TomTom GO Navigation Reviews

I really wanted to give TomTomGONavigation a top rating but I can’t. Unlike prior versions, the current version of TomTomGONavigation when used with Apple CarPlay is way too unstable. It often freezes and requires a restart while driving which is annoying and sometimes very difficult to do safely. No other CarPlay navigation app I have ever used has frozen even once. Also, a strength of TomTomGONavigation had been its ability to guide to an alternate route when traffic warrants. Several versions ago they got rid of this and replaced it with a green line on the screen showing a faster route but without the audio guidance. This requires the driver to study the screen, usually in heavy traffic, to figure out the alternative and follow it, a task that is often difficult and dangerous while driving, making this feature useless. There is a lot to like in TomTomGONavigation but tomtom has a lot of work to do to get it to top tier.

Team tomtom
I have already tried deleting and reinstalling with phone reset. I am using an iPhone 7 with iOS 14.7.1. What is the timetable for getting this fixed? Also, what about my second point regarding rerouting enroute due to traffic? Is there any intention and timeframe to fix this?

i’ve tried almost all map apps, from apple to google, and some that most have never heard of, and Tomtom is the only one that has an efficient mapping system ALONG WITH (and this is important for me) an audible warning of speed and red light cameras. Almost everyone offers speed camera alerts VISUALLY on the map but I find it EXTREMELY handy that tomtom is the only one that actually offers audible alerts so that I can be prepared for one way before I recognize I’m coming up on it on my own. If my next turn isn’t for 3 miles I’m not checking my carplay every 200 feet for visual alerts... i’m cruising for about a mile and a half before i look down again, so if a camera happens to pop up on the map that i’m unaware of, I get 3 pings in my stereo and a voice alerting me of said camera... THE BEST CAMERA SYSTEM OUT THERE RIGHT NOW.. TomTomGONavigation itself has its kinks every now and then as I’ve seen with them all but overall a true 5/5 try not to change much in terms of functionality and I’ll be subscribing when my free trial is up.

I’ve had SEVERAL versions of TomTom for DECADES, back when I thought they were not only the BEST KEPT SECRET, but ALSO the BEST around!!

Well, I don’t think that anymore. I think MAYBE people have been NEEDLESSLY tinkering with this product in areas where it DOESN'T NEED it & NOW, we have instances were CERTAIN THINGS are on the screen that DOESN'T NEED to be. Like just RECENTLY with me (…& not the ONLY time, btw) I was TRAVELING down a particular highway & there were 2 departure exit routes off of the one road, so TomTom is showing ON SCREEN (to someone/ME who’s NOT familiar with the area AT ALL) the route/highway number of the road I am NOT required to take AT ALL & the SHOWS the route/highway I need to transition to at the LAST SECOND, when it’s WAY to late for me to turn while I’m in traffic. And in a LARGE TRACTOR TRAILER no less.

In OTHER words, your ACCURACY & NEED TO KNOW information ON SCREEN has gotten WORSE!!!

And by the way, you all need a TRUCKERS OPTION for TomTomGONavigation, so:

1.) it REDUCES the NEED to carry a LARGE device that may at TIMES attract thieves & MAY be stolen.

2.) My actual HARDWARE DEVICE’S TRAFFIC doesn’t display, for WHATEVER technical reason/issue & I’m PAYING for it & NOT being able to use it.

3.) A TRUCKERS ROUTING OPTION can be a EXTRA surcharge with the ability to type in the particular trucks dimensions, as far as Height, Width, Weight & possible HazMat Cargo.

The only reason I pay the annual fee for TomTom is to use in rural areas with no cell service (Waze is my go-to).
On this weekend trip to the coast TomTom kept freezing on the screen the condition that would cause this was if my phone got a brief cell signal then lost it. To fix it I would have to pull over, close TomTomGONavigation , then restart it. This happened 3 times before I gave up on it. Fortunately I pre-loaded the area in Google maps and was able to enjoy the rest of my trip without issues, no thanks to TomTom. As a long time user (including the original app they discontinued) I will no longer be paying the annual fee. App will be deleted and I’ll be looking for other hard load app options.

Review update... after Karen’s (TomTom’s rep on here) response I went to the support page she referred to in attempt to give the details of the problem so they can fix the bug. I got a robot that just kept referring me back to the same page. Too bad. I once liked TomTom.

