# Metro Pulse — user reviews > 66 indexed App Store user reviews of Metro Pulse by Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, rated 2.80/5 from 108 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/metro-pulse/id6737127867/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/metro-pulse/id6737127867.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 38 · 4★ 7 · 3★ 8 · 2★ 7 · 1★ 48 ## What do users think of Metro Pulse? Overall sentiment: negative **Pros** - 👍 Easy to use - 🚀 Informative app - 💡 Great for transit enthusiasts **Cons** - 🐛 Inaccurate route and location data - 🐛 Confusing and clunky UI - 🐛 Laggy performance - 🐛 Welcome screen cannot be closed **Commonly reported bugs** - Old bus route numbers displayed on iPad app - Location permissions not working - Inability to switch between train and bus **Most requested features** - Ability to plan future trips - Fare data integration - Scrollable and closable welcome screen ## Newest reviews (18 of 66) ### 4/5 — Daily user—Reliable info! ui needs some work *2026-07-24* I love this app so much, I use it multiple times a day. It’s definitely going through some ui changes right now but I think once the tweaking is done it’s going to be great. It’s a little hard to navigate after its most recent update, I definitely preferred having the first page (explore) organized by stop and not line. It requires a little finagling to get to the information you want to receive so it’s not super intuitive. The plan a trip section needs a little bit of work too, it’s not clear if you’re supposed to/able to type in an actual address or location or if you have to know what stop you’re headed to ahead of time. Overall though, very reliable when it comes to arrival times and as I said I use it at least twice a day if not more. Can’t wait for what comes next :) **Developer response:** Thank you for your feedback! We’re glad to hear you’re enjoying the app. We’ll share your comments with our team as they continue making improvements. -RT ### 3/5 — 2.01 majorly improved, still needs work *2026-06-20* Writing a new review after the 2.01 update. This update was hugely needed and allowed the app to pass a major milestone : it is now often faster to check the arrival of your train on metro pulse than on google maps. I’m very happy that WMATA is investing resources in this. The favorites section is useful now and allows you to see the arrivals at your most used stations very quickly. I also love the new design language. One perplexing issue that I hope is fixed very soon is that the amount of arrivals shown for each station is only 2. This means if a station services multiple lines, you can easily end up in a situation where your train is 6 minutes away, but two arrivals on the other line prevent you from being able to see that. I really don't think saving vertical screen space is an issue here. When I open the app I am usually only interested in the arrivals at one station, so if it took up my entire screen I still would not mind. Also, being able to select the default tab that shows up on the homepage would be amazing (I would prefer to always see the favorites tab first instead of the explore tab, if I am exploring I would probably choose google maps, but where I see this app really shining is during the daily commute) **Developer response:** Thanks for your feedback. We're passing this along to our development team for their awareness. - MS ### 4/5 — Tired of bouncing between apps *2026-06-11* I kept bouncing between Transit and DC Metro & Bus for years but neither of them ever felt fully reliable because they’re pulling data secondhand. Switched to Metro Pulse a while back and the alerts are faster, arrivals feel more accurate, and I can actually chat with someone in the app when something’s off instead of rage-googling. Still has rough edges but it’s the official app and they’re clearly working on it, so I’m sticking with it.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ **Developer response:** We're so glad to hear that the app is helping to make travel easier! -KB ### 3/5 — Getting better *2026-06-08, version 2.0.0* The app is a lot better, however, if I’m trying to schedule trips to plan my day out, the arrival function isn’t working properly. It will plan me leaving at 11 AM instead of arriving at 11 AM. ### 3/5 — Update *2026-06-01, version 2.0.0* You updated the whole UI but didn’t fix the issue with Rosslyn not showing blue line trains correctly the way it shows the orange/silver. That would be more helpful then changing the look. ### 1/5 — Practically useless *2026-05-31, version 2.0.0* This app is shocking unhelpful. It won’t plan ahead (I specify parameters which it will not save). It’s hard to work with my favorites. It continues to include bus routes when all I want to plan for is rail. ### 1/5 — They removed the most important feature! *2026-05-31, version 2.0.0* They removed the feature that shows the performance dashboard! Why do this? The only reason I check the app is to see if there are major delays I need to prepare for ### 1/5 — Inaccurate *2026-05-27, version 1.1.6* The app is not have an accurate next arrivals. It continues to tell you the incorrect amount of minutes the train is coming. For example, the app said the train was coming in 4 minutes, arrived and left the station within the next 2 minutes, so I missed it. ### 1/5 — Useless *2026-04-29, version 1.1.6* Tried many times to plan a trip on red line from friendship heights to Union station and it didn’t do anything. This is MetroMinus ### 1/5 — App is broken *2026-04-28, version 1.1.6* Not useful, even less so if you’re not from DC/NOVA. Inaccurate data. Who is paying for this app? It’s free, so I guess you get what you get. I hope they are not under contract with WAMTA or some grant organization. ### 1/5 — Terrible - app won’t even open! *2026-04-09, version 1.1.6* In trying to open the app, all I get is the intro screen