# MOTU - Grand Rapids Parking — user reviews > 89 indexed App Store user reviews of MOTU by City of Grand Rapids, MI, rated 3.28/5 from 592 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/motu-grand-rapids-parking/id1396201773/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/motu-grand-rapids-parking/id1396201773.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 301 · 4★ 32 · 3★ 17 · 2★ 16 · 1★ 217 ## What do users think of MOTU? Overall sentiment: negative **Pros** - 🚀 Easy to use - 🚀 Convenient wallet feature - 👍 Simple interface **Cons** - 🐛 Frequent app crashes - 🐛 Payment issues and double charges - 🐛 Unreliable service - 💰 Expensive convenience fees - 🕰️ Lack of time extension options - 🕰️ Strict time limits - 🕰️ Lack of expiration notifications **Commonly reported bugs** - App fails to recognize valid zone numbers - Payment processing errors - Parking sessions not starting properly **Most requested features** - Allow pre-payment for parking sessions - Provide better expiration notifications - Improve reliability and reduce outages - Simplify the user interface ## Newest reviews (20 of 89) ### 2/5 — Ticketed *2025-01-09, version 9.2.22* I have received TWO parking tickets while trying to use this app to pay for parking because both times didn’t process. ### 2/5 — Needs time end notification *2024-04-02, version 9.2.1* I don’t understand why they only have a 10 minute warning and no notification for when your time actually ends other than the fact that they want people to forget to add more time so they can give them a parking ticket. It’s really scammy for something made by the city for the city ### 2/5 — Sooo slllllloooooowwwwww *2024-02-08, version 9.2.1* App, zones, spaces all take forever to load even when phone has a full strength 5G signal! ### 1/5 — Won’t open… *2023-09-09, version 9.2.1* Went to park downtown Grand Rapids. Tried to open the app and all it would do was show the logo. Eventually I paid at the meter with my credit card knowing I would add time with the app once it opened. Had to walk a mile back to my car because app never opened and found a ticket on my window. Purpose of a parking app is to allow the user to pay virtually to avoid a ticket. Either this is a ploy for making money or it needs to be addressed to work as intended. Very frustrating and ineffective. ### 1/5 — Where did notifications go? *2023-08-29, version 9.2.1* App not notifying me via text when time is out. Why did this stop?? ### 1/5 — Fix this App *2023-06-14, version 9.2.1* This app caused me to get two parking tickets ### 3/5 — Mediocre App *2023-03-14, version 9.2.0* Would love to be able to pre-pay for a spot when parking at night, but the app doesn’t allow it. ### 2/5 — Low quality app *2022-10-07, version 3.0.1* The app is not very user friendly. Half the time it doesn’t accept my cards (I have 3 on file). Overall very mid. ### 1/5 — Terrible *2022-09-02, version 3.0.0* Constantly has issues connecting. Let me pay in advance before my city charges for parking so I wouldn’t have to wake up early ect to move my car or pay my meter to avoid a ticket… that lasted 1 day. Hasn’t worked since. Really annoying app works 50% of the time. ### 1/5 — Sets one up to get a ticket *2022-06-25, version 3.0.0* The change in the interface makes you take the extra step of confirming payment even though card information has already been entered and it is confusing. Makes it seem like you are done when there are extra steps to be taken. I know several people who have had the same issue and the same result of getting a ticket. Make the interface better and clearer- like it used to be. If I want to change my card selection I will do that otherwise it should default to what has been entered and selected as primary or current card. ### 1/5 — App hangs at login *2022-05-02, version 3.0.0* The app will sometimes hang at login. As in it will send you the same verification number, ask you for your PIN, and then just hang for 30 seconds before saying wrong PIN. But, if you put in the wrong PIN it instantly says wrong PIN, so that’s not the issue. Issue happens on Cell and WiFi service. Seems to resolve within 15-20 minutes, so it’s probably service side, not client side. GR Parking is not helpful when you report the issue, or at least uncaring. No app is the alternative though, so it’s better than nothing. ### 1/5 — Doesn’t work, zero support *2022-04-10, version 3.0.0* Got