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WHAT ABOUT MY MONEY!


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Geocaching released the new HQ app, cool but I spend $11 on the old app (I'm not a premium member) and I want my money back as the old app is not needed

 

It's been known for quite a while now that the free app would be updated and the paid one not updated anymore.

 

Anyway, none of this means you can't use your old app, so they don't have to give you your money back. If that was the case, I should get money back for my old iPhone 3 since it's not supported anymore.

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I will continue to use the paid app for:

  • Logging 'Needs Maintenance' in the field - it's not in the new free app
  • 'Personal Geocache Note' field - I use this all the time to write spoiler information,
  • List of attributes
  • Photo gallery access
  • A more intuitive layout (but maybe I'm just used to it compared to the free app)

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One app with Premium Membership unlocking more features is a much better system and removes alot of confusion. Lots of times on this forum we've seen people buy a membership thinking they bough the app and vice versa.

 

The easy solution is for Groundspeak to offer them 3 month free premium membership if they recently purchased the paid app. It would cost them nothing out of pocket, eliminate most ill will, and perhaps some of them would continue with a premium membership.

 

Agreed.

 

Although they'd still have to deal with people quibbling over how they defined "recently" purchased.

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Can you imagine the day when the Groundspeak servers fail and all stats are lost for everyone? How is a simple one time fee $10 and a yearly membership so difficult to accept to play this GAME? There are salaries and a hefty amount of servers to maintain and Groundspeak is always open to feedback from players regarding new ideas and upkeep. Change is always difficult to accept but its usually in the best interest of the players to keep the game running smooth and to make it easier for new players. I applaud the new app and always welcome new ideas, the new list feature is well overdue and I hope more items are added to the app in the future. Granted the old "classic" app was never what is could have been and was in dire need of tweaking. Here's to more features to be added to the new app.

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There are still a number of features missing in the free app but present in the paid app. For example, I won't convert over to the free app until field notes and offline lists are implemented. A person desiring those features (or others) could make an informed decision to buy the paid app between now and March 23rd. It's good to have notice of that. Clearly, there's a transition to be made here and there is no perfect plan that will please everyone.

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There are still a number of features missing in the free app but present in the paid app. For example, I won't convert over to the free app until field notes and offline lists are implemented. A person desiring those features (or others) could make an informed decision to buy the paid app between now and March 23rd. It's good to have notice of that. Clearly, there's a transition to be made here and there is no perfect plan that will please everyone.

 

Why not make both apps free and then there's less chance of disappointment - or at least of people losing out financially?

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I can't believe the amount of crying I hear about what was spent on an app..... $11..... I think I have got more enjoyment out of that $11 than any other $11 I have spent. I am pretty sad to see this app disappear, as without doubt something will break it soon enough, and can't understand why resources weren't put into adding features to it, rather than raising a half cousin to take its place....

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I can't believe the amount of crying I hear about what was spent on an app..... $11..... I think I have got more enjoyment out of that $11 than any other $11 I have spent. I am pretty sad to see this app disappear, as without doubt something will break it soon enough, and can't understand why resources weren't put into adding features to it, rather than raising a half cousin to take its place....

 

Well...it's $10...and I rarely, if ever, used it. I found a better, more functional app and I'm not likely to switch to the new "official" app at this point.

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While perusing the new app, I found myself missing little things like when looking at geocaches I had already found - the old app showed you the date you found them. It helped me remember why I was in the area and what the container was.

 

Another thing: My bookmarks are now available to view, but I can't add to them or edit them. It's like giving me one running shoe and expecting me to win a 400m race. Great that I have the bookmark lists to help me remember what I need, but is still lacking.

 

Continuing on things lacking: no favorite point button that I could find. Or GPS accuracy (Accuracy: ____ft) that was available in the old app. The dots that represent the caches on the map are hard to tap on, and there is some lag time that the old app didn't have.

 

The videos that keep popping up every time you select a new type of cache (Earthcache, Wherigo, Traditional, etc.) are irritating.

 

I will say that the positive aspect of this new app is the accessibility of the messaging feature. It makes it much easier to submit answers for earthcaches, virtuals, and correspond with other cachers if you have questions and other info.

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I can't believe the amount of crying I hear about what was spent on an app..... $11..... I think I have got more enjoyment out of that $11 than any other $11 I have spent. I am pretty sad to see this app disappear, as without doubt something will break it soon enough, and can't understand why resources weren't put into adding features to it, rather than raising a half cousin to take its place....

 

Well...it's $10...and I rarely, if ever, used it. I found a better, more functional app and I'm not likely to switch to the new "official" app at this point.

 

This. In fact, it cost me $20 because I had to buy it for my Android AND my iPad.

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well I for one don't want my money back, but I also don't want their revised intro to replace the paid app I like.. If they do take it away all of us who paid should get a refund. but personally I would much rather keep the app I like, and paid for.. I really don't care for or want this new one. if it comes down to it, I will likely use C:geo

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if it comes down to it, I will likely use C:geo

I keep seeing people say this, and I'm confused. You're saying you'd rather use an app that knowingly violates the Terms of Use and hurts the performance of the website? Is Groundspeak's app so bad that you feel you need to actively punish both them and other cachers?

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I've had the paid app for a long time. I like it. It does almost everything I want. It is disappointing that Groundspeak have decided to concentrate on updating the free app while leaving the paid for app to stagnate. Why give new features to those who have paid nowt and yet penalise those who were willing to pay?

 

I downloaded the new Geocaching® app yesterday..

 

First impressions - it's a bit pants. I can't even post a field note! :(

 

I do like the trackables section though.

