[EN] MyRoute-app Routeplanner Next (Beta)

[JP d]

@Corjan-Meijerink "Not paying anything? That’s fine!
You keep the features you have, no extra’s and have to wait to February to use it."

What do we get to use in February?

[Brian McG]

@Con-Hennekens I do think it is a bit cheeky asking €49 to be a Beta guinea pig,
for the privilege of providing feedback, paying €49 + spending the time to test made me laugh

I understand that with my Lifetime Gold I just have to wait till February to use the new planner & I will have access to all the functionality I currently have in February

The only benefit I see for me in accessing the Beta would be the addition of the MRA Route Collaboration & Group Rides functionality to my subscription
I get that Route Collaboration means multiple users able to edit the same route file simultaneously & that seems like a nice new feature, is there a max number of concurrent users, is it 2 or higher?
As I have no idea what the functionality of Group Rides is I cant effectively evaluate if it is worth paying the €49 for the beta access, what does Group Rides do?

Oh & a bit of free feedback

screen real estate is precious, having the functions in a vertical tab takes up a lot of lateral space reducing the important map area, either revert functions tabs to horizontal, make it user configurable, or add the ability to collapse the vertical tab so it takes up less space
oh & I dont need a "Discover" button that I am unlikely to use always hiding part of the map

[Corjan Meijerink]

@Brian-McG it’s so much more than paying to test We did the exact same thing with Navigation Next and had thousands of sign ups.

Also, all those menu’s are collapsible already

[Peter Schiefer]

I also find the Gold Member offer rather surprising.
I could pay €49
for the following options

Early access from 2 November 2026
A private forum group where you help decide what we build
Lifetime access to the add-ons below*
The beta badge on your profile
Sleep sounder: you’re supporting a small, hard-working business

On the other hand, it says

Are you upgrading from Routeplanner Gold or Silver?
Gold gives you MRA Unlimited Routes, MRA Toolkit Pro and MRA Premium Routing. Silver gives you MRA Unlimited Routes. Nothing you’ve paid for will be lost.

So where’s the added value?
A badge for my jacket?
Does continuing to support the product mean helping to iron out bugs in return for payment?
Sorry, but that’s very little to say the least – or rather, unusual, to put it politely.

The only understandable point is that you’d be excluded from purchasing the upcoming Add-Ons as a lifetime package. Although you can’t even see or test the actual added value yet, and future prices aren’t known either.
If I’m already being offered a discounted price, then there should be measurable added value.
For example, the AI function – which is probably the best added value for most people – is then included for life.

It’s also unclear: even if you buy Beta Route Planning Next, will the routes work in the current Navigation Next, or will you then also have to purchase a future version of Navigation Next, as announced?

It’s all been very poorly planned.
Auch das Angebot für Gold-Mitglieder finde ich ziemlich überraschend.
Ich könnte 49 € bezahlen
für die folgenden Optionen:

Frühzugang ab dem 2. November 2026
Eine private Forum-Gruppe, in der du mitentscheiden kannst, was wir entwickeln
Lebenslanger Zugang zu den unten aufgeführten Add-ons*
Das Beta-Abzeichen in deinem Profil
Schlaf ruhiger: Du unterstützt ein kleines, fleißiges Unternehmen

Andererseits heißt es dort:

Upgraden Sie von Routeplanner Gold oder Silver?
Mit Gold erhalten Sie MRA Unlimited Routes, MRA Toolkit Pro und MRA Premium Routing. Mit Silver erhalten Sie MRA Unlimited Routes. Nichts, wofür Sie bezahlt haben, geht verloren.

Wo liegt also der Mehrwert?
Ein Abzeichen für meine Jacke?
Bedeutet die fortgesetzte Unterstützung des Produkts, dass ich gegen Bezahlung dabei helfe, Fehler zu beheben?
Tut mir leid, aber das ist, gelinde gesagt, sehr wenig – oder, um es höflich auszudrücken, eher ungewöhnlich.

Der einzige nachvollziehbare Punkt ist, dass man vom Kauf der kommenden Add-Ons als Lebenszeitpaket ausgeschlossen wäre. Dabei kann man den tatsächlichen Mehrwert noch nicht einmal sehen oder testen, und auch die zukünftigen Preise sind noch nicht bekannt.
Wenn mir bereits ein vergünstigter Preis angeboten wird, dann sollte es einen messbaren Mehrwert geben.
Zum Beispiel ist die KI-Funktion – die für die meisten Menschen wahrscheinlich den größten Mehrwert darstellt – dann lebenslang enthalten.

Unklar ist auch: Selbst wenn man „Beta Route Planning Next“ kauft, funktionieren die Routen dann in der aktuellen Version von „Navigation Next“, oder muss man dann, wie angekündigt, auch eine zukünftige Version von „Navigation Next“ erwerben?

Das Ganze ist sehr schlecht geplant.

[Rob Verhoeff]

@Peter-Schiefer I seriously wonder whether you actually took the time to read the entire topic. Corjan has explained at various points in the thread what you do and do not get. What exactly is so difficult to understand about that?

[martin-phogel.de]

@Con-Hennekens sagte:

It is really quite logical that fundamentally new features cannot endlessly be given away for free.

