Specialized - Mission Control

Why is the synopsis for the latest update in French? I have nothing against the French language - but if that kind of lack of attention to detail is what happens on the front-end, I'm worried about what's in the code.

One thing I hate is when apps want to track me all the time. I have to turn on always allow tracking in order for the software to track my rides. It won’t if you try to set on ‘track only while using the app’. I’m tired of stuff like this draining my battery tracking all my moves. I only want to track my rides. Not where I live and shop. Selling my data? Sheesh. Other than that gripé I’m happy with what it does track. And seeing ride results.

Mission Control has a logical, easy to use interface, has an excellent mapping system, and allows customization of the ebike’s power settings. However, there are a some significant problems that absolutely ruin the app: 1) The app requires Location be set to “Always” each ride. If you forget to turn Location off after riding, it will contribute to drain the phone’s battery. The developers need to make the app work when Location is set to “While Using.”. 2) The app requires Display and Brightness - Auto Lock to be set to “Never” so that the map remains active while riding. Again, if you forget to return Display and Brightness to its prior setting, it will continue to drain the battery. 3) The app reads the battery capacity (viz., %)at the start of the ride, but doesn’t change during the ride, rendering that feature useless. 4) Since applying Apple’s latest security patch, Mission Control no longer saves My Rides in history. Come on Specialized, hire some competent iOS programmers!

Here’s what I’d like to see: A setting that allows me to tune how much assist I want when starting from a complete stop tied to each assist level. E-bikes are heavy and while I may not need much assist while actively peddling, some extra power while starting would be helpful sometimes. Apple Watch & Health Integration. Recording a cycling workout on my Apple Watch produces results more in line with riding a regular bicycle. Recording an e-bike ride on Strava gives me heart rate and other metrics, but no information from the bike. Recording a ride on the app and importing to Strava means no heart rate. Having an Apple Watch companion app that allows me to record metrics both from my watch and the bike would make this much easier for the user. The app should be able to “wake up” the bike for tuning. Also, under the specific scenario, the lights wouldn’t need to come on.

I installed the app and on the second use it locked my bike display on the battery monitor and couldn’t get the display to change. Called customer service, after a long wait on hold the technician could only get it to the bike display to work by doing a hard factory reset on the bike. Technician told me he has a couple of specialized bikes and does not use the app, I’m not using the app anymore either. This was before the recent update.

Thanks!

Before I relay the issues I’m having with the app, let inform, in case you don’t know already, that Specialized’s customer service is pathetic. You call customer support, but are never able to speak to anyone. You’ll on hold for years until you hang up. Now to the app. This app is junk, and Specialized is not putting much effort to fix the problems. A few of the issues I’m having: - When charging, the screen either show the SOC at 0% or 1%, no matter what the actual SOC actually is; - I set the charging limit to 80%, but it charges to 100%. Sometimes setting the limit works, sometimes it doesn’t; - I set my personal preferences, say for screen layout, cadence, but then, eventually, it changes back to factory default; - sometimes the screen comes on when charging, sometimes it doesn’t. Go figure. One would think a giant company like Specialized would care about the quality of their products and customer satisfaction, but that’s not the case. Either don’t know what they’re doing or they don’t care. Or both.

My Specialized Turbo Vado is a great bike that’s a pleasure to ride, but this app leaves so much to be desired, it’s a disappointment from a company as innovative as Specialized. Aesthetically it’s fine; it’s on-brand and looks like you’d expect. That’s nice. But it’s lagging in the features and content you’d expect from a premium brand like Specialized, and their competition is getting ahead. For me, the most glaring omissions: The map still doesn’t offer turn-by-turn navigation, and your recorded rides still can’t be exported to Apple Health or Apple Fitness. I get the impression Specialized can’t figure out what they want this app to be. It insists on having always-on location data and staying in the foreground during a ride. I get the reasons behind that, but it’s lacking too many features to be a true “ride companion” app. More detailed maps with layers for trails, bike lanes, and turn-by-turn is a starting point. I’d like to see integrated audio playback controls (similar to how Waze did it) so I don’t have to switch apps so often. And I really don’t understand why there’s still no ability to sync Health and Fitness data. Strava does it. Peloton does it. Get with it, Specialized. Your bikes are great, but your software is lagging way behind.

The smart option is no longer working. The app enables the control and the TCD invokes the option, but the motor does perform. It is weaker than ECO mode. I need this reported.

Was enjoying the app, especially the Smart Control, for about a 1,000 miles of riding. Then the Smart Control stopped working. It stays at 10% no matter what distance or time duration I enter. No longer use it to record my rides. Use my Garmin watch instead.