Disappointing and Unhelpful
I was excited to use this app during my visit to Cahokia Mounds, but it ended up being more frustrating than helpful. For starters, the app is almost useless once you’re on the trails — there’s very little signage in the park, and the app doesn’t do enough to fill in the gaps. It lacks a clear, detailed map, which is a huge oversight given how many trails crisscross throughout the area. Staying on the right path is nearly impossible.
To make matters worse, the cell service is extremely poor, which made downloading and using the app painfully slow. There was no warning about this at the visitor center or entrance, and no promotion of the app in visible areas like the driveway or main signage. How are visitors supposed to even know it exists before they head out?
This could be a valuable tool, but right now it feels like a missed opportunity. I expected better for such a significant historic site.
To make matters worse, the cell service is extremely poor, which made downloading and using the app painfully slow. There was no warning about this at the visitor center or entrance, and no promotion of the app in visible areas like the driveway or main signage. How are visitors supposed to even know it exists before they head out?
This could be a valuable tool, but right now it feels like a missed opportunity. I expected better for such a significant historic site.
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Worth the $
Creative and flexible option to engage in learning!
The AR function does not appear to work
Evidently other people have got it working but the instructions are extremely obscure and I was not able to get the AR function to work at all. It keeps telling you to follow an arrow and the arrow just keeps vanishing and no matter which way you point it nothing happens. I've waited two decades to come here and I'm very disappointed that there's absolutely no good information to be had.
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Don’t buy this app
I was very dissatisfied by the app. The view is better without it, and even on its own, the app should not cost money. This is a scam. DONT BUY
Poorly designed
This app was poorly designed. There are a few simple directions that would have made it more user friendly.
I didn’t it figure out what they really wanted you to do until the final marker.
Also, it’s ridiculous to offer only headphone listening. What if you are with someone.
I paid for the app and it was a lot waste.
I didn’t it figure out what they really wanted you to do until the final marker.
Also, it’s ridiculous to offer only headphone listening. What if you are with someone.
I paid for the app and it was a lot waste.
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A start
Clunky app, froze within minutes.
Didn’t work
Just go to YouTube this didn’t give me any real info
Old tech, mediocre experience on the ground
Forced into paying for and using this because interpretive center is closed indefinitely for renovations. So no paper tour guides available.
I used an iPhone. Huge mistake. You need the bigger tablet screen. Don’t forget your earbuds. Not sure what you get without them but the threats are clear.
Before you start, be sure to visit settings and turn brightness all the way up. There is a brightness icon on-screen during the tour. As far as I can tell, all it does is make a ding sound. No change in brightness.
The actual AR effects are good for such old technology. Hopefully, the tiny text for the “information points” will be more legible on a tablet. I guess there is no help for the awkward ground scanning at each stop.
Between the AR and the teensy text, the app is informative. I did learn a lot.
There are two included tours. There is a fair amount of repetition between the two. I learned to back out.
I used an iPhone. Huge mistake. You need the bigger tablet screen. Don’t forget your earbuds. Not sure what you get without them but the threats are clear.
Before you start, be sure to visit settings and turn brightness all the way up. There is a brightness icon on-screen during the tour. As far as I can tell, all it does is make a ding sound. No change in brightness.
The actual AR effects are good for such old technology. Hopefully, the tiny text for the “information points” will be more legible on a tablet. I guess there is no help for the awkward ground scanning at each stop.
Between the AR and the teensy text, the app is informative. I did learn a lot.
There are two included tours. There is a fair amount of repetition between the two. I learned to back out.
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Cahokia app
Doesn’t work
Very balky app - use caution!
I purchased this app at Cahokia and wished I hadn’t. It froze my phone and never worked correctly. Conferred with other folks who had made the same mistake of purchasing and were dealing with the same issues. It never worked while we were at Cahokia, and later when I was experiencing odd phone issues I deleted it, which solved the problem. Better beware!
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500 mb is too big.
Obnoxious enormous download to do on site.
One star
The app will not work without headphones. The app wants you to walk off the path using the arrows. There isnt any way to shut the app off. Basically a piece of junk.
Why no sound?
I was coming through on a road trip- sorry I don’t carry headphones on my person as I’m driving across the country. Thought this would be cute and informative since the visitor center is totally shut down, but can’t listen to the videos (duplicates) that show up at 3 or 4 locations because I’m not connected with my headphones. When you walk away from the sign, the video shuts off warning you you’re out of range. Ancients would have been at the site listening to birds and the sounds of city life, why can’t we when immersed in your app without headphones?
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Super tour!
Brings the past to life! Easy to learn use and informative!
Maybe not for an iPhone?
Happily paid for the app, downloaded it, and it froze at the first sign. Rebooted the phone and it froze again. I think a warning to consider not using a small phone screen would be nice. Even if the app had worked, reading the text and seeing the graphics in the sun on a tiny screen would’ve been unpleasant or impossible.
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AR tour not for those hot sunny days
The sun prohibits very much viewing of the app, so I wouldn’t use this on those hot hot days
Amazing!
Such an amazing way to enhance a tour into the past! Easy to use even for someone who is not great with technology. Made history come alive. My 9 year old & my parents in their later 60s all enjoyed it.
Impossible to use in bright sunlight
I downloaded the app at home and you can’t practice using till you’re at the site. On our arrival,It was 80 degrees outside in bright sunshine with my screen brightness on max. I activated the camera,focused on the ground in front of the QR& then aimed at the QR sign. Nothing! Tried multiple times without success. The screen was hard to see and if there were a compass or arrow, I couldn’t see anything. I use QR codes frequently so felt irritated and grumpy instead of amazed. Put a sunshade over every access point or make the app more intuitive. At least you got a $4.99 donation from me.
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Great Experience
A successful use of augmented reality, this app unobtrusively helped me visualize Cahokia as it once was!
Never Change Cahokia App
To the developers of this application: please keep this as true to itself as possible. The aesthetics, features and functionality add so much to the experience and to life as a whole. Very few apps come this close to perfection. Never change, Cahokia AR app.
