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Did anybody else find Waze super distracting? I tried it once around Seattle, on/off the freeway and there was just too much. Like, how can we add all the distr

Did anybody else find Waze super distracting? I tried it once around Seattle, on/off the freeway and there was just too much. Like, how can we add all the distraction of texting-and-driving, but into a navigation app. Bam! Here's Waze. I couldn't help but think "Get all this stuff off my screen so I can see where I'm going" followed by "If I actually paid attention to or used this app it'd get me killed". I'm sure if I'd stopped and played with the settings I could've got it to a manageable level but I really couldn't see the point. You're driving, the social aspect is a dangerous and unnecessary one. Just get me from Point A to B the best you can. Back to Google Maps.

dkrich 9y ago
I use Waze for nav and I don't find it any more/less distracting than Google or Apple Maps. I did turn off all sounds/alerts and never report on things while I'm driving. So basically I just use it for a nav app and nothing else.
djrogers 9y ago
Yes! I recently used it for a road trip and was horrified at how much clutter and crap they put on the screen - it's like gamified navigation. A great example - I really really don't need to know how many waze users are behind me, or driving the opposite direction, or hell - even in front of me. I also don't need 3-4 indicators on the screen showing the speed of traffic going the other way on the freeway. I only care about where I'm going and how quickly I can get there.
- seren 9y ago
  In Options > Display on Map, you can select what is and what is not displayed on the map. The first option allows you to remove other wazers.
  - theWatcher37 9y ago
    Oh no, options! How terrible! /s
- jonknee 9y ago
  FWIW the display of other Wazers is useful if you want to know the likelihood of any speed traps being correctly identified (a lot of other Wazers ahead of you in either direction should suffice).
- TheAdamist 9y ago
  It literally is gamified navigation, you get point rewards for driving over "candy" on your route, although so many people use waze nowadays i only wind up with a piece of candy every few months.
acomjean 9y ago
I use it as my navigation app. It works better when I got the bigger phone (Not sure how I used it on an iPhone 4s). There is a lot on the screen, but I usually just use the voice navigation feature. It gives pretty good directions most of the time, and reroutes gracefully. Works in many countries. I don't like the UI though. It figures out you've stopped and as I glance to see the map, an add pops up over the top of the screen, which is anoying. Clicking on the bar on the bottom of the screen to "stop" or enter a new address never seems intuitive. Its workable though and good at finding locations by name. One feature it has thats nice, is that you can send someone your route, and it will when your about 2 minutes out (alternatively they can watch your progress).
zippergz 9y ago
I hate the interface, but I find that it does a better job of routing me around bad traffic than Google Maps does (even though it supposely takes Waze data into account), and MUCH better than Apple Maps. So I use it every day for my commute. I ignore the other crap and just pay attention to the route it is sending me on. If I'm actually navigating to a place I don't know how to get to rather than commuting, I'll tend to use Google Maps instead. The display is much easier to read while I'm driving. And Waze's traffic avoidance routing is very aggressive, so it can sometimes suggest really stupid stuff. On my normal commute when I know all of the roads, I can easily tell it's trying to get me to do something stupid and ignore it. But in an area I don't know well, I'm more likely to unkowningly follow an illogical direction.
leggomylibro 9y ago
It's fantastic for a passenger to help someone navigate with, but I could see it being distracting for an individual. When you're a passenger, you can point out (and report) upcoming obstacles, amuse yourself looking at the little catcar bubbles, etc. They should probably make a quick "I am the driver/passenger" button, though.
rconti 9y ago
The UX is goddamned terrible, and there needs to be a setting to mute alerts but allow turn by turn directions to be spoken. Why the hell I want to hear about every dead squirrel on the side of the road but NOT hear directions is beyond me.
- theWatcher37 9y ago
  police reported ahead is amazing.
  - rconti 9y ago
    I'd make an exception for that. Though I don't find it to be all that useful. For one, I haven't been pulled over since I moved to CA 15 years ago and I speed EVERYWHERE. But I don't do anything else 'wrong' behind the wheel.
- cjrp 9y ago
  You can turn off specific alerts (at least on the iPhone version); I've disabled "Hazards on shoulder" because it was getting annoying hearing it so frequently.
avip 9y ago
Waze has an eagle-kick level killer feature: The "Commuting time distribution graph". This feature is so damn useful I'd still use waze even if it were a bash script.
- teejmya 9y ago
  How can I access this graph in Waze?
  - avip 9y ago
    By choosing "later" instead of "go now" after picking a destination.
- mosaiclifestyle 9y ago
  Holy hell, I was just lamenting Google Maps' lack of such a feature, and the range of commute time estimates being way too conservative. Lo and behold, they had the feature, it was just in Waze.
- flavor8 9y ago
  Thanks, that's a nice feature that makes it worth having on my phone. I'll still switch to google maps for the actual navigation because of the cleaner UI, but being able to look this up ahead of time is useful.
emodendroket 9y ago
Yes. Especially when I watch some other people driving with it on and constantly answering questions. I'm surprised this has hardly been an issue.
theWatcher37 9y ago
Absolutely not. Waze is the pinnacle of GPS vehicle navigation apps. Google and Apple maps don't even come close. Waze has probably saved me at least $1,000 in speeding fines, and has an almost uncanny ability to report upcoming hazards liked stopped cars or debris in the road. (Seriously, I can't believe how some car that just stopped is there) Reading your comment is thoroughly confusing, since you really shouldn't be "looking" at waze while driving much since it talks to you the whole time. Adding an event is trivial, I mean I'm not sure how you could make it any more simple. Unless you suffer from a specific condition preventing you from taking your eyes off a nearby screen I can't see how it would impact your driving any worse than any other GPS app
- foobarian 9y ago
  Is there some clever way of entering events better than touching the screen? I find that I often can't deal with the phone the second I see a hazard/construction/speed trap but would like to at least "register" it so I can send it off a few minutes later. Same for confirming alerts from others, I find that I can't verify an alert until I get to the location, and at that point I only have about 200 feet until the option goes away.
- zippergz 9y ago
  I defended Waze in this thread, but frankly it's absurd to me that someone would argue that a process which requires several taps on specific parts of the screen (like reporting a stopped car) is the same level of impact as other GPS apps that require literally zero interaction while you're driving...
cjrp 9y ago
It serves ads for nearby coffee shops (for example) when you stop at a traffic light. Terrible idea.

