
AllTrails: can we please have a "just show me the map" mode?
This is AllTrails on Android in the middle of an actual hike yesterday. It illustrates something that has been driving me nuts: almost the entire screen is UI, while the thing I'm actually trying to use - the map - is squeezed into a tiny fragment of what is left.
Look at everything being displayed simultaneously:
Giant turn-direction banner
Elapsed time
Distance
Elevation gain
Remaining time
Pace
Speed
Elevation profile
POI card ("Mount Mannell - 0.7 km away")
Photo/Creek marker
Compass
Multiple large buttons on both sides of the map
Map labels and other POIs
I'm hiking. At this particular moment I need to answer the question: Where does the trail go?
I don't need pace AND speed displayed permanently. I don't need an elevation graph consuming such a large chunk of the screen while I am approaching a junction. I don't need six hiking statistics permanently visible unless I swipe for them. I certainly don't need all of these things simultaneously while the actual map is relegated to a narrow strip in the middle of the display.
I'm not arguing that these features are useless. I'm arguing that they should be collapsible, by default while in the middle of a hike. Especially since I have tried to turn them all off, they reappear as soon as I unlock the phone.
Please give us a proper full-screen navigation mode: map + route + current position. Tap or swipe to bring back statistics, elevation, POIs and other controls when wanted.
I also note that I have the P.O.I indicators turned off in layers so why am I seeing P.O.I's that I don't want to see? Yesterday it showed me exciting viewpoints but of course there is no view just trees. And I had that setting turned off. How do I make them actually stay off?
The screenshot really says it all. For a navigation app, shouldn't the map be the dominant thing on the screen?
Separately, there is a problem with displayed screen layers. Every time I open the app I turn all the 4 default layers off except the map, but then of course for some reason four layers pop up again frequently. I don't know what I'm doing to make them come back. I'm not restarting the app. It's still going. This makes no sense to me and is annoying.
To be really clear I love this app. I've done over 2,500 km of hikes just in the last 3 years and I want to continue doing so!