and some bouncing dots. Tried deleting and reinstalling. Same problem. ### 2/5 — excited for this app but needs improvement *2026-04-09* I think there is a lot of room for improvement but these are the few changes i think would have the biggest impact on usability 1. display bookmarked stations in the “nearby” page even if they are not nearby. This is the biggest thing that would allow me to see the important things without having to tap anything after opening the app. Especially because the location displayed is often not up to date and instead a location i was at yesterday 2. save preferences for filtering by bus / rail in the nearby tab after closing the app. for commuting to work only take the train and it would be great to not have to do those extra selections every time 3. please let us add specific station tiles like they appear in the nearby section as widgets on the home screen, this would be amazing **Developer response:** We appreciate your detailed feedback, and our developers will review this for future updates with the app. Thanks for checking out the app! -KB ### 2/5 — Inaccurate and Misleading *2026-03-20, version 1.1.6* Caught the 6:50 am metro at Vienna on 3/20/2026. Exited at Federal Triangle at 8:01 am. That’s 71 minutes for a trip that takes about 34 minutes when there are no service issues. This trip: train out of service at Vienna, followed by a long wait on the platform and then single tracking; then, train out of service at Courthouse, followed by a long wait on the platform and more single tracking. The app was showing a service gap of 16-20 minutes (6-10 longer than expected). Average difference between expected v. actual of 1-3 minutes. Basically, sunshine rainbows and lollipops. Refreshed the app multiple times. ### 1/5 — The worst transportation app ever *2026-02-23, version 1.1.6* Difficult, complicated, and useless 😂 ### 1/5 — Log in system too prohibitive *2026-02-10, version 1.1.6* Too many of the best features of this app are reserved for those able to log in. After multiple rounds of password resets on wmata.com, the app keeps encountering an “unexpected error” with no ability to remediate. ### 1/5 — App is inaccessible to the blind *2026-02-06* I am Blind and I first noticed I am totally blind and noticed this app on the website. The website itself is in accessible or very difficult to use while being blind, and I thought the app would be better. I am not surprised, this app is not usable at all for the Blind. I’m hoping that there are plans to make this app accessible to the Blind. **Developer response:** Thank you for your feedback. We'd love to look into your review more. What features or accessibility issues did you notice were difficult? Also, what specific suggestions do you have? We can share this with our developers. -KB ### 1/5 — Unreliable *2026-01-30, version 1.1.6* App is unreliable. It will tell you a bus is coming but then it never shows. ### 3/5 — It’s alright *2026-01-28* The app is alright and is helpful for me to catch a certain train, but there should be a way to get notifications through the app for train/bus delays, single tracking etc. through the app instead of having to sign up for email or text alerts. **Developer response:** Thanks for the feedback. Good news, we're looking to explore push notifications in future updates! In the meantime make sure you stay connected with MetroAlerts at wmata.com/metroalerts -AW ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Consistently wrong *2026-07-18, version 2.0.3* I rely on this app almost every day for bus arrivals. It’s consistently wrong by 3-4 minutes, causing me to consistently miss the bus and have to wait anywhere from 10-20 minutes for the next one. Either don’t have bus tracking or make it right. Inexcusable. ### 1/5 — Memory Leak *2026-07-08* There’s some kind of memory leak or issue with the current version of the app and the latest version of iOS. Every time, I open the app, do anything, and switch apps, it slows down my phone to a crawl after several minutes. I know it’s this app because I’ll remove it and a few minutes later, my phone is back to normal. iPhone 13 Mini, iOS 26.5 **Developer response:** Thanks for your feedback. Can you share your phone type/model? Our development team would like to explore what could be happening here. -SM ### 1/5 — Loss of functionality with update *2026-07-03* A focus on tracking only arrivals? That theoretically works for most stations. I’m even willing to forgive the hoops it takes you to now sort out the arrival times, instead of simply glancing at a screen. BUT ARRIVAL TIME ALONE MAKES LITTLE SENSE FOR STATIONS AT THE END OF THE LINE. End stations operate differently from other stations where arrival and departure times are basically the same. For end stations, 99% of daily users would want to know when the next train will depart, not arrive. It’s a complete guess as to when trains depart now. ### 1/5 — From decent to terrible *2026-06-19* The old app worked it was a bit glitchy but now it’s terrible I have to change the selection to bus to see bus stops the mix doesn’t work at all and now when I click a bus stop I can’t physically see where the busses are if it works at all. The former UI was way better than this one. It is almost non-usable. Also the long opening scene often freezes when I’m trying to make quick decisions on bus options. Please at least go back to the usable but not great option before. And yes I am sure it’s the most recent version. **Developer response:** Thank you for your feedback. Could you share the device and model you’re using, and confirm your app version? You can view bus stops and rail stations near your location by selecting the “All” tab, which should autopopulate when you open the app. -RT ### 1/5 — App is Retrograde at best *2026-06-13* Among all my fellow multi-decade paying Metro users, I’m sure I’m no standout in praising Metro’s current GM (who imho is