MyShake Reviews

by Gizmotoy

An earthquake early warning system? Sounds great! The promotional materials at launch indicated it might provide a precious few seconds before an earthquake strikes.

Unfortunately all of those seconds will be wasted because the notification provides practically zero information about the quake’s epicenter, and it is extremely difficult to view the relevant info on the map. If you tap the notification, you get an unsorted map of the globe and are left to yourself to infer which dot was the one that generated the notification. On top of that, you’ll be getting plenty of notifications for earthquakes thousands of miles away, so it’s more likely the notification is relevant to someone on the other side of the globe than it is to you.

All that added up, and it’s hard to see any value here in its current form. Even if we assume the detection mechanism is cutting edge, the warning delivery is so completely flawed it negates its function.

It would be very helpful to only notify for nearby events, and to give actual location and approximate distance from current location in the notification text so you know right away.

by JenniferM C

I just downloaded MyShake (minutes after feeling an earthquake in LA), and there is an alert listing the earthquake I just felt. I clicked on the button to share that I’d felt the shaking, and it kept freezing, requiring me to force quit. I see another review stating the same issue, and the developer commented that MyShake was overloaded due to a quake earlier in the day. Why else would people be using MyShake except to be notified of earthquakes? If it freezes every time there’s a quake, it’s a useless app. I hope the developers can fix these issues soon. I downloaded MyShake on the recommendation from a local newspaper with quotes from city officials saying what a great app it is. Maybe they were paid to say that?

by SoulBlazers

I have downloaded and had the this app app on my phone for a over a year now. My biggest issue with MyShake is that you cannot be one of the initial people to experience an earthquake and record it on MyShake . Pressing the "I felt shaking" button always prompts a "No earthquakes found", despite having personally felt the quake (above a 3.5). Other than simply being able to see where past quakes were on a map, MyShake doesn't seem like it has much of a purpose. If I cannot record a quake as an initial "feeler", I may as well have not had MyShake . Google can tell me more information, frankly. MyShake is neat but definitely could be better.

by IOS6-iPhone_iPad

I like the idea of MyShake but I think it can be greatly improved by offering the ability to subscribe to a location for alerts/reports.

While it is interesting that there was an earthquake in Indonesia, I don’t want to receive alerts and pop-up’s for it. I mainly care if there is an earthquake happening EAE real-time in San Francisco and would like the feature to only get alerts for this area. It would be great if I can subscribe to alerts by selecting a city or be able to draw the boundary on a map.

Thanks again for building MyShake and sharing the data. Keep up the awesome work!

by Th3 T3ster

Seems like it could be a great app, I personally don’t understand the point of using and or showing the user the x y and z axis change of the phone. But that’s not really the issue here, might just be me but running iPhone X and it seems to freeze for a while whenever I click on a specific earthquake to see more info about it.

Edit: seems to only be freezing on ones that happens around a day or so ago, when I clicked on one that happens 20 mins ago it worked fine but the one that happens in pleasant hill a day or so ago (aswell as others ) it freezes.

Edit 2: MyShake now shows an earth quake in the pinnacles, CA as 3.5 however yesterday it showed as a 3.6 and when I click on the 3.5 it then shows 3.6 at the bottom.

by TotallyCatholic

MyShake freezes after you enter your location & then choose the earthquake you experienced. When the next screen pops up, it does not respond when you press the _Experienced This Earthquake_ button on the screen , or any other area of that screen. We just had an earthquake in our location, and the news on TV noted your app, and it downloaded quickly onto the phone. The features it has in its design look promising, but obviously the bugs need to be fixed ASAP to get the data for your studies and to provide useful information to the public. Hope you can get it fixed soon. Thanks

by IamTheChefMaestro

Update: Thanks for response and helpful. So if I turn the global push notification off, I will still receive a push notification if an earthquake of 4.5+ hits in California? To confirm, it is a push notification?

I live in California and get continual alerts for Indonesia or other places. I am becoming numb to the alerts given the frequency of alerts, which would make MyShake useless. Need the ability to set location: E.g. “only alert me if within 200 mile radius.” In the meantime, If the real one hits, I would ignore the alert because I would think it’s for another location far from me.

by Ahegevw Aga

Suggestions:

Allow users to change warning notification based on shaking intensity expected at their location. Example: User only wants to be notified if there’s moderate shaking expected at their location. Maybe people aren’t ready for this though and perhaps keeping it at MMI III works.

