• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

*Official Trapster Thread*

A starting point should be included in a future update. For some reason trapster won't update when I want to use it again. Its showing the end of my last trip before I turned the app off. Even when I tap the LOCATE ME button, it does nothing. Now I will say that one day this happened, I was on the highway and I clicked Locate me and within a few seconds the GPS kicked in and it found me. Another time I used it and the map was showing me somewhere in Colorado and I am in the Philadelphia area!
 
Upvote 0
ok sean, not sure if you remembered my comments about me using my escort radar detectors and laser jammers..

but i tried your app tonight to and from my girls house, wanted to put it through a test. ill give you a little background about my journey so you can understand. 98% of it is on long islands major artery, the long island expressway. i travel between exit 63 and exit 53, exactly 10 exits. between these 10 exits there is AT LEAST 1 split in the center divider for sheriffs to sit and some long exits have 2. so thats a minimum of at least 10 dividers or police traps and if i count correctly there may be as many as 13 or 14.

id say about half of those were actually reported on trapster but its ok because ive been doing this trip and driving on the expressway for years so i know exactly where these gaps are and when and which ones they usually sit at.

tonight there was only one spot which cops were at and they were doubled yet on the other side of the road and it was a spot reported by trapster.

my only concern is if we were to report all these spots it would probably get annoying because locals all know that these spots are randomly filled yet some a little more filled than others.

im not saying its a good or bad thing, i do like the fact that i can run it in the background and lock the phone. its very loud so i can blast my music as well too.

i just think certain areas, like mine if your going to do it correctly would need all those spots marked because cops do sit at them. maybe not tonight, but maybe tomorrow or maybe next week. so many areas will be over populated with traps, but better safe than sorry i guess.

i do believe its a very good app for places you are quite unfamiliar with because cops are human, they are creatures of habits. once you live somewhere long enough and enough people mark it theres a good chance a cop will usually be there. i could drive this 10 exit trip home blind folded and know exactly when im going to hit a speed trap yet if im going upstate or every september i head to ocean city maryland for a vw/audi show this would probably be very sweet. going through the neighboring county and also the city, it would help greatly for redlight camers and speed cameras too.

also, suggestion for default settings.. i drove to her house with the app running, not a single time did it alert me. all my traps on my route had a cop car with a picture of a tree on them which i now know means a hidden trap.

i then went through the settings and realized the ONLY items (speed traps, cameras, red lights, etc) that was NOT set to vibrate and alert notification was hidden traps. unsure as to why that was the only setting not activated but once i activated it, it worked the entire way home.

so basically, for an app driving to work or my girls house or to the super market it really isnt being used to its best in my opinion. where it seems to flourish and work perfectly (which i have yet to test but image works wonders) would be for red light cameras, speed cameras and also areas where people are unfamiliar with as far as cop activity.

i probably wont use this as a "first line" defensive item, i will continue to rely on my radar detector (which does the same thing as this app, but obviously includes radar and laser band support) and my laser jammers. yet id still like to run this app in the background in my cup holder as more of a support item just to see how well it works incase my radar detector some how misses a red light camera or speed camera. i will also definitely use it when traveling to unfamiliar areas where i have no idea what police patrol patterns are like.

great idea, definitely keep it up and i hope to see more people using this. the more users, the better the feedback. im praying more android owners pop up in my area, there are spots within 1 day of using ive had to start marking. perfect tool for your average driver who doesnt have access to radar detectors, etc and also a great support tools for those who do.
 
