If the promised river and facilities information were comprehensive, fully accurate, and easy to access and interpret, the app would be compelling and the paid version would be worth it. On all these counts, though, there are failings. Guidebook-type overviews are there for various rivers I checked while others were "coming soon." (The sources of these overviews are not stated, although the information does seem on target.) Descriptions for popular runs on rivers with many sections either couldn't be located or were provided deep in the overviews of the entire river and were hard to find via search. On runs that I know, I saw icons for boat ramps that aren't there, and most importantly, the map often would depict some access points but not the critical ones that would be needed as a practical matter—or the map might depict no access points at all on streams we paddle all the time. Some rapids were marked but many were not.
The most significant shortcoming is that some whitewater streams or sections of rivers were not identified as whitewater at all, and in many cases the whitewater sections of long rivers—although mentioned in overviews—are hard to correlate with the map. This is a twofold problem—it could get inexperienced boaters into trouble, while it could fail to give strong paddlers a heads up on good opportunities.
There are many ways to embed your own information—such as "waypoints" of interest and preferred river levels—and to bookmark rivers and gages. However, the setup, searching, and data entry needed to take advantage of these features is daunting. A paddler who is deeply into river-running details and who is willing to devote the kind of time and effort that PaddleWays requires probably is familiar and comfortable with other more easily accessible and more precisely targeted sources (guidebooks, American Whitewater's website, USGS sites, club websites such as CCA's, and weather sites, not to mention friends and family). The "all in one" benefit of having an app on the phone might not be enough to justify a major new investment of time and effort.
Meanwhile, the app is difficult to use. I consider myself to have Class II-III skills in navigating a mobile device and using standard apps. I spent at least three hours exploring PaddleWays and repeatedly I got lost or flummoxed. Search results would bring me to map areas where I'd be darned if I could find the river section I wanted, even with substantial prior knowledge. Measuring river distances was especially quirky—tapping on map points to invoke this admittedly desirable feature would bring up functions I didn't want, and I had constant problems getting the map to accept my selections.
I really wanted to like this app. It has terrific intentions. But before it becomes a winner for me, it needs to be more comprehensive, more consistent, and easier to use. On the other hand, if you are a paddler with some patience, you might well want to download PaddleWays, use it for free (except for the premium version, for which you can get a seven-day trial), and explore it yourself to see if you can elicit its benefits.