Zwift Click V2 & Zwift Ride V2 with Other Trainer Apps

The Zwift Click V2 is one of the best-feeling cycling controllers on the market. It's bundled with the Zwift Cog upgrade kit, ships with most modern smart trainers, and the buttons feel genuinely premium. There's just one catch: out of the box, it only really works with Zwift, and now Rouvy. The Zwift Ride has a similar catch on units running firmware 1.3 or newer — see the Zwift Ride V2 section below.

This is the complete guide to using the Click V2 with every other trainer app — MyWhoosh, TrainingPeaks Virtual, and all the others. We'll cover what's natively supported, what isn't, why the device behaves the way it does, and how to unlock it for use with BikeControl.

🎉 Update (September 2026): If you use the right controller only, the Click V2 no longer needs a daily Zwift unlock. Since 6.4 you choose when BikeControl first finds your Click V2: right side only (no unlock, ever) or unlock with Zwift (both controllers, every 24 hours). Jump to the details.

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The Current Situation

Unlike the original Zwift Click (V1) — which speaks a fairly open Bluetooth protocol — the Click V2 ships with proprietary firmware that expects to talk to Zwift's servers regularly. Specifically, the device requires an encryption handshake that has to be refreshed roughly every 24 hours to keep delivering button events to third-party apps.

For every app outside Zwift and Rouvy, BikeControl acts as the bridge: it pairs to your Click V2, decodes the button events, and translates them into virtual shifts, keystrokes, any many other actions.

Why the 24-Hour Unlock?

Once the Click V2 leaves Zwift's session, the encryption context times out. If you don't refresh it, the device will likely stop sending button events after roughly a minute of being connected.

The fix is to "wake up" the encryption context once per day — either by briefly opening Zwift, or by using BikeControl's built-in Unlock feature. Once unlocked, the Click V2 works reliably in any trainer app of your choice for the rest of the day.

The users raised this with Zwift before — they've removed this kind of restriction on earlier generations of hardware, and we genuinely hope they do so again. In the meantime, BikeControl has a workaround of its own — details below.

Want the full hardware comparison? See our Best Controller for Indoor Cycling post — it covers how the Click V2 stacks up against the Zwift Play, Cycplus BC2, Thinkrider VS200, Shimano Di2, and others.

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The Fix: BikeControl 6.0.0

With the help of Sander, a BikeControl user, we found a way around the daily unlock. It shipped in BikeControl 6.0.0 for Pro users and in 6.1.0 for everyone.

Since 6.4, BikeControl asks which of two modes you want the first time it finds your Click V2:

• Use the right side only: no Zwift unlock, ever, and no restarts. Only the right controller sends button presses, so BikeControl remaps it: ＋ shifts up and B shifts down.
• Unlock with Zwift: both controllers work, but the Click V2 needs unlocking with the Zwift app every 24 hours — and that unlock can be flaky.

You can change your choice later in the controller's settings with Set up again. Setups from before 6.4 may still use the older workaround, in which the left controller restarts itself every minute.

BikeControl is available on all platforms, and both modes are available to everyone.

⚠️ Important: Never update your Zwift controller firmware unless BikeControl recommends it. Firmware updates can change the protocol and break third-party compatibility until we catch up.

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How to Unlock the Zwift Click V2

If you chose Unlock with Zwift — or you're on a BikeControl version before 6.0.0 — you have two ways to unlock your Click V2 each day. The first is automated inside BikeControl; the second is a manual fallback that some riders prefer.

Option 1: The BikeControl Unlock (Recommended)

BikeControl has a one-tap unlock built directly into the app.

1. Open BikeControl and look for the Controllers

2. Click the Zwift Click V2 entry, scroll down, and enable the Unlock with Zwift method

3. Tap the "Unlock" button next to your Click V2

4. Follow the on-screen instructions — BikeControl walks you through the handshake step by step

That's it. The Click V2 will keep talking to any trainer app you connect it to for the next 24 hours. A short video walkthrough is available here:

https://youtube.com/shorts/bSQKnpHnWCo?feature=share

Option 2: The Manual Method

If the in-app unlock doesn't work for any reason, the manual approach is to briefly use the Zwift app itself. This refreshes the encryption context on the device, after which any other app can read it.

1. Open the Zwift app (the desktop or mobile app — not Zwift Companion)

2. Log in — a paid subscription is not required for this step

3. Go to the device connection screen

4. Connect your trainer, then connect your Zwift Click V2

5. Keep the Click V2 connected for ~10–30 seconds - confirm by clicking a button on the device

6. Close Zwift completely

7. Open BikeControl and connect the Click V2 normally

Once you've done this, the Click V2 will behave correctly in MyWhoosh, TrainingPeaks Virtual, or any other app you pair it with — for the next ~24 hours.

Heads up: We've tested this with Click V2 firmware 1.1 and 1.2 — both behave the same way and both respond to the unlock procedure. That said, never update your controller firmware unless BikeControl recommends it — firmware updates can break third-party compatibility overnight.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Does the Click V2 work natively in any non-Zwift app? Yes — Rouvy was acquired by Zwift in April 2026, and now officially supports the Click V2 natively. You might prefer using it with BikeControl though, as you're able to fully customize the controller buttons to any action you want, including controlling music, creating screenshots, and more.