Include option for submitting information/reports past 2 weeks, as well as viewing earthquakes/reports over 2 weeks old. I’m not sure why this is the cut off. I wanted to put in information about the shaking I experienced during the Pleasant Hill earthquake, but 2 weeks had already elapsed.

Will the phone produce an audible alert if the phone is on silent? Will the phone vibrate if the phone is on vibrate? It’d be nice to hear what the warning sounds like or how your phone will respond when receiving a warning. I think think should be described better within MyShake and/or there should be an example of what the warning sounds like.

by DCRage

I’ve been using the University’s excellent MyQuake app for years to study earthquakes both in CA and worldwide, so when I heard about MyShake and it planning to have alerts in CA (not yet available as of this review but expected in a day or two) I got it to prepare. Outside of that it’s a nice app that lets you track earthquakes by magnitude and report if you felt it, which brings up a possible issue-on my iPhone SE running the latest iOS (13.1.3), if I go to the page to report if I felt it or see similar options MyShake locks up and I have to force close to get out. Otherwise it works well and I plan to continue using MyShake but hopefully this can be fixed.

by - Jeremy.def -

Just got MyShake today after there was an earthquake that was over 300km away and felt minor rattling(no damage) and wanted to get an app that would be helpful with learning more about it, right as it’s happening or minutes after it happened which I think is awesome. I’m excited to see where MyShake goes in the future with further updates. Only issue for me and others is that when I went to submit my report of the experience I had with the earthquake, zooming into the map to pin point the location, it was slow loading the cities and surrounding areas.

by Jhos221

Great app, though true value will be tested when an early warning event occurs, so need a negative to prove a positive. That alone will earn 5 stars. But for the parts that can be tested now--could use the ability to customize notifications? I don't really need alert notifications for earthquakes 3000 miles away. But Global is the only option? I would love to be able to limit within 250 miles? Or California?

But again--the point is early notification. And if it works for those areas far enough away from the epicenter, no more work be done on MyShake now matter what my or other comments say.

by ChrisNic1996

Hello there! I really like the idea of MyShake and appreciate its potential. The UI is great all around but I have some comments on the most recent update.

MyShake uses your phone’s location A LOT if you set location sharing to “always” as MyShake recommends. I’m talking about 21+ hours of the last 24 hours of background use while my phone has been in exactly one location. Is this really necessary? Also clicking on the help button in settings causes MyShake the immediately crash which is why I’m reporting this bug through an app review.

by Crazy A 442

People need to stop complaining. We are talking about an early warning system for the most populated state in the nation. It’s not going to be perfect and they’re going to have some things to work out. We should be grateful for what we have so far and use MyShake to help them make it better. If you think you can do better, then do it, otherwise stop being negative and be appreciative for the work that went into this. I live near Ridgecrest and this would have been very useful.

by Ippory Snowsol

I installed My Shake a little over a year ago. Approximately two weeks ago, a very loud voice stated “EARTHQUAKE”, then something to the effect of “TAKE COVER” (the exact words used after EARTHQUAKE escape me, but it was telling me, basically, to prepare). This jarring message repeated a few times. I immediately jumped to a safer place. Fortunately, the quake, in Tulare County, California, was far enough away that it didn’t do too much where I live. I must say though, that I am now a super fan of MyShake. The split second it takes to jump to a safer spot could make the difference between life and death, especially for us in California. Thank you, sincerely, to those who created and run My Shake!

by Omar 9292

Living in Mexico city we had something like this for a while . But now I live in Los Angeles California and I don't know how people in the US are gonna react when they get the warning a strong earthquake is coming because people In Mexico are already use to getting them alerts that say "Strong earthquake is coming " since they have so many strong earthquakes and an early warning on their phone and they had them for a while . So since this is gonna be new to people in the US who knows how they gonna react ! Also I think we need the Alarm. I know that they have them were they have tornadoes in the US .But in Mexico city when u get the notification on your phone the Air raid siren also goes on really loud all over the city the first time I had no idea what was happening I tought a war was happening when I heard the alarm all over the city till I saw everyone running outside and they were screaming earthquake and sure enough 30 seconds later BAM strong earthquake hit . They should have those in California not only in places were they have tornadoes so people can have time to go hide ! I saw it helps they had about 30 seconds to get outside .

