It is frustrating supporting the early development of freeware only to have it switch to an overly expensive paid model. I helped enter route info for the free version of this software only to watch it become an expensive software with almost no free functionality. You are competing with free software google maps. SUCH a disappointment. Nothing wrong with paying for a good software, but Pointz still needs lots of work to match up to pro apps like the ones from Google and Apple (and those are free.) Dissapointing!
Pointz was a great app a few months ago. Then they went to a payment based app. Fine. But for $60 for a full year? No, thank you.
The data that Points uses comes from two sources; Google and YOU! The User of the app!
So all of my suggestions for Shortcuts to be used on the app was done by me, the user! And now that I have given information on new paths and routes and suggestions, they begin charging money for how I made the app better….
And other people did the same thing as I did too.
Pointz you had a good thing going. Sure, I would love to pay you for the app! But a monthly or annual subscription payment? No, thank you.
Deleting this app off of my phone.
The app needs work and it was a poor decision to switch to a subscription only model. App is useless without the subscription. You can test it for 7 days during which you will see how much work it needs.
The routing is pretty good compared to other apps, but slow. It requires crowdsourcing to get better, but there will never be enough users if there is no free option. I added some data to improve the routing, but there’s no point anymore unless I pay a $60 subscription.
I’ve been using the app for around 2 weeks to great affect, it’s helped me see nearby routes but now for some reason the second I input a destination it says “directions not found” even though it was working perfectly fine prior. The app is great but if it fixes just this one problem it’d be 5 stars
Interesting idea but the route colors are not accessible to me (red/green colorblind), and every time I try to put in a destination it says “No directions were found”. The app should have a colorblind mode using alternate colors (blue/green for example).
Also, the tutorial for the layers button pops up out of nowhere. There are three different tutorials: the onboarding, the one you can skip, then the layers button. Hopefully that can be cleaned ip so when I press “skip tutorial”, it can work for all three of those.
This app is amazing for cyclists that worry about getting pancaked by distracted drivers. No other apps come close to letting you not only adjust how safe you want your route to be, but also allow you to adjust said route manually.
My only gripe is sometimes the app will launch on its own. You know how when you’re navigating somewhere, iOS will give you a blue bubble over your clock in your status bar indicating you’re on route via gps? Pointz does that even if you have forced the app closed. It does this even if you aren’t on your bike. It’s a little creepy. I only want to use this app if I have deliberately opened it. I emailed the developer about it a week ago and still haven’t heard anything.
My quick fix, even though it isn't ideal, is to uninstall the app when I’m not using it.
Developer Response
Thank you for sharing your experience, and thank you for writing in! We're thrilled to hear that you find Pointz's safety options helpful, and apologies for the app's unexpected launching in the background. We've removed this in the latest update that will go out soon (3.0.0). For now, you can go to 'Location permissions' from the Settings app and change Pointz's location permissions to only when using app. Also, if that doesn't work, please email me at trisha@bikepointz.com
I really like this app. The concept of the slider for comfort vs directness is truly a game changer that shows deep understanding of what bike riders want to have available. The biggest problem is the data source underlying it all, which is good in some places and bad in others. If you know your city well, it’s possible to fix the issues directly, but that takes additional effort. (At least there is a way, other mapping apps have seemingly abandoned their bike information)
Developer Response
Thank you for letting us know about the slider (glad it's helpful for you!) and sharing about the data. We're working on doing a full data refresh currently, and will be repeating this every couple of weeks. We would love to get your thoughts on our processes and hear any more ideas or feedback you have - please reach out to hi@bikepointz.com. Happy riding!Great alternative to google maps with more detailed cycling maps. It is able to pick safe routes based on each individual street’s bike friendliness. The bike parking on the map is also a great feature to help people who bike commute.
In terms of features that can make it even better, I think it’d be nice to mark where there are unprotected bike lanes and shared lanes. Even though they’re not as great as protected lanes, I’d rather ride in them than a regular street.
Developer Response
Thank you so much for sharing this, and I'm so happy that bike parking and the bike-friendliness ratings are helpful. We currently show details about sharrows or unprotected lanes if you long-press on a colored street on the map, but we can work on making those easier to access and see on the map! Great ideas, and feel free to share any more thoughts with me at trisha@bikepointz :)Snappy and easy to use. I love how you can quickly see the safety score of various sections of the route, and the slider that allows you to prioritize more safety vs a faster trip. (I’ve heard that this app has gotten a lot better in the past year.)
It relies on OpenStreetMap data, so if I ever see a street safety score that seems wrong, or a missing trail, I can just go edit OpenStreetMap and eventually Pointz will refresh with that new data.
Now we need to increase the user base so that Google Maps and Apple Maps will start feeling the heat, and feel pressure to improve their bike routes!
Developer Response
Thanks Beacon, We're thrilled to hear that you find our app snappy, easy to use, and helpful for planning your bike routes. We're currently refreshing our app data with OSM and will be doing it every few weeks. Feel free to reach out to trisha@bikepointz.com if you have any other feedback or ideas!Love the slider, love that it took me ways I never would have discovered. But when navigating, the app repeatedly announced to turn left/right all the time when there was no junction. Considering how many turns this app recommends, this is an issue.
Developer Response
Thank you for sharing your experience with the app! We appreciate your positive feedback regarding the slider feature and the exploration it enables. We apologize for the inconvenience caused by the repeated turn announcements - we have fixed the problems in our most recent version. Let us know what you think, and feel free to reach out at hi@bikepointz.com
FlipsideRide111111
Adam Goodson
lreview563
Iks08
Peter Kos
zzzzz6969420
xplosneer
Vinman~87
Beacon.Bits
brrrrrrrrap
