Specialized Reviews

Specialized is infuriating. I nearly gave up just in the login process. The font is difficult to read, when setting up things like passwords it doesn’t tell you what type of characters to include. It just tells you if you meet or don’t meet the password criteria. After setting up an account it went back to the login screen with no confirmation of setting up an account or errors as to why an account was not created. Only after checking my email did it say that I needed to click on the email to verify my account. There should be a confirmation page either next step instructions after setting up an account. I also clicked on the password reset button and it told me it couldn’t perform that activity. All this, and I haven’t even used Specialized for my first ride yet. The experience in Specialized should match the one this app is trying to create with the bike.

The good part is, Specialized provides a lot of really useful and customizable data, that is accessible while you ride, if you have a display unit of some type. I have a Turbo Levo, using an old iPhone as a display unit. Additionally, you can tune the power characteristics of the bike, which is great. However, I have two real issues with Specialized.

The first deals with opening Specialized . You are required to log onto Specialized via the Internet. I often ride in remote areas where I have no cell or Wi-Fi access. Should I forget to log onto Specialized before I leave home, I’m just out of luck. I can’t even connect to the bike. Specialized becomes useless! And, no, I don’t want to be logged onto Specialized all the time, thank you.

The second issue I have deals with the fonts that are used. Red lettering, especially in a micro sized font on a black background, may look nice, but can be almost impossible to read without reading glasses, for some. I see no reason why larger fonts can’t be used. This makes no sense. It would also be better to have white lettering on a black background. One shouldn’t have to dig out reading glasses, on the trail, just to decipher the micro font notices . For me, the font size and color issue is the single most frustrating feature of Specialized, and would seem to be easily correctable.

So. I am trying to upload the proof of purchase to enable the lock system using Mission Control, but doesn’t seems to be working at all. It just shows a black screen with the title “camera” at the top and then at the bottom shows some sort of white circle that in theory is the camera trigger button but the whole this doesn’t work. Just black screen without any response from the UX. The only button that works is the arrow to return it back to previous window. If some can provide the correct steps, I will highly appreciate that.

App connects and works. Tuning presets to tweak motor assist works well. Ride tracking and map works.
But some minor issues:
- Rename your bike does not work, it reverts back to the old name when reconnecting
- If you only allow access to GPS while Specialized is running, EVERY TIME you start Specialized , there is an annoying pop up asking if you want to change that setting
- Diagnostics will tell you that motor and display need firmware updates but will not allow a software download and update via Specialized .

I want to like Specialized , I like the features, functionality and ability to customize torque, power, assistance and more, but....,

I just can’t keep a connection for a full ride. Specialized keeps loosing the phone connection during a ride even when the phone maintains connection to other devices. Also, I’m not sure if it’s the motor or Specialized , but the accuracy of cadence, power and speed is very inaccurate. Cadence drops off from the beginning to the end starting at 100 RPM ending at 75. The Garmin cadence sensor measures 82 rpm avg for entire ride. Also Max Rpm on app was 278 and Garmin sensor measured 145. The same holds true fror speed. App speed overstated at first the understated compared to Garmin Speed sensor. This in turn (I assume) affects the assist power at the upper range where the power cuts out at 18.4 mph and sometimes at 20 mph.

Everything has been working for the most part. Had a few instances where I had to relink Strava since it kept resetting my settings.

The main issue I have is the connection with Wahoo Tickr. It will connect and disconnect every 10 seconds. It just won’t track the data. I was able to successfully pair with the TCD but it doesn’t really use that to pull the data. It still relies on Specialized pairing.

Hoping they fix the pairing issue. Most of my rides just have really incorrect HR data. Once uploaded to Strava, my 100km ride said I had an average bpm of 2.

Loving my turbo Levo but the mission control app is just fair as I’ve used it for every ride just so I know how many rides I’m doing. Unfortunately the distance is never correct. I guess the gps feature can’t be accurate. I use a Garmin watch and know that’s correct. When I first got the bike I tried to dial in the third assist level and it just didn’t work at all! Don’t fret peeps, just bring it into your this app dealer and they will get your firmware update and dial it in for you. Amazing the technology and how amazing this bike is. Still think the MC app could be updated or better gps put into the bikes!

Not user friendly. Minuscule red text on black background? Seriously? There’s plenty of room to make it readable. Inconsistent responses to questions that are also too tiny to read when you are riding: Sometimes it’s YES to continue, sometimes it’s NO to continue. I don’t want to have to wear my reading glasses to be able to enjoy a ride! And somehow my odometer shows fewer miles than my “trip” miles (I never reset the trip miles and when I found the odometer, it had 26 fewer miles!). Eventually you get familiar enough to not need to read the tiny print, but it could be SO much better.

The application is a good start. With a 2019 Vado you can record your rides and you’ll get standard metrics (distance, speed etc...) as well as user power which is really nice.

