You Asked, We Listened: Responding To Your Feature Requests

A few weeks ago we posted on our social media asking what features our community would like to see next. 

Responding to the needs of our community has always been a huge part of Scenic. In fact, on the Scenic Forum, our dedicated Feature Requests board is one of our most popular topics – and has been for a long time. 

But, it was great to take this discussion to social media and hear the thoughts of Scenic users who may not engage with our forum too often. 

Some of the feature requests are possible, some are less possible (for now), and some already exist! Let’s go through them:

Scenic features that are currently available

Some of our community-requested features that are already available in Scenic. 

CarPlay compatibility

A number of you asked if Scenic supports CarPlay. The answer is YES! 

If you have the latest version of Scenic, a Scenic icon should appear on your Apple CarPlay display. If not, it’s time to update. 

We added CarPlay functionality in June 2022, after several requests from our community. CarPlay lets Scenic users navigate in their car (obviously). You can read a full guide on Scenic CarPlay here.

Local Route Suggestions

One of our users, @sonnythebull, requested local route suggestions. We have a very similar feature already available – ‘Discover Routes’. 

The Discover Routes option allows you to search a specific area of the map for available public routes. To discover routes, go to the ‘Routes’ tab, tap the ‘+’ button and choose ‘Discover Routes’. Then move the orange square to the area you want to search and select ‘Find Routes in this Area’.

So, to find local routes, simply use the Discover Routes option. This is one of the many ways Scenic helps you find new rides, along with search filters that let you search for a specific user, a route name, star ratings and more.

Scenic features that are in development

There are features which we are currently developing, or plan on developing, which will be released soon.

Scenic for Android

Our most common request. You will be happy to know that Scenic for Android is in development and is scheduled to be released mid-2024. 

Developing Scenic for Android has been a journey. Unfortunately, it is not as simple as one might think – and being a one-man development team has made this process longer than I would have hoped. 

Luckily, after 3.5 is released, Android is up next. To everyone using Android, thank you for your patience – it’s coming. Here’s a forum post where you can see an early alpha version in action.

Route planning on the web

@derache123 requested that a web interface be available for planning routes. Indeed planning directly in the Scenic WebApp is not yet possible. After Android, it’s our highest priority.

Meanwhile, Scenic integrates with 3rd party route planners (like Furkot, Kurviger and even Google Maps). Additionally, you can import GPX files into Scenic as well. Here’s more info on how to import routes to Scenic.

Marking places/spots while navigating

@murielle_sylvie asked for a feature to quickly and easily mark beautiful spots along the way. This is also a commonly requested feature and it’s on our radar.

In fact, there are quite a few forum posts about it – you can find one here. 

Scenic features that are not available… yet

These are the features which are not available at the moment. This does not mean that they will never be available. As market demands change, technology develops and app capabilities improve, anything is possible. 

Weather Layers

@egozarolho asked for weather layers to show temperature and rain. We’ve had this request many times over the years. A few people also asked if it was possible to recalculate the route automatically if rain is predicted.

We’re not sure if the automatic recalculation is possible, but adding layers is definitely possible. There are a number of posts on this as well. Search for “weather” on the main forum page and you’ll find them easily.

Zoom buttons even when on auto zoom

@captaindavid__  would like zoom buttons displayed on the screen even while in auto-zoom mode. The idea is that you can quickly get an overview of the streets around your current location. This is a tricky one.

Adding zoom buttons even while on auto-zoom can create expectations of what’s coming and confusion. On top of that, Scenic has other ways to get an overview, which will be further expanded in the upcoming Scenic 3.5 update. Here’s a forum post on zoom buttons which goes into more detail.

Proximity alerts for custom POIs

@etaillefer would like the Custom POI proximity alerts to be introduced. Scenic 2 used to have this feature, but it caused a few performance problems so I had to remove it.

Typically, this feature was used for safety camera alerts. Users would add a Custom POI group with all safety cameras in their country, and set a proximity alert for them. Scenic 3.5 will have safety camera warnings integrated (for most countries), so this covers the biggest need for this feature. I do understand the need to have this available for other types of POIs too, and I will be taking a look at this again in the future. But, at the moment, other higher-priority items need to be developed first. 

