This article was published on March 1, 2011

Get Off Now! Never miss another bus or train stop using your iPhone


Get Off Now! Never miss another bus or train stop using your iPhone

TNW Quick Hit

Get Off Now! – Predictive GPS Alarm ($.99) is the first automatic GPS alarm app for the iPhone.

Hits: Get Off Now monitors your daily bus and/or train stops, providing you a reminder when you’re near, all without needing to turn on the alarm once you’ve set it the first time.

Misses: Only helpful for those that take a train or bus, and travel to a site near a public transportation depot. Users need to set the stop-alerting pin with great accuracy or you could miss your stop entirely.

Overall: 4.5/5

The Details:

Trains and busses are fascinating methods of transportation.  They’re less expensive an option than commuting by car to work or other ports of call, riding on either makes for a great people-watching experience, they allow one to get extra rest or work done when traveling, and more.

That said, if you’re one who sleeps or works while riding a bus or train, no doubt you’ve missed your desired stop at one point.  Get Off Now from John Wong aims to put an end to missed stops with an automatic GPS alarm which notifies you when you’re nearing your stop.

To begin, add a label to your daily alarm and your transportation type be it bus or train.

Users then add the place of the stop with a name or address search and placing a pin at the location.  Get Off Now then allows you to set when you’d like the alarm to go off and what sound you’d like the alarm to play.

If you make stops at multiple locations, the app provides the ability to add multiple alarms for different locations, using different modes of transportation.

Some of the other really handy features of the app include:

  • Works in background everyday once set up
  • 3 Step Setup, Map Search, Hold to drop Pin
  • Power-saving feature: GPS turned off whenever possible, no need to disable manually with “On the transportation” detection, where GPS turns back on.
  • Estimation compensates for poor GPS reception
  • Operation only requires GPS, data only used during set up.

The only issue with the app concerns placing your end destination’s pin.  Users need to set the stop-alerting pin with great accuracy or you could miss your stop entirely, negating the usefulness of the app.

Get Off Now is a really slick app for those that take a train or bus, and travel to a location near a public transportation depot. If you use public transportation daily and desire to never again miss your stop, this is the app for you.

Stop by the App Store and pick up Get Off Now here.

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