The UI could be more polished and have nicer “state” transitions, for example when starting or stopping a recording. Right now it feels a bit dry.

One area where I think this app really missed the mark is with recording of heart rate. I bought an ANT+ heart rate monitor to be able to see Heart Rate data on the on-board computer (a nice feature) only to be extremely disappointed when I realized this data was not recorded as part of the activity.

It would be nice to either:
* record the on-board co outer HR data as part of the recorded activity.
* or allow us to connect a BTLE HRM to there app and record HR data from that in Specialized .

In other words: don’t allow us to see more data than what Specialized actually records.

I was really enjoying Specialized for a solid five months until it completely lost the ability to upload to Strava. The Strava icon no longer appears on the ride summary, and when I try to look at the connection in Settings, Specialized just goes back to its home screen. I’ve tried updating to the latest app and IOS, and of course rebooting…

I tried to get help through the ridercare web page, and did get a quick response that the issue was being passed along to the Turbo team for a closer look. But that was seven weeks ago and I’ve heard nothing more….

I’m enjoying Specialized and my e-bike. I understand Specialized wasn’t always that great. I would love to have input to make it better. I haven’t found a pause button for a ride yet. I’m not sure what you do on a long ride if you stop to take a break. I have found the mapping and stats great on a ride. I did notice a problem with uploading to Strava after a ride if I have Strava still in the background of my Apple phone. So the best thing to do is clear out all open apps before I start my ride on mission control then it uploads to Strava every time.

I own a this app Turbo Creo SL Comp Carbón. Love this bike. I have tried the Mission Control App. I am in the East coast of USA. However there is no option to you guys consider change from Metric (km) to Miles which is the conventional in the U. S.
Rides & distances are calculated by Specialized in Metric system. Very inconvenient to having to constantly convert km to miles.
Is there a way to change on Specialized ? If not suggest you guys implement that fix

First off let me say. I am glad there is an app! It has gotten more reliable than it used to be however, it can still get “buggy” at times. Sometimes I finish a long ride, to find somewhere along the ride, it quit recording my ride?

Also, as many have mentioned, the font is extremely hard to read. And the wording is not consistent on what to hit to continue my ride or end my ride.

There also seems to be a difference in what the application shows for battery life and my battery bars show? However, I have never tried to run it all the way down to see which is more correct.

Lastly, it would be great if there was an app, or interface, for the Apple Watch. I already use my watch for MapMyRide and Pandora. It would be awesome to see and get the Mission Control information on there.

I like Specialized ’s control features for my Creo. It provides a good interface for tuning the power system performance. The cycling computer functions seem pretty solid. I haven’t had to do any troubleshooting yet, but it is nice to know that there should be some diagnostic data available for tracking down any issues that may arise.

My wishes or complaints:
1. I find the Stats screen hard to read during the day, as the red lettering identifying what each number represents does not show brightly. Of course, the labels were not so important once I got familiar with the display.

2. The map does not pre-load much information, so when I ride into an area without cell service, the map becomes useless pretty quickly. If there is a way to adjust how Specialized uses data to keep the map loaded in advance, I don’t see how to do it.

3. I would really like to see Apple Watch support. I know the watch’s heart rate monitor isn’t likely to offer as good a data stream as a dedicated sensor, but I would like to be able to use the heart rate smart control feature without having to buy more stuff.

I was finally able to create an account. The password field had a red exclamation mark, but no notes about what is wrong. There are no notes for what password requirements may be.

Everyone complaining about the GPS permissions seem to be overreacting. It looks like the Apple will not allow Specialized to use GPS if the screen is off, or when Specialized is in the background. I wonder how many would be complaining about excessive battery use if Specialized forced the screen to always stay on.

I hope Specialized turns out to be good!!!

I started riding again a month ago and have used Specialized 3-4 times a week. I'm not sure which is more accurate this or MapMyFitness as far as distance, this is always a mile or 2 ahead.

I hate that I have to use two apps but Ive had two heart attacks during exercise an open heart surgery so I have to be able to track my heart rate with exercise. So I use both apps so I can use multiple functions on one an, battery, distance etc in the other

Just starting to use Specialized on my iPhone XS. I keep getting a popup that blocks the display that says “undo”. The pop up displays three options, undo, redo, and cancel. I tried all three and the pop up just keeps coming back. Very annoying. Tried accessing this app support online but that did not work, tried calling but no one answers.
After this the developer posted a fix . I tried it and now I no longer have pop up. Specialized seems to be functioning well but I have yet to try its many features.

I’ve ridden mountain bikes since they came about in the early 1980s. I’m now 77 years old but still like to ride every day. I’m not as agile as I used to be but I still write off road with my granddaughters and son. The this app command app is really cool and are use it every time I ride whether it’s on the road bike paths off-road or single track. One of the best things is that Specialized is linked to Strava. I have many friends who are using Strava and we have a good time discussing each others rights. This is a real plus.