I wanted the TomTom GO app plus CarPlay to replace my TomTom GO 520. It’s a no for me. While TomTom has an ongoing issue with iOS 13 and the MyDrive app I figured I’d give TomTomGONavigation a go. The one thing I love about TomTom is their traffic feature. The CarPlay version doesn’t display the bar on the right side of the screen that shows upcoming gas stations, traffic, and parking. For that reason it’s a 4 for me and not a 5. It’s the reliable TomTom directions system and interface, but without the handy bar.

Hi, I hope the developers can answer a technical question please: I am wondering whether full functions of the TomTom app would work on my IPad Air (4th Gen no sim card) connected by wifi hotspot from my phone. I don’t have CarPlay in my car so I use my IPad screen as a navigator, My current issue with Waze and Google Maps is that they don’t work correctly on my IPad when connected by a hotspot wifi, showing that the GPS cannot connect, even though it is working fine, it just shows a dot on the map which is not at all synchronized with my actual position. Do you think it is an issue with TomTom? Alternatively do you offer a trial period. Thanks for your reply

You have to download the map first in order to use it, which is fine, in theory. However the way this is designed is that it won’t download in the background so you must have TomTomGONavigation opened and primary in your phone otherwise the map will never download successfully. Directly related is the slow download speed. Even on a 500Mbps connection it would take at least 30 minutes to just download Texas. So you are not able to touch your phone for at least the 30 minutes to download. Ok, so when you do this inconvenient thing, is the map good? Negative. I live in North Texas which is growing rapidly. But even neighborhoods that are now built out and 5 years old do not yet show on this map. If I search for a business it gives me promoted businesses hundreds or thousands of miles away instead of what is nearby. Overall it is useless.

I am tired of subscriptions especially if they are tied to fees. I would of loved to try out Tom Tom (I was one of the first back in the day) but the whole thing about a trial period and then a small monthly fee sent red flags up for me. I had too many monthly subscriptions that I seldom used and don’t want to get back into that habit. Why would I buy a subscription when there are so many for free that work perfectly fine.
The only reason that I’m writing a non review is to let the developers know why I don’t want to try their product. I am turning subscriptions off not on. I want to own not rent.
Hope this helps to understand where some people are coming from.
Maybe one day I’ll try it but until then keep working on it.

Even though I paid for a year on July 1st I am so dissatisfied I removed TomTomGONavigation from my phone. If you have owned a Garmin I doubt you will ever be satisfied with tomtom. TomTomGONavigation rarely shows the name of a cross street at an intersection. Support contacted me if I could provide an example, after driving for another 3 weeks with TomTomGONavigation on constantly I have yet to come to any intersection where the cross street name is available. Using TomTom MyDrive on a large screen PC it’s possible to locate the cross street name, but certainly not on the mobile app.

TomTom GO Navigation
TomTom
"Hi Jwaand! We’re sorry you had a bad experience. We request you to help us with the name of the maps installed on your phone and also confirm if changing the zoom orientation helps? ^Team TomTom

I no longer have TomTomGONavigation on my phone. Changing the zoom makes no difference, this is simply something that tomtom doesn’t feature. My neighbor has an $80 thousand dollar Audi with built in tomtom navigation, and has the same problem. His answer is simply to use Apple Maps via AirPlay.

TomTom is easy to use. The interface is very user intuitive and it allows me to use maps where and there are no cellular signals. The UI is more focused on navigation assistance then both Apple Maps and Google maps, providing key detailed like speed limits and traffic camera alerts. It reminds me of the old days when using dedicated navigation hardware. The software is great for national parks where there typically are no cellular services. The subscription cost is reasonable.

I paid a good chunk for an App ages ago. Every few updates TomTom modified their revenue plan. So those of us that paid for an expensive 1-time purchase app just get screwed endlessly as they switch to new revenue plans. Violating the terms of the license agreement that was originally purchased under.

Find. Charge me for subscription for new maps, but I paid for a navigation app with a specific version of offline maps...and now I can’t even use them without a subscription?! No wonder the legacy navigation units are DOA, they can’t change the rules or the game after you paid into their system and expect customers to stay.

If I have to buy TomTom again, why wouldn’t I buy someone else’s app?

In my thoughts, Tomtom is one of the best Navi app out in the market now, even I don’t use it as of right now. The red camera alert would actually save you lots of money. Also the clean UI interface makes me rewind the old days that I used tomtom. Thank you developer for making a great Navi app, much better than Garmin I would say. The only reason why I stopped using tomtom is that I use Apple Maps now which is free since I don’t drive much if at all. It’s been working greatly for me.

Tomtom is just not on the level of waze maps. Probably because the traffic is not as live and there aren’t as many users using tomtom as their are waze. I hate how you have to download the maps. I don’t have to do that on waze, google maps, or Apple Maps. Tomtom needs to do more to try to be #1. If tomtom wants to be the best maps they have to get a ahead. And to do that probably means creating new mapping technology before other mapping companies do. Good navigation but like I said I hate to have to download the maps. That takes up a lot of my phones storage!

TomTomGONavigation works nicely, when is the traffic it shows in app sidebar that no one other apps showing. It is good but need update for from contacts list address to find some time difficult. One more thing this apps for mirroring in car it shows like cinema scope display but it need full display. I have a car Honda Civic Sedan Se 2015 it has 7 inch display not Apple CarPlay so just mirroring

I’ve recently started traveling in areas of no cell service. And, wanted offline maps incase I lost the route information in an area with no coverage. It has worked perfectly so far. I used the old TomTom devices for years, but mostly have used apple or google for the last ten or so. I’m still getting used to the user interface, but am very satisfied thus far.

I was under the impression that with the subscription I would be able to use this with my CarPlay as my main navigation as I love TomTom but that’s not the case, I know a beta has been out but they didn’t let me join and it’s been well over several months and this update has reached paying customers ? It’s ridiculous, I’m seriously thinking about contacting TomTom for my money back because there’s no point for paying for something that won’t work on CarPlay Dashboard, there’s many other free navigation app that will! Please add this ASAP to your app!
-Sincerely Dan, and all paying subscribers !

Purchased for trip to Iceland. Couldn’t find the Hilton Hotel in Reykjavik. I put in the name of a famous waterfall and it returned three hits. The descriptions were in Icelandic which I can’t read and the wrong choice would have sent me an hour out of my way and taken me to the wrong side of the falls. There were several addresses it couldn’t find as well. I finally gave up and used Apple Maps which worked fine except for one time when there was no service. Fortunately TomTom worked that time. Why they think descriptions in Icelandic are a good idea is a mystery. In need of a major improvement

I so wanted to love TomTomGONavigation, got my offline maps download, created a new Tom Tom account to synchronize and was planning to subscribe after the trial period was over. TomTomGONavigation never crashed once or froze while doing this. However when used while driving froze within the first 5 minutes. Had to restart TomTomGONavigation and start navigation and within 5 minutes froze again. The 2 times it was connected to apple car play. Never had issues with Waze or google maps . Disappointed as I really wanted an alternative to what I use right now.

So I’m on the road from Vienna airport in my rental car and type in the details of a town called Sattledt. Can TomTom find it, no. This is becoming more of an issue that someone somewhere in product development is determined to mess up a good product. In the end I had to rely on inferior google maps. Same in story in the evening when trying to find a hotel in a nearby town (couldn’t even find the town (and I had loaded the Austrian maps). Please sort this out it’s becoming more of an issue. Austria is one zone.

Route Bar!
If your using TomTomGONavigation with CarPlay, the Route Bar is missing. If TomTomGONavigation were to display the bar when using it with CarPlay it would be a complete package. As it stands, save your money until TomTom developers complete this must have functionality. No Route Bar, NO THANKS!

Referred to a Developer. Was already referred to a Developer back in August. Reminds me of a politician saying “referred to a Committee” or “Checks in the mail”?

Dec 28,2020: Another month goes by. No “ROUTE BAR”?

Dec 30th 2020: Cannot Recommend TomTomGONavigation due to it’s lack features, ie Route Bar Information. Couple this with no possibility any future availability of this basic feature, no thanks. This application does have limited functionality but by no means would I recommend paying $ money for it. Wish I had known this prior to purchasing but as they say....”Fool me once shame on me.....”

