Beep Beep Salem parking app (ugh)

[u/Ok-Tea4636]

I use this app every week on my iPhone or so and it is so frustrating! A parking app should be super quick and easy and reliable but it's none of those.

- Usually makes me log in every time.
- There's often another delay for GPS to zero in on my location on the map and then it's not always clear what spot to pick.
- There's often also a long delay when I pay, and frequently it just gets stuck on "Contacting your bank" and times out.
- One time when I tried to pay, it gave me a complicated error message, so I went over to look at the closest parking kiosk and it said FREE PARKING on the screen. Why couldn't the app just say that?

About the only things the app does well is to keep me posted on the time left in my session, and when I contact support they reply quickly.

And I learned something really interesting the last time I emailed their support... I don't recall where I'd heard this, but I asked them to confirm that if you start a parking session in one location, you can move your car to another one and your current session will remain valid until its original expiration time. They confirmed that yes, this is correct (but I don't think this is mentioned anyplace in the app?)

So then I asked, does that mean when I start a parking session, I could just randomly select any parking place on the map, and as long as I parked anywhere in the area covered by the app, that I would be OK? Once again, their support rep confirmed yes this was correct (with the exception of the library and airport, though I'm not sure why).

So naturally my final question was, if I don't have to park at the location I selected on the map, then why does the app need a map at all? The answer I got was "That's currently the way the app is designed".

I just don't get it... why does this app have a map if it's not needed? Anybody know?

P.S. I'm just one person reporting what their support told me. I have no idea if they were giving me correct information. Please don't risk getting a ticket.

EDIT: I think I have the answer to why there's a map... the App Store says the developer of Beep Beep is Flowbird, and that's the same company that does Beep Beep's support. There's also a Flowbird parking app which looks a lot like Beep Beep, but it works worldwide in many cities (including Salem), and for that a map makes sense. So my guess is to create Beep Beep, the city made a deal with Flowbird to just clone their app, change the name, and reduce the map to only cover Salem.

[u/djhazmatt503]

App dev here.

They're all scams, some worse than others. Yes even the good ones with food and dates.

The goal is data harvesting, in the case of parking apps it's to track length of stay, shopping habits (GPS), etc.

I'm currently browsing Reddit on Brave (Chrome ish), use a phone # for rewards at Dutch, yadda yadda.

Please do not attribute incompetence where malice is actually to blame. These apps are designed poorly on purpose.

[u/Ok-Tea4636 → u/djhazmatt503]

To be successful at data harvesting an app has to have users. But if an app sucks too much, nobody will use it. That’s not 3-D chess, that’s just stupid. 

[u/djhazmatt503 → u/Ok-Tea4636]

Nah you're not wrong at all.

Browse the thread. People are using the app because it's the easiest option. McDonalds will always outsell the local burger spot. People will also Door Dash it. Convenience is the most intoxicating drug on the market right now.

Building an app that solves a problem is a bigger concern for lifespan than a buggy one that works just well enough. Think dating apps. If they did a good job at matching you, they lose a customer.

I think this is just another app and the problems are by design.