The MC app is terrific...the stats and maps are very good and easily to switch back and forth during a ride...also keeps track of battery life and changing between eco, sport, and turbo. And one can easily change the amount of power in each of the 3 ride amount. I also found a great iPhone carrier that one can place it on the stem and it handles beautifully...great app, this app

I really like the Mission Control app which I use with my this app turbo Vado 4.0. First, I use it for GPS route tracking and it’s very easy to use. I like that it uploads to Strava. The uploads are fast and solid.

The other thing I like is the ability to adjust the power boost levels. Out of the box I found the boost levels too aggressive so I find-tuned the boost levels to give me a much wider range between steps. This fine tunng is a great feature.

All in all Specialized really enhances the bike.

Specialized requires an account and login to use. I filled in all the information for an account and it cleared all the information requiring a complete redo. Why is all this information needed just to use Specialized ? Deleted app.

Cannot create a password. Cannot use. You have to pay for this?

3 Level’s in my garage and Specialized rarely connects to any of the bikes. I finally just deleted Specialized as it’s not worth the hassle! Thank goodness for the BLEvo app!!

Just got a brand new bike. Specialized is not connecting at all. It just keeps saying the bike is disconnected. You pay 4k for a bike but the darn app won't work. Very frustrating!!

Not able to connect to my bike with Specialized . Was able to connect to my Bluetooth no problem, but Specialized does not connect to Specialized . Come on this app....$4300 for an e bike and I can’t use Specialized ?

Constantly disconnects and reconnects with a result of incorrect data. For instance mix calculates average speed because it doesn’t gather the time riding correctly. Super disappointed since I bought a very expensive bike!

App doesn’t connect even though Bluetooth sees the battery

Had the Turbo Levo for over a year. Updated app many times and even had firmware on bike updated. Yet it constantly disconnects from the bike. Can’t do a complete ride. Latest IOS. Doesn’t matter. Tried support. Tried two bike shops. Amazing.

Specialized is great once you get it open. I have an apple iPhone 8 and while Specialized downloads to my phone it only apps one out of every twenty tries or so. I have deleted and reinstalled Specialized several times and it just doesn’t want to open.

Enjoyed the stats that I hit last year. This spring when I tried to connect Specialized tells me my Bluetooth must be on - it is! Could connect to the bike in settings but did not translate to Specialized . Deleted the bike thinking I could rediscover it but that won’t work as it thinks I don’t have Bluetooth on! Infuriating! Couldn’t find any help online

I just bought a brand new 2018 Levo expert. So far, amazing bike. Specialized is great as well. I would like to see a more detailed explanation on some of the specific functions, also, the temperatures displaying In Fahrenheit would be nice. One HUGE thing I think would be amazing, is to have an app for the smart watches. I would love to see what my power setting is at, how much battery is left, ride stats, etc! That would be amazing!

The latest update has fixed the problems with Mission Control and now it works great. It’s better organized than before and easier to use. Good job.

With new TCP-w installed (covered by this app) Mission Control works great on my Vado 3.0 and wife’s Come 3.0. One of best features is cadence now shown. Problem was not app but the battery/motors inability to connect. BLOC never worked

Everything works great. Thx!

First ride with Mission Control installed on iPhone 14 Pro: GPS record of a 6.4 mile ride was completely wrong. The map trace bore no relationship to the actual route! What's up with that? I can see the utility in Mission Control as far as setup and tuning my e-bike goes. But, as a cycling computer, it's a big FAIL from me. Anyway I don't want to have to carry my phone when I ride -- one more piece of expensive gear to worry about. I'll stick with my Garmin.

When app works,it's great but when it doesn't it sucks which is most of the time. Do not rely on this app to get you home after an epic ride because there is a really good Chace it won't record.

When app works,it's great but when it doesn't it sucks which is most of the time. Do not rely on this app to get you home after an epic ride because there is a really good Chace it won't record.

I have a Vado Turbo SL5 and am trying to use Mission Control on a Samsung A5 phone. Everything seems to be working quite well, except if I try to log my rides, it just burns through my mobile date. In the two times I have tried this, it has used 1 gb in under 40 km in under 3 hours. A 4 gb monthly data plan would go nowhere if I tried to log my rides regularly - more than a dozen rides a month. My husband uses Ride with GPS and uses less than 0.5 gb to log a whole month's rides. Any suggestions?

My brand new Tero 4.0NB will not connect to mission control. Have rebooted phone and reinstalled app several times and will still not connected. When going onto app and selecting settings bike my bike serial number is on the account but will still not connect to the phone or bike.

It crashers my pixel 4a5g at the end of every ride

bought a vado 4 but Mission Control app says it will send an email to activate, but after 3 attempts I have given up. Everything is set up, the email is correct, but no email has been received. It is simply not good enough. I hope the bike proves to be better than the app.