# SmartPhone Navigator — user reviews > 118 indexed App Store user reviews of SmartPhone Navigator by BUFFALO INC., rated 1.20/5 from 58 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/smartphone-navigator/id470102136/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/smartphone-navigator/id470102136.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 3 · 4★ 0 · 3★ 0 · 2★ 2 · 1★ 53 ## What do users think of SmartPhone Navigator? Overall sentiment: negative **Pros** - ✅ Works well on iPad devices - ✅ Successful file copying between NAS and phone - ✅ Functional with proper initial setup - ✅ Good concept and design **Cons** - 🐛 Frequent app crashes on launch and during scanning - 🐛 Fails to detect NAS devices on network - 🐛 Authentication/login failures with correct credentials - ❌ Abandoned product with no support or updates - ❌ Poor performance across iPhone and iPad devices - ❌ Inconsistent functionality across iOS versions - ❌ Requires separate apps for full functionality - ⚠️ Renders hardware investment useless - ⚠️ Reflects poorly on Buffalo brand reputation **Commonly reported bugs** - App crashes immediately on startup - App crashes while scanning for NAS devices - App crashes during settings access - Fails to find NAS devices despite being on network - Password authentication rejected despite correct credentials - Login credentials work on web browser but not in app - Blank screen when accessing settings - Corrupted graphics display on iOS version transitions - App hangs and becomes unresponsive - Incompatibility with iOS 8, iOS 9, and newer versions - Cellular data access causes app to close mid-search **Most requested features** - Remote power-on capability for NAS devices - Landscape orientation support on iPad - Background monitoring and mirroring functionality - Incremental backup instead of full re-copy - Integrated file access without separate apps - Proper web access setup and configuration ## Newest reviews (18 of 118) ### 1/5 — Doesn’t work at all *2020-06-20* Crashes immediately while searching for and on my iPad. My iPhone, got it to stop crashing by restarting the phone but it never finds the device. Reviews show this has been an issue for a very long time. Awful. ### 1/5 — Never worked on any iDevice I ever tried it on *2020-06-20, version 1.21* Crashes on scanning for devices ### 1/5 — Doesn’t Work *2020-06-08* Will not load. Crashes after 10 seconds. Joke ### 1/5 — Failure *2020-03-04* Will not remain open. Crashes after like a second. ### 1/5 — Trash *2020-02-06, version 1.21* App crashes with in 2 sec. making hardware useless. ### 1/5 — The purpose of this app... *2020-01-14* Is to take up precious space on your device. It doesn’t work. After the splash screen it crashes. If you find joy watching the app open then close, then keep it. ### 1/5 — Doesn’t work, says “scanning for Nas” then crashes *2019-12-16, version 1.21* Doesn’t work, says “scanning for Nas” then crashes ### 1/5 — Crashes on start *2019-11-08, version 1.21* Logged a support ticket. They suggested i contact the developer! Is it not a Buffalotech App? Unusable app along with the WebAccess App. Renders any WebAccess to Buffalo NAS requirements useless. ### 1/5 — Bad app *2019-09-22* I can’t get the app to stay open long enough to look for my NAS. It crashes with a black screen most times and a white screen at other times. ### 1/5 — Fundamentally broken app *2019-07-11, version 1.21* A very poor reflection on Buffalo as a company that this app has not worked for so many years, despite all the reviews making the problem crystal clear. Why is it still available for download on the App Store when it regularly crashes searching for the hardware & when it doesn’t crash it fails to detect the hardware exists! Unbelievable! ### 1/5 — No rating *2019-05-21, version 1.21* This is junk ### 1/5 — No support *2019-04-14, version 1.21* Not a user friendly app, not working as it promise, there is no way to backup your media from iPhone 7plus to Buffalo NAS! ### 1/5 — Crashes immediately *2019-03-17, version 1.21* Doesn't work at all on my iPhone X. Worthless. ### 1/5 — SmartPhone Navigator *2018-12-28, version 1.21* Not worth the price. (Free) Crashes on startup constantly. Thank god for the windows CD. Useless app for your IPad or IPhone. ### 1/5 — Doesn’t Work, No Support *2018-11-23* Does not backup files and provide personal cloud access. You can do one or the other but not both. The backup software makes one monolithic monster file, so if one of your files is accidentally deleted or corrupted, you would have to restore the image file and revert ALL of your files. The Copy setting does just that, but it doesn’t monitor for incremental changes. So when you schedule it, it tries to re-copy everything. Takes hours. And there is no background monitoring/mirroring