How to turn off turn-by-turn cues on a Wahoo ELEMNT

Wahoo lets you mute the turn beeps but not the turn prompts. Here is what each setting does, why cues come back, and how to send a route as a plain line.

Updated 25 Oct 2026 · Jonas Acker · 5 min read

On an ACE, BOLT 3 or ROAM 3 you can switch off the turn sounds in the Wahoo app, under your unit's workout profile, Alerts. Wahoo says the text prompt on the screen can't be switched off. To get rid of the prompts themselves, the route has to reach the unit without cues, and on most models the unit must not be making its own. That means removing them in the planner, or sending the route with a tool that strips the cues on the way.

Why does my ELEMNT show turn cues at all?

A route can carry cues in two ways, and the unit handles each differently.

Cues inside the route file. Ride with GPS and Komoot add them when they sync a route. Wahoo's help says route files only have embedded cues when synced from those two services.
Cues the unit makes itself. The BOLT 2 and ROAM 1 and 2 generate cues for routes that don't have them, up to 200 km. The ACE, BOLT 3 and ROAM 3 use their onboard maps for turn-by-turn and rerouting. The original ELEMNT and BOLT 1 don't generate cues: they only show the ones a route brings with it.

So deleting cues from a file is enough on the oldest units. On the newer ones, a route without cues can still get prompts from the unit.

How do I mute turn alerts in the Wahoo app?

This is for the ACE, BOLT 3 and ROAM 3. The setting is per workout profile.

Open the Wahoo app with the unit connected.
Go to Devices, your unit, then Workout Profiles.
Pick the profile you ride with, then Alerts.
Switch off Turn by turn navigation alert sounds.

Wahoo's note on this page is clear: it is only a sound toggle. The visual or text part of the alert stays. On the ACE and ROAM 3 you can also choose between beeps and voice, and set the volume. The BOLT 3 has a fixed-volume beeper.

Can I mute a route on the unit?

Yes, on the third-generation units. Wahoo describes muting from the route itself: open the Routes page from the Settings menu or from the Map page, and select Mute. That silences the audio alerts for the route while you ride it.

For a single ride, Wahoo also describes temporary mute buttons on the unit under Device Settings, Sounds, for notifications, audio alerts and custom alerts. They switch back on each time the unit starts or a new ride begins.

What about an older ELEMNT, BOLT or ROAM?

The ELEMNT app's sound and light settings are under Settings, LEDs & Sound. On routes with cues, the LEDs at the top blink in the direction of the next turn. Wahoo's help for these units doesn't list a separate switch for turn sounds or turn LEDs, and the sound volume isn't adjustable. If you want a quiet unit, the practical route is a route without cues.

How do I remove cues in the planner?

Do it where the route is made, before it reaches the unit.

Ride with GPS: its help says to uncheck Generate Cuesheet under Settings if you don't want cues on a new route. For an existing route, the route editor's Route Tools have a Delete All for the Cues tab. You can also export a GPX Track, which Ride with GPS describes as containing only the GPS points of the route line.
Komoot: a GPX downloaded from Komoot contains only the route line, without the extras of a synced tour. A tour synced to Wahoo through the link brings its cues.

Then import that file into the Wahoo app as described in the GPX guide. On an original ELEMNT or BOLT 1 the route stays silent. On a BOLT 2 or ROAM, expect the unit to generate its own cues for it, as above.

Cues come too early or too late

Wahoo has fixed cue timing in firmware more than once: the BOLT 2 release notes from December 2023 list "Turn-by-turn alerts are shown too early in some scenarios" as fixed. So update the unit's firmware first. If the planner placed a cue at the wrong spot, fixing it there (Ride with GPS lets you edit the cue sheet) is better than turning cues off.

The way that skips the cloud

An ELEMNT with German menus loading a route (Lade Strecke) with a turn cue along the bottom: right in 19 m onto Osterholzallee. — A turn cue on the ELEMNT

BikeOtter sends routes to the ELEMNT over Bluetooth, and lets you choose what happens to the cues on the way. The saved route keeps every cue; only the copy sent to the unit changes, so you can change your mind after a ride.

Open the route in BikeOtter and tap the Cues row.
Pick Keep all, Thin to real turns (drops "continue straight" and roundabout noise, keeps every real turn), or Strip (a breadcrumb line with no cues).
If cues fire too early or too late for you, slide Timing up to 200 m earlier or later. Each cue moves along the route.
Tap Send.

To make one choice the default for every route, set it under Settings, Head unit, Turn cues on push. A single route can still override it. The same control works when sending to a Garmin Edge (beta).

Two honest limits. Stripping takes the cues out of the file, but a unit that generates its own cues, like a BOLT 2 or ROAM, may still add them, so try a short route on your model first. And cue control is part of BikeOtter Plus; sending a route as it is stays free. The feature book lists the rest.

Troubleshooting

Sounds are off but prompts still appear. That is how the Wahoo setting works: sound only. Remove the cues from the route instead.
A route without cues still gives turn prompts. Your unit is generating them. That's expected on a BOLT 2, ROAM and the third-generation units.
Mute keeps switching back on. The temporary mute on the unit resets each ride. Use the profile setting in the app for a lasting change.
Some turns are missing after thinning. Thinning keeps turns and drops straight-on cues. If a real junction lost its cue, send that route with Keep all.

Which way should I use?

If the beeping is the problem, switch off the alert sounds in the Wahoo app and you're done. If the prompts on screen bother you, take the cues out in the planner and check what your model does with a route without them. If you want a clean line or fewer cues per route without editing the source, send it with cue control from the phone. Want stops on the line instead of turn noise? See water stops on a Wahoo route.

Related guides

Where these steps were checked

The official steps above follow the vendors' own help pages as of 25 Oct 2026. Menus move between app versions. If a step here no longer matches what you see, send a note to support and the guide gets fixed.