Pocket Rigger

When you fly a lighting truss, speaker cluster, or scenic piece from two or three points instead of one, you're building a bridle — a set of legs running from the load up to separate hang points on the grid or beam. Splitting the load across multiple legs spreads out the weight, but it also means each leg carries a different share of it depending on the leg's length and the angle it hangs at.

A leg that hangs nearly vertical carries close to its fair share of the load; a leg that hangs at a shallow angle can carry dramatically more tension than you'd expect, and needs hardware rated for that extra pull. Working that out by hand — for every beam height, hook offset, and basket hitch on a moving show — is exactly the kind of repetitive geometry a rigger doesn't want to be doing with a tape measure and a calculator between cues.

Pocket Rigger runs the two- and three-leg bridle math for you. Enter the beam heights, the hook offset and height, the distance between beams, your basket hitch and beam size, and the point load, and it returns the leg length and tension for every leg — instantly, recalculated the moment you change an input.

Under the hood, the app pulls basket hitch deduction values from a reference table matched to your beam size and basket type, so the numbers account for the actual hardware you're hanging from rather than a generic angle estimate.

• Two-leg and three-leg bridle calculators
• Leg length and tension per leg, calculated live as you type
• Basket hitch deductions matched to beam size and hitch type
• Imperial and metric units, switchable any time
• Works offline — the reference data lives on your device

Save a bridle calculation under a Show, and it stays there — organized by production instead of scattered across screenshots and notes. Every Show gets a share code, so you can hand your numbers to another rigger on the crew without them re-entering a single measurement.

Pocket Rigger is a calculation and planning tool. As with any rigging math, always have your numbers checked by a qualified, experienced rigger before anything goes in the air — the app calculates, it doesn't replace judgment on site.

Does Pocket Rigger work without an internet connection?
Yes — the basket hitch reference data the calculator needs is stored locally on your device, so bridle calculations work offline. Saving and sharing a Show requires a connection.

Is Pocket Rigger free?
Pocket Rigger includes a free trial period, after which full features are available with a subscription.

Does it support metric measurements?
Yes — you can switch between imperial and metric units at any time in Settings.