Outdooractive Reviews 247

I used to use View Ranger all the time and was reluctant to switch to Outdoor Active after reading all the terrible reviews here , but I have tried the OS App before and it was very glitchy ..so dived in and subscribed to Outdoor Active in trepidation..
I am so glad I did, it is a great App, I have used it several times each week either planning a walk , tracking one or just browsing the maps and others trails to see where to walk next.
I see no adverts as reported above , I am guessing that’s because I am a pro user, and yes I paid, but how much do I save in comparison to buying loads of OS maps..I don’t expect my mapping for free, why should it be when so much work goes into producing and maintaining the best mapping in the world?
One feature I really like and use a lot is the audio guide, so handy to just listen turn by turn rather than be looking at the phone every 5 minutes..and especially good in winter keeping gloves on !
So i will carry on using Outdoor Active and i hope others will give it a chance rather then reading and going by all the negative comments here .

I switched over to outdooractive and was dumbfounded. Same old story of promised progress to absolute disaster. First annoyance is ads bang in your face, massive distraction and annoyance. I was about to sign up for pro+ believing ads and cookies would be more controlled but hey i will not pay for something i despise and cant control. Headed to the review page and my mind is made up i would rather go back to paper maps and compass

what a load of rubbish. I used to be able to create my own routes on my pc with viewranger then use them wiyh ths app on my phone. Outdooractive is not available for use on a pc so will be deleating from my phone.

I’m another pissed off former ViewRanger user. What an inept company, having absorbed the truly excellent ViewRanger, flush all that practical usefulness away, never mind cynically dispossessing us of our lifetime mapping.

Have to say it, this is very poor compared with View Ranger and it eats the battery.
I'm going to be deleting it and try something else. NOT HAPPY View Ranger was the mutts nuts.

Absolute garbage. Like many on here I have lost lots of paid for maps and had only recently bought more credits which are now useless. OA appears to be a very cynical money making exercise. They won’t be getting a penny out of me and I will join any campaign to get reimbursed for refund of unused credits.

So far after a few months of using this App I'm slowly getting to grips with it.
I've never had any other walking apps but find this one great.
Even the walks or cycles already on the maps are great to find and follow.
I would definatly recommend this App to anyone.
You just have to have a play to see what it can offer.

I would give this 0 stars if that was possible. Bring back VR and delete this abomination.

No idea what they were thinking to replace a superb, professional app ‘ViewRanger’ with this hopeless app. It’s not comparable in the slightest. I’ve also bought full mapping on ViewRanger that I cannot keep on my phone which I think is sneaky and very bad business.

Totally useless piece of junk which has robbed me of my Viewranger tiles or has made it impossible to locate and transfer them.
I'm deleting the app and will now use Backcountry Navigator Pro.

I have received several messages about the closure of ViewRanger and urging me to download Outdoor active. Today I tried to download the app, but my iPhone 6 doesn't support the required iOS level, so I am now stuck without ViewRanger (it has been turned off) and without OutdoorActive (which I cannot download) - so in short I am lost until I can find another navigation app that will be as good as ViewRanger.

Whenever a service provider you have given your loyalty to and invested money with suddenly offers you a new and much better service, you always have to ask is it about improvement or as it often works out its all about greed and more access to service users funds. A simple formula, start with an app for GPS Navigation, with a system of offering sections of maps that seamlessly fit together, can be added to, at very reasonable cost and is yours for life.

As that works well, is popular, often promoted to others who have similar interests all adds to the sales and reputation, with the bonus that you can avoid buying reams of expensive paper maps.

Once injected into the market, let's change the model, so instead of offering map tiles you change to an annual subscription service. In this you have access to the whole library of maps. If that is not what a user requires, no problem as they still have the map tiles that they own and may of course join the annual subscription service later.

Having hooked the loyal customer base, suddenly they are told that they will no longer be able to use the superb service as it is to become something else, bigger, better, with all whistles and bells, but most importantly allowing you all the services that you have previously invested in. Maybe smoke and mirrors is what you really find?

So good bye Viewranger. Hello Outdooractive.

