Wow! TripIt for iPhone had a big first day

Our new iPhone app is making quite a splash.  As of 9am PT on Wednesday, after one day of getting the word out, the app is number three on the Top Free Travel Apps list, and number nine on the Most Popular Travel Apps list on the App Store. Thanks to everyone who downloaded it!

We got a ton of great feedback about the app yesterday, and we made some immediate improvements based on the comments and suggestions we received. A new and improved version of the app was pushed to the App Store last night, and will be available soon.

These are the most important bug fixes in the update:

1. When loading the app with poor or no connectivity, itineraries seemed to disappear
2. Some itineraries (especially those crossing the dateline) were showing incorrect times for items
3. The app would crash when it tried to load certain Rail and Cruise items

Your iPhone or iTunes will let you know as soon as the new version is available.

Thanks to everyone who downloaded the app, helped us identify bugs, and suggested improvements. We want to make our app as helpful as possible to travelers, so keep your input coming. 

Comments

[Kevin C.]

Android please...

[gracels]

I've liked TripIt since I started using it, but your iPhone app puts this product at the top of my list. I love the way you've ported the information to the iPhone dimensions. Great job!

[luis benitez]

I've got to say, this is awesome!! I was a big Dopplr fan, but now I'm all over TripIt thanks to iPhone and Lotus Notes integration.

Great JOB!!!

[Chris]

The app rocks, here are suggestions:
Show the seat assignment for a flight.
Show the car/class for an auto rental.

[James Donevan]

"Some itineraries (especially those crossing the dateline) were showing incorrect times for items."

Pretty basic problem in a travel itinerary app. How did your dev team let this get out the door? Not a very good start if the comments across the web are anything to go by.

[rob]

Great app -- looks great, updates instantly, and a fantastic add-on to an already great service!

But there are a few small bugs/issues you can hopefully address:

1. Event times are sometimes wonky. E.g. I have a hotel reservation that has a 12:00 noon check-out time, but the app lists it on the trip summary page as being at 4:00 pm?! And to make it weirder, that 4:00 hotel departure is listed BEFORE my 1:00 pm ground transportation and my 3:00 pm check-in at my next hotel. Those other entries are correct and all show the exact same timezone, so it makes no sense.

2. Map functions do not work for many airports. Click on the map link in the app for ORD (i.e. from a detail page for a flight segment), and my iPhone’s map function shows a town in Turkey. Click on the map link for PVR, and I get a map showing a bunch of electronics retailers in my own city. Click on LAX or YYZ, though, and it works fine.

3. Titles for hotel stays in the trip summary page are frustrating! The small iPhone screen shows only “Your The Westin Gall” for a hotel stay (at The Westin Galleria). Why do event titles have to start with “Your”?? It’s simply a waste of space on the small screen. Plus the full hotel name appears in the SUBTITLE anyway (in smaller font, so more of the name can actually be seen). So why not just label it “Hotel check-in” and “Hotel check-out” in the MAIN title area??

4. On a related note – for hotel stays, the app does NOT show what’s a hotel arrival and what’s a hotel departure. (Both arrivals and departures appear as events in the app, but nothing clearly denotes whether you’re coming or going!! They appear as identical events.) Currently the only way to tell is to open up a hotel event and scroll down to see the check-in and check-out dates. Not the most user-friendly :(

5. Notes that I've added to some items appear garbled (in my case, notes that I’ve added to a couple of flights). Some lines are blanked out in the middle of the text, spacing is off, etc, – rendering it unreadable.

Otherwise it's great -- hopefully coming updates tackle these points. Thanks for creating it!

[Matthew]

It's about time! I purchased TravTracker and then a couple of weeks later this came out for free, so I'm a bit bummed about that (my fault though), but I have to say that TravTracker is a far more advanced and much better app. Since TripIt's new app is the first version, I'm sure it will improve but it's not bad for a first effort and you can't beat the price. I much prefer TravTracker's way of displaying the trips though - The initial itinerary view of the trip has more detail on it, whereas with TripIt's I have to hit another screen to see stuff like Terminal info etc. Sounds petty, but when you're rushing through an airport you want to be able to see all the info with the minimum of fuss.

I would agree with Rob about this "Your" being added to everything though - Even on the main site it has always irritated me. It's so un-necessary and on the iPhone with it's tiny screen the last thing we need is another 4 characters stuck at the beginning, plus a space making everything harder to read.

[Natalie]

Great App! Appreciate your openness and willingness to hear out your users. Sorry you have to deal some of the more "rude" ones. Keep up the great work, and thanks for making it free :)

[Rocky A]

Terminal maps would be awesome!

[Teriamandi]

And what about a facebook application ?

[Ted Sladovich]

Great app! Completely impressed that I can forward my air, lodging and entertainment confirmations and have them show up. Used to dread entering my itinerary into emails for friends & family, now it's a snap! Looking forward to the next upgrade!

[Martin Pitwood]

It's great, but...

I'd love to get rid of the "Your" as well. I just want the facts without being patronised.

Also some strange things on time zones: BST (British Summer Time) shows as BST but CST (Chinese Standard Time) shows as GMT+8. Shows CST fine in a standard web browser.

[Nathan]

How about airport lounge locations?

Not vital, but would be useful in saving time wondering around unfamiliar airports.

Great stuff overall though, I'm an ex-dopplr now.

[Scott Lewis]

I'd love to be able to browse prior trips from the iPhone app - helpful for expense reports, etc.

[Jason]

Trips details will not download. Wifi or edge.