Photo: Bogdan Popa/autoevolution
Waze keeps making changes to the application with every new update, but some of the latest ideas that made their way to production builds weren't received well.
One of them was the sudden demise of the option to report police on the other side of the road.
The original Waze version allowed users to send three types of police reports. The first was the standard report when the police car was in plain sight so anyone could see it. The second was for hidden police, while the third concerned police on the other side of the road.
The second and the third options mysteriously disappeared not long ago, though the option to report hidden police remained available for most users. However, the support for police on the other side of the road was gone for most people on iPhone and Android.
The controversial strategy of removing report types from Waze came down to Waze's struggle to streamline the experience with the app. Theoretically, drivers shouldn't care if the police car is visible or hidden, so a standard report would have served its purpose well enough to remain the only option in Waze.
However, ditching the other side option didn't make sense. And it now looks like the Google-owned company figured this out, too, as the company brought back the option in the latest Waze update for Android – the feature wasn't removed for all users, so it should now be available for everybody running Waze on iPhone and Android.
Users confirmed that reporting police on the other side works correctly again after installing the latest app update. The change is likely powered by a server-side update, though, as the most recent Waze is dated September 12 and brought the app to version 4.98.0.1. It's unclear if the users getting back the option are part of the beta program – the latest testing build landed earlier this week as version 4.98.90.
Simplifying the reporting experience makes sense for Waze, as removing redundant options would allow users to send reports without spending too much time interacting with the app's menus. While Waze also supports voice commands, most people send traffic reports using touch input, so looking at the screen for too long eventually makes using the app dangerous. Ditching redundant report types helps reduce this time.
Meanwhile, Waze's strategy remains controversial, especially because the company has remained tight-lipped on its long-term plans. The beta builds sometimes include additional details about the direction the application seems to embrace, but the return of the "other side" report is living proof that not all ideas should be pushed to the production channel so fast. Listening to feedback is critical, especially for an application relying heavily on crowdsourced data.
The original Waze version allowed users to send three types of police reports. The first was the standard report when the police car was in plain sight so anyone could see it. The second was for hidden police, while the third concerned police on the other side of the road.
The second and the third options mysteriously disappeared not long ago, though the option to report hidden police remained available for most users. However, the support for police on the other side of the road was gone for most people on iPhone and Android.
The controversial strategy of removing report types from Waze came down to Waze's struggle to streamline the experience with the app. Theoretically, drivers shouldn't care if the police car is visible or hidden, so a standard report would have served its purpose well enough to remain the only option in Waze.
However, ditching the other side option didn't make sense. And it now looks like the Google-owned company figured this out, too, as the company brought back the option in the latest Waze update for Android – the feature wasn't removed for all users, so it should now be available for everybody running Waze on iPhone and Android.
Users confirmed that reporting police on the other side works correctly again after installing the latest app update. The change is likely powered by a server-side update, though, as the most recent Waze is dated September 12 and brought the app to version 4.98.0.1. It's unclear if the users getting back the option are part of the beta program – the latest testing build landed earlier this week as version 4.98.90.
Simplifying the reporting experience makes sense for Waze, as removing redundant options would allow users to send reports without spending too much time interacting with the app's menus. While Waze also supports voice commands, most people send traffic reports using touch input, so looking at the screen for too long eventually makes using the app dangerous. Ditching redundant report types helps reduce this time.
Meanwhile, Waze's strategy remains controversial, especially because the company has remained tight-lipped on its long-term plans. The beta builds sometimes include additional details about the direction the application seems to embrace, but the return of the "other side" report is living proof that not all ideas should be pushed to the production channel so fast. Listening to feedback is critical, especially for an application relying heavily on crowdsourced data.
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