There are a couple of popular weed mobile apps that are really starting to carve out their niche. The popularity of offerings like Weedmaps, Leafly, Massroots, and the like have not been able to reach their full potential due federal laws and restrictions in the app markets.
Rather than make a ‘best app’ list, RMR took it upon ourselves to call attention to the fact that there really aren’t any best mobile apps for cannabis users. The current line of apps can only be described as average thanks to misguided directions, poor development and a lack of future-proofing. Find out what we had to say in our video and remember to subscribe (it’s the only thing in life that’s FREE) and dab on that like button.
Why There Are No High-Quality Mobile Apps to Help Manage Your Cannabis Lifestyle
After this video, my team and I gathered our stoner heads together and came up with a digestible list of five reasons why weed apps suck — check them out and leave a comment on our YouTube above.
The Top Five Reasons Why Marijuana Mobile Apps Suck
- DIRECTORY, DIRECTORY, DIRECTORY!
What makes each directory for cannabis shops and strains unique? Pretty much nothing! Everyone is a hybrid of Leafly and Weedmaps. How many websites do we need to discover dispensaries when we can simply input a Google or Apple Maps search and find the closest one to us that has their SEO game up? - NEW (SOMETIMES LIMITED) AUDIENCES
This is a double-edged sword. This can be utilized to your advantage and could also work against you. Best you’d be an early adopter and get that MassRoots profile off the ground now. All of your friends are already following you on Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Not to mention, so are your grandparents and your employers. - IN-SECURITY
By now you should be paying attention to what permissions are being accessed on your device when downloading apps. Most cannabis apps seem to want a bit too much information. Sure, we get you need location and push notification access – but why do you need access to my contacts or any other personal information? I’m not for sale. - JUST ANOTHER USER
Or are you for sale? Since they’re not outright advertising on their networks – they’ve gotta find a way to monetize their platforms. How about that data they’re collecting from your activity on their network? Wouldn’t a dispensary or processor want to know what you’re up to? Since your data is a considered a product, these companies want to sell you to someone. Read the fine print! - HOW, SWAY?!
Come on, now. Cannabis games!? The majority of iOS users that play games are kids or have kids that have access to them (don’t cite us or hold us to this statement – just a general assumption). Did anyone at Apple or Google do their research or is there a beautifully hidden loophole that allows this? 99.9% of laws say you aren’t supposed to market to the underage. - UNDER-DEVELOPMENT
No one in the cannabis industry takes user experience seriously. Absolutely every single cannabis app – mobile or desktop – is riddled with bugs, flaws, and poor design. What does it take to hire a highly qualified and passionate team of developers to push out updates and squash bugs? Sure, the likes of Weedmaps and Leafly have recently made improvements, but sadly they are years behind in regards to innovation and leveraging today’s technology in the cannabis realm. Weedmaps is notorious for being a lackluster product, and this continues to be the case with their buggy map feature, un-intelligible profile designs, and uninspired home page. Maybe one day all of these cannabis tech companies will spend less money on partying and invest in their bread and butter?
With that said, our personal favorite cannabis tech company is Leafly. Leafly isn’t perfect, but they’re the best we have in the industry by offering clean, easy to digest content. Here’s to the future of cannabis and tech – we’ll be here to report the intersection as it continues to grow (pun intended).
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