Outdooractive Reviews 247

On Android, creating plans and routes is very difficult and non-intuitive. To plot an intricate route through a city using a stylus or mouse is laborious and error-prone. Even worse, once the route has been created there's no easy way to edit it by moving points on the map, all you can do is delete points or add new ones (and not even that for Beeline routes). Other functions mssing are: display present height and coordinates, specify frequency of data points when tracking, simplify a track or route to essential data points only, export as kml. Also the version of Open Street Map used lacks details such as names of bus stops and shops, which are available on the OSM website.

Viewranger was an excellent product, bought by another company with a much inferior product just to get rid of them. Nothing of Viewranger exists in Outdooractive, they just closed it down. The interface is cumbersome and the facilities don't even come close to those of Viewranger.

I was VR user before and was a little disgruntled when I was moved to OA. However I have become used to the new interface and can't really remember VR. I subscribe to the pro version and get good hi res maps all around the world. Bit annoyed that the tracker uses GPS altitude rather than the map which is available and much more reliable.

Once again, Outdooractive becomes unusable. I had Viewranger for several years, found the transition across fraught with problems (despite having paid for a significant number of maps). Eventually sorted to the point that I could use this app but just tried to check something this morning and all my maps have gove (despite having also downloaded them for offline use) and having the Pro and Pro+ versions thrust in my face.

I would agree with others that the seeming instability of this app, despite Outdooractive's protestations, make it unreliable to the point of potentially dangerous. Teeth grindingly frustrated again!!

they bought a brilliant company and mapping service called View Ranger which was very effective, easy to use with excellent functionality.

they have shut it down and replaced it with the Outdoor Active app which hardly works at all, includes lots of social media but is useless for map reading.

They could have taken an app that works brilliantly and used it as the basis of their product and added the extras for those who wanted it.

dont subscribe to it until you are sure it works for you.

Instead use OS (ordnance survey app) and free

I purchased all the UK OS maps with Viewranger and used them effectively for many years. On takeover by Outdooractive I accepted the legacy map agreement and have been using outdoor active happily up until now. My ability to store offline maps has now been stopped. This make the app useless to me in the hills. I can't relay on something the needs a phone signal to work. There are many places in Scotland where there is no signal. I am disappointed that the offline map access that I originally purchased with Viewranger has now been taken away from me

Suddenly legacy subscription cancelled and downloads disappear. Surely investment in Viewranger warrants a proper discount on services previously purchased?

I find the route planning can be a bit glitchy as it occasionally creates a waypoint off the route I'm trying to plan. Reverting to the 'beeline' method of inserting waypoints always resolves the issue. The 'skyline' feature also usually appears to be a few degrees off and does not provide much useful information. Despite this I've found that it suits my needs (hiking and working as an ecologist in remote areas such as Dartmoor) very well. I see that the main competitor (OS maps) also gets a poor review at only 2-stars, so I'll be renewing my subscription to Outdoor Active. I've also found their customer support satisfactory, helping me to install the app on different devices and sort out a problem that I had not being able to view 1:25,000 maps for example.

Simply dreadful app and poor support.

I don’t recommend any use this app. It’s horrible and when things go wrong the support is hopeless

Only found myself involved because it took over a app I'd used for years without issue. Now its impossible to delete it's emails and impossible to update your preferences unless you accept it's cookies. Once it has your details there's no escape short of dumping it in the trash bin. Complete rubbish and abuser of your personal information.

It's incredible that Outdoor Active can be such utter rubbish given that it took over the superb Viewranger! After the forced migration, I've been using Outdoor Active but after my most recent walk, today, I'll give up. Not only does the Stop report give incorrect (by miles) distance and (by hours) elapsed time - but the route displayed had curious El OWS sticking out that I'd never taken! On each previous occasion, the same issues occurred. With the exception of being able to access the OS I'd paid Viewranger for, I can see no future use for the Outdoor Active App. If Outdoor Active are listening, I advise them to just use Viewranger's App which, I assume, they now own! Surely you can't be proud of all the 1 star reviews? Or perhaps they don't care! 🤬

I've used viewranger since it came out. Both for work (police) and for general navigation it was by far the best UK map software out there. I paid for lifetime maps as it really was that good.
Then outdoor active took over, well they certainly knew how to destroy a great product. They basically made a gimmicky piece of crap not fit for anything more than taking a picnic stroll in a park.
The system is glitchy, used battery at an alarming rate. Maps can disappear on you.
If you want a great navigation application then this is not for you. Stay well clear.
You certainly destroyed the best product out there outdoor active.
Ps they are a rip off as well. They stated that on transfer if you had paid for lifetime maps it would be honoured but a year down the line and low and behold maps have gone.
As I said stay well clear and find another application.

