# Big Island Audio Tour Guide — user reviews > 169 indexed App Store user reviews of Big Island Audio Tour Guide by Shaka Guide, rated 4.80/5 from 3,978 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/big-island-audio-tour-guide/id1070893569/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/big-island-audio-tour-guide/id1070893569.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 3,656 · 4★ 194 · 3★ 38 · 2★ 27 · 1★ 63 ## What do users think of Big Island Audio Tour Guide? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 🚀 Helpful GPS-guided tours - 👍 Entertaining and informative narration - 🎶 Enjoyable background music - 🤑 Great value for the price - 🗺️ Ability to explore at own pace - 🔍 Discovers hidden gems and off-the-beaten-path spots - 🤓 Provides historical and cultural insights **Cons** - 🐛 Occasional connectivity issues and app crashes - 🕰️ Tours can be long and tiring - 🔇 Repetitive background music - 🧭 Rigid tour directions, can't start at any point **Commonly reported bugs** - GPS not always accurate, leading to missed turns - App sometimes stops working mid-tour **Most requested features** - More tour options for each island - Ability to customize tour routes - Integration with CarPlay/Android Auto - More up-to-date information on attractions and closures ## Newest reviews (16 of 169) ### 4/5 — Super fun, could be better *2026-04-10, version 9.1.4* We loved using this for our drives around the big island! Tons of good factoids and stories to fill the time while you drive for hours while exploring this amazing place. The only reason we did not give 5 stars are: 1. We really needed the speed limits posted in the app like google maps does. There are so many changes that happen quickly if you are trying to switch between the 2 it gets overwhelming and conflicting directions got us mixed up a few times. 2. The music is much louder than the narration so we had to adjust our volume back and forth a lot. If it was a bit quieter setting that the talking that would have been perfect. 3. Sometimes the directions would be exactly at the point where you were supposed to turn so we missed at least 5 where we had to do a turn around and go back. And then sometimes the directions would be very far out so we would slow down way too early. The map was very helpful but if we lost service it wouldn’t always put us in the right location for the narrator to be correct. Other than those things we greatly enjoyed our Shaka guide and are excited to try it on another island!! ### 4/5 — great app but… *2026-01-02, version 9.1.1* Overall the tours are awesome and we would definitely use this again. But the app doesn’t work well with apple car play. The map on your screen doesn’t track like on your phone. ### 5/5 — 1 tour guide! *2025-04-30, version 8.4.5* We love this app! We would be lost without it. Our third time using it and it was spot on every time. We can’t wait for our next adventure in Hawaii!! ### 5/5 — Worth every penny *2025-04-28, version 8.4.5* This app is lovely, flexible, and easy to use. It will direct you to the start of the tour from wherever you are and then picks up from there. The directions are well paced and easy to follow, and all the chosen stops are great. The music is super and sets a nice ambiance. We loved how easy it was to start, stop, deviate from the recorded path, and then resume. The historical and cultural insights are fantastic and it is of value for all visitors to Hawai'i to hear them. Makemake māua i kēia App. Mahalo ā nui!! ### 5/5 — GENIUS Exploring *2025-04-24, version 8.4.5* This is the absolute best way to site see when exploring Hawaii. So simple to follow, such interesting commentary, self paced and cost effective. We completed our first guide today, and will be taking 2 or 3 more over our vacation. ### 5/5 — A must have guided tour *2025-03-01, version 8.4.4* This guide made our trip fantastic. Many people pay $200 per person for each tour. This is GPS guided and there is information and stories throughout the entire trip. There is helpful information, even bathroom breaks through the whole tour. Really a must have. ### 5/5 — Volcanoes *2025-02-28, version 8.4.4* We used the volcano national park tour it was awesome! We went on Tuesday 2/25 and spent the day exploring via the guide. We learned so much on the tour. Honestly folks don’t break the bank booking a private tour, all you need is this app! We left the park at 5:15pm and we just missed the Kīlauea eruption!! The park is amazing I wish we had stayed longer. ### 5/5 — Easy and Useful *2024-11-30, version 8.4.4* The app is easy to use and the tour is great. The information is fun and engaging. ### 5/5 — If I could give this app more starts I would!! *2024-09-29, version 8.4.3* This is our first trip as a family to Hawaii. I have three kids total - 12, 10 and 1. It was age appropriate for all kids! We enjoyed literally every stop. Worth purchasing the 34.99 package! Worth every penny. This app made our trip so special and we are forever grateful for the memories this tour allowed us to create with our family. Crying of happiness while writing this review. You WILL NOT regret it! Recommending this to everyone we know! ### 5/5 — Really added to our trip! *2024-09-14, version 8.4.3* So enjoyable, easy