Ever since SafeBoda updated their app to the current version 3.0, there has been a lot of backlashes and complaints from customers on social media about the poor user experience and dissatisfaction that comes with using the platform daily. To me as a frequent client I have been served with my fair share of unexpected app behavior and other issues which to my dismay, most concerns have been left pending.
Like most people, I was super excited about the new UI and downloaded the application when it was just uploaded on TestFlight to have a firsthand experience before most people. But was surprised that whenever a trip ended, immediately after rating the rider I could see the payment API endpoint requests( a big red flag).
As a developer, I was totally shocked that Safeboda rushed to roll out the app to everyone else without due diligence on the little details, these guys did a tremendous work with the new version but they should have kept the app in the beta stage for some time to get their a snapshot of the behavior when fully fledged.
READ ABOUT: How to top up your cashless ride credit with a SafeBoda Rider
Let’s look at the top five flaws I have noticed from a month of using the updated version of the Safeboda app, you can share in the comments how your experience has been so far with the new update.
Price estimation
I appreciate that Safeboda prices have always been slightly lower than the alternative options but rather discontented that they would quietly discard the 20% discount promo on cashless rides without reminding the users. In the updated version of the app, price estimation on both cash and cashless options are the same and a little confusing for clients who haven’t been briefed the campaign ended sometime back.
Automatic pin location
The updated Safeboda app failing to automatically pick your GPS location has been rampant with people using Android. I must admit I haven’t really suffered much while using iOS after allowing the app to use my location however, there have been mixed reactions online from customers on the high accuracy GPS feature.
The SafeBoda App is super buggy and unstable
The satisfaction score when it comes to the user experience of the new version is really low. There are constant complaints on the responsiveness of the app and cases where the app completely freezes and buttons becomes inactive. Most of these tweets are from the beginning of the month but should help give you a picture of how much trouble people are having with the updates.
Search time on finding SafeBoda rides
The search time when you try to find rides is so unstable compared to the previous version of the app. At times the error message “there is no Safeboda around you” comes so fast that makes you wonder if really there has been a deep search. Keep in mind, there are times when there is legitimately no Boda Boda bikes around your location at a moment but search time on the predecessor app was a bit longer than this.
Trip history
The trip history has been reduced to only 25 orders for the past number of trips. This feature has been useful to a number of people who like to keep track of their expenses over a period of time, at least 30 days period would have been okay.