As with so many other reviews I was a happy Viewranger user but this new Outdooractive app is very irritating, clunky and missing features that made viewranger good. Dubious about the "apparent" 5 star reviews as cannot see how anyone could appreciate this version, I expect its the owners and friends reviews 🤔 Wish I could get a refund for the map's I paid for on viewranger. DO NOT GET THIS APP AS USELESS!

I have now been using this App for almost a year. I cannot understand the criticisms of it. As a past ViewRanger user I not only have access to all my legacy downloaded ViewRanger maps, both on the App and on my desktop computer, but in fact can access the entire set of UK OS maps [whereas with ViewRanger I had only downloaded certain areas] and to similar maps for several European countries that I never had before. As a result I have cancelled my subscription to OS online maps. In contrast to ViewRanger you can now easily switch from OS maps to Open Street Maps, Harvey maps etc., and the Buddy tracking system and track recording system works even better than before. Possibly the best App I have on my phone. I would give 6 stars if I could.

Stole all the maps I paid for in Veiwranger. Disgusting blatant theft, I am not alone, the owners of this app should be brought to justice. And I have read your rude response; the maps were transferred, the account set up and working briefly. It now says that my account is 'merged' but all maps, routes and tracks, years of spend and building up routes have disappeared, so I won't be changing my review, you're app is rated according to the experiences of your customers!

Second Review two weeks later:

I have recently received patient, polite, step by step effective help from Russell Cox at Outdooractive, and am very grateful to him for his assistance. I now feel sorry for Outdooractive and want them to succeed but there remain serious issues for users. It is true that I have finally been able to download the maps I bought from ViewRanger, though it took hours of work to do so. Instead of the 3Gb of jpeg data the ViewRanger maps of the UK occupied, these much higher resolution maps occupy 23Gb - for most people a substantial chunk of their smart phone storage. But of course they have no more detail than the ViewRanger OS maps. I now think that the German company that has bought out ViewRanger has “over-engineered” their new website with the result that it is not intuitive and often leads off in multiple confusing directions or in various circular loops. I would apologise for using the phrase “camouflage for theft” except that the company has made errors that made this mistaken impression inevitable. The first mistake is to require ViewRanger customers to sign away their legal rights before permitting access to Outdooractive. This immediately rouses suspicions and triggers a long and boring task of analysing their terms and conditions first. The terms refer to a support address that has to be copied cut and pasted. In doing this I probably included the full stop at the end of the sentence. Google mail demon sent the email back undelivered. Secondly I still believe that Outdooractive has no legal right to block access to my own maps on my own phone in the ViewRanger app until AFTER ensuring that I have received their new replacements. Thirdly Outdooractive simply must reduce the pdf style data of their maps to the jpeg maps that ViewRanger used which occupy almost a tenth of the space if it hopes to compete in the long run with other apps. And lastly the whole site would greatly benefit from simplification for all those who find navigation difficult enough without having to cope with an over-complex app.

First review amended:
Outdoor active is NOT a camouflage for robbery as previously stated but it needs to make changes to avoid ViewRanger customers from arriving at that conclusion. As with other users of ViewRanger, as soon as I followed instructions and stepped into Outdooractive it denied access to the jpeg maps purchased and downloaded in ViewRanger - in my case all the maps of the British isles. The twist is that all these maps are on the hard drive of my computer and legally mine. No third party has any legal right to deny me access to material I own on my own computer. ViewRanger also is complicit in this manoeuvre. The present denial of access to maps already on my computer can only happen because ViewRanger smuggled a denial of access into the app, preventing me from accessing material I bought from them. This amounts to hacking my computer to cut me off from my own property.

As other users agree, this app is garbage to the point that it is unsafe for serious mountain use.

After their takeover of ViewRanger I wrote to the UK Managing Director on behalf of a large group of disgruntled ViewRanger users to ask about their future plans and about access to the expensive mapping that many of us had invested in.

Was totally ignored. Twice. And they seem to have no presence here on Trustpilot, to respond to the avalanche of complaints.

This appears to be a company that treats their customers with contempt. Avoid at all costs, if you value your life (literally).

As a happy view ranger user, view ranger was perfect for my intended purposes and was a fantastic app.
I am now refusing to use this outdoor active crap!! I rather go back to using old fashioned map an compass!!

Used viewranger for years felt confident in it on the hills outdoor active is useless and dangerous

Outdoor active stole all the maps I downloaded - and paid for.
So sorry Outdoor Active you didn't steal my maps. Far from it, you have good customer support, promptly answered my query and I'm now up and going again using my old purchased maps on the Outdoor Active app.