Review Insights · App Store
Waze Navigation & Live Traffic
Waze Inc. · 3,173,653 ratings · ★ 4.8
4.8
★★★★★
3,173,653 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 36 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"waze"
9 negative reviews mention this · 25% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Used to be 5 stars. For months now when I try to navigate home to Connecticut the app will claim there’s no network and refuse to work. If I try to navigate to a different state, the network immediately comes back. Every other app on my phone, including naviga…" - Filiocht
2
"update"
7 negative reviews mention this · 19% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Latest update crashes on iPhone 16 max. The latest update freezes or crashes on iPhone 16 max, which makes it virtually useless It hangs all the time when entering addresses. It went from the best to the worst in just a few app updates." - GrooReview
3
"while"
7 negative reviews mention this · 19% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Used to be 5 stars. For months now when I try to navigate home to Connecticut the app will claim there’s no network and refuse to work. If I try to navigate to a different state, the network immediately comes back. Every other app on my phone, including naviga…" - Filiocht
4
"been"
7 negative reviews mention this · 19% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Used to be 5 stars. For months now when I try to navigate home to Connecticut the app will claim there’s no network and refuse to work. If I try to navigate to a different state, the network immediately comes back. Every other app on my phone, including naviga…" - Filiocht
5
"driving"
6 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "STOP THE SPORTS UPDATES. Turn off the sports updates while driving. This is a setting that came in somehow unannounced. It’s distracting and I do not want sports update. For example, the World Cup to show up on the screen while I’m driving." - Whall
6
"deleted"
6 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "No connection?. While sitting on wifi or just cell waze gives no direction -- simply says it will recalculate when back online...except I AM online...deleted app and reinstalled but same message every time" - Pastorbruce59
7
"route"
6 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Trash. App has become straight up garbage since the last update. Constantly going offline, giving routes that would take significantly longer than it should, not accurately tracking where you actually are on the map. Just about ready to delete and…" - Don’t want a damn nickname
8
"address"
6 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Latest update crashes on iPhone 16 max. The latest update freezes or crashes on iPhone 16 max, which makes it virtually useless It hangs all the time when entering addresses. It went from the best to the worst in just a few app updates." - GrooReview
9
"traffic"
5 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Life traffic does not seem to be accurate or it’s not able to update for some reason.. Life traffic does not seem to be accurate or it’s not able to update for some reason." - mattnorton2u
10
"garbage"
5 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Trash. App has become straight up garbage since the last update. Constantly going offline, giving routes that would take significantly longer than it should, not accurately tracking where you actually are on the map. Just about ready to delete and…" - Don’t want a damn nickname
11
"doesn"
5 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "No manual start point !!!. Horrible uncomfortable app, doesn't have manual start point to drive from to my route . I can see tolls and my route ONLY where I'm now ! How silly is that ??? Don't recommend waste your time" - KaterinaKat22s
12
"road"
5 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Unusable in CarPlay. Waze has gone from being my go-to navigation app to being unusable and dangerous in CarPlay. The map will just disappear randomly while driving. Restarting the app doesn’t help and I shouldn’t be that occupied with fixing a broken app while…" - DistrictofColumbia
📋 All 36 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
Can’t give me directions
Used to be great, now it glitches out all the time.
Piss off!!
This app sucks!!!!
Latest update crashes on iPhone 16 max
The latest update freezes or crashes on iPhone 16 max, which makes it virtually useless
It hangs all the time when entering addresses.
It went from the best to the worst in just a few app updates.
It hangs all the time when entering addresses.
It went from the best to the worst in just a few app updates.
Life traffic does not seem to be accurate or it’s not able to update for some reason.
Life traffic does not seem to be accurate or it’s not able to update for some reason.
Used to be 5 stars
For months now when I try to navigate home to Connecticut the app will claim there’s no network and refuse to work. If I try to navigate to a different state, the network immediately comes back. Every other app on my phone, including navigation apps, have this issue and my phone has full connectivity while Waze is unable to connect until I tell it I want to go to cape cod or somewhere similar instead. This has been going on since the end of April and no fixes on the website or forums have made any difference. Maybe if I leave a one star review someone might actually generate a solution, but until then I’m over stressing myself out over this app as it decides the network stopped working midway through New Jersey.
Trash
App has become straight up garbage since the last update. Constantly going offline, giving routes that would take significantly longer than it should, not accurately tracking where you actually are on the map. Just about ready to delete and move on to a different app.
This app SUCKS
It will constantly redirect you into more traffic. If you’re in a time crunch, DO NOT use Waze. By far, the worst navigation app on the market. Pure garbage.
Random errors, constant outage
Never really works, always throwing out random “network errors” etc.
STOP THE SPORTS UPDATES
Turn off the sports updates while driving. This is a setting that came in somehow unannounced. It’s distracting and I do not want sports update. For example, the World Cup to show up on the screen while I’m driving.
Terrible
Unreliable
No connection?
