Help & support

Rail Mate is a field engineering tools app for Australian rail maintenance professionals. It bundles the calculations you run regularly on track — stress check, gauge, curve, ballast, sleeper, rail profile, stressing operations, DNT, twist and horizontal alignment — into a single iOS app with report management and PDF export.

It's built by a rail contractor, for rail contractors.

Rail Mate launches first on iOS 15 and later, available through the Apple App Store. Android support is planned and will follow once the iOS version is stable and we've had time to port.

No. Rail Mate has no accounts, no sign-up, and no login. You install the app and start using it. All your data is stored locally on your device.

Yes. All calculations, report management, and photo attachments work fully offline. The only operations that need a network connection are downloading the app from the App Store and verifying the Pro unlock purchase. Once Pro is unlocked, it works offline indefinitely.

Ten tools in total. Free: Stress Check, Gauge, Curve, Ballast, Sleeper, and Rail Profile reference. Pro: Stressing Operations, DNT, Twist, and Horizontal Alignment.

Each tool is built around the checks and measurements rail maintenance crews actually run on track — not generic civils maths rebadged for rail.

The Twist tool references ARTC ETS-05-00 Table 5-14, Brookfield Rail Code of Practice Table 6.2, and more. It performs consecutive-pair twist calculations with both 2m short-base and 14m long-base options, and flags readings against class limits.

You choose which network and standard to measure against when setting up the twist run. Additional standards are being added over time — let us know via [email protected] if there's a specific one you need.

For chord-based versine measurement, Rail Mate uses the standard approximation R = c² / 8v, where R is the curve radius, c is the chord length, and v is the versine (mid-ordinate).

The tool also supports solving in any direction — provide any two values and it gives you the third, plus degree of curve if you need it.

Stressing Operations is a Pro tool for planning and executing CWR destressing jobs. You enter the destress length, design SFT, rail temperature, and weld gap — the tool works out the required stretch, the rail cut allowance, and a quarter-point movement table to mark up on the rail before pulling.

After the pull, you can record any anchor movement to work out the neutral temperature actually achieved versus the design target.

Rail Mate is metric-first, since Australian rail standards are metric. Some tools (notably the Sleeper tool) support both metric and imperial spacing intervals. Unit toggles are provided where sensible — let us know if there's a specific tool where you'd like imperial support added.

Report management is a Pro feature. A report is a container for a single inspection or job. You create a report, give it a name (e.g. "KM 142.3 to 143.1 — twist inspection"), then add items to it as you work: calculator results, measurements, photos, free-text notes.

When you finalise a report, you can export it as a PDF that includes all calculations, photos, and notes — ready to hand to a supervisor or file against the job.

Entirely on your device. Rail Mate does not have a backend server that stores your reports, photos, or calculator history. This means your data is private, but it also means it's your responsibility to back it up. We recommend exporting finalised reports as PDFs and storing those in your own system (email, cloud drive, asset management tool).

Currently, no — because data lives on-device only, it doesn't follow you to a new phone automatically. Exported PDFs are the portable record. iCloud sync for reports is on the roadmap but isn't available in v1.0.

From inside a report item, tap the camera icon to either capture a new photo with the camera or select existing photos from your library. You'll be prompted by iOS to grant permission the first time. Attached photos are copied into the app's storage and stay with the report item — deleting the photo from your library later won't remove it from the report.

Free gives you Stress Check, Gauge, Curve, Ballast, Sleeper, and Rail Profile reference — all fully functional, with on-device storage and no ads.

Pro adds Stressing Operations, DNT, Twist, and Horizontal Alignment — plus the full report management workflow: creating inspection reports, attaching photos to report items, and exporting finalised reports as PDFs.

No. Pro is a one-time purchase of A$49.99. You pay once, Pro stays unlocked on your Apple ID forever. No recurring charges, no auto-renewal, no subscription management to worry about.

Sign in to the new device with the same Apple ID you used for the original purchase. Inside Rail Mate, go to Settings → Restore Purchases and your Pro unlock will be reinstated. Pro is tied to your Apple ID, not the specific device.

App Store purchases are refunded by Apple, not by us. Request a refund via reportaproblem.apple.com using the Apple ID that made the purchase. If there's a specific issue with the app that's driving a refund, please also email [email protected] so we can fix it for the next user.

Your inspection data, photos, and reports stay on your device — we never receive them. The only data that leaves your device is:

→ Anonymous usage analytics via PostHog (so we know which tools are used)
→ Purchase receipts via Apple and RevenueCat (to verify Pro unlock)

No personal identifiers, no inspection content. Full details in the Privacy Policy.

Go to Rail Mate → Settings → Privacy and toggle off "Share anonymous usage data." The change takes effect immediately and persists across app launches.

No. We don't sell data to advertisers, data brokers, insurers, or anyone else. We don't run ads in the app. The revenue model is simple: pay once for Pro, that's it.