Forced to migrate from ViewrangerVR, a fabulous navigation App, that was beautifully intuitive, easy to learn, reliable uncluttered. So Outdoor Active, appears to concentrate on being a clumsy system of joining a Social Media tool with attached Navigation, in a cluttered interface with adverts thrown in. What next you have to wonder; an outdoor dating service

There are continual attempts to get you to open your wallet, to tempt you into buying one of the two subscription packages, which as the free basic package only offers the Open Streets map, with which any form of serious route planning, could very well lead to catastrophe. Being that we are used to being spoiled with contour lines, grid references and all those other useful aids, this map offers less than motor travel navigation packs. In the free basic VR unit the map was at least full of information, in a format like we are used to with the OS Maps.

The OA app also seems to devour battery charge.

If you bought map tiles from VR, they can be ported over to OA on agreeing to the Legacy page. However read the agreement as you are absolving Augmentra VR of all responsibility for your past purchases.
The fact that you gain access to every map tile in the database, is negated when you look at the experience of others, who have clicked on the legacy page.

This is the Legacy, not as many of us thought that the VR app would remain active albeit without the online and update services. All of the VR data is still in your android folder, it's just been renamed, so maybe a techy person will be able to make it work again.

OA looks like being a cash cow for the owners, directors and investors of their myriad concerns.

So if Social Media, Adverts and paying large amounts of cash for for your navigation is your thing......... Otherwise I guess looking for another service is the way to go.
As its impossible to add negative numbers of stars, I can't even make it one star for effort (Ignore the star as you can't post a negative value)

Ah they will say, this customer doesn't like progress, funnily enough if you read the comments of other loyal users here and elsewhere, most are likewise unimpressed.

As an update it is Outdooractive that has decided not to allow VR customers to continue using VR as a legacy product. Scared to let people compare what has gone and then experiencing the Outdooractive system.

I do wonder how we who bought lifetime map tiles and are denied be able to use what was bought should look to forming a group to seek full refunds. I will not press the legacy agreement and surrender all rights.

As people are so annoyed at this whole affair and from recent communications with the support service, it is obvious that they don't care about customer loyalty or concerns and are only driven by money.

LIKE OTHERS HERE I AM FURIOUS THAT MANY MANY £££s OF VIEW RANGER OS MAP TILES ARE GONE UNLESS I NOW PAY £27 or £53 PER YEAR TO THIS F.POOR APP AND HAS NOW COMPLETELY SWITCHED OFF TOPO AFTER TRIAL!!!!!!

Terrible. The map wouldn't load when I reached my destination to start the walk. Just had a blank screen. It loaded when I got back home. Useless !

Another ripped of user. Had full maps paid up and now useless. OA is truly useless as an app in everyway.
OA still have time to revert to rebranding VR and resurrect or sell the IP of thee original app.

OA does permit me to use the OS maps I purchased in VR for the whole of the UK, subject to agreeing a liability waiver for VR personnel!! However, what you CAN'T do is get complete sections of the maps, eg Wales, downloaded to your phone to use and search for locations while offline. All you can do is download small sections of mapping and save the separately, hoping they'll be contiguous when you're out in the wild with no signal and need location precision, that's a very poor substitute! And you can't search the maps for a town as you could inVR. These deficiencies and the unreliability of the OA app with disappearing recorded tracks after pausing render it a hopeless substitute for Viewranger, who really have sold us down the river.

ViewRanger has not been closed down at the end of February as OutdoorActive said. In fact, I made the switch but my OA account has been locked for several weeks now. I'm guessing they are responding to the dreadful criticism they have had. Fingers crossed VR keeps going!

Outdooractive is a terrible app compared to ViewRanger which I used for years. I will not be using it and purchasing Memory Map instead.

Outdoor active is absolutely dreadful and I will probably never use it. The interface is appalling and difficult to navigate with too many pop up windows interfering with what you are trying to do. and as for the maps - don't get me started on that. Viewranger was a superb easy to use app that did exactly what I wanted. Now we are saddled with this rubbish. So sad.

Have been using the excellent ViewRanger for many years. Gutted I am losing my lifetime maps. Outdooractive is dreadful. Buggy, drains battery, annoying ads and forced to pay premium subscription for maps.