# Open Road - The best driving experience for Maps Navigation, Music, and Calling in the Car — user reviews > 29 indexed App Store user reviews of Open Road by Backcountry Studios LLC, rated 3.00/5 from 7 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/open-road-the-best-driving-experience-for-maps-navigation-music-and-calling-in-the-car/id1024118140/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/open-road-the-best-driving-experience-for-maps-navigation-music-and-calling-in-the-car/id1024118140.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 1 · 4★ 1 · 3★ 3 · 2★ 1 · 1★ 1 ## Newest reviews (9 of 29) ### 4/5 — Very good *2017-05-04, version 1.2* Love the app! It has very good map and music integration the ui is clean, easy to navigate, and attractive. I'm giving four stars only because it has to missing features that are important to most drivers, landscape mode which most people use when driving, and a night mode that uses a dark ui so the phone screen does not blind you at night (for safety reasons). If these features are implemented, I will change my rating to five stars. Good job guys! ### 3/5 — App works mostly *2016-07-23* But there are issues with the Spotify native applet. Playback does not support transition or gapless playback. Also for some mysterious reason playback stops intermittently at the end of a single song in a playlist. The app also seems to have a few issues on the iTunes side insisting that songs are not downloaded locally and are unable to playback even though the songs in question are indeed loaded locally. A bit of a steep price for a broken app I think. Hopefully the devs will fix these issues as I really do like the design. ### 4/5 — Great for Version 1.0.0 *2016-01-09, version 1.0.0* Great app! Just needs a landscape mode, a night mode and a little tweaking to the music integration so that it will integrate with the iOS music library like Ecoute does. ### 5/5 — Rare design freshness *2015-12-08, version 1.0.0* Delivers fast, easy results-focused design freshness like no other app in its class. Job done! ### 5/5 — Love It! *2015-12-08, version 1.0.0* So easy to use when I'm driving. The interface makes using my maps and Spotify MUCH easier and safer. I love this app. ### 5/5 — Must have app for your car *2015-12-08, version 1.0.0* Love the integration with Spotify and Waze!! ### 4/5 — Faster to Use Phone in Car *2015-12-08, version 1.0.0* Does a good job of making quick presses easier since I only need a few apps while driving. The customization is nice too since it's a one time cost to set up the dash the way I like for driving. Music support is still underway but iTunes support works well for me. ### 5/5 — Great app *2015-12-08, version 1.0.0* So easy to add all my favorite people and places. One touch dialing means no more looking down at my crotch while driving and shamefully struggling to find a contact on my way home. ### 5/5 — Crazy useful on my commute *2015-12-08, version 1.0.0* As someone with a long commute, this app is an amazing lifesaver. Driving to work is way more enjoyable now. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Not supported *2021-07-20* App not working Email address bounceS FAQ site is a vacant domain name ### 1/5 — Great app, ruined by Always Active location setting *2017-05-17, version 1.2* Great app, ruined by Always Active location setting Always active location tracking is a deal breaker for IOS. I don't know if you expect to sell our location data in Addition to the cost of the app but this is B S. There needs to be a way to toggle "Only While Using". Even Google Maps, GOOGLE MAPS allows for "Only While Using". Why should I use my data and battery while you track me for no reason? ### 1/5 — Poor *2016-11-04, version 1.2* The concept is a great idea. Because it cannot be customised I have found it a complete waste of money. It may work for the US market but a big NO in the UK ### 1/5 — Don't waste your time or your $10! *2016-04-16, version 1.0.0* Did I just pay $10 for an app that has ads? The four and five star reviews on here must be bogus because the only thing this app has going for it is a decent UI. It hung once and crashed once within just the first 10 minutes. Every option you try to select pops up an add and/or option to purchase additional in-app features. For 10 bucks, I expect to get some features included. The music player fights with Apple Music, screws with the interface to my car (a 2015 Infiniti) and cuts in and out for no apparent reason. (The iPhone works fine on it's own.) Map apps open outside of the UI, which negates the purpose altogether. This app is nowhere near good enough for primetime. ### 2/5 — Not working *2019-07-06, version 1.2* To the developer: Spotify error can't load content. Maps error can't load location. Anyway of getting a refund? Thank you for trying but this app will not work for me. Supposed to make things easier to use not harder. Without these features it's not usable. ### 2/5 — No horizontal view *2016-11-12, version 1.2* Can't use it as no horizontal option and I can't use my phone in portrait in my car so has been a waste of money for me. Also does not integrate with tomtom uk maps, only us ### 3/5 — Please please please add landscape mode *2017-04-22, version 1.2* When I ride my motorcycle my mount is sideways and having this not allow landscape mode was a huge disappointment. Can you please integrate the ability to do landscape?? ### 3/5 — Nice, but room for improvement *2016-10-25, version 1.2* Interface is beautiful and perfect for use in a car. Lack of landscape orientation support and only a few limited apps can be added significantly limit usefulness of this app. ### 3/5 — Great Idea but has technical problems *2016-09-12* Amazing app, but I am noticing that the App crashes every time I open Spotify and try to play a song, making it impossible to play music with it. My Spotify recognizes that someone is trying to play a song, Spotify-PC pauses but it does not start playing on iPhone. If needed I may help to solve the issue replicating it, just get in touch. Thank you. ### 3/5 — Much Left to Perfect *2016-09-01, version 1.2* The app's marketing is beautiful, but wish the app matched. You currently can't use the app with your phone in horizontal orientation, which is the most common way I use GPS app's. The map app is hard to use. Waze exaggerates their UI but its much more glancable. I find myself squinting at the Open Road Map a lot. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Driving command center *2016-02-27, version 1.0.0* Love it. Better than just an app launcher. Worth buying the pro features. The 3rd party integrations are great. ### 5/5 — Solid app, great for customization *2016-01-13, version 1.0.0* You shouldn't be using your phone all that much while driving, so building a custom dashboard in Open Road is to be desired. This app is great at providing only what you need from a phone while driving. Stay sharp! ### 5/5 — Wow! *2016-01-03, version 1.0.0* Intuitive, clean, and incredibly useful. Outstanding app. This is better than the system in my car. ### 5/5 — Easy and convenient *2015-12-09, version 1.0.0* The UI of my cars touch screen is terrible and this app helps me play my music and pull up navigation easily with better controls. The home/dashboard customization is a great touch too. ### 5/5 — The best way to make use of your phone while driving *2015-12-09, version 1.0.0* Love that the clear focus of this app is to make major functions of your phone easier while driving, lots of them with just one click. ### 5/5 — Slick GUI *2015-12-09, version 1.0.0* That opening video sequence, it almost looks like someone's real contacts.... ### 5/5 — Exceeded Expectations *2015-12-09, version 1.0.0* For months I'd been hearing rumors that calling Kristin and turning on Park Av would be easier than ever. I can now freely loop Park to Colfax to 17th like a pro and Kristin always answers. Thanks guys. Everything I needed and more. ### 5/5 — Safer driving *2015-12-09, version 1.0.0* Great idea for safer driving. ### 5/5 — Just wow! *2015-12-09, version 1.0.0* After playing around this has to be my go to app whilst in the car. Voice commands, one touch interface, gestures, navigation and the other add ons and things I haven't even tested yet. Simply a beautiful, clean design that functions slightly unexpectedly but at the same time how it should. After all it is a new concept built for driving. Would be great to see some themes. I would even pay for them! Good job!! ### 5/5 — Rule the Road *2015-12-08, version 1.0.0* Great app. Really helps me access what I need without distracting me from the road. Get you some! --- *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 2026-08-27.*