to use, and helpful! We saw so much more than we would have on our own. 10/10, and that’s coming from someone who doesn’t love guided tours!! ### 3/5 — Shaka Big Island Meeh *2024-08-27, version 8.3.9* We’re back for seconds. Loved our Shaka Tour of Kauai’i!! It was so informative & lead us to several hidden gems on the island we would never found. Had “High Hopes” for the 5 big island tours. Overall not bad, but lots & lots & lots of ukulele music playing for miles & miles. Andrew you have a lot of work to do to get these tours up to Shaka Standards. I’m sure you’ll get there, right now it’s a work in progress. Our concierge gave us some fantastic brochures with hidden gems and a lot great areas to check out.Had a great time with your guide but it was just so-so. ### 5/5 — Back for seconds! *2024-07-05, version 8.3.9* We first discovered Shaka Guide in 2021 when we took our first trip to Oahu. It made our driving tour a 5 star experience - music, stories, stops along the way. When we made our plans to go to the Big Island, we bought our airfare and the Shaka Guide. The full island tour was fun. The National Volcano Park amazing! The only thing we were not prepared for is the 37 degrees when we made drove by Mauna Kea. 🥶 If you’re going to get out the car you need long pants and a jacket. I didn’t pack either of those. 😆 We were thrilled to hear Shaka is branching out to provide mainland guides of the National Parks. We will definitely be back for thirds, fourths, and more! ### 5/5 — Thank you Shaka Guide! *2024-07-04, version 8.3.9* What an amazing app. It was a blessing that we had the app downloaded because we had very little cell service around the island. The information and turns were on point and the island music in between stops was very relaxing. The fact that you can stay in your own car and not have to be stuffed into a tour van was well worth the bundle purchase. I can’t wait to get to the next island with you as our guide. ### 5/5 — Love the Shaka Guides *2024-07-02, version 8.3.4* Used on Maui and the Big Island. Outstanding audio tour and guides. Keep up the great work Andrew. Thank you! ### 5/5 — Did All 5! *2024-07-02, version 8.3.4* We logged almost 800 miles! Loved every minute. Learned so much! ### 5/5 — Excellent *2024-06-28, version 8.3.4* This was an awesome app, and it was like a private tour as we visited the big island of Hawaii ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Nice when it works *2025-03-08, version 8.4.4* Difficult to connect. More problems than it’s worth. It would have been nice. Spent an hour of my vacation trying to connect. Don’t waste your money ### 1/5 — Waste of $ *2023-03-20, version 8.1.5* 3/4 of time it wouldn’t even connect the dots. Just got music. Waste of $ ### 1/5 — Nearly Useless Volcano Nat Park Tour *2023-01-01, version 8.1.3* This app did not better than Googling stops on the rim drive. Don’t bother as I want my money back! ### 1/5 — Absolutely brutal *2022-11-17, version 8.0.1* I loved the Shaka app for Kauai but this one is a hot mess. Unorganized, mixes all the tours together and doesn’t allow you to change directions in a HUGE island. Completely useless. Can’t even use it. ### 1/5 — Loses its way *2019-02-18, version 1.6.1* Not reliable. Failed to pick up location although gps was still showing our correct location. ### 1/5 — Charged but national park closed *2018-08-18, version 1.4.4* We got charged for an app that only tours the volcano national park (National Park is closed)- so the charges in current day should be blocked. We thought the app would cover the entire island but no, it only covers the area that we can’t access. Can we have a refund please thanks ### 2/5 — App hard to use- glitchy *2026-07-18, version 9.1.7* Having used an older audio tour last time I visited the Island of Hawaii many years ago I had high expectations. This app was glitchy, missed narrations that should have been on the road. When it did work the directions and explanations were good and helpful but I could see by the app when we stopped that it did not activate and speak when in some locations and by then we were long past the area where it would have been relevant. ### 2/5 — Needs an update *2024-07-14, version 8.3.9* We like the concept, but it really was not executed well. The app kills itself constantly even when we changed settings to keep GPS always and allow background app. It only works about 10% of the time and GPS points do not match up well and some stuff is outdated. We drove quite far to find that a new resort totally blocks access to black sand beach. VNP does not match up well either. There is also an excessive amount of songs and some of the "tour stops" are very underwhelming such as neighborhood parks etc. Also I wish there was some heads up about the price range of certain stops and also days of operation. Hours and days of operation are so limited on Big Island. Some of the attractions are only open a few days a week, so keep that in mind. With a little work, this guide would be awesome. ### 2/5 — Glitchy and restrictive *2023-01-13, version 8.1.3* I’ve used other GPS tour apps before and loved getting information on a place as we drove. They had always worked well, though I thought I’d give a different app (Shaka) a