dkrich 9y ago

I use Waze for nav and I don't find it any more/less distracting than Google or Apple Maps. I did turn off all sounds/alerts and never report on things while I'm driving. So basically I just use it for a nav app and nothing else.

djrogers 9y ago

Yes! I recently used it for a road trip and was horrified at how much clutter and crap they put on the screen - it's like gamified navigation. A great example - I really really don't need to know how many waze users are behind me, or driving the opposite direction, or hell - even in front of me. I also don't need 3-4 indicators on the screen showing the speed of traffic going the other way on the freeway. I only care about where I'm going and how quickly I can get there.

seren 9y ago
In Options > Display on Map, you can select what is and what is not displayed on the map. The first option allows you to remove other wazers.
- theWatcher37 9y ago
  Oh no, options! How terrible! /s
jonknee 9y ago
FWIW the display of other Wazers is useful if you want to know the likelihood of any speed traps being correctly identified (a lot of other Wazers ahead of you in either direction should suffice).
TheAdamist 9y ago
It literally is gamified navigation, you get point rewards for driving over "candy" on your route, although so many people use waze nowadays i only wind up with a piece of candy every few months.

acomjean 9y ago

I use it as my navigation app. It works better when I got the bigger phone (Not sure how I used it on an iPhone 4s). There is a lot on the screen, but I usually just use the voice navigation feature. It gives pretty good directions most of the time, and reroutes gracefully. Works in many countries. I don't like the UI though. It figures out you've stopped and as I glance to see the map, an add pops up over the top of the screen, which is anoying. Clicking on the bar on the bottom of the screen to "stop" or enter a new address never seems intuitive. Its workable though and good at finding locations by name. One feature it has thats nice, is that you can send someone your route, and it will when your about 2 minutes out (alternatively they can watch your progress).

