Not the same Waze it Once was
by Mom Matters
Even a month or so ago, I would have rated this app 5 stars, but something has happened to what was my best driving app companion. The issues begin with incorrect mileage estimates when you type in a place your are going that, as soon as you click on the place to get directions, change and sometimes in drastic ways and always for the worse. Examples - a place that it said was 136 miles away changed when getting directions to over 200 miles away...a place that it said was 9 miles away, when you click on it to press go turns into 14 miles away. It also is suggesting routes with lots of turns that are leading me in circles and when I choose to ignore their suggestion because I can see ahead there does not seem to be traffic, I go the normal straight way I always do and get there 5 minutes sooner than the estimated time from Waze’s indirect way. The app has become so broken it is upsetting because it used to be amazing! It also isn’t remembering routes and crashing, which is what prompted me to finally write this review because that ended up costing me about an extra hour of time yesterday since I was trying to avoid the turnpike (and it’s tolls) and unbeknownst to me, it re-routed me to take it! It’s also caused my daughter to end up on a toll road with no warning! Waze and I are going to have to part ways if they don’t fix the newly introduced issues soon - it’s just become completely unreliable:
Die-hard Wazer!!!
by Andrepimarlucatom
Update:
Waze updates have been good and the reporting process is improved and there are less steps to get to the actual reporting - yay!
When you fix the default address estimation from interstate (literally I get suggestions for MI addresses, and I live in Alexandria VA!).
Previous:
I've recommended this app to dozens of friends and helped many download it to their smartphones and set it up for them. I can't say however that I'm very happy about the latest version of Waze. The GUI is not what it should be, the # of improvements is about equivalent to the # of detriments. It's hard to cancel an instruction once entered, the screen going from side to side is not user friendly. And reporting hazards is STILL a 2-3 step process!!!! There should be the option for active wazers to have a "visible police" button, "car on shoulder" button "construction" button and/or various traffic buttons of our choosing on the map page that we can report as we go. Also, PLEASE STOP SEARCHING THE ENTIRE MAP OF THE USA WHEN I'M OBVIOUSLY SEARCHING FOR AN ADDRESS IN MY LOCAL VICINITY. That was an obvious upgrade improvement you guys should have included. I would give you 5 stars or 10 or 20 because I love your app - but these improvements really need to happen ASAP. Keep up he awesomeness Waze!! Plus your Customer svc and responsiveness is great too!
Better than the old CB days.
by Depdoc
Waze is a user based traffic information app. It does rely upon users to report traffic conditions, construction, accidents and police. As a user passes by a reported problem, he can say Thank You, indicating the condition exists, or No longer There, indicating it has been cleared. There are two things I’d like to see changed: 1) allow the time to respond to the condition to last longer. Sometimes, the actual condition is at a slightly different place due to the time lag between where the incident is and when it was actually reported. and 2) when reporting police, it would be nice to know if the police is moving or stationary. If moving, the radius for notification should be extended and the time to clearing shortened, as a moving car will not remain in its position very long. If stationary, then notification can remain as it currently is. If police is moving, it would also be nice to know which direction and then adjust notifications accordingly. Note these are suggestions and not complaints. This is a great app and a must have for any driver. It also has a pretty good navigation system. But if you select another route than it gives you, it is slow to recalculate and sometimes requires stopping the navigation and then restarting it to get the alternate route.
Most useful but some issues
by Smiledaydream
It is the most useful of the navigation apps because it uses the most sources for information and does a great job helping me navigate. Directions are given in a way to help locate the turn or offramp. Other apps often change suddenly into step-by-step directions or some form that I do not want to see. Waze stays consistent in the format of the split. Waze has a number of notifications about things in the road. These are good but also have weaknesses. It is hard to report that something was not accurate. At the point it is supposed to be there the option to indicate it was incorrect goes away. This option should remain for 2 to 400 feet after the symbol location. Most hazard reports are inaccurate. Most police reports are incorrect. This is frustrating because it such a good idea but the tool doesn’t really allow for good reporting. Stopped vehicle reports do not indicate in lane or side of road so they are usually pointless viewings of vehicles stopped somewhere having no affect on traffic. There is a great feature to go later on the time this feature cannot be used for some reason I will choose directions to the airport. Half the time I can choose go later and half the time for the same trip I cannot. I know the data is there. But for some reason the feature just vanishes. Make it easier to report.
Incredible resource
by Noa and Grandma
I am delighted by the services provided by the Waze app. On the first day I used it, it took me by previously unknown routes to a bakery to pick up a birthday treat for my dear daughter with 5 minutes to spare through rush hour traffic. The second time we used it we were at a huge airshow just outside of Portland OR and Waze saved the day by taking us back to Vancouver, WA on a very quiet and beautiful twisting country road through rolling farm land that ended up bringing us into Portland by way of the St. John's bridge. We were astonished to find that it took the same amount of time it would have taken us to go on the highway on a low traffic day. We were sold on it through these first initial encounters. BUT, my third use of it made me recognize how incredibly valuable and up to date it is it is when my destination was 2 blocks away from a bank robbery in progress and it diverted me from my normal route down narrow side streets where multitudes of cars were coming in the opposite direction but I seemed to be the only car going against the flow of traffic. Waze kept me safe and away from gunfire that was occurring just a block away from my final destination as bank robbers tried to make a getaway. Thanks Waze and thanks to all you Wazers that keep this app up to date so consistently. You rock!!!
