MyRoute-App - worst navigation experience ever

[Thomas Piechocki]

I've been using MyRoute App Gold for six months now and I have to say that I'm totally disappointed. Under Android Auto (v13.2.644464), the app regularly crashes after several hours, often starts without sound, which then suddenly reappears a few waypoints later or is lost again during the rest of the journey. Or the synchronization with the GPS signal is lost and then only the current position is displayed, but without location-based information such as speed limits. Of course, the planned navigation then also stops. What's particularly bad is that you can't get to a working app again by restarting the app or the smartphone (Motorola edge 20 pro/Android 13), you can only switch to Ami Go or Google Maps, which of course work without any problems. If I start a route with my home as waypoint 1 and drive off, I am always (!) taken back to my house in a circle and I could continue the whole thing until the tank is empty or I skip waypoint 1. That can't be true! All in all, MyRoute app is the worst navigation experience I've had so far, even though it sounds so powerful and convincing in theory. In the meantime, I have little hope that it will make the necessary progress in the coming months to ever be used safely on the road.

[Hans van de Ven MR.MRA]

@Thomas-Piechocki

Do you have the latest version?
Wich map do you use to create your route?

[Rob Verhoeff]

@Thomas-Piechocki I can't comment on the Android story as an Apple user. What I can explain is the process of following a set route you've created yourself where waypoint 1 is your home address. This waypoint is referred to as a via point in MRA. The navigation system will always guide you back to that point until you pass through it. The recommendation is to place that point a few hundred meters away from your home, so the navigation directs you there. Once you've reached it, the navigation will continue automatically.

[Thomas Piechocki]

@Hans-van-de-Ven-MR-MRA
I use MyRoute app 4.3.3 and HERE map because - if I have understood correctly - this is the app's default map.

[Marinus van Deudekom]

@Thomas-Piechocki Hi Thomas
It might be usefull to take a look at some or even better all of the instruction videos so you can get a better understanding of how the app works. You seem to have made some roukie mistakes causing some basic misunderstanding of how the app works

[Thomas Piechocki]

@Marinus-van-Deudekom

Hi Marinus,
I've been trying to give the MyRoute app a chance for over six months because I'd really like to use it. I'm not talking about the route planner, that works perfectly. And of course I've also studied the various tips and manuals. However, I have not found anywhere that you should not start your route directly at the starting point, but somewhere at a fictitious point nearby; what to do if the sound or the entire navigation is cancelled without a message, the app suddenly starts drawing straight lines like fireworks across the display or stops working completely. I think a sat nav app should be easy to operate and use while driving. I don't see where a lack of understanding or incorrect operation could be responsible for the all-round negative impression. I already understand the operation and functionality. I also don't want to rule out the possibility that the interaction with Android Auto may be a major source of errors, but you should be able to assume that a commercial application will work perfectly within its intended area of use.

[Hans van de Ven MR.MRA]

@Thomas-Piechocki

Would you be so kind to share the URL from your route? Make sure it is set public

[Marinus van Deudekom]

@Thomas-Piechocki Hi Thomas
It's a piitty that you've ben struggling for 6 months. If you experience problems ask us for help and it will be given to you.
Regarding to the starting point. That had been mentioned lots of times on the forum.
If your start is not good you're bound to get more trouble on the way.
A lot has changed the last 6 months regarding the working of Android Auto. I use it myself frequently and since the last updates almost flawless. It's still work in progress but it has improved a great deal.

[Con Hennekens]

@Thomas-Piechocki, the problem with the starting point at your doorstep, is that you already passed it when starting the route on your driveway. putting it like 25mtrs into the direction of your route is usually more than enough to prevent this. However I made it a habit to put the starting point somewhere outside my village or city. The app leads you there from your doorstep anyway. You call that fictitious, but most waypoints are fictitious, aren't they? I have never seen the app drawing straight lines between waypoints. I would really like to see a screenshot of that.

I think a sat nav app should be easy to operate and use while driving.

I think the MRA app is.

you should be able to assume that a commercial application will work perfectly

Even my expensive Garmins did not work perfectly.