This isn't a matter of logic; it depends on the business model.

A "lifetime license" can certainly be understood as a one-time payment that grants access to all future features. This is the case with many other products — for example, Scenic (a direct competitor) or Roon (music management). Often, such licenses are sold only at launch or at a significantly higher price than with MRA.

Regardless of which features you will get with the upcoming version (with or without the extra payment), it's completely unclear which future features, developed after the official launch of the new version, will then be included in the lifetime license. Some will be included, while others may cost extra.

In my view, the entire announcement of the new version is an absolute communication disaster, as shown by the many questions still being raised. This can't be dismissed by saying users are too stupid to read or understand it.

As harsh as it may sound, I agree with what's already been said here: It's quite obvious that the business model based on numerous inexpensive lifetime licenses no longer works, so a change is needed, and MRA is testing how much extra revenue can be generated by splitting features into those included in the lifetime license and those that aren't.

To be clear: I recently purchased an additional license for Navigation Next so I could use more than two devices at the same time. For convenience and, yes, to support a small business. That was totally fine. But this change to the lifetime license model doesn't feel right at all.

[Mzokk]

In terms of the announced additions I might have been tempted by improvements that would improve the way I navigate. However, I have no interest in AI generated routes, I don't have friends who use the product so collaborative route planning would not be an advantage for me. I already plan multi day trips with the product using the roads I want to be on and the places I want to visit. The biggest weaknesses for me in the current product are the inability to handle tracks well (I use other tools for those) and the limited information you can attach to POI's and the fact you can't make them proximity alerted for "Free Rides". Again I use other tools and devices for this functionality. The biggest advantage of the current product for me is the ability to change routes or create different routes "on the fly" according to accommodation availability, weather finding out another place to visit ETC. What has been announced so far does not add value to that as far as I can see?

[Vince Hyde]

since the new web planner is on a different site with a new login will all the routes in my library, my friends and events migrate over to the new site once I link my lifetime gold account if I join in October or February

[Corjan Meijerink]

And those are all valid arguments so you don’t need to spend a cent

Hence I don’t understand why people start with assuming the worst. Everyone gets a free upgrade.

Yes, I can agree with the fact we did not announce it as such (a free upgrade) but we are also so overwhelmed by everyone absolutely assuming the bloody worst.

[Corjan Meijerink]

Honestly, when we announced Navigation (Next) even then people were mad at us for not including that in Gold.

Now we are going full circle again. Can we just please jump to the conclusion that everyone gets a FREE upgrade, gets MORE features for FREE and above all MyRoute-app will continue to innovate for ALL existing customers regardless of their subscription.

Nobody loses a single functionality.

And again, if you do not care about:

• AI Routeplanner
• Group rides
• Route collaboration
• Early access
• More….

Good news! You don’t need to spend a single cent

But honestly, this thread summarises the polarisation and current state of society.
Not trying to make people angry. The opposite really.

But years of innovation, years of hard work and rather than being curious about the future people immediately assume the worst.
We’ve had dozens of messages accusing of us the worst.

Again, I agree. We did not immediately communicate what would happen to people with their current subscriptions. Because guess what? We just assumed people would figure that would become clear in the coming period and nothing would change regarding their subscription. Because that’s true! Nothing will change! Any feature you paid for remains accessible.

The fact how many people shouted the opposite has been heartbreaking for the entire team.

Nothing will change tomorrow. We are still months away.
No, not a public company statement but just another weekend reply by me on a Sunday.

Not expecting replies to this.
Not expecting apologies.
Not expecting anything.

Just hoping this settles it. Removes all your worries. Hoping we can continue. Maybe one positive message here: “yeeej, innovation we have been waiting on for years”?

That’s it.
A pleasant weekend everyone

[Rob Verhoeff]

Amen!

[Anonymouse]

@Corjan-Meijerink said:
The fact how many people shouted the opposite has been heartbreaking for the entire team.

Please don't be discouraged. Collaborative route design seems like a great idea (better than doing it over Teams); and there is a whole world of new stuff that can be done with AI. And a broader refresh of the app is most welcome.

What you are mostly hearing is confusion, not criticism. The website is crystal clear to you but wasn't clear to other readers. And even after reading this forum I'm still confused about some of the things listed for the beta product. There's a lesson there but we DO value innovation and the work the team is doing.

[Anonymouse]

On AI pricing. Nothing seems to have been published about this yet but here's a point of view: please don't make it (for lifetime members) another price-per-month add-on. Many of us (especially those most likely to use the feature) are already paying monthly for one or more AI systems; other apps include AI as just another feature. Usage limits might be one way to control the cost of tokens, as long as we get a decent allowance. But we already have too many monthly subscriptions for overlapping capabilities.

Ideally there would be a simple API which allows us to use our own GenAI to operate MRA, with our own subscription rather than something baked in which evolves more slowly than the (incredible) pace at which the main AI vendors are moving. A one-off lifetime fee for that API would of course be needed.

For those who don't want AI features, wait and see - I don't know what MyRoute-app will do, but I am using ChatGPT Plus extensively for route planning at the detailed level and frankly it is amazing. I just wish it could exchange data properly with MRA.
This is functionality which has the potential to transform MRA.