Why does my Click V2 disconnect after one minute? This is the encryption-handshake timeout. The Click V2 silently stops sending button events shortly after its LED enters battery-saving mode if it hasn't been "blessed" by Zwift in the last ~24 hours. Switch to right-side-only mode (BikeControl 6.4 or newer), or run the unlock procedure, and the problem goes away.

Do I really have to unlock it every 24 hours? Only if you want both controllers. In right-side-only mode (BikeControl 6.4 or newer) no Zwift unlock is needed at all. With Unlock with Zwift, yes — expect to run the unlock at the start of each session, especially if you only ride a couple of times a week.

Do other Zwift controllers have the same problem? Zwift Play and the original Zwift Click (V1) do not — no daily unlock, ever. A Zwift Ride running firmware 1.3 or newer (Zwift Ride V2) does need the same daily Zwift unlock; see the Zwift Ride V2 section below. Firmware 1.3 isn't available for the Ride V1, so V1 owners are unaffected. We hope Zwift will decide to remove this restriction in the future.

Do I need a Zwift subscription to perform the unlock? No. You only need a free Zwift account. The device connection screen — which is all you need to reach for the unlock — is accessible without an active subscription.

Will Zwift remove this restriction? We hope so. Zwift has done this before with earlier hardware generations, and a firmware update would be the cleanest fix. Until then, BikeControl's right-side-only mode works around it. Make your voices heard.

I unlocked it already, but the buttons still don't work. In seldom cases the device will not respond to the unlock procedure. You can verify this by running the manual procedure outlined above. If you don't even see button reactions in Zwift itself, give the device a few minutes and try again.

BikeControl does not find the Click V2. Check that:

• The controller is in pairing mode (LED blinking)
• The Click V2 is not still connected to another device (Zwift, Companion app, another phone)
• A quick Bluetooth restart on your phone or PC often clears up pairing oddities

My Click V2 connects, but no buttons work. Run the Unlock procedure. If you're on Android, especially on Xiaomi/Redmi or other Chinese-OEM devices, follow the steps on dontkillmyapp.com — disable battery optimization for BikeControl, enable auto-start, and grant the accessibility permission. See GitHub issue #38 for full details.

My Click V2 connects in BikeControl + MyWhoosh, but the gears don't shift. You can always go into the Activity tab in BikeControl and see what's going on. If nothing appears in the Activity tab, you might need to unlock again. For the full MyWhoosh walkthrough, see the Zwift Cog & Click with MyWhoosh setup page.

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Do More With Your Zwift Click V2

Once BikeControl is in the loop, your Click V2 is no longer limited to virtual shifting. Every button — including double-click and long-press gestures — can be mapped to anything you like:

• Virtual shifting — the obvious one, and it works in every supported trainer app
• Steering and U-turns — hold a button to steer your avatar, double-click for a U-turn
• Screenshots — grab a screenshot of the moment without reaching for your phone or keyboard
• Media controls — play/pause, skip tracks, adjust the volume of whatever's playing on your phone or PC
• Workout actions — skip an interval, lap, pause, resume, take a break, or change the difficulty mid-ride
• Smart fan — set the speed of a Wahoo KICKR Headwind, or switch it to heart-rate mode, straight from the bars
• Custom shortcuts — trigger arbitrary keystrokes on your PC or Mac, or launch a command

With single click, double click and long press on each of its ten buttons, the Click V2 gives you up to 30 distinct actions (15 in right-side-only mode) — no extra hardware required. More than one action per button is a Pro feature.

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Zwift Ride V2

Zwift applies a similar lock to the Zwift Ride, starting with firmware 1.3. Technically the Ride V2 behaves like the Ride V1 — same 18 buttons, same Bluetooth pairing — but Zwift now requires the same daily unlock the Click V2 needs: open the Zwift app and connect the Ride at least once every ~24 hours, and it will keep sending button presses to other apps for the rest of the day.

Firmware 1.3 is not available for the Ride V1, so if your Ride hasn't been offered that update, this doesn't apply to you — carry on riding, nothing has changed.

BikeControl detects a Zwift Ride V2 automatically from its reported firmware version, and guides you through the daily unlock step by step the same way it does for the Click V2.

Heads up: The Click V2's workarounds — using the right controller only without unlocking, or the "restart every minute" mode — are not available for the Zwift Ride V2. The daily unlock with the Zwift app is currently the way to use a Ride V2 outside Zwift.

For everything else — buttons, mapping, connecting to MyWhoosh, TrainingPeaks Virtual and the rest — the Ride follows the same steps as the Click V2 above, just without either of its workarounds.

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The Bigger Picture

The Click V2 is excellent hardware held back by a single design decision. BikeControl now gets you most of the way around it: the right controller works with no unlock at all, while the left one still needs Zwift's daily unlock.

If this situation frustrates you, and understandably so, here's a list of alternative controllers.

Happy riding.