Don’t Leave Home Without It
by Als2130
This app has saved me so many times. I absolutely love it. I use it constantly, mainly because it alerts me to traffic and cops, but also because it has shown me shorter ways to places I go to all the time (and thought I knew the best route there). I only have two complaints. The map change suggestion feature is totally useless. There’s a road near me that’s a private lane and ends at one curve of an s-curve. Waze always tells me to use this road for 100 feet, then get back on the main road. No, the private lane ENDS at the main road! I’ve tried changing this a dozen times, and it never gets changed (once it was actually, but a week later it was back). I’ve learned to ignore it, but I feel sorry for tourists because they get confused (I can tell they’re using Waze when I’m behind them because they’ll slow down and sometimes stop, which is really annoying). My other complaint is that I can’t tell it to remember certain routes. From my house, there are two ways to the county road. They’re both the same distance and about the same driving time. The difference is that the one Waze always tells me to use is single lane partway, very narrow the rest of the way, and has a lot of hidden entrances and blind hills and curves. I’d much rather take the safer way. If Waze finds a way to fix these two things, I’d give it 5 stars
Good at knowing where traffic is AWFUL at getting around it
by LordLombardi
You wanna know where traffic is jammed? This app is wonderful for that. Want a route around? Avoid Waze.
This app is useful for for ETA’s if you sync with your calendar, and to show you where traffic jams are. However, expect it to always take you through traffic jams. The most use I’ve gotten out of this app this app during traffic hours (aka the time you would most want to use this app) is zooming out to see the full map and then seeing myself how to get around the jam. Without fail, if I’m trying to get home from work, Waze will want me to take a Street that I know for a fact will be jammed. I decided to follow the directions twice thinking maybe Waze was smart than I am and knew something I didn’t. Both times I was backed up a solid mile before where Waze thought the real jam started it. And I’m talking I was in bumper to bumper traffic waiting for the light to turn 3 times before I got past a single block. Despite this, Waze insists this is the fastest route — it’s not.
Waze also becomes unresponsive to traffic reports during peak hours it seems. You could report bumper to bumper traffic in a downtown street and Waze will only mark the small section where you are even if the jam stretches 10 minutes in front of you. You would think it would gather that you’re in a bad jam and find a different route, but it doesn’t. Your best bet is to zoom out the map, and try to find a better way yourself.
Doesn’t work well with iOS 12
by serickjr
Update Oct 3, 2018-
We’ve been using Waze for many years and have always loved it... until iOS 12. There has been so many issues with it freezing, crashing and interfering with the built in Bluetooth in our car. It will completely cut off the Bluetooth in the car making it completely useless. We deleted the app for a while because it just didn’t work at all and redone loaded it after some updates were released after iOS 12 was out for a while and that’s when the Bluetooth issues started, needless to say we deleted it again. I’m very disappointed, we used for every drive we took, even up to the grocery store 2 miles away. As you can see below from our first review we absolutely loved it... But sadly, not so much anymore. I really hope that you’re reading these reviews and doing something to fix these issues so we can start using it again!
Since Google owns Waze I Would love to see some of Google Maps functions integrated into Waze. Other than that I have no complaints except the occasional outage, but we've been using it since it came out a few years ago and have loved it from the beginning!! Keep up the good work and get some of those google map features carried over to Waze!!
Useful but NOT safe
by EDazey
I like Waze for navigation; it has some good aspects over other map apps-I like that based on the day and time that I open the app it predicts where I might be going, I like that it chooses the shortest route and is always right regarding my ETA, I like that I can send my ETA to any of my contacts so they know when to expect me, and I like that if I try to access the search function while in motion it says this is unsafe and asks if I am the passenger. I DON’T like that all other uses of the app while in motion are extremely unsafe. To document police, accident, stalled car, road closure, etc I have to take my eyes off the road to navigate through all the prompts which is exactly like texting and driving, I DON’T like that there are ads that pop up anytime I am going less than 5mph-my husband has them pop at highway speeds! We need a paid version of the app!! Also, the see other people on the road function does not work well. There are many times I see other icons when there isn’t even another car around or my husband is using the app in his car ahead of me but I don’t see his icon. Also, beeps are not useful. Not only is it unsafe to get in and access the beep function, it serves no purpose. Once you accept them there is no history and no way to tell who beeped you.
Like I said, I like the app for overall navigation and real-time ETA, but otherwise it needs some serious updates.
Used to be so good
by Debest74
This app used to be so good but for the past few months is just not working. At this point i open it for police reports and use google maps for directions. I go fairly frequent to Las Vegas from California. Lately the directions won’t load and when I do get it to work it routs me completely out of the way!!!! Google maps tells me it’s going to take me about 4 hours with traffic and Waze is literally making me turn around/make a U on the 15 when driving from Vegas to take a completely obscure way adding 3 hours to the rout. The last straw was a few weeks ago driving from California to Las Vegas. At first it wouldn’t load so I went to the Waze support area and it advised to break down the trip in chunks so I decided to have it navigate me to the outlets in Barstow since I pass them EVERY SINGLE TIME. Somehow it took me trough a back way and trough a town name Crestline, up some mountains in the middle of no where and by the. It was pass 12am!!!! A 4 hour drive turn into an 11 hour drive!!!!!!!
If anything happened I would have been royally effed in the middle of nowhere.
This weekend I went back to California and decided to try again thinking it was maybe a problem that day. Once again it kept routing me trough some weird areas turning a 4 hour trip into 7. I had my girlfriend open her Waze to compare and Hers was working perfectly fine and using a complete different rout than mine was and about the same one as google maps.
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