zippergz 9y ago

I hate the interface, but I find that it does a better job of routing me around bad traffic than Google Maps does (even though it supposely takes Waze data into account), and MUCH better than Apple Maps. So I use it every day for my commute. I ignore the other crap and just pay attention to the route it is sending me on. If I'm actually navigating to a place I don't know how to get to rather than commuting, I'll tend to use Google Maps instead. The display is much easier to read while I'm driving. And Waze's traffic avoidance routing is very aggressive, so it can sometimes suggest really stupid stuff. On my normal commute when I know all of the roads, I can easily tell it's trying to get me to do something stupid and ignore it. But in an area I don't know well, I'm more likely to unkowningly follow an illogical direction.

leggomylibro 9y ago

It's fantastic for a passenger to help someone navigate with, but I could see it being distracting for an individual. When you're a passenger, you can point out (and report) upcoming obstacles, amuse yourself looking at the little catcar bubbles, etc. They should probably make a quick "I am the driver/passenger" button, though.

rconti 9y ago

The UX is goddamned terrible, and there needs to be a setting to mute alerts but allow turn by turn directions to be spoken. Why the hell I want to hear about every dead squirrel on the side of the road but NOT hear directions is beyond me.

theWatcher37 9y ago
police reported ahead is amazing.
- rconti 9y ago
  I'd make an exception for that. Though I don't find it to be all that useful. For one, I haven't been pulled over since I moved to CA 15 years ago and I speed EVERYWHERE. But I don't do anything else 'wrong' behind the wheel.
cjrp 9y ago
You can turn off specific alerts (at least on the iPhone version); I've disabled "Hazards on shoulder" because it was getting annoying hearing it so frequently.

avip 9y ago

Waze has an eagle-kick level killer feature: The "Commuting time distribution graph". This feature is so damn useful I'd still use waze even if it were a bash script.

teejmya 9y ago
How can I access this graph in Waze?
- avip 9y ago
  By choosing "later" instead of "go now" after picking a destination.
mosaiclifestyle 9y ago
Holy hell, I was just lamenting Google Maps' lack of such a feature, and the range of commute time estimates being way too conservative. Lo and behold, they had the feature, it was just in Waze.
flavor8 9y ago
Thanks, that's a nice feature that makes it worth having on my phone. I'll still switch to google maps for the actual navigation because of the cleaner UI, but being able to look this up ahead of time is useful.

emodendroket 9y ago

Yes. Especially when I watch some other people driving with it on and constantly answering questions. I'm surprised this has hardly been an issue.

theWatcher37 9y ago

Absolutely not. Waze is the pinnacle of GPS vehicle navigation apps. Google and Apple maps don't even come close. Waze has probably saved me at least $1,000 in speeding fines, and has an almost uncanny ability to report upcoming hazards liked stopped cars or debris in the road. (Seriously, I can't believe how some car that just stopped is there) Reading your comment is thoroughly confusing, since you really shouldn't be "looking" at waze while driving much since it talks to you the whole time. Adding an event is trivial, I mean I'm not sure how you could make it any more simple. Unless you suffer from a specific condition preventing you from taking your eyes off a nearby screen I can't see how it would impact your driving any worse than any other GPS app

foobarian 9y ago
Is there some clever way of entering events better than touching the screen? I find that I often can't deal with the phone the second I see a hazard/construction/speed trap but would like to at least "register" it so I can send it off a few minutes later. Same for confirming alerts from others, I find that I can't verify an alert until I get to the location, and at that point I only have about 200 feet until the option goes away.
zippergz 9y ago
I defended Waze in this thread, but frankly it's absurd to me that someone would argue that a process which requires several taps on specific parts of the screen (like reporting a stopped car) is the same level of impact as other GPS apps that require literally zero interaction while you're driving...

cjrp 9y ago

It serves ads for nearby coffee shops (for example) when you stop at a traffic light. Terrible idea.