SimpleVario Vario

About: SimpleVario Vario

SimpleVario – your vario right on your Apple Watch. As clear and elegant as paragliding itself. No extra device needed.

SimpleVario shows you altitude, climb, glide ratio, speed, wind and final glide live on your watch – big, at a glance, and free of distraction. Your Bluetooth vario connects automatically when you open the app; if you don't have one with you, the watch's own barometer and GPS take over. Everything runs standalone on the Apple Watch.

VARIOMETER

• Altitude above sea level (AMSL) – large and instantly readable.
• Climb and sink rate, smoothed over 10 seconds – steady instead of jittery.
• Glide ratio and ground speed.
• Flight time, detected automatically – no "start flight" needed.
• Your vario's connection status always in view.

WIND – WITH NO EXTRA SENSOR

SimpleVario estimates wind direction and strength directly from your circling in thermals. The arrow shows where the wind is coming from – no extra device, no weather station, no network needed.

FINAL GLIDE

• Just tap your landing spot on the map.
• Its elevation is looked up automatically – always correctable by hand.
• You set your own minimum arrival height and assumed glide ratio.
• In flight, your height buffer over the landing spot is shown big in green, and in red when you're short – plus bearing, distance and time remaining.

EXTERNAL BLUETOOTH VARIOS

Connects automatically on open and reconnects on its own after a dropout – no pairing menu in flight:

• XC Tracer (native protocol)
• BlueFlyVario, MipFly MipBip, Stodeus BlueBip & UltraBip, FreeFlyVario, Skybean Strato (LK8EX1)
• FlyBeeper Mini BT

More devices on request.

WITHOUT AN EXTERNAL VARIO

• The Apple Watch's barometer and GPS take over automatically – nothing to switch.
• Climb becomes audible: beeps right on your wrist.
• Volume via the Digital Crown, right on the main screen.
• If an external vario is connected, only that one beeps – never both at once.

IN FLIGHT

• Display and app stay active for the whole flight – even on multi-hour cross-country flights, with nothing to operate on your wrist.
• One screen, every value: no menus to hunt through mid-flight.

WHO IT'S FOR

• Beginners: your first thermal flights without expensive extra hardware – just the watch you already wear.
• The safety-conscious: a backup on your wrist if your main vario fails.
• Minimalists and hike & fly pilots: no extra weight, no extra device.

YOUR DATA STAYS YOURS

SimpleVario needs no account and collects nothing. The only network connection besides Bluetooth is a one-time lookup of your landing spot's elevation.

SimpleVario is deliberately not a flight logbook: no track recording, no IGC export – your vario or tracking app stays in charge of that. SimpleVario focuses on what you need in the air.

Available in German, English, French, Italian, Spanish and Turkish. Runs standalone on any Apple Watch from watchOS 10 (Series 4, SE, Ultra and newer).