LapBrain is more useful when you can compare your sessions to friends who ride the same tracks. The main way to add a friend is to look them up by their username and send a request. Invite links are still there for friending someone in person, where neither of you needs to know a username.

Add a friend by username

This is the primary way to connect.

  1. Open Settings from the top-right menu.
  2. Tap Friends.
  3. Under Add a friend, type your friend's exact username and tap Send request.
  4. They get a pending request on their own Friends page. Once they accept, you're connected.

Username lookup is exact-match only — there's no fuzzy search or browse list, so you'll need the username spelled correctly. Ask your friend for their username (it's the one shown next to their name on their Friends page).

note

A request only starts a friendship — your friend still has to accept it. Until they do, the request sits in their incoming list and yours shows it as outgoing. You can cancel an outgoing request any time before it's accepted.

Set your own username so friends can find you

If you haven't chosen a username yet, the Friends page shows a card prompting you to claim one. A username is how friends look you up, and it's optional — you can still add and be added through invite links without one.

To claim a username, type it into the card and tap Save. Usernames are 3–30 characters, letters, numbers, and underscores. Once set, you can rename it later, but only once every 90 days, so pick one you'll keep.

Once you have a username, you get a permanent profile link you can hand out anywhere:

  1. On the Friends page, tap Share your profile link to copy it.
  2. Paste it into a message, a bio, or anywhere you'd share a link.

Anyone who taps it lands on a Send friend request to @{username} page. If they're signed in to LapBrain, they can request you with one tap. If they don't have an account yet, the link walks them through signup and then drops them on the request page so nothing is lost.

Unlike an invite link, the profile link never expires and isn't used up — it works as long as your username does. If you rename your username, old profile links stop working and the new username's link takes over immediately.

Invite links work without a username, so they're the right tool for the paddock or a track day: you hand someone the link (or let them tap it on your phone) and you're connected, no username needed. They also work over chat when you don't know someone's username yet.

  1. Open Settings, then Friends.
  2. Tap Generate invite link.
  3. Tap the Copy button next to the new link. The app copies a short message with the link to your clipboard, mentioning your @{username} so your friend knows who sent it.
  4. Hand them the link in person, or paste it into iMessage, WhatsApp, Signal, SMS, RCS, or wherever you chat.

The link works whether your friend already has LapBrain installed or not. When they tap it and they're already signed in, you become friends immediately and the app jumps to the Friends panel — no accept step needed, because handing over the link is the consent.

tip

Tap Copy any time to grab a fresh link without leaving the page. Each new link is independent, so you can paste the same link into multiple chats.

A single invite link is good for:

  • Up to 5 different people, and
  • 7 days from when you generated it.

Whichever runs out first ends the link. After that, anyone who taps the link gets a friendly error message guiding them to ask you for a new one (showing your @{username} so they know who to ask).

You can always tap Copy again on the Friends page to generate a fresh link with a new 7-day window and a new pool of 5 redemptions. The old link still works for anyone you sent it to recently, up to its own limits.

note

The same link can be shared with multiple people. If you're inviting a small group, one paste into a group chat is enough as long as no more than 5 of them end up tapping it within the 7-day window.

If your friend doesn't have a LapBrain account yet

Tapping the link takes them to a signup screen. After they create an account (email + password, or sign in with Apple / Google), LapBrain automatically completes the friend connection. There is no second step the recipient has to remember; the friendship is established at the moment signup finishes.

If the link is past 7 days, or if 5 people have already used it, the next person to tap it sees a message asking them to request a new link from you. They'll see your @{username} in that message so they know who to ask. Head back to Settings then Friends and tap Copy again, then forward the new link the same way.

Managing incoming requests

When someone requests you by username, the request appears in your incoming list on the Friends page with three choices:

  • Accept — you're now friends and can compare sessions.
  • Decline — the request goes away. Declining isn't permanent; the same person can send you another request later.
  • Decline & block — for requests you never want repeated. This declines the request and blocks the rider, so they can't find you by username or request you again.

Turning off requests by username

By default, anyone with your username can send you a friend request. If you'd rather not be reachable that way, open Settings then Friends and turn off Allow friend requests by username.

While it's off:

  • People can't find you by username or send you a request, and your profile link stops resolving.
  • Your existing friends and any pending requests are unaffected — this only gates new incoming requests.
  • Your invite links still work, so you can keep adding friends in person or by sharing a link.
note

When this is off, someone who looks you up just sees that no rider was found — the same thing they'd see for a username that doesn't exist. There's no way for them to tell whether you've turned requests off or simply don't use that username.

What to do next

  1. Pick a friend who rides the tracks you ride. Comparison gets more interesting when you have someone on similar circuits.
  2. Compare your sessions. Once you're connected, your friends' sessions show up alongside yours where the analysis supports peer comparison. See Comparing Laps Effectively for what to look at first.