Viewranger native app UX

Helping explorers navigate using Viewranger

The goal

ViewRanger is a navigation app used by 7.3 million people around the world to plan, navigate, record and share their outdoor adventures.

I designed a UX vision for how we could help more users to capture and share their activity data.

Analysis

  • Monthly retention of the activity tracking feature was just 2.5%

  • My usability tests revealed that most users got confused when trying to start/stop activity tracking.

  • Activity tracking features had poor discoverability, hidden in layers of complex menus. Interaction patterns and flows were not native, requiring learning and practice.

Goal

Design a vision for how we might help more users to capture and share their activity data - so that we increase in monthly user retention from 2% to 5%.

Design outcomes

  • I re-imagined Viewranger’s information architecture, making sense of dozens of screen layouts and interaction patterns.

  • The new interface makes metrics visible at a glance, allowing users to monitor progress while navigating.

  • Simple start/stop controls makes navigation easy and accessible.

  • Confirmation feature avoids users accidentally stopping navigation while on the move.

  • Prototyped a new route plotting feature, making it easy for users to create and upload routes.

My impact

  • I conceived a new route plotting feature, making it easy for users to create and upload routes – and giving Viewranger a flagship feature over their competitors.

  • Monthly retention was increased from 2% to 5% after the launch of the new activity tracking feature.

  • Viewranger was successfully acquired by Outdoor Active in the same year as the app relaunch.