capability at all. Only scheduling. So unlike WD Discovery software, you have to leave your PCs on to backup overnight vs backup during idle times. Don in Buffalo Tech Support says they do not support this software that comes bundled with their system. NovaStor, the software company, says very clearly that the license for use with Buffalo is provided with NO SUPPORT. So neither company gives a shot about maintaining or supporting it. It doesn’t work as advertised and nobody will fix it. ### 1/5 — App crashes after opening it *2018-11-18* Buffalo seems to have lost interest in supporting their products. ### 1/5 — Utterly useless *2018-11-04, version 1.21* App runs for a few seconds and then crashes. Have to to return the hard drive and delete the app as completely non-functional. Given all the the 1 star reviews I’m convinced this isn’t unusual ### 1/5 — Useless *2018-11-04, version 1.21* I have two linkstations on my network yet the app says I have none. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Does not work *2025-09-24* App just draws blank screen when trying to access settings ### 1/5 — Zero stars *2025-08-05, version 1.31* Worst app ever ### 1/5 — Orphan Software *2025-07-15, version 1.31* Looks like they have abandoned support for their NAS drives. ### 1/5 — No software support equals useless hardware. *2023-11-19, version 1.31* I’m out $129 because: A. No support for abandoned software and B. abandoned U.S. market Set up because of abandoned setup technical writing. ### 1/5 — Just won’t work! *2023-01-21, version 1.31* It never detects my Linkstation, so is fundamentally useless. I’ve tried uninstalling and reinstalling several times but to no avail. Previous versions have worked, so somethings gone wrong in subsequent releases. ### 1/5 — Less than useless *2022-02-25* It will ask you to install separate apps to accomplish anything functional from your mobile device. This separation offers no benefit to the user, so this thing is a waste of space. You can view the same info logging into your NAS on the devices browser. ### 1/5 — Just crashes *2021-01-13* The app just crashes. Have tried deleting and reinstalling. Open it and try to get it to do anything and it crashes. ### 1/5 — Crashes *2021-01-08, version 1.21* Crashes will searching for NAS device ### 1/5 — Problems *2020-08-21, version 1.21* Cannot get it to work on my iPhone XR or my iPad?.. ### 1/5 — Doesn't work *2020-06-20, version 1.21* It crashes just a few seconds after opening the app. It just doesn't work. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Works fine for me, iPhone 6 *2020-07-01* I did have to use the desktop Navigator first, to enable web access and create a user ID. Now I can copy files between NAS and phone. ### 5/5 — Works great! *2018-04-28* Works great with my iPhone 7, running iOS 11.3. ### 5/5 — Great *2018-02-11, version 1.21* Works great for me. ### 5/5 — thanks *2014-06-01, version 1.13* this app works great, thanks! ### 5/5 — It works, and works well. *2013-08-15, version 1.11* Thank you Buffalo for this awesome app. Cheers!!!! ### 5/5 — Seems to work *2012-12-22, version 1.10* It looks like it is working just fine, it lets me log in and access the settings on my station...... ### 5/5 — Works wee *2012-04-01, version 1.00* I have a link station GL series and a link station live and this discovered them both. Another reviewer mentioned only being able to "Change ip address", yes that is possible but there is also an option to configure both NAS drives via their web interface. So this is handy for network admin but won't let you access the files on your NAS ### 4/5 — Could be perfect *2021-02-19, version 1.30* Strangely this works perfectly on my iPad, surprising to me as not usually very successful with iPad apps. The nas has to be up and running completely, mine’s a TS XL. 4stars as it would be perfect if the iPad could initiate switch on like the Windows version does ### 4/5 — iPhone https not working *2012-04-25, version 1.00* This app works well on the iPad (not iPhone), https works fine and it's selected files are accessible via the correct login from any where in the world. You have the option of setting your own domain name or through the supported buffalo device you can very simply setup a buffalo domain. Please note your router must support upnp to make the setup automated, otherwise some port forwarding knowledge and fire wall rules (if u have a firewall) must be used to get this working through Nat. The iPhone (ios 5.1) only works with http, https fails when connecting. I will not use a device to connect to my network with ought https, I'd suggest u do the same. ### 2/5 — Pants *2013-10-09, version 1.11* Not working. All I get is a msg Saying "error request timed out" --- *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 2026-06-10.*