While sitting on wifi or just cell waze gives no direction -- simply says it will recalculate when back online...except I AM online...deleted app and reinstalled but same message every time
No manual start point !!!
Horrible uncomfortable app, doesn't have manual start point to drive from to my route . I can see tolls and my route ONLY where I'm now ! How silly is that ??? Don't recommend waste your time
Sends spam notifications
Advertises itself through notifications.
Does not work after updating
The app keeps saying I’m offline after updating and I’ve tried on WiFi and also my cell signal in 5G.
Car play
Update the app - over the past 6 months to a year car play has been glitchy at best - about to delete
What happened?
It’s been going down hill lately. And in its most recent version I simply cannot use it, it just gives wrong directions. I’m actually sitting at my destination and it thinks it 3.5 miles away!
CarPlay zoom broken
CarPlay without touchscreen is broken. Fix it. Why are zoom icon hidden behind sub menu???
Adds time
Literally loops you 5-10+ minutes of extra distance to try and manipulate traffic. Use Apple or Google Maps at this point.
Your app is trash
Your support is garbage and it matches your app. Deleted forever.
Not a solid app any longer
Recently will freeze, not allow address entry and take a long time to route.
Unusable in CarPlay
Waze has gone from being my go-to navigation app to being unusable and dangerous in CarPlay. The map will just disappear randomly while driving. Restarting the app doesn’t help and I shouldn’t be that occupied with fixing a broken app while driving.
UPDATE: the disappearing map issue went away for a bit with the latest update. However it happened again while I was driving on a narrow, winding mountain road. Not good at all.
UPDATE: the disappearing map issue went away for a bit with the latest update. However it happened again while I was driving on a narrow, winding mountain road. Not good at all.
Makes its own destination
This app worked great in the beginning. Then suddenly it just stopped talking. So I'd be driving down the road trying to squint at my phone to see the directions. The next time I used it, I didn't have that problem, but instead of taking me to the destination that I entered (full, exact address) in it dumped me off in the middle of a downtown city where I had never been and had me drive in a actual circle. I pulled over and input the directions again and had to go about 30 minutes on an interstate, in bumper-to-bumper rush-hour, back in the direction from which I came. Going to look for a better app.
Useless
I normally love this app and use it over Google maps, but since the last update I can’t search an address half of the time. The app just freezes and nothing changes after closing the app and retrying several times.
World cup?
why are you crapping up this app with soccer garbage? It’s a driving app. People have enough issues with distracted driving as it is without you adding sports into the app.
App has gone down hill fast
I’ve been a faithful user of Waze for many many years but i just deleted the app as it has become unusable at time and absolutely does not take you the shortest route anymore. Good bye Waze
Horrible jumpy screen app
Try looking for an address into that is saved and the screen rolls up just as you put your finger on it and of course then the selection you wanted is gone and your finger touches a different one. Then you have go completely OUT of app and go back in to get rid of the wrong selection. Time consuming, not helpful, too hard to go from one screen to another and then get smoothly back to the direction screen. How are you supposed to use this app while driving? You would have to pull off the road and stop the car every single time you needed to look for something.
How to be late for an interview -feat. Waze
THE GOOD: the best navigation tool you could possibly have (when it worked) as it provides plenty of QOL features many other apps simply lacked. Getting the ETA for future trips, having road hazards reported in real time to prepare you for that next pothole, and gas prices updated live so you can save a buck or few when filling the tank, it's everything you could possibly want and more.
THE BAD: In its current state, the app is unusable. When trying to use the search bar, it COMPLETELY softlocks the app. Best case scenario is that it doesn't do it immediately and you somehow manage to type a few letters in. The app freezes, you re-open it, it does it again, and now you're running late for an interview. It's not a good look considering this was NEVER an issue several updates ago. it's hard to trust an app that jeopardizes any time sensitive plans or trips. You can't scope out a drive in advance, you can't even enter an address. This has been an issue plaguing the app for weeks.
THE UGLY: Closing the app doesn't immediately stop the process and it lingers for quite some time where it can still be switched to in its broken state. Other GPS apps terminate properly so why is it Waze that struggles? This hints at improper iOS resource utilization/memory management due to poor coding meaning unnecessary stress on your device. It's something that cannot be fixed by the user. Reinstalling it is a temporary workaround where the app will function as usual but a launch or two later and it's back to you being late to interviews. Even worse is that sometimes the app refuses to be deleted and has to be offloaded from within the settings app before it can be uninstalled. It feels like malware while offering you a terrible user experience so i encourage you to look elsewhere if you want to be punctual and care about the sanctity of your device
specs:
-iPhone 12 Pro Max
-iOS 18.7.8
THE BAD: In its current state, the app is unusable. When trying to use the search bar, it COMPLETELY softlocks the app. Best case scenario is that it doesn't do it immediately and you somehow manage to type a few letters in. The app freezes, you re-open it, it does it again, and now you're running late for an interview. It's not a good look considering this was NEVER an issue several updates ago. it's hard to trust an app that jeopardizes any time sensitive plans or trips. You can't scope out a drive in advance, you can't even enter an address. This has been an issue plaguing the app for weeks.