Upvote 0
ok sean, not sure if you remembered my comments about me using my escort radar detectors and laser jammers..

but i tried your app tonight to and from my girls house, wanted to put it through a test. ill give you a little background about my journey so you can understand. 98% of it is on long islands major artery, the long island expressway. i travel between exit 63 and exit 53, exactly 10 exits. between these 10 exits there is AT LEAST 1 split in the center divider for sheriffs to sit and some long exits have 2. so thats a minimum of at least 10 dividers or police traps and if i count correctly there may be as many as 13 or 14.

id say about half of those were actually reported on trapster but its ok because ive been doing this trip and driving on the expressway for years so i know exactly where these gaps are and when and which ones they usually sit at.

tonight there was only one spot which cops were at and they were doubled yet on the other side of the road and it was a spot reported by trapster.

my only concern is if we were to report all these spots it would probably get annoying because locals all know that these spots are randomly filled yet some a little more filled than others.

im not saying its a good or bad thing, i do like the fact that i can run it in the background and lock the phone. its very loud so i can blast my music as well too.

i just think certain areas, like mine if your going to do it correctly would need all those spots marked because cops do sit at them. maybe not tonight, but maybe tomorrow or maybe next week. so many areas will be over populated with traps, but better safe than sorry i guess.

i do believe its a very good app for places you are quite unfamiliar with because cops are human, they are creatures of habits. once you live somewhere long enough and enough people mark it theres a good chance a cop will usually be there. i could drive this 10 exit trip home blind folded and know exactly when im going to hit a speed trap yet if im going upstate or every september i head to ocean city maryland for a vw/audi show this would probably be very sweet. going through the neighboring county and also the city, it would help greatly for redlight camers and speed cameras too.

also, suggestion for default settings.. i drove to her house with the app running, not a single time did it alert me. all my traps on my route had a cop car with a picture of a tree on them which i now know means a hidden trap.

i then went through the settings and realized the ONLY items (speed traps, cameras, red lights, etc) that was NOT set to vibrate and alert notification was hidden traps. unsure as to why that was the only setting not activated but once i activated it, it worked the entire way home.

so basically, for an app driving to work or my girls house or to the super market it really isnt being used to its best in my opinion. where it seems to flourish and work perfectly (which i have yet to test but image works wonders) would be for red light cameras, speed cameras and also areas where people are unfamiliar with as far as cop activity.

i probably wont use this as a "first line" defensive item, i will continue to rely on my radar detector (which does the same thing as this app, but obviously includes radar and laser band support) and my laser jammers. yet id still like to run this app in the background in my cup holder as more of a support item just to see how well it works incase my radar detector some how misses a red light camera or speed camera. i will also definitely use it when traveling to unfamiliar areas where i have no idea what police patrol patterns are like.

great idea, definitely keep it up and i hope to see more people using this. the more users, the better the feedback. im praying more android owners pop up in my area, there are spots within 1 day of using ive had to start marking. perfect tool for your average driver who doesnt have access to radar detectors, etc and also a great support tools for those who do.

Hi DanSan,

Yes I remember you. Glad you tested out Trapster.

Thanks for the review.

We have the "Police Often Hide Here" alerts set to not alert via audio, because we were getting complaints that it would alert too often, etc.

We are wondering if that was the right choice, any thoughts?

The android app will continue to improve, thanks to great feedback like this.

Thanks again,

Sean
 
Upvote 0
We have the "Police Often Hide Here" alerts set to not alert via audio, because we were getting complaints that it would alert too often, etc.

Sean, if the number of complaints about the audio alert being disabled is less than the number of complaints about the audio alert being enabled, you did the right thing!

I keep that alert disabled most of the time since I know the locations where the police like to hide on my regular routes. I try to remember to enable the alert when I'm driving on unfamiliar roads, tho. Hmm... ::raising an eyebrow at sean:: Do you see an opportunity for a bit of code there? ;)
 
Upvote 0
Sean, if the number of complaints about the audio alert being disabled is less than the number of complaints about the audio alert being enabled, you did the right thing!

I keep that alert disabled most of the time since I know the locations where the police like to hide on my regular routes. I try to remember to enable the alert when I'm driving on unfamiliar roads, tho. Hmm... ::raising an eyebrow at sean:: Do you see an opportunity for a bit of code there? ;)

lol, I will see if that feature request is a possibility.

Thanks for the feedback.
 
Upvote 0
Hi DanSan,

Yes I remember you. Glad you tested out Trapster.

Thanks for the review.

We have the "Police Often Hide Here" alerts set to not alert via audio, because we were getting complaints that it would alert too often, etc.

