What is my livedot link, and how do I claim it?
Updated
Your livedot link, such as livedot.me/thandi, is your follow link with a name you choose: one link for every race, in RunFast and Windline. Claim it in Account at runfast.tech/app. It shows what your follow link shows, on each race with live tracking on. It isn’t a social profile, and resetting your follow link doesn’t change it.
What it is
Your livedot link is your follow link with a name you choose: livedot.me and your name, such as livedot.me/thandi. Share it once, in your bio or your club’s WhatsApp group, and it works for every race you go live on, in RunFast and in Windline.
It isn’t a social profile. There are no posts, no followers list and no bio: it shows where you are while you race, and the races you have coming up.
Claim it
- Sign in at runfast.tech/app and open Account.
- Under Your livedot link, type a name after livedot.me/. Pasting a whole link works too.
- RunFast checks it as you type: Available, Taken, or Not allowed with the reason.
- Tap Claim.
How this works, at the foot of the card, opens the short version of the rules below. Release my handle is under it.
It’s yours straight away. The card shows it whole, livedot.me and your name, with Copy and, where your browser can share, Share. Under it: “One link for every race. Share it once.” You need a confirmed email address and your first and last name on your account. If a name isn’t available, see why a livedot name is reserved or taken.
In the RunFast app on iPhone and Android, it’s You → Your livedot link, with the same check, Copy and Share. It comes in the apps’ next update. livedot.me itself has no sign-in: you claim your link in RunFast or Windline.
The name rules
- 3 to 30 characters: the letters a to z, numbers and hyphens.
- Start with a letter, and end with a letter or a number.
- No double hyphens.
- Capitals don’t count: livedot.me/Thandi is livedot.me/thandi.
Some names are kept back: livedot’s own pages, our names, well-known races (kept for their organisers), brands and sport bodies, club and organiser pages, and offensive words. Clubs live at livedot.me/their-name too, so the two share one set of names.
What people see
Someone who opens your livedot link sees exactly what your follow link would show them, race by race. They need no app and no account.
| When | What they see |
|---|---|
| You’re racing | They go straight into the race’s live view on runfast.tech, with Fly with on, following your dot. In two races at once, both show, and they choose. |
| You’re not racing | Your first name and the first letter of your last name, your photo if you’ve added one, your public races coming up with live tracking on, or “No races coming up”. Never a private race. |
| No one has the name | “No one at livedot.me/…”, with a search and Get your event live. |
On your livedot page, Follow keeps you on their list on that device, and they can open you in the RunFast app for alerts when you start. Your follow code never shows in the address. Once the apps’ next update is out, a tap on your link opens the RunFast app on phones that have it.
Private races
A race that’s private to you, such as one you brought in from Strava, never appears on your livedot page: not by name, not by date, and not while you’re live on it. People following you on a private race use your follow link, never your livedot link. It shows you on the race with your first and last kilometre hidden. A private race has no link of its own that anyone else can open.
Search engines
Your livedot page can show in search engines only while you’re Findable by anyone on a public race with live tracking on, live or coming up. It then shows only the races you’re Findable on, and never a private race. The rest of the time, it tells search engines not to show it. See Findable by anyone.
Which races it works on
Your livedot link works wherever your follow link works: on each of your races with Live tracking on. Switch off Live tracking for a race and it leaves your livedot link too: “Your link doesn’t show this race.” See turning on live tracking.
A follow code is random, but a name is easy to guess. Anyone who knows your livedot link can follow you on the races where your link works:
- To stop that on one race, switch off its Live tracking. Nobody can follow you on it then, and you can’t go live on it.
- To stop it everywhere, release your livedot link.
- Resetting your follow link gives you a new one, and doesn’t change your livedot link.
Change it
You can change your livedot link once every 30 days, counted from when you claimed it or last changed it. Type the new name under Change it, tap Change, then Change again to confirm.
- Your old link keeps working for 30 days, and takes people to the new one.
- No one else can claim the old name for 90 days. It’s held for you: type it in again and RunFast says “Held for you: take it back”. Taking it back counts as a change.
- Until you can change again, the card gives the date instead of the field: “You can change it again from” and the day. After a release, it says “You released your link lately: you can claim one again from” and the day.
Release it
Tap Release my handle, then Release:
- Your livedot link stops at once, everywhere: on RunFast and Windline. An old name still redirecting to it stops too.
- Anyone who followed you through it stops following. Your follow link keeps working.
- The name is held for you for 90 days. No one else can claim it, and you can take it back 30 days after your last change. After 90 days, anyone can claim it.
One link for RunFast and Windline
You have one livedot link across both apps. If you have a Windline account with the same confirmed email address, the two link by themselves: claim it in either app, and the other account gets it too, straight away or the next time you open Your livedot link there. The card then shows “On RunFast and Windline.”, and your livedot page shows your races from both apps and opens the one you’re racing in.
If your Windline account uses a different email address, or hasn’t confirmed it, the two aren’t linked.
If you delete your account
Your livedot link stops at once, and no one can claim it for 90 days. If it’s on your Windline account too (the card shows “On RunFast and Windline.”), it stays with that account. See deleting your account.
The rules
The rules for livedot links, including when we can take one back, are in the Terms of Use. What’s kept, and for how long, is in the privacy policy.
Your livedot link is in Account at runfast.tech/app now, and comes to You in the iPhone and Android apps in their next update. Anyone can open a livedot link in any browser.