by Trumpisevil

I downloaded MyShake on a whim hoping to never have to use it. Living in California it’s just a good idea to be prepared. Fast forward to last night, there was an earthquake and my phone let us know before we felt a small amount of shaking (it was a 4.9 pretty far away, this time). The alert was LOUD and said EARTHQUAKE and mentioned ducking for cover/find a safe place. It freaked me out but hearing this announcement but I was so happy to have the alert!! The My Shake app notified us before the news, etc. I recommend MyShake to everyone.

by Jeffersonstatecrash

We just experienced an earthquake in Eureka, California. The warning came about 4 seconds before the shaking started. It was enough time to take cover. Recommending to all, I just wish the warning was a bit louder but MyShake worked as designed. A++ two thumbs up.

EDIT: December 20, 2021 M6.2 Cape Mendocino quake - app worked flawlessly again. I was in a restaurant in Eureka with maybe 25 customers in it. My phone is the only one that went off before the quake. this app gave 4 or 5 seconds advance warning. Other customer’s phone alerts went off after the shaking had already started.

by Sbayarea

Same issue as precious reviewer - try to fill out a report but app constantly freezes up. Have done several forced app shutdowns and retried to enter info, same result - can't file a report. Other than that, it looks like it is simple to use and has a nice look to it

UPDATE: I upped my rating as I'm now able to make reports without issues after MyShake update. Very easy to use app. Would like to see if you can get alerts for certain areas only; as another person indicated, you get alerts for quakes all around the world. But this isn't affecting my rating since the purpose of MyShake is being accomplished :)

by Skippy!

Everyone in here complaining about little bugs as if they never experienced something like that in another app. This is a free earthquake warning app that could potentially save your life, stop complaining and grow up.

I just downloaded MyShake and had no issues with using it, but it’s an early warning app not a game, so whatever people are complaining about is pointless because the main function of MyShake is to send you a push notification.

One thing I did really like is how I can look at the seismograph of past earthquakes to see the pattern of shaking. I was six during the ‘89 quake and still remember how the shaking felt like it was yesterday. Any kind of advance warning will be helpful.

by ValerieGryphon

There was an earthquake about 20 miles from where I live. I got a warning about a minute before I felt the quake. Admittedly, I'm far enough away that I just felt shaking. But it told me about it before I felt anything. I'm sure the tech is going to improve and look forward to seeing its evolution.

I could also report my experience of the quake.

You need to allow access to location, and you generally want to set it to only warn you of close earthquakes and not tell you about the ones thousands of miles away.

by Integrated.z

MyShake ’s emergency alert is no different than text when a text or e-mail comes to you, so you may miss the Alert thinking it’s just another text or e-mail. This is a disappointment that essentially undermines the whole point of MyShake .

When MyShake notifies you, it follows normal notification settings. So, if a strong earthquake is reported nearby, the apps emergency alert may only vibrate your phone once, if your phone is in silent vibrate mode. Worse, if you’re phone is in do not disturb mode, then you will have no sound or vibrate to alert you. This is what my partner and I experienced today when the “Berkeley Test Alert” went out today and both our iPhones performed as described above.

Had to drop my review rating. App may give you false sense of practicality and function.

by PacificRy

MyShake looks very promising. I like the simple, yet effective design and layout. It seems to have everything I’m looking for in an earthquake safety app. And of course, I’m looking forward to getting early warnings for impending earthquakes.

Unfortunately, when I go to look at recent earthquakes MyShake constantly freezes. I tried force quitting MyShake several times, but no luck. I wanted to contribute to MyShake by sharing the earthquake I felt, but after the fifth or so try, I had to give up. Hopefully that bug will be fixed soon because I’m excited for MyShake!

by Boyqueen

Great concept and hopefully the kinks get worked out but right now it freezes literally anytime I try to do anything on MyShake . I see the developer responses that this is due to an overload from a recent earthquake but... This is an app for communicating about recent earthquakes so that seems like the kind of thing the developers should have already prepared for. But I'm no coding genius lol.