We are wondering if that was the right choice, any thoughts?

The android app will continue to improve, thanks to great feedback like this.

Thanks again,

Sean

Your welcome sean, i tried to be as brutally honest and unbias as i could.

my concern about the "police often hide here" is that all the traps on my map along my route are usually all red, with the exception of 1 or 2. yet they all have a picture of a cop with a tree next to it which i assume means hidden traps. i think either the people marking these alerts are doing it incorrectly or its registering on your system the wrong way. the traps im talking about are right in the middle of a 6 lane highway so i doubt they are "hidden". if i didnt enable alerts for hidden traps, none of these would have gone off for me.
 
Upvote 0
Your welcome sean, i tried to be as brutally honest and unbias as i could.

my concern about the "police often hide here" is that all the traps on my map along my route are usually all red, with the exception of 1 or 2. yet they all have a picture of a cop with a tree next to it which i assume means hidden traps. i think either the people marking these alerts are doing it incorrectly or its registering on your system the wrong way. the traps im talking about are right in the middle of a 6 lane highway so i doubt they are "hidden". if i didnt enable alerts for hidden traps, none of these would have gone off for me.

Make sure you have read this to understand the different trap icons and confidence levels. Trapster - Getting Started

Police often hide here doesn't necessarily mean they are hiding, but just a spot police often run radar/laser/etc.

Trapster's traps are all based on user votes, so if you disagree with a trap, make sure you vote it down.
 
Upvote 0
Sean, can we get a toggle to the effect of:

[√] Mute other sounds when playing audible alert

I often have the music player or Pandora cranked while driving and the Trapster audible alerts just can't compete with wailing guitars.

Google Nav will mute all other sounds when it tells me to turn left into a tree that it apparently thinks is a road. I'm hoping that feature is available to other devs (the mute thing, not the bad directions thing).
 
Upvote 0
Sean, can we get a toggle to the effect of:

[√] Mute other sounds when playing audible alert

I often have the music player or Pandora cranked while driving and the Trapster audible alerts just can't compete with wailing guitars.

Google Nav will mute all other sounds when it tells me to turn left into a tree that it apparently thinks is a road. I'm hoping that feature is available to other devs (the mute thing, not the bad directions thing).

Hi ScottAllyn,

Great suggestion!

I will see if it is possible.

Thanks,

Sean
 
Upvote 0
Sean, can we get a toggle to the effect of:

[√] Mute other sounds when playing audible alert

I often have the music player or Pandora cranked while driving and the Trapster audible alerts just can't compete with wailing guitars.

Google Nav will mute all other sounds when it tells me to turn left into a tree that it apparently thinks is a road. I'm hoping that feature is available to other devs (the mute thing, not the bad directions thing).

But on the opposite side, when on a speaker call could the audible sounds be killed? It can be frustrating to take a call in the city and the alerts are competing with the caller.
 
Upvote 0
I downloaded the app and have been using it but why do I have notices from 20 days ago popping up? I could see red light and permanent cameras but not traps. I don't see a option to get rid of them either, is there such an option? All I am really interested in what traps or live police were reported the current day.

I am guessing the "20 days ago" traps you are referring to are "Police Often Hide Here" traps.

You can customize the traps that are displayed by going into your settings, then trap filters.

Thanks,

Sean
 
Upvote 0
Pretty sick so far. The amount of settings is awesome. A battery drain for sure due to gps, i just have to drive with my droid plugged in if i wanna use it. No problem there for me. same as using navigation or maps. great work and free? wow

Hey jbarrett020,

Thanks for the comments. Yea, having a car charger is the way to go. Also recommend using a windshield suction cup style mount.

available on our site, through amazon. trapster.com - Speed Trap Sharing System

Thanks,

Sean
 
Upvote 0
I noticed the iphone has a caravan feature. this would be super handy for me, and hopefully for others.
Any future plans to bring this to droid, and if yes, by august? have a cross country trip coming with several cars in tow

thanks

hi jbarrett020,

I will definitely keep you updated here when we release new updates.

Thanks,

Sean
 
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones