It’s been one of my favorite apps until this week, when it got an “upgrade” and went to hell in a handbasket.

My friend and I were discussing it and we couldn’t figure out why they were making these really weird UX choices.

For example: Getting rid of the red dots (where a crime was happening!) and replacing them with white squares, while functionally the same, definitely makes it less exciting psychologically.

They’ve also gotten rid of many of the “alerts” – I now get maybe one a day when I used to get several every hour. I’ve checked my settings and I want them all! They’ve also jumbled up the timeline so you no longer see the most recent activities.

It’s as if they don’t want us to be engaged with their app. I mean I used to check it once or twice an hour. Now, I don’t bother. Nothing going on according to them. It’s almost as though Bill DeBlasio became an investor and has asked them to dial it down.

Then, of course, as one does, my friend started checking out the company on LinkedIn to see who might be behind this so-called “performance improvement.”

And here’s what he uncovered:

• They have a new creative Director since last month who came from HQ (the online trivia game we were all obsessed by a few years ago)
• Besides HQ, he also has content production experience from having worked at Pop TV, Adult Swim, and The Onion – clearly more of an entertainment-background than crime-fighting.
• Their current head of design has jumped around a lot but primarily worked at some fairly under the radar startups.
• Their head of product comes from Facebook where he spent at least 6 years – so he should know better!
• They’re currently looking for a User Experience Researcher which I suggest they make priority #1 before they screw it up any further.

For those of you not familiar with Citizen it is a crime and safety app directly tied to 911 calls. It was first available in San Francisco and NYC. They’ve expanded to Los Angeles, Baltimore, and Philadelphia.

Bottom Line.

It looks like they’re planning an entertainment push. Their recent hires seem way more aligned with TMZ than crime reporting.

It’s a bit unfortunate because I’ve turned everyone I know onto Citizen. We all find it very useful – especially as our so-called “safest big city in America” returns to the bad old days of crime run amok.

Sigh ☹️

Scroll down for before and after pics.

Before the Upgrade:

After the Upgrade