a parking ticket after getting “network error”. Still hasn’t been resolved a week later (after multiple re-installs) so is unusable. ### 1/5 — “Network error” *2022-03-28, version 2.1.0* Stupid app has made me late more times than I can count bc when I type in my pin “oops network error” TELL ME HOW I AM SUPPOSED TO HAVE WIFI ON THR STREET. Fix this now!!!!!! ### 1/5 — You owe me $30 *2021-07-29, version 2.1.0* What does a revolution in parking look like? It looks like an app that actually works. I had a session end and I successfully created a new one but for some reason it didn’t start even though it said it was created and then I got a parking ticket. ### 1/5 — Lousy App *2021-05-11, version 2.1.0* Tried 3 perfectly good credit cards (using my iPhone) and receive ’payment failed’ notifications every time. ParkChicago actually works and you can add time just using your phone (after receiving soon-to-expire alerts). I didn’t have ParkMobile but it sounds like it was much better. Such a pain to not be able to use any valid credit card on an iPhone. Why??? ### 1/5 — MOTU Parking App *2021-04-26, version 2.1.0* This app is awful and whoever chose to change Grand Rapids to this app from Park Mobile should be fired. ### 1/5 — Never had this app work for me *2021-02-25, version 2.1.0* I’ve tried to use this app multiple times. Initially I was getting a pop up that the payment type was invalid. Finally I was able to load money into my Motu wallet, however, when I submit the payment the red bar you click just shows a spinning wheel and never progresses past that. ### 1/5 — Renew default of 2 minutes got me a ticket *2020-10-22, version 2.1.0* The app was glitching and only gave me a two minute time on my meter. I quickly returned to the meter and found that I already got a ticket from the city of grand Rapids Michigan. I went to fight the ticket and they pulled out their own phones and said the app worked fine. Thanks a lot Grand Rapids and Motu! ### 1/5 — Broken *2020-09-30, version 2.0.0* You better like waking up at 7:59am and frantically trying to coax the app into working while all the buttons load and load until getting an error message. This isn’t something that’s allowed to not work, my car could very well already have a ticket by 8:05 and I wouldn’t know until after I paid. Also can’t prepay the night before?? Can’t do anything (like see if it’s a free zone) until you type in the zone and spot number, it’ll just say “parking isn’t required” UNTIL IT IS. If this app hasn’t ****ed you over yet, it’s only a matter of time. How hard is it to make your customers able to refresh their payment option?? There is an inherent conflict of interest in the fact the city runs this application. Why make it easy for users to pay a couple dollars for parking when you can give them a parking ticket for $20+ ? “We’re still working on improving..” Just a cop out for having a terrible UX Can’t reload wallet can only press a dollar amount and a Save button Fake robot chat support doesn’t even have a keyboard to respond with ### 1/5 — This app has cost me so much money *2020-09-25, version 2.0.0* This is the least responsive and buggy app I’ve ever used. From double charging my account which took so long to clear up, to not putting a payment through making me get a ticket (so many times), this app is the worst. You’d think a relatively moderate sized city like Grand Rapids could afford a halfway decent app developer or web hosting. But this app crashes, buggs out, is insanely slow and doesn’t work so much it is almost completely worthless. Can’t wait till my downtown lease is up to move out of the city. Screw you MOTU. You make downtown living/visiting a needless pain. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Needs help *2026-03-26, version 9.2.22* “Payment Failed” error every time I try to pay for parking via the app. It used to work for me 2 yrs ago. What happened ? ?? ### 1/5 — Crazy service fees *2025-10-30, version 9.2.22* What do you mean I should pay 25 cts for each transaction? That’s around 20% of the parking fee for less than one hour. That’s a scam. Use the public born to pay parking. ### 1/5 — Convenience fees are bogus *2024-12-27, version 9.2.22* Charging me to park is one thing, but then having the city mandated app charge me a fee to use the app to pay to park is a whole different thing altogether. Also, the app needs to be better at showing you when enforcement isn’t being checked, instead of just throwing some generic error ### 1/5 — App is down half of the time *2024-08-01, version 9.2.22* I get that parking apps are not popular in general, but Motu is especially bad. Half of the time I open the app, the service is down and won’t let me pay for my zone. I’ve also had the actual kiosks not working a number of times. 