Plens checks the rain along an entire route at the moment you reach each point, instead of reporting one forecast for one place. It compares nearby departure times and answers in a single sentence: go now, leave ten minutes earlier, or take a rain jacket.
Plens compares nearby departure times along the whole route and answers with the one that keeps you driest.
Real app screen · example data
The problem
A forecast for your town says nothing about your route.
A ten-kilometre ride takes half an hour, and the shower moves during that half hour too. Most weather apps report one place and one broad window, so the rider still has to guess whether leaving a little earlier changes anything.
The solution
Route-aware rain advice, reduced to one clear decision.
Plens cuts the trip into segments and works out what falls on each one at the moment you are there. Within the room you allow it, it shifts your departure time forward and back, and it only pushes a notification when the advice actually changes.
Audience
People who go outside on a schedule, starting with Dutch commuters.
Daily commutersE-bike commutersRunners and walkersEmployersMobility providers
Business model
Free during the beta; a partnership model under validation.
TodayFree, no ads
ModelUnder validation
Initial routeEmployers and mobility providers
How it works
Your trip, in three steps.
The same three screens the product explains itself with, on the same three surfaces: the route, the departure moment and the notification.
01
Your whole route, not one point
Plens looks at the rain along the entire route at the moment you pass each point, so your own pace counts too.
08:05
02
A little earlier, a lot drier
Within the room you allow, Plens finds the driest departure moment and shows what leaving earlier or later actually buys you.
08:05
03
One nudge, and you know enough
The advice arrives on your phone before you leave. By default only when it changes, so nothing has to be opened.
08:05
Real app screens with example data, in the product's own phone mockup. Dutch interface; English is available in the product.
Who it is for
Four people, four reasons to be outside.
Plens is built around four riders rather than one generic commuter, because the same shower is a different problem for each of them.
Commuting by city bike
Kim
Leaves at a fixed time for a fixed arrival, and wants to know whether ten minutes earlier is worth it.
Running a round
Siënna
Has a window rather than a deadline, so the question is which half hour in it stays dry.
Road cycling
Bert
Covers enough ground that the shower over the start says nothing about the shower at the turn.
Walking the dog
Jan & Bikkel
Goes out several times a day and only needs to know which of those trips needs a coat.
The product's own cast, as it appears on plensapp.nl.
Stage & milestones
Where Plens is today
Updated Q3 2026
Built · Done
Core product
Route-aware rain calculation, departure-time comparison, accounts, a mobile web interface and notification logic.
Now
Live beta at plensapp.nl
KNMI radar, Open-Meteo, OpenRouteService and PDOK are connected in production, with cycling, running and walking, and shelter points in beta.
Next
Commuter pilot
Test forecast trust, false alarms and notification reliability with a small group of Dutch commuters.
Later
Mobility partnerships
Validate distribution through employers, mobility providers and cycling programmes.
Get involved
Leave at the driest moment.
Try Plens on a ride you already make, or talk to Studio Northstar about a commuter pilot.
Commuting by city bike
Running a round
Road cycling
Walking the dog