Merging rides

@fritziaftour is asking for a way to merge multiple rides. E.g. if you have a multi-day trip, you will be able to see all the rides of that trip on the map and get statistics about the total trip.

This has been requested quite frequently and I have some ideas in mind for that. There is a forum post on this, which includes a “workaround” tip as well – check it out.

More intuitive menus

@brucebergerastro is asking for simpler, more intuitive menus. E.g. how to put bias in a route, how to quickly set the Fast, Short, Curvy routing mode.

I fully understand this request, and I’m constantly looking at how to improve the UI to be more intuitive.

Having said that, balancing simplicity and intuitiveness with an ever-expanding feature list is an ongoing process. On top of that, Scenic has a vast variety of users with different technical affinities – all using Scenic in very different ways. We have the power users on one end, who like Scenic for the big feature set and the high degree of customization. On the other end, we have riders who just want to “click-and-ride”. Both are equally important to us, so we try to ensure the basic features are easy to reach and intuitive, which typically means that more advanced features are sometimes a few taps away. 

Butler Maps integration

@derache123 asked for Butler Maps integration. Yes… this has definitely been on my personal wish list for a long time, and one of the reasons why the ‘Discover Routes’ feature (see above) has been a part of Scenic from the very beginning.

While the Discover Routes feature is great for finding routes in an area, these routes are not carefully designed, explored and curated by a team of riders. I would love to integrate Butler maps, BDR routes (Backcountry Discovery Routes), TET, etc. in Scenic in the future. However there are some political, legal and financial hurdles to overcome for this, so this will take a while.

Making the navigation screen more customizable 

@gavin braithwaite would like to see the ability to change the location and size of turn indicators, distances, etc. Well, Gavin, I have to be honest on this one too.

I don’t foresee Scenic supporting this in the future. Scenic already has a lot of customization options for the navigation screen, which will increase in Scenic 3.5. On top of that, the Scenic 3.5 navigation screen will support Dynamic Type (meaning fonts become bigger as you change text size in iOS Settings).

Although it might seem easy to add more customization, it’s really not. It’s actually extremely difficult and takes a lot of trial and error (just ask the Scenic beta testers how many iterations we went through for Scenic 3.5 😉).

Scenic’s navigation screen needs to work on many devices, from the very small iPhone SE, to the big iPhone Plus and Max models. Some have the “nudge”, others have the “dynamic island”, while the older models have the normal status bar. Add landscape mode, portrait mode, dynamic type and iPad to that, and you have several dozens of screen appearances that need to be supported.

Marking dangerous/sharp curves

@jib carson would like to know if it’s possible to mark a sharp/dangerous curve and be warned about it next time. I understand this request, and I’m planning to take this up together with the “Marking places/spots” feature mentioned above.

Sharing live location and ETA

@jud kidney would like to know if it’s possible to share ETA and current location with other people as this can be a great tool in the event of an accident. Currently Scenic doesn’t offer this feature. It has been requested before and it is on the feature request list.

At the moment, I’m not quite sure how big the demand for such a feature is. I see the advantages, obviously, but I know there are also other solutions out there. The “Find My” feature, built into every iPhone, springs to mind. Leave a reply on this post if you’d also like to see this feature. 

Help improve Scenic – the app by bikers, for bikers

A big thank you to every member of our community who shared their request. Your input is the engine behind improving Scenic.

I would like to remind you that your suggestions have a genuine impact on the direction we take Scenic, and is often the very roadmap for how we plan upcoming features and improvements. As Scenic 3.5 is released, followed by Scenic for Android, we are sure there will be countless more suggestions for ways we can improve our app – whether it’s adding new features, tweaking existing ones, or thinking outside the box completely.

Remember, the conversation doesn’t end here. Our Feature Requests board on the Scenic Forum is your go-to place for suggesting cool new ideas to enhance the app experience. No idea is too crazy, and all suggestions are welcome – so please don’t hesitate to share. Keep those suggestions coming, and let’s continue building the ultimate riding experience for every rider.