2 days ago, the app was down and the kiosk was frozen (in front of planet fitness). I called and they told me to find a new space (no “sorry” or “well fix it as soon as we can”). I’ve also been double charged by kiosks twice. ### 1/5 — This app steals your money *2024-06-18, version 9.2.22* Multiple times now this app has deleted my information including my prepaid amounts. It is genuinely just theft at this point. ### 1/5 — “Expired” money *2024-05-15, version 9.2.22* Beware if you don’t use the money in your wallet they can take it without warning you. ### 1/5 — Broken *2024-05-09, version 9.2.1* Lorem ipsum ### 1/5 — Never works *2023-12-19, version 9.2.1* Have tried 3 times. ### 1/5 — City uses MOTU outages to issue tickets *2023-11-07, version 9.2.1* While the MOTU app has outages the clown bureaucrats at the city of Grand Rapids mercilessly issue parking tickets and refuse to reverse them even while having records of users trying to submit payments multiple times through MOTU. No empathy is shown toward users. MOTU have no support and don’t own up to their failures. ### 1/5 — This app has cost me so much money *2023-10-19* This is the least responsive and buggy app I’ve ever used. From double charging my account which took so long to clear up, to not putting a payment through making me get a ticket (so many times), this app is the worst. You’d think a relatively moderate sized city like Grand Rapids could afford a halfway decent app developer or web hosting. But this app crashes, buggs out, is insanely slow and doesn’t work so much it is almost completely worthless. Can’t wait till my downtown lease is up to move out of the city. Screw you MOTU. You make downtown living/visiting a needless pain. EDIT: they have changed their payment method which deleted my old balance of $23. It just stole it. Ridiculous ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Excellent *2020-02-25, version 1.0.0* Like many other reviewers I thought that ParkMobile was great, and I was irritated when Grand Rapids switched to MOTU. It took some getting used to and features changed a bit, but it now seems to be stable and reliable. Easy to use and works every time. ### 5/5 — Very functional *2020-02-18, version 1.0.0* Good app haven’t had a problem with it ### 5/5 — I don’t have issues *2019-11-13, version 1.0.0* I know there are some complaints about this app. I didn’t experience them. ### 5/5 — Love it *2019-10-15, version 1.0.0* The simplicity of this app is great! I use it daily for work and love the 10 minutes before expire reminders! ### 5/5 — Works Great *2019-09-06, version 1.0.0* Much better than Park Mobile, power to the people! ### 5/5 — Easy to Use *2019-05-14, version 1.0.0* Very easy to use and I have never had a single problem using the app. ### 5/5 — Very User Friendly! *2019-01-16, version 1.0.0* Easy to navigate through and can stop parking sessions when you are done for a quick run at the store. 2 hours is more than an enough for a trip downtown. If you want to stay longer, a parking ramp will suffice. ### 5/5 — Great convienence *2018-08-22* I was disappointed when I found out as I was preparing to park using ParkMobile app that Grand Rapids, Michigan has switched to the Motu app. I had to quickly set up account as I was in a time crunch but it was very easy. I have been very happy with Motu in general and find the wallet feature especially very helpful. It saves my most frequent parking spot so I don’t have to insert each time. ### 5/5 — Easy and Quick *2018-08-09, version 1.0.0* Literally takes 2 seconds to enter your meter info and choose payment amount and method. You can cancel early as well and even add additional time in spots with 2 hr maxes if there is space. ### 5/5 — Very easy to use *2018-06-27, version 1.0.0* Very easy to use. Suggestion for those who haven’t been able to stop their session: click on “session options” and then hit “stop parking”. It worked for me and stopped the session immediately --- *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 2026-06-20.*