Garmin Explore™
A complete mobile trip planning solution for compatible Garmin devices
Total ratings
2.77
(Rating count:
3,615)Review summary
These summaries are automatically generated weekly using AI based on recent user reviews.
Google Play Store does not verify user reviews, so some user reviews may be inaccurate,
spammy, or outdated. Pros
- Active topo maps are amazing
- Easy to create new courses with snap to trail feature
- Seamless sync to Garmin watches
- Ability to view offline maps
Cons
- Major bugs and syncing issues with Garmin devices
- Recent updates have degraded functionality and usability
- Difficulties in creating and saving routes
- Lack of intuitive design and poor documentation
- Subscription model and removal of previously free features
Most mentioned
- App stability and functionality degraded after updates
- Syncing issues between app and Garmin devices
- Poor user experience and interface changes
- Lack of offline functionality despite being designed for it
- Problems with downloading and saving maps
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User reviews
Recent rating average:
1.60
All time rating average:
2.77
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| Date | Author | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-11-24 |  | | Where do I begin! This major app overhaul has presented so many issues now compared to the old version. I have emailed all the issues to tech support and every new app update is fixing none of the issues. Almost like they don't care to listen. Please just go back to how the app used to be! Why change something when everything was working so great? What a mess this app is now! Zero care to listen and fix the issues either! |
| 2024-11-01 | | | Latest update completely changed the interface and forced all my dual sport motorcycle tracks to courses which now are not following the roads half the time and have them veering off course. Garmin refuses to answer my email on how I can fix this. I used to take someone's track convert it to a course and retrace the entire course with all new points putting it back on track with the roads and just delete one of the old points which in turn deleted the entire old track leaving just my new course. |
| 2024-10-30 |  | | Been using the Garmin Instinct and Solar version for some time and have had no issues with the app until now. Since the update, it won't auto-download any of the maps. I've downloaded a few maps manually for offline use and it won't show the topo map in the main map for that area even after manually downloading it. As soon as you fix it I'll change my rating. *** Edit for those who have this issue. Clear the cache and data on the app. Sign back in and allow permissions. All fixed*** |
| 2024-10-27 |  | | It used to be great to view the elevation profile, and I can move around the profile to see how many feet I have covered after certain miles. Now I can no longer do that. Why would you downgrade the major distinction functionality? There are a ton of apps with offline maps so I don't care if this app supports it. |
| 2024-10-26 |  | | Was looking forward to this map update but do not download if you can avoid it. This update completely nerfed the mapping layer especially in Europe where it is completely useless as it doesn't even show any hiking trails, everything is just a thin dark grey line that is barely visible. The app used to be decent but now it's just horrible, went from 4 stars to 1. They are pushing their subscription model so hard that this is just very scummy, expected more. |
| 2024-10-19 |  | | Was great, update in Oct 2024 ruined it. Now it's a subscription model and they removed most of the useful maps. UI is worse, app lags pretty bad, and they replaced the Garmin maps with what I'm pretty sure are just osmand maps. Huge bummer. This was my absolute go to app for all things navigation and now it's ruined. The downloading is all messed up and they expect you to pay for a worse version of what was free up until a day or two ago. Not a fan |
| 2024-10-18 |  | | I like Garmin devices but their services and app strategy is becoming straight garbage. You need three or more apps depending on the GPS / messaging devices you are using. The paid map features aren't even consistent even across higher end GPS devices. Once the cell phone companies turn on the satellite coverage, this all dies a quick death. |
| 2024-08-18 |  | | Even for urban navigation, it's pretty great that you can view everything offline. **I do wish i could store the various maps in an SD card rather than the internal storage because my phone doesn't have enough.** This seems to be an old feature request in other reviews still yet unaddressed. |
| 2023-10-17 |  | | I use this app with an inReach Mini 2 that is typically off. The app constantly runs a sync service in the background at all times that never completes no matter how long it has been since the last use. This means it always leaves an un-dismisaable notification on the phone. Force-killing the app only makes the notification go away briefly before it comes back even with restricted battery usage. I guess I'm uninstalling it since that's the only way to get rid of the notification. |
| 2023-10-05 |  | | The other day I was out of cell service, I turn on my inReach to send a text and... the app won't load without cell service because Garmin pushed an update to the app. Terrible user experience for something that's designed to be used offline to not work offline. It should always work without cell service. If you need authentication, make it authenticate from the inReach it's normally connected to. I have been using this for a couple of years and this was the biggest fail yet. |
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