Plens helps people leave at the driest moment.

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.

Current stage

Live beta · Open sign-up

Next milestone

Commuter pilot

Try Plens Get involved

plensapp.nl

One sentence, not a table of numbers.

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.
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.
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.

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.