Z21 4+

Model rail has a raft of outdated tech but this is a really smart modern app that shows how it should be done. The loco control is ok (I personally prefer a physical throttle) but really comes into it own for DCC sound and lights. The ability to map and name sounds with icons makes accessing your favourite horns and squeals so much easier than a keypad.

Turnout and route control of the layout is simple (maybe too simple, and hopefully there will be enhancements). I actually have 4 cheap/old tablets dotted around the edge of my layout running the Z21 app as control/mimic panels. Slightly unusual usage of the app perhaps but it works really well and shows how well this simple app scales to more advanced usage.

I hope they’ll continue to enhance this to make more specialist/advance control methods easier. The capabilities of the Z21 are barely covered by this all (great as it is) so with more improvement and investment it will be hands-down the industry best.

App is now at v1.2.3 and most bugs I noted have been fixed so up to 4 stars now. There is an issue with slowness on the old iPad 2 but it works great on my other more modern iPads.
When I originally reviewed the app (v1.0.3) I gave it 2 stars, mainly because of the difficulty i had in using the control station to create layout plans. In hindsight that was a bit harsh and after more use I feel 3 stars is more reasonable. There are still quite a few bugs in the app which need fixing and hopefully a new release will be made available soon to fix them. Fix the bugs and my review would improve to 4 Star.
Important top tip - when using control station to design a plan, use a stylus it makes all the difference!
I still prefer the layout and colour scheme of the old Steering Board though.

Up to and including version 1.3.8 of the Z21 app I was a very happy user, but since I made the mistake of updating to 1.4.0 and now 1.4.1 on my iPad I have had so many problems that the app would be nigh on unusable if I didn’t have a WLANMaus to control my locos.
While the latest release of the app works fine when restricted to use as a signal box, it is extremely unreliable as a locomotive throttle. It seems to be entirely random whether or not speed changes are mirrored on the screen display and I can set one loco to run at a particular speed and then see other locos in my database apparently reported as running at exactly the same speed but actually remaining stationary.
The app now insists on showing 0km/h for stationary locos even though everything in my database is set to register speed in mph.
I thought that version 1.4.1 was meant to address these speed reporting issues, but if anything it has made misreporting even worse hence my skepticism that pre-release testing actually occurs.