exponentially an improvement over the system’s last, nicely rather shown himself after 5yrs increasingly incompetent). But, this app truly bites. Said to “simplify”, it’s devolverd Trip Planner to, perhaps accurate in leaving, seemingly wholly unusable for planning one’s destination arrival. Look Developers, you’ve might have buried that feature somewhere down into multiple sub- menus but why not make that as easy as it was to find in Metro’s old website: it’s Trip Planner clearly on its first page? Ofc, we recognize you cannot please all the people all the time and am asking you, esp in convert with GM Clarke’s very many welcome improvements, you reconsider this app’s layout so what may have been some try at simplification redevelopment so it actually is real/world useful. Thank you for affording me your listening. **Developer response:** Thanks for sharing your feedback. We've provided your comments to our development team for their review. The Trip planner tool is accessible s by clicking "Plan" on the bottom row menus. Once there options like setting starting points and destinations, with arrival and departure times are still available to edit. Have more feedback to share? Feel free to drop additional comments here: https://www.wmata.com/help/help-topics/customer-support/website-feedback.html - MS ### 1/5 — Made a bad app worse *2026-06-12* Well WMATA has done the impossible. They’ve made the previously glitchy app now entirely inoperable. For one, when you open the screen, it takes a few for the screen to show you a whole song and dance before getting to what you are there for. What a great use of time for all us riders. Second, the app now is unbelievably unreliable as it fails to connect to the internet 50% of the time I try to open it the first time around. Again, great feature for a transit app. Third and perhaps the worse of it all is that the app does not seems to be designed to help commuters actually gauge information. For trains, you can no longer see multiple trains in your direction of choice when it comes to the countdown. Additionally, the app does a horrendous job indicating the directionality of the trains. As for buses, the app is totally unhelpful bc of these same issues. But to make it worse, this app update seems to have broken the track a bus feature. These issues barely scratch the surface of what’s wrong with this app and people have made their complaints to WMATA to no avail. I highly recommend not relying on this hot garbage until WMATA takes people’s complaints more seriously. **Developer response:** Thanks for sharing your feedback with us. Can you check if you're using the most updated version of the app? We just recently made enhancements that address some of your concerns. Feel free to chat in the app, so one of our team members can further assist you. - TP ### 1/5 — Next to useless *2026-06-02, version 2.0.0* Doesn’t reliably refresh, difficult to navigate, does not present information in an intuitive way (all I want to know is when MY next bus/train is coming), controls are not responsive… and that’s if you can get the app to even open… ### 1/5 — June 2026 update removes useful info *2026-06-01, version 2.0.0* The new version removes system status info so you can no longer see which lines are having issues (including service gaps). This is critical for sophisticated Metro riders who have multiple ways to get from A to B. ### 1/5 — Broken *2026-06-01, version 2.0.0* This app is broken as of the update on 1 June ### 1/5 — Update *2026-06-01, version 2.0.0* The update is terrible and says that every single bus isn’t running ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — The best app for DMV Metro *2026-04-21, version 1.1.6* Super convenient. I love how it provides a snapshot for all available means of publishing transportation seamlessly and with great precision. ### 5/5 — Good v1 *2026-04-18* So far so good. Generally seems to have parity with the website features, at least for rail, but offline maps appear to be a helpful bonus. I appreciate the regular updates. **Developer response:** Thanks for the thoughtful feedback. We are glad to hear MetroPulse is meeting your expectations and that the app feels consistent with the website, especially for rail features. It is great to know the offline maps are proving useful as well. We also appreciate you noticing the regular updates, and we will continue working to improve the experience over time. - RS ### 5/5 — App is was very helpful as a visitor to DC *2025-08-18, version 1.1.3* Excellent App as a visitor to DC - found my way around using the planner and found the realtime updates very helpful. ### 5/5 — MetroPulse app helps you and school friends stay in sync *2025-07-31, version 1.1.2* Whether you are trying to hop on the same train or just arrive at school together, the new MetroPulse App makes it super easy to time your trip with friends. ### 5/5 — App Team Responds Quickly *2025-07-31* I must say, you really take feedback seriously and get the changes or fixes in fast! This app just keeps getting better. Thanks! **Developer response:** Thanks for noticing and we appreciate the review! -KB ### 5/5 — Love This App! *2025-07-21, version 1.1.2* Great for daily users and visitors! ### 5/5 — Helpful app *2025-07-18, version 1.1.2* The app is pretty straight forward, got me where I needed to go and it was nice to be able see a live view of trains and busses. ### 5/5 — Easy to use! *2025-05-30, version 1.0* Appreciate how informative the app is, thanks WMATA! ### 5/5 — MetroPluse *2025-05-17, version 1.0* Best Mobile App to use. ### 5/5 — Love it! *2025-05-16* No more running to the sound of a train thinking I might miss the next one…I know exactly when I need to hustle and when I don’t. Great job DC!! **Developer response:** That truly does make a difference, right? We appreciate your kind comments. -KB --- *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 2026-08-24.*