This new version has a lot of issues. Nice to have Carplay, but you can't search fun the Carplay screen. Only the phone. Plus the phone screen mirors Carplay and it shouldn't. Waze shows text even connected to Carplay. Also can't see traffic so you know what's coming up. Carplay screen is hard to read. Text small. Colors bad. Also when searching for a specific place on tht map that every other major GPS app finds, TomTom could not. Once I found the address, I could enter it, but even with the address, TomTom doesn't know what the name is. Also the map is incorrect as it told me to turn right into a street that the entrance has been closed off for years. It knew about the street that replaced it after I drove past the street it told me to turn in which you can't. Also at one point, it told me to turn right when it was bear right.

Response to developers: thanks for the reply. HOWEVER, please look at Waze. It has many of the things on Carplay yours does not and should. Also TomTomGONavigation should not just reroute me because of traffic. Or should visually and with audio tell me there is traffic, where, and tell me it had as better route that will save me x amount of time and ask me if I want to do that. Instead or just adjusts arrival time and changes the route without letting me know why. Please fix everything.

I really wanted to like TomTomGONavigation, because my entire family lives in the Netherlands, and when I see their TomYoms in use, I’m always impressed by the interface while navigating. I like that the navigational view looks like it’s from the drivers perspective, rather than overhead. However, after using Waze for eight years, I find I really can’t get excited about TomTomGONavigation. Within the first mile I drove with it, it made two navigational errors (the most serious of which was telling me to make an illegal U-turn so that I could get on the freeway, rather than turn right and use the onramp which DID appear on the map). Also, because it seems TomTomGONavigation does not learn from use like Waze does, I can’t simply tap this error location to alert the developers to correct this error, or even use a map editing function online. Also, when using this with CarPlay, during turn-by-turn directions, it does not pause whatever I am listening to through my phone, as does Waze. So if I have an audiobook playing while driving and navigating, I have to keep backing up so that I don’t miss parts of the story. So far, there’s just not enough to like about TomTomGONavigation to make it worth spending subscription money, especially when I can basically ignore the ads in Waze and use that for free, while it’s also a better app for my needs.

I don’t get how Waze, Apple & Google Maps can calculate driving speeds correctly, but TomTom & Sygic both cannot calculate your actual speeds and think you’re speeding everywhere you go.

The biggest issue I’ve been having is both it shows I’m speeding when I’m not....i drive 20 in a 25 zone, I’ speeding. I drive 65 in a. 75 zone, it’s lit up red like I’m speeding. Is there a way to turn off the visual notifications for speeding since your app cannot actually calculate speeds correctly?

Also in my home are some of the speed limits are wrong. Shows 20mph speed zones when it’s 25. Or I’ve even see it show 30mph in a 45mph zone.

Also, whose idea was it to not allow addresses/POI to be searched from the CarPlay? You can do all that from within TomTomGONavigation and start your navigation and it picks up on the CarPlay. It’s more convenient to plug in your device, set down your phone and use the larger screen to input your trip.

It would be nice to see the paid for big name maps be more reliable than the freebies, but I’m starting to see this as a waste of money until this map can be updated correctly. I got this for offline maps, but I’m not looking for incorrect offline maps either...

Version 2 now supports CarPlay. For a couple of months, I have been using four other popular navigation apps. They each have pluses and missing features. For a week now, I have been using TomTom v2. Although the TomTom CarPlay is still in need of more development, it couples with the iPhone app to give full features that anyone would need. The other apps dumb down the iPhone app when connected to carPlay; TomTom allows the full feature set on the iPhone when connected to CarPlay. Hopefully with the new CarPlay in iOS 13, TomTom has the chance to incorporate its more sophisticated features on the CarPlay display. For now, TomTom will be my go to navigation app whether I am in my car with CarPlay or my in my car that CarPlay is never going to be available. The base iPhone app does have improvements over the version 1 app.

I bought this many years ago and now it’s a subscription app and I can no longer use the lifetime app I paid for.

I paid for a month to month plan. TomTomGONavigation tries to connect to the internet each month to phone home and renew. When it couldn’t because I don’t have data, I was not able to launch TomTomGONavigation . It kept telling me to sign up for a plan, which I was already subscribed to! Infuriating! I could have been stranded, but I found a store with WiFi. It still didn’t detect that I had a plan. So I clicked to sign up for the monthly plan. It wouldn’t let me because I was already signed up.

