans for small carriers

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