Why I Broke Up With Waze

In the beginning, as far as navigation apps go, Waze was a revelation. Simple interface, traffic and police alerts, and my favorite price - free! But what truly set it apart were its excellent, spoken, turn-by-turn directions. Not too early, not too late - you didn't even need to look at the screen.

And then, Google acquired them. To their credit, they didn't shutter it as a competitor (yet). And the app continued to work the same way for a while.

However, over the last few weeks a number of frustrating experiences have led me to stop using it altogether. First, the ads. There was the occasional ad in the beginning, mostly for Dunkin Donuts. Now there seem to be more and I don't like the way they cover a lot of the screen or demand you dismiss them. Connectivity seems to have gotten worse and the final blow, the routing seems to have gone haywire. A few times it even sent me on a circular detour so that after 20 minutes I ended up in the same location i started. This happened to my wife, as well.

It's disappointing because I was such a big fan at first. I told plenty people about it and even our Realtor was a convert.

Farewell Waze, I enjoyed our time together!

P.S. The jury is still out on my replacement, Apple Maps, but one bonus is now I can say, " Siri, take me home."