Outside Social (Formerly known as Gaia GPS)
It’s so sad to see that so many people share the following story. I downloaded Gaia GPS on November 15, 2017. This app quickly replaced all other apps and reigned the dominant track and navigation tool in my kit. It even replaced analogue modes such as paper maps, compasses, etc. They offered amazing in app purchases to off more layers for better route planning. But if you didn’t pay for these, you still had the highest functioning app for tracking and way finding. It worked offline even for free. As a professional wildlife biologist, I often recommended the app to coworkers in private and government sectors. I had used this app from all over the western United States backcountry to remote pacific islands without cell service. Not once did I get lost or have issues route finding. That was until the recent buy out. Gaia GPS “shut down” back in 2021 and whatever Outside Interactive is tried to profit off of it. In reality they just bought Gaia out and everything has turned to actual garbage. They dismantled it slowly to the point where this app is hardly functioning these days. They changed privacy policies and have since sold biometrics and biographical information. I tried to track my trip in Japan two weeks ago but Gaia would record about 20 seconds of a track, then stand idle until I open the app again. It would draw a straight line to where I opened the app again, cutting out so much of my previous tracks. Imagine if you were relying on these tracks to get your out and back like I used to for work. Even back home in the USA, I tried to track a bicycle ride. I was on cellular data the whole time in an area I get perfect LTE, started my track, slept my phone and rode my bike. An hour later, I open the app to end my track, and it only tracked about 3 miles of my 6-7mile route. I’m giving this 1 stars as the last straw finally unfolded. They have recently added a social media section because a total of -3 people asked for it. It shows right when you open the app. As a professional in the outdoor field, I am so excited to tell everyone that they should never use Gaia ever again. They’ll still make so much profit though, cause they don’t care what their users want.