[App Review] Parking Pin by Everyday Odyssey (iOS)

Where did I park my car?
When does my parking meter expire?
Were there any special restrictions or rules to remember about where I parked?

Ever found yourself stuck in a bind and frantically asking yourself these questions?

Parking Pin by Everyday Odyssey is a nifty new GPS parking spot tracker app that automatically remembers where you last parked. Unlike other parking tracker apps that require you to manually set your pin after you have parked, Parking Pin is able to automatically pinpoint your parking spot – so long as it is running in the background. How does it do this?

The app’s unique ‘Pin Finder’ feature relies on the iPhone5S’ M7 motion co-processor chip, and Location Services. With the combined information from these two sources, Parking Pin is able to determine rather accurately where your car has stopped (and remained stopped, after moving above a certain speed for a period of time).

When you next open the app – voilà! Your parking spot is displayed as your latest pin.

➲ Key features

• Automatic pin placement each time you park – no need to remember to open app & manually place a pin after parking!
• Full-screen map with walking directions
• Useful parking details including date, time and duration parked
• Parking meter time expiry notifier (at expiry and 15 minutes before)
• Notes can be added to each Pin
• History of up to 30 Days of Parking Pins

➲ Hands-On

Screenshots:

Current Pin, All Pins, and Meter timer

I used Parking Pin several times while out and about this month, and I was impressed by how accurate the pin placements were! The parking meter time expiry notifier was also particularly useful for reminding me about when my meter was going to expire. I loved the ‘All Pins’ history – it saved all of the spots I had parked at over the last 30 days. Combined with the note feature, I was able to remember great spots for free street parking near certain restaurants I had visited & wanted to revisit.

The only drawback I found so far was the requirement to have the app running in the background the whole time in order for the automatic pin placement to work. This can be a bit of a battery drainer if you forget to kill the app after being done with using it.

On the whole, Parking Pin is a very handy app for anyone who drives & parks at different places.  It is especially useful for people who tend to forget where they park their car!

➲ My Rating

✮✮✮✮ (4/5)

➲ Download

• Parking Pin (iTunes App Store)
• $0.99