THE UGLY: Closing the app doesn't immediately stop the process and it lingers for quite some time where it can still be switched to in its broken state. Other GPS apps terminate properly so why is it Waze that struggles? This hints at improper iOS resource utilization/memory management due to poor coding meaning unnecessary stress on your device. It's something that cannot be fixed by the user. Reinstalling it is a temporary workaround where the app will function as usual but a launch or two later and it's back to you being late to interviews. Even worse is that sometimes the app refuses to be deleted and has to be offloaded from within the settings app before it can be uninstalled. It feels like malware while offering you a terrible user experience so i encourage you to look elsewhere if you want to be punctual and care about the sanctity of your device
specs:
-iPhone 12 Pro Max
-iOS 18.7.8
Broken icon?
Noticed that the ‘+’ widget on my Waze no longer works when I press to add disabled, blocked lane, gas prices, etc… must be a bug from latest release???
Deleted Waze
Focus on the map. Don’t try to be a sports channel.
App keeps freezing - please fix
App keeps freezing - please fix
What a turn to being the biggest pile of garbage
I write this review while sitting in traffic. This app has the propensity to route you away from the freeway during road trips. It has done this to me multiple times, in the meantime there is NO TRAFFIC ON THE FREEWAY I WAS ROUTED AWAY FROM. When Google/Alphabet bought this app, they must have thrown away all project roadmaps and said “Hey, free reign, make the app as horrible as possible.”. Please put this bs out of its misery and take it off the app store.
Generally OK
Too bad it can’t always just work.
This app can do better. They can implement AI on their systems. Otherwise I’m not using it no more.
I honestly don’t know why I still use Waze sometimes. The only reasons are the police alerts, hazard notifications, and the fact that the map display is easier on the eyes than most other GPS apps. If it wasn’t for those features, I would have deleted it a long time ago.
My biggest complaint is the routing. Waze constantly seems to choose the worst possible route. Somehow it always manages to find the route with the most tolls or sends me on a route that’s much longer than it needs to be. What drives me crazy is that it rarely offers a reasonable middle-ground option. Why can’t it suggest a route that’s not the absolute longest and doesn’t hit every toll booth in the state?
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve followed Waze only to realize later that I spent more money on tolls and burned more gas than necessary. The whole point of using a GPS is to save time, avoid traffic, and make driving easier. Instead, I often feel like I’m paying more and driving farther than I should be.
The traffic routing isn’t much better. There have been plenty of times when Waze claimed it was giving me the fastest route, only for me to end up sitting in traffic wondering why I trusted it in the first place. Then, after I’m already stuck, it suddenly discovers an alternate route that would have been useful 20 minutes earlier.
What’s most frustrating is that these complaints aren’t new. People have been talking about these issues for years, yet the routing still feels incredibly inconsistent. Sometimes it gets things right, but when it gets them wrong, it gets them REALLY wrong.
At this point, the police alerts and hazard reports are the only thing keeping Waze installed on my phone. If another GPS app offered those same features with smarter route planning, I would switch immediately without thinking twice.
My biggest complaint is the routing. Waze constantly seems to choose the worst possible route. Somehow it always manages to find the route with the most tolls or sends me on a route that’s much longer than it needs to be. What drives me crazy is that it rarely offers a reasonable middle-ground option. Why can’t it suggest a route that’s not the absolute longest and doesn’t hit every toll booth in the state?
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve followed Waze only to realize later that I spent more money on tolls and burned more gas than necessary. The whole point of using a GPS is to save time, avoid traffic, and make driving easier. Instead, I often feel like I’m paying more and driving farther than I should be.
The traffic routing isn’t much better. There have been plenty of times when Waze claimed it was giving me the fastest route, only for me to end up sitting in traffic wondering why I trusted it in the first place. Then, after I’m already stuck, it suddenly discovers an alternate route that would have been useful 20 minutes earlier.
What’s most frustrating is that these complaints aren’t new. People have been talking about these issues for years, yet the routing still feels incredibly inconsistent. Sometimes it gets things right, but when it gets them wrong, it gets them REALLY wrong.
At this point, the police alerts and hazard reports are the only thing keeping Waze installed on my phone. If another GPS app offered those same features with smarter route planning, I would switch immediately without thinking twice.
Ads & routes are annoying
The ads are distracting. Will take you a crazy route to shave off 30 seconds. If you search for a gas station it doesn’t automatically sort by distance or find one along your route. Almost ran out of gas.
Police reports not showing?
I cant see or report police locations. Somedays its fine but not this morning.
Sound issues
Please address the annoying sound increasing, instead of decreasing, when I click YES to car stopped or mark an hazard. Otherwise five stars.
Sentiment summary
98%
Positive (4-5★)
1%
Neutral (3★)
1%
Negative (1-2★)