try for our trip to big island. After use, I wish I had stuck with ones I’ve used before. Despite needing to download the guides prior to use, the app never automatically worked if there was no cell signal, which if you’ve been to Hawaii you’ll know a lot of places on the routes fall into that category. If I tried to queue it myself when I saw we missed it, it still often wouldn’t play and seemed to cause extra problems for the next ones. I often had to completely quit the app and restart the tour. We missed several things and stories because of this. This happened even when we were specifically following a route as defined by the tour. I dislike the distinct numbering and routes often used in the tours, such that you can’t start anywhere or do it backwards. Often, the direction of the tour or the routes conflicted with where we were or had planned for a day. Other GPS tours I’ve used haven’t been this restrictive. We ended up using this much less than anticipated, and when we did it provided more headaches than information. ### 3/5 — Spotty Audio *2025-09-29, version 9.0.8* I had problems with the audio reconnecting to my speaker when I got out of the car to see the sights. I also thought there should have been more music or talking instead of so much silence. I also feel the content was out of date. It was just ok. Not worth what I paid for it in my opinion. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Lost Without This! *2026-07-03, version 9.1.7* This self audio tour guided us in the right direction in Kona, HI. We purchased the 5 audio tours. Fully informative and music every drive of the way! Works offline when we didn’t have any cellular service but make sure to download the tours before you drive off! Get you a rental car and save you some $$$$ Worth the purchase! ### 5/5 — Fun way to tour *2026-06-26, version 9.1.7* This guide made exploring easier & fun. Good stories, good directions, and great recommendations. ### 5/5 — Talking story *2026-06-17, version 9.1.7* This is a must have app while on Hawaii. Such good stories and interesting information. The kids loved it! Only suggestion I would make is a “free for all” version. What I mean by that is rather than predetermined routes just have it give information as you drive on your routes. ### 5/5 — Shaka tours *2026-05-29, version 9.1.6* I recommend anyone visiting the Hawaii islands to download the Shaka Tours. Better than bus tours because you can do it on your time. They are informative and entertaining. I’ve never been disappointed. ### 5/5 — LOVE this Guide! *2026-03-26, version 9.1.3* We used the Shaka guide in Maui for the Road to Hana 8 years ago and loved it. So we decided to try it again for the Big Island. We did the North island jungle loop tour today. It was so informative, easy to follow, and we all loved it. Even my impossible to please 16 year old daughter mentioned how cool it is- she was so into it, and was listening to every word and wanted to stop at all the stops. It was a great guide, we had a great day! Can’t recommend this enough. I bought the BI package, and we will be using the other tours this trip as well. ### 5/5 — Big Island South Tour *2026-03-18, version 9.1.3* Great! ### 5/5 — Perfect for first timers! *2025-10-12, version 9.0.9* We used this app for our trip to the Big Island and loved it. The directions and storytelling were amazing, and we could stop whenever we wanted, for as long as we wanted. Much better than a typical group tour where you make designated stops, and usually end up waiting on that one couple who is always late to return to the tour bus. We skipped some of the stops and spent quite a while at others. This was perfect.. Highly recommend! ### 5/5 — Highly Recommended *2025-09-10, version 9.0.8* I would recommend everyone use the Shaka guide for navigating Volcanoes National Park. It’s so helpful and informative, and it made our visit truly exceptional. ### 5/5 — Get This! *2025-08-07, version 9.0.8* Definitely worth it, it was the best investment for our Hawaii trip. We used the Big Island and Oahu. Both were great , very informative and extremely useful. Will definitely use the others on future visits. ### 5/5 — Best Travel Guide App Ever *2025-05-09, version 8.4.5* If I could give this review 10 stars I would. This guided driving tour app was just awesome. We did the package of 5 tours on the Big Island and did them all. There will be a little repeat of some stories if you do all five, but as a history lover it that was ok with me to hear them again. You are guided to all the best spots all over the island with a guide that tells local history and custom stories and shares local spots to shop or eat. The best part is when you are driving and they aren’t talking they play awesome Hawaiian music. It keeps the atmosphere all day throughout the tour. Plus if you don’t finish a tour that’s ok just come back the next day and pick up where you left off. They make it super easy. If you are on the Big Island spend the $40 bucks for all 5 tours I promise you won’t regret it. Thank Shaka Guide we will be using you on our next island adventure and will tell all about you. You made our tours on our honeymoon absolutely awesome. --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-01.*