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TomTom for iPhone goes free for first 50 miles per month w/ new “GO Mobile” app

TomTom used to have a handful of paid apps, each specific to a region. The app covering just the U.S., for example, was $45. But today it’s making its premium navigation services free for iPhone users everywhere for the first 50 miles or 75km of use. The new freemium model comes as the company consolidates its TomTom apps for each region under a new, redesigned app simply called TomTom Go Mobile.

Your free miles in the app will get refilled each month, and those that drive more often can pay to upgrade to unlimited. Customers of the old TomTom apps will get a free upgrade to TomTom Go Mobile unlimited. The upgrades to unlimited miles are available as in-app purchases for €19.99 for 1 year or €44.99 for three years, similar to pricing for TomTom’s mobile apps before the new free app.

The new app packs in features from the company’s previous apps, but it also includes a global map license, meaning you’ll be able to use it across 150 countries where supported. It also includes offline maps and TomTom’s real-time traffic features, all of which are available to both free and paid users.

The company noted that the new app’s user interface (pictured above) is modelled after its popular TomTom GO satnav unit.

You can download the free TomTom Go Mobile app from the App Store now. A full list of features in the app below:

  • World Maps: Install and update maps from around the world at no extra cost.***
  • TomTom Traffic: Always know where delays are and whether a faster route is available.
  • Speed Cameras: Drive more relaxed with speed camera alerts, trusted by millions of TomTom drivers.****
  • Offline Maps: Maps are stored on your device so you don’t need internet access or data roaming to plan a route.
  • Points of Interest: From gas stations to hotels, your app comes pre-loaded with millions of useful POIs.
  • Quick search: Find destinations faster with Quick Search. It starts finding locations as soon as you start typing.
  • Navigate to Copied Addresses: Easily select locations you found on websites or other apps by copying their address and pasting it into Quick Search.
  • Tap and go: Tap on your favourite destination on the map, and you’re on your way.
  • Advanced Lane Guidance: Clearly see which lane to take at key junctions.

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Comments

  1. dcj001 - 8 years ago

    I have used TomTom USA for several years on my iPhones and cellular iPads. The regular price for this app is $49.99. I paid $35.99 on sale. I have seen it on sale for as low as $24.99. TomTom USA is, without a doubt, my favorite and most useful iOS app.

    However, I do not understand why TomTom USA is encouraging me to “upgrade” to Go Mobile for free for three years when the TomTom USA app that I purchased includes all of the maps for the USA and four updates per year at no charge for the life of the app.

    • shwayvid - 8 years ago

      that seems annoying, I’m all for subscription based pricing but I feel like lifetime memberships to people that laid out the money upfront earlier would be such a nice gesture, and to be honest I doubt there’s THAT many TomTom users that bought it before to where they would lose that much money lol

    • SParky Lawrence - 8 years ago

      It’s likely that those apps (of which I have 3) will no longer be updated

    • glecko - 8 years ago

      @dcj001 – most likely because your TomTom USA app will no longer get updates after three years … it’s called a new business model and you were caught in the middle.

  2. James (@jamesfhIII) - 8 years ago

    Why would anyone pay for TomTom on iPhone when Apple Maps and Waze are updated continuously?

    • If you never go into areas that don’t have reliable signal for extended periods, then you probably wouldn’t want to. Here in Oregon, vacation time often means doing so for us though. It would be hard to justify the price most of the time, but one vacation per year would easily do so for me, I think.

    • djsparky2009 - 8 years ago

      For those with low data plans, those in bad signal areas etc as those maps are downloaded as you go and not available offline

      • pratafw - 8 years ago

        I cannot understand why people would pay for something that is totally free with here maps from Nokia (you can also download any map of any country with offline turnbyturn navigation features for free)

  3. Ben Gillam (@bengillam) - 8 years ago

    app feels newer for sure than the old app, but nowhere near as simple and readable as the normal app. Not sure I like it will give it a fair go then probably book back to original for now.

  4. GT_UKie (@GT_UKie) - 8 years ago

    US and Canada map is asking for over 7gb space on my iPhone that’s just ridiculous when the original app takes 1.7gb

  5. srgmac - 8 years ago

    Wow Tom Tom is still around? I’m surprised. I was a Navigon fanboy back in the day — I bought the iOS app when it was on sale, which is a shame, because I don’t think I’ve even used it more than 5 times. The one plus is, at least this is how the older version was — you could store maps on your phone for offline navigation. Great if you’re in need of navigation in another country or any place where you don’t have coverage really..I don’t know if the new version is like this anymore though. Off topic…I just saw that there is now a 200GB MicroSD card…Jesus H Christ. My iPhone is stuck at 16GB –for life– and Android users can add another 200GB to a phone that was made even years before mine for a couple bucks? That is so ridiculously unfair. I think this is why the newer Navigon versions switched to not downloading the entire USA maps and storing them to the device…As apps & photo / video resolutions keep getting bigger there is no longer enough space!

    • quarterswede - 8 years ago

      External storage on Android is still a pain point. Nothing is as good as internal storage no matter what people will tell you. About the only good thing I’ve found about it is that you can put music and videos on it. For app storage it causes more issues than it’s worth.

    • xxxchillycatxxx - 8 years ago

      Is there anything else you’d like to add, to probably the douchiest post ever ? Seriously, you thought by spewing all that rubbish, would improve your credibility factor ?

      Maybe a sit down with Mom & Dad’s in order.

Author

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jordan Kahn

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series.