I don't see where a lack of understanding or incorrect operation could be responsible for the all-round negative impression.

I do. Your remark of putting a starting point on your driveway is proof of that. Had you been on the forum with questions in your first month, it would probably have saved you 5 months of anger and disappointment

[cvlmtg]

I have to say I agree with Thomas. I love MRA route planner, it's the most powerful I have ever tried and works quite well, but I tried the navigation app once and I think I'll never use it again.

You can say that to solve the first waypoint problem you can just move it to another place, but that's the problem! You always have to remember this or that workaround. You even have to tell the app that if you are calculating a route while you have no internet connection then yes, you want to calculate the route with no internet connection. It seems this app always require a lot of extra manual work just to do what other apps do by themselves.
It doesn't matter that there are videos or tutorials explaining how the app work, because the problem is that you need all these videos and tutorials while other apps just work.

[Mzokk]

@cvlmtg I've been doing a lot of testing over that past year with Myroute app for Android and Android Auto with a view to replacing my Garmin devices. The latest iteration of the navigation app is much better than earlier iterations. The app works best on the Phone as you remove the issues with AA on the vehicle and connection issues. (the AA on my Africa twin is wired.) For Garmin navigation devices on a planned route its always better to have your starting point some way on the direction of travel so that the Nav system has to pass through it. I also use OSMand and this app is the same as Garmin and MRA in this respect. All three will obviously work well from where you are for a point to point route. There is still a bit of work to do but I'd have no hesitation using MRA on a tour now. The route planning app is great for bespoke routes while on tour. I used it extensively last summer to plan daily routes on tour and send them to my Garmin XT via drive. Much easier than carrying a device capable of running Basecamp.! Testing looks a bit silly though.

[cvlmtg]

@Mzokk I've been using mapy.cz for the past few years and despite it's few flaws (because nobody is perfect obviously) it gets the basics right in my opinion. Even if the starting point is some meters behind me, I can start my trip with no worries, even if I didn't cross the first waypoint. I don't need to switch a button off to calculate a route while offline, nor to switch it back on to update my maps when I have wifi. I'm using it on a cheap rugged android phone and it works smoothly. I can even navigate 5 or 6 hours straight just on the phone battery.

The only reason I'm still here is because, as I said, the route planner is great, but I currently prefer to spend some extra time to redo the route on mapy and navigate with their app

[Thomas Piechocki]

Please do not concentrate on the problem with the first waypoint. I have solved this for myself by simply skipping it immediately after the start. This is just as less optimal as placing it nearby, but I could live with it. What I can't live with is the fact that I started 11 journeys with MRA and couldn't finish one (!) without errors. The problem/crash/mute could not even be solved quickly in a car park by restarting. Most of the time I had to switch to Google Maps or Ami Go, which have never had a total failure or such a massive restriction in operation as MRA. And yes, if you're travelling at 270 km/h on the motorway and suddenly the voice prompts disappear and you're speeding past the exit because you're looking more at the road than at the display, that's a problem for me. Just yesterday I started again with MRA, and right from the start there was no sound. As a test, all the other sat navs had sound. I still drove on without sound because my passenger kept an eye on the display. Then, two hours and three waypoints later, the voice message suddenly came back. And regarding incorrect operation: I am already able to check whether it is activated or deactivated in the settings. So far, MRA hasn't lasted longer than five or six hours without becoming inoperable or causing massive errors.
And it's nice that many people are satisfied with MRA, unfortunately I'm not.

[Marinus van Deudekom]

@cvlmtg its not that strange at all. If you start walking you take the first step. If you don't you fall flat in your face. Keep it simple. It's not a work around just common practice

[richtea999]

In gentle defence of MRA, the app has been around for a whole 1.5 years. Garmin was founded in 1989, that's 35 years ago. It takes time to refine a product.

In my experience, it works very well if you build your routes 'correctly', but I didn't get to that stage without some learning pain on the way.

I wholeheartedly agree with @cvlmtg on the video/help/manual point though, a new user should be able to do basic routes without getting 'caught out'. If nothing else it can lose a potential customer very early in the learning process.

I'm sure Thomas could get it working nicely, but he'll have to spend time refining what steps he takes, and read around the subject. That's not ideal for a lot of users. Techies like me enjoy fiddling and investigating, but a normal(!) route maker just wants to get on with it.

Right now, I think that MRA are still in the refinement stage (battery issues, features etc), and in the next year or so, there needs to be a greater emphasis on usability for new users. That might even mean removing features and options, so we're left with the sensible defaults.

[cvlmtg]

@Marinus-van-Deudekom said in MyRoute-App - worst navigation experience ever:

@cvlmtg its not that strange at all. If you start walking you take the first step. If you don't you fall flat in your face. Keep it simple. It's not a work around just common practice

I don't think I understood what you were saying, but as for the workarounds... if 99% of navigation apps work even if your starting point is 10 meters behind you and 1 app doesn't, moving the starting point somewhere else to help this app is not common practice, it's a workaround

[cvlmtg]

@richtea999 said in MyRoute-App - worst navigation experience ever:

In gentle defence of MRA, the app has been around for a whole 1.5 years. Garmin was founded in 1989, that's 35 years ago. It takes time to refine a product.

True, and being a developer myself (though in a different field) I know the struggles of such a small team as MRA to build a complex product as a navigation app. But changing the core of such a program is not easy, and won't be any easier if you just add more and more features in a hurry without a proper design. I'm being a bit harsh now lacking some english skills to express myself properly, but that's my impression about the app now.

If you e.g. have issues with online / offline operations, you should fix them properly, not just add a switch that the user should decide if and when activate. I've never seen any other app that needs a switch to calculate a route offline, and have never seen any other app asking me to confirm that I want to calculate a route offline when I'm trying to calculate a route offline...

I'm not saying the navigation app is not capable, just that it's too much effort to make it do even the basic things. Computers were invented to make life easier, this app is making it more complicated, because every decision is left to the user through some switch and every task requires a lot of extra manual work.

[Thomas Piechocki]

@richtea999

I'm sorry that I have to totally disagree. I just can't get MRA to work sensibly by just making an effort or investing some time. I spent hours on it and worked through all the manuals several times. I don't want to watch long-winded videos where I have to scroll back and forth all the time, sorry I'm just not a YT guy. But MyRoute offers a whole range of written information on their website, all of which I have worked through. I have no difficulty in recording the problems of creating routes and transferring them as a route or track. This is exclusively about the MyRoute app, which in combination with AA is not able to complete a longer trip without failure! This can hardly be due to an incomprehensible operation. I don't change any setting, and yet the voice prompt is gone, the synchronization breaks down permanently or refuses to be used.
The problems are so comprehensive and complex that probably no one can help me who has not experienced it themselves and on top of that has insights into the development. When I buy and pay for an application, I expect not to have to serve as a guinea pig. If you're not ready, you can't advertise your product so full-bodied and optimistic. I am not interested in the fact that Garmin also has problems. No other mobile navigation app I use causes such a mass of errors as MyRoute app, of a fundamental nature. I'm not even going into complicated operation or accuracy of navigation here, it's about basic functioning!

[Con Hennekens]

@cvlmtg said in MyRoute-App - worst navigation experience ever:

You can say that to solve the first waypoint problem you can just move it to another place, but that's the problem! You always have to remember this or that workaround.

No you don't . Despite the fact that placing a waypoint on the location you will be taking off from has no value (since you don't need navigation to it if you are already there...), there is a function in the app that is called "start from nearest waypoint". This "nearest waypoint" is the nearest one ahead in your route. So if you already passed your home location, it will start from WP2, even if that one is further away. Problem solved I am not sure however, if this function is already working like that in the public release, but if not, it will come out of beta soon.

[Con Hennekens]

@cvlmtg said in MyRoute-App - worst navigation experience ever:

If you e.g. have issues with online / offline operations, you should fix them properly, not just add a switch that the user should decide if and when activate.

In the settings of the app, you explicitly configure online or offline use. I think it is a courtesy that you are warned and given a choice if you want to break the explicitly configured options. If that all is too much of an effort, it is better to stick to a simpler app indeed.