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I find the new app a bit disappointing. I can't save caches to offline lists. I can't post field notes which really stinks for those of us who don't like to log on the fly. And new cache notifications no longer open to any app they just go to GC.com. Has anyone else noticed this and how can I make it open to an app again? I'm sure I could get used to the new one eventually but it would be nice to have all the features I paid for and used on this new app. Also, how do you access your personal cache notes? Also would be nice to see at a glance last time found. Oh and one more complaint. The color variation between traditional and mystery is way too similar. It is very hard to distinguish between the two.

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if it comes down to it, I will likely use C:geo

I keep seeing people say this, and I'm confused. You're saying you'd rather use an app that knowingly violates the Terms of Use and hurts the performance of the website? Is Groundspeak's app so bad that you feel you need to actively punish both them and other cachers?

 

People don't look at it that way. They look at how an app works for them and chances are they aren't even aware of any "dirty little secret". So long as it does what they want and is easy to use, that's all they need.

Edited by J Grouchy
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if it comes down to it, I will likely use C:geo

I keep seeing people say this, and I'm confused. You're saying you'd rather use an app that knowingly violates the Terms of Use and hurts the performance of the website? Is Groundspeak's app so bad that you feel you need to actively punish both them and other cachers?

 

I live and breath geocaching through the Groundspeak system. I paid for the old app on both Android and the Apple platforms. I maintain TWO premium memberships, one for 11 years now and the other for several years. And even having supported Groundspeak on all levels, I too predominantly use C:Geo when on my phone. When the new app does everything I need it to and it does it well, you will have my full buy in. Until then, stop baiting and lambasting people for how they cache.

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I can't believe the amount of crying I hear about what was spent on an app..... $11..... I think I have got more enjoyment out of that $11 than any other $11 I have spent. I am pretty sad to see this app disappear, as without doubt something will break it soon enough, and can't understand why resources weren't put into adding features to it, rather than raising a half cousin to take its place....

 

Well...it's $10...and I rarely, if ever, used it. I found a better, more functional app and I'm not likely to switch to the new "official" app at this point.

 

This. In fact, it cost me $20 because I had to buy it for my Android AND my iPad.

 

Also ditto. Though I spent $8 for the other one, so I feel like I spent $18 for the other one. And it was even worth that :)

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I purchased the Groundspeak app when it first came out, but soon replaced it with a third party app. After the latest announcement, I downloaded both the "Classic" and the "Geocaching®" apps just to see if I was missing anything. I decided that I was not, but I still found the reviews on the Apple Store to be interesting. Most complaints had to do with Groundspeak replacing an app that allowed people to cache for free with a one-time purchase to one that requires yearly membership to have full functionality. There were very heated comments about how a family game was being lost in the name of profit. Perhaps because I have been using a non-® app that requires premium membership for the API to work at its best, that change did not particularly bother me, but the tone of the reviews reminded me of the old days when commercialization of the game was much more controversial.

 

When I read the reviews it seemed odd that there was a sense of entitlement to Groundspeak providing any one app. Jeremy promised that the basic game would always remain free, but that has nothing to do with using an app. And at least for the foreseeable future, I assume that those that have the Classic will be able to continue to use it as long as the iOS allows. It's certainly not the first app that I have bought that has been discontinued and eventually did not work. It's just the way that it is. I am surprised they did not make the change a long time ago.

 

After looking over the reviews for the ® app, I wondered if the third-party API apps might provide greater functionality for non-members. And perhaps the shift to encourage premium membership might get people to look at some of the other apps that may meet user needs better with the full API than what Groundspeak has provided. So the change might benefit more than just Groundspeak. In the end, the brand symbol associated with "Geocaching" was more annoying to me than the money. But at least it was not a trademark.

Edited by geodarts
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When I read the reviews it seemed odd that there was a sense of entitlement to Groundspeak providing any one app. Jeremy promised that the basic game would always remain free, but that has nothing to do with using an app.

I think this is a great point. The game is still 'free' for Basic Members if they use the website or other apps, although the Search functionality has degraded a bit.

 

Apps are not required to geocache, and smartphone apps didn't even exist when Jeremy made his statement over a dozen years ago. App development requires different employees with different skill sets from Web developers, and in Seattle these employees are not cheap.

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Just my two cents, I love the new app! We have used the old "paid" app for quite a while and it worked great, but now folks can get the same functionality for free! I think that's great. That being said, I'm used to the old app and it is taking just a little while to love the new app as much, but, it gives me the ability to use my Apple Watch to navigate to the cache, how great is that? Remember the "old days" of walking around in public with a huge GPSr and trying to look casual? This has made stealthy, urban caching so much easier. I think the advantages far outweigh the fact that several years ago I paid almost 15 bucks for an app that I will no longer use.

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I've had the paid App for a long time and it was worth the money. Though I find myself switching to the browser on my iphone more then to the APP. And use my GPS for finding caches over the iphone majority of the time. The old one is good for looking up the nearby ones and for logging for later if they are not on my GPS. But it still would be nice to have the same and more options on the new premium app.

Edited by jellis
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Just my two cents, I love the new app! We have used the old "paid" app for quite a while and it worked great, but now folks can get the same functionality for free! I think that's great. That being said, I'm used to the old app and it is taking just a little while to love the new app as much, but, it gives me the ability to use my Apple Watch to navigate to the cache, how great is that? Remember the "old days" of walking around in public with a huge GPSr and trying to look casual? This has made stealthy, urban caching so much easier. I think the advantages far outweigh the fact that several years ago I paid almost 15 bucks for an app that I will no longer use.

 

I reckon if I could afford an Apple watch I wouldn't miss 15 bucks either.

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