CoPilot (for iPhone) - Review 2022

There are plenty of free GPS apps out there, just not all of them work offline. CoPilot is technically free, but in social club to get maps, vox-guided navigation, and other features like traffic, y'all must pay for them within the app. I purchased the CoPilot Premium Hard disk Usa version for $14.99, which includes phonation-guided navigation and a year of traffic alerts. The app has a great, easy-to-use interface, but unfortunately, serious navigation errors makes it hard to recommend. You lot're ameliorate off investing in a paid app similar Garmin, or sticking with truly free apps such as our Editors' Choice, Google Maps.

Pricing, Interface, and Points of Interest
As mentioned above, I paid $14.99 for the Premium Hard disk drive USA edition, which comes with one year of free traffic alerts and voice navigation. Subsequently a year, traffic alerts cost $ix.99 per year, and phonation guidance starts at $0.99 for thirty days. Offline 2d street maps are ever free.

Setting up CoPilot is easy. First yous choose your language, country, and preferred text-to-speech voice (U.S. English, U.Thou. English, etc.). Then it asks for your name; I expected the app to address me by name at some point, but that never happened. Finally, you can download the maps y'all need, first by selecting a continent, then a region. Y'all can download the entire U.S. map, or just sections (similar Eastern U.Due south.). The app has profiles for auto, bicycle, motorcycle, RV, and walking.

CoPilot inline

On the map screen, CoPilot shows your current location and displays a compass, which is helpful, since, in unfamiliar areas it'south non ever obvious which mode is northward. There'southward as well a button for adding points of interest (POI) icons to the map view, or Wikipedia icons, which lead to entries about places in the expanse. When searching for a destination, you lot can input an address, a saved place (including abode, work, and contempo destinations), a bespeak of interest, a contact, or even coordinates. You tin can as well scan the map. When searching for an address, you have to beginning with the city or cypher code and piece of work astern to the house number, which I find tedious. Merely I similar that you can choose an intersection if y'all don't know the exact address.

CoPilot'south POI database is robust, containing almost of the restaurants I searched for, though it's missing a nearby park and grocery store. You can search by category, or select all categories at once and search from Google, Wikipedia, and Yelp correct from the app.

A free feature called CommuteMe helps you manage your commute with daily traffic alerts, similar to Scout's traffic reports. You lot choose the days and times that you commute and the app volition warn y'all of traffic problems along your route. This requires a traffic subscription.

CoPilot (for iPhone)

Motorcar Navigation
On my first trip with CoPilot, I navigated to a local eating place most a mile away. Oddly, the app didn't offer a phonation prompt until I got to my beginning turn. I prefer apps that tell you lot what to practise outset, even if information technology's simply to get direct or bulldoze s. I know there are ii equally convenient ways to get to this restaurant, and then when I was directed to a nearby highway, I ignored that command and proceeded to a surface route. The app connected to straight me to become back to the highway, even when I was mere blocks from the restaurant. Worse yet, while route recalculation was quick, much of it was inaccurate or dangerous. For example, in an effort to get me to turn around, the app told me to take a left turn downward a one way street going the wrong manner, and then to have a left into a park, and finally down a street with a expressionless end. Knowing the area, I was able to ignore these cues, only I tin imagine information technology would be scary for someone from out of town.

Eventually, CoPilot stopped trying to get me on the highway, simply then sent me past the restaurant and stopped recalculating. That was a very frustrating trip. On another trip to Fairway in Harlem, CoPilot got me there, but not in the most direct style, choosing a service road of sorts that runs parallel to the highway, which exits right in front of shop. At least it was accurate.

Pedestrian and Cycling Navigation
Walking directions don't fare much better. When I asked for directions to a eating house in Harlem, it sent me downwardly a stretch of street that's not at all pedestrian-friendly; it lacks both sidewalks and walk signs. When navigating to park in Fort Lee that's just across the George Washington Span, CoPilot sent me downtown to take a ferry, even though the GWB is accessible for pedestrians. This tripped up Apple tree Maps as well. Oddly, CoPilot did know that the bridge is wheel-attainable, though.

CoPilot Is Promising, but Needs Fixes
CoPilot GPS has potential. I really like its interface and offline features, but it falls short on its chief chore: navigation. When driving and walking, I encountered some unsafe errors. Its maps need to exist fixed and updated before I can really recommend the app. For at present, I'thou sticking with Google Maps and Waze.