I thought I’d contact support. That option in TomTomGONavigation simply boots you out to a website. The cookies message takes up nearly all of the screen on my iPhone. I could not make it go away. It would not let me click accept or decline. So frustrating. You’d think big name companies would not release buggy apps. You’d think Apple would do a better job keeping buggy apps out of its store.

I tried to really like TomTomGONavigation, thought it would be great.. It was for a short time. Traffic reporting was great. Then problems started. Support chat and email was excellent. I was told to uninstall and re install TomTomGONavigation which I did.. Fixed for a few days. Then when I needed it for a trip, it couldn’t find the gps signal... then when it did it would not stay connected. Bottom line is I’m not paying for a subscription to an app that fails when you need it most. I would recommend looking else where. Way to many bugs for a pay as you go app.
Update..
it gets worse.. I set it up for a 41/2 hr Route that I know and have used google maps for.. The route was calculated at 11hrs 40 min.. Glad I didn’t take it!! Junk don’t bother!
Update***********
I must be nuts but I decided to give it the old college try one more time.
Huge mistake! First, i had sent in a map correction in my local area which according to Tom Tom was corrected. Guess what? took that route today... the map is still incorrect. The biggest problem of all? It will not hold a gps signal. I communicated with support twice, they tried but no good. Running the latest version 12.1.2.for iphone. If you search for this issue you will see that many iphone users have the same issue. While google maps, apple maps, have no problem TomTomGONavigation constantly searches and looses the gps signal. I should have listened to myself. STAY AWAY FROM TomTomGONavigation!! you will be wasting your time.

My main motivation for using TomTomGONavigation was to see if I could reduce my data usage while still having traffic data on my commute. Unfortunately, it uses about twice the data that Waze does driving the same route.

Beyond that the experience is a lot like using a standalone GPS device from 2003–there are computer-generated voices that are very unnatural compared to current-day Siri/Google Assistant/Alexa. The maps are functional though unappealing with garish colors. I also found at times TomTomGONavigation would place me on an overpass or ramp that other apps don’t seem to have an issue with.

I do appreciate the lane guidance function (which most apps also have) and I like the route bar though that isn’t currently available with CarPlay.

Just started using TomTomGONavigation and I’m not very impressed. The audio instructions don’t match the on-screen instructions. It’s telling me one thing while the text is saying another, TomTomGONavigation had me get off the expressway just to get back on at the following ramp, and the color scheme is difficult to look at.
The UI/UX needs a makeover: color scheme should be updated, the overhead map view is visually busy, and I disagree with the use of large icons in the settings. Assumption: either allow your UI/UX team to control more of the appearance or hire someone with different ideas.
Fix these things so you can be my preferred navigation app instead of the other ones that are ‘free’ but are actually soaking up my personal data for profit.

I used to be a TomTom user, but only for the old dashboard units, nothing was better but when the smartphone came, Google Maps was so much better and now we have Waze, with daily updates provided by the community it has become my main GPS app. But, as a previous TomTom user I’m willing to give this a try.

Let’s start:

- The map took too long to download, and was only one.
- Horrible color choice and no option to change it.
- Map it’s NOT updated, doesn’t have my address making impossible to set my house, and no option to just set a location on the map, as every app does. I couldn’t find any market that exists for years in my city.
- Why choose between Address, POI or contact option? TomTomGONavigation should search globally for the text. This just make TomTomGONavigation just not usable.

Come on guys, you used to be the best, and I hope you could again, but you the community, you need better visual, better text search, overall better usability, TomTom right now is way behind. I sincerely wish your company a good comeback.

If you don’t have a guy over there to lead the way call me, I’ll work there just to help you guys to get your place again in gps.

All the best, but I’m not subscribing, for now.

I’ve used a stand-alone TomTom for years and find that to be an essential tool. I’ve used the CarPlay app for a couple of trips so far and see problems. Problems I hope are remedied in updates. The choice of fastest or shortest routing doesn’t seem to work well. I have had odd route suggestions either way. The strangest thing is TomTomGONavigation directing me to an off ramp and back up the on ramp (same highway) using the faster routing method. I hope TomTom can fix these odd things. An inexperienced driver might follow an odd route which could be problematic. I’ll keep using TomTomGONavigation though and hope for improvement.

Well.
They updated TomTomGONavigation and now expect everyone that travels to download more maps
Instead of just break the map of Europe it North American down to smaller pieces AND leave the complete map intact, they decided to have everyone that needs the complete maps to do load them piece by piece
In my case I would have to download All in 52 maps (not counting states that are even more broken down like California or Texas)

ARE you “nuts” TomTom?????

I downloaded the NA map that is gigabyte in size and that’s gone now and I am expected to download over 50 maps again, piece by piece???

And yes, I travel every week to different states in the USA and I hardly know two days before where is will go.

What happened to tomtom? I used the software for ages and it worked great and since the new app they just piling more and more “crap” on the users?
TomTomGONavigation insists on “keep left” just seconds later take the exit right.
No way someone can cross 6 Lanes on a Los Angeles highway in traffic within a few yards.
The old app never “miss guided “ me like the new one.

If you think about buying into the tomtom mess, better think twice (and that is coming from a long time “tomtom fanboy”.

Rest I peace tomtom.

I’ve alerted TomTom several times over the last year of a very serious oversight: TomTom absolutely cannot locate any address that contains an apartment or building number. All other major map/GPS apps can do this. In fact, I recently visited my oldest daughter at her new apartment and Apple’s Maps app directed me right to her building number within a very large apartment complex.

I recently used TomTom with CarPlay in a rental vehicle. During my use with CarPlay, TomTomGONavigation began to crash every time I attempted to load—restarting my phone did not help.

I went to visit a friend a few months ago and TomTom modified the address I typed in and took me to the incorrect location.

I purchased the TomTom app a few years ago for $49 and later changed jobs in which I wasn’t traveling any longer. And, approximately 1 year later, TomTom withdrew the purchased app in favor of a subscription model. Because of how poorly the transition was handled, TomTom decided to offer past purchasers of TomTomGONavigation a 2-year free subscription. I’m only using TomTom now because of complete offline maps for true-GPS navigation and the free 2-year subscription. And, if they do not fix these issues, I’m done with TomTom.

Terrible! I purchased the tom-tom app a few years ago and paid a premium price for it. I absolutely loved it and used it all the time. I ended up taking a job where I was off the road for a while, and actually got a new phone this summer. As I went to use my tom-tom app on my new phone, it no longer was supported! They are now demeaning that I buy a new version of TomTomGONavigation and my new phone will only download a 30-day trial version of the old app that is also no longer supported. This is ridiculous! I cannot figure out how to talk to anybody at this company and this is a clear example of a bait and switch! So disappointed, and will never ever use Tom Tom again. This is absolutely unethical, and has to be illegal! Do not waste your time with Tom Tom. They will screw in the end.

1. It takes you off exits to only get right back on the same highway for no reasons.
2. Avoid carpool lanes is turned “on” in settings, yet it always navigates to carpool lanes.
3. Avoid toll roads is turned “off” in settings, yet every time TomTomGONavigation reroutes, recalculates, or updates, a banner pops up that blocks a 1/4 of the screen that reads: “includes toll roads - change”. If you press the banner, it brings you to the settings screen where I’ve already set it to not avoid toll roads.
4. Traffic information is wrong, inaccurate, and unreliable. TomTomGONavigation version no longer looks out far enough into the route to avoid traffic. It brings you too close to traffic situations to a point that it can’t reroute. So it actually brings you to the traffic rather than be smart enough much more ahead of time to avoid it. Many times the map will show traffic when there isn’t, and show no traffic when there is.
5. ETA is no longer reliable because of routing issues.

The previous version was amazing. This version is annoyingly defective.
Please update with fixes.

Update: No developer response, skipped right over my review of issues and concerns.

So glad to see TomTom back on CarPlay now.

My car navigation system upgraded to CarPlay over 8 months ago. I’ve always preferred TomTom, and this was confirmed because I’ve been living with Apple and Google Maps only because they’re the only CarPlay navigation systems I had.

I wondered if I’d just get used to it and adopt native Apple Maps after such a long wait for TomTom CarPlay. I never did and am glad to be able to use TomTom again.

TomTom is much better than the free alternatives, and the older app it replaced—I’ve seen it provide better routes than before, its alternate route interface is better, its traffic interface is much better, and both worldwide and regional map downloads help with memory footprint.

I expect TomTom Go will continue to be improved with regular updates. My own requests are Siri integration, and Contacts integration within CarPlay—the two features of Apple Maps I used the most.