Waze import spike: findings

Real-device and real-pack results. Keep it factual: record what you saw, not what you expected. Negative results are as useful as positive ones.

Finding 1: the distance filenames, transcribed from 11 real packs

Date: 2026-08-26. Method: desk research, not a device.

What was checked

The bare-number distance files (200, 400, 800, 1500) had only ever been documented second-hand, and the shipped presets now write their text against that reading. If the mapping were wrong, every preset would announce the wrong distance, and nothing would surface it until somebody drove with it.

How

1. Took 184 pack UUIDs from the listing at https://github.com/pipeeeeees/waze-voicepack-links.
2. Downloaded 11 packs from https://voice-prompts-ipv6.waze.com/<UUID>.tar.gz, favouring English-language ones. All returned HTTP 200.
3. Extracted and transcribed the distance prompts with Vosk (vosk-model-small-en-us-0.15), offline.

Result: the mapping is correct

Consistent across all 11 packs.

The bare numbers are metre thresholds; the file holds the imperial announcement made at that distance. 400 m ≈ a quarter mile, 800 m ≈ half a mile, 1500 m ≈ one mile. That is why there is a 1000meters.mp3 and no 1000.mp3: one kilometre has no round imperial equivalent worth announcing.

How consistent, exactly

Counting packs whose transcript contains the phrase, out of 11:

Every non-match is recognisably the same phrase mangled by a small offline STT model, not a different reading. Treat these as 11 / 11.

One deliberate divergence, stated plainly

No pack says "a tenth of a mile". All eleven say "point one miles." The presets here say "a tenth of a mile", which is the same distance in more natural English and reads better in a character register. The validator accepts either.

This is a wording choice, not a correction: the distance our presets announce is confirmed correct. Recorded here so nobody later mistakes it for a bug, and so the decision can be reversed deliberately if matching Waze's own phrasing turns out to matter more.

Real packs also say "a quarter of a mile" where the presets say "a quarter mile". Both accepted.

What is not a convention

Two prompts vary too much between packs to call a standard, so there is nothing to match:

• Arrive.mp3: 4 of 11 say "you have reached your destination", 2 say "arrived", 5 say something character-specific.
• The alert prompts: the base pattern is "X reported ahead", but most packs extend it with character material, so only 3 of 11 transcribe cleanly to it.

Other prompts, same method

The alert convention is "X reported ahead". Our presets say "Traffic ahead" and similar, which is shorter and equally clear.

TickerPoints.mp3 is usually not speech

Nine of eleven packs ship a 0.47–0.94 s clip that transcribes to nothing: a chime. Three of eleven ship it completely silent (-70 LUFS), which matches the community guidance that it is the most omittable file in the pack. One pack uses 3.5 s of speech, so speech is accepted.

The presets here put a spoken line in that slot. That works, and it is the first thing to cut if a pack is tight.

Two things this confirmed by accident

• The 43-filename list is exactly right. Every pack contained precisely the 43 files we ship, no more and no fewer. One pack carried 5 extras (1000.mp3, bonus.mp3, ping.mp3, reminder.mp3, rerouting.mp3) which Waze ignores, consistent with unknown filenames being dropped silently.
• The size cap is real and packs sit well under it. The 11 packs ranged 424 kB to 747 kB against the ~795 kB cap: 53% to 94% utilisation. Nobody is running at 99%, which supports the 85% target this project now uses.

Still not verified

None of this came from a device. It shows what existing packs contain, which is strong evidence for what Waze expects, but it does not prove how Waze selects between them at runtime, nor the exact trigger distances. A device report would.

Template for a device report

Device

• Device:
• OS version:
• Waze version (Settings > About):
• Region and unit system:
• Date tested:

Recorder availability

• Settings > Voice and sound > Waze voice > Add a voice exists
• Recording a prompt succeeded
• The recorded prompt played during navigation

If the menu path differed, write the actual path here:

Prompt list

Which prompts did the app ask for, in what order?

1. 2. 3.

Upload path

• Share link created; UUID recorded privately
• Opening the link on a second device added the voice
• Prompts played during a real or simulated route
• Distance callouts matched the unit system the phone was set to

Trigger distances

At what distance did each callout actually fire? This is the open question the desk research could not answer.

• 200.mp3 fired at:
• 400.mp3 fired at:
• 800.mp3 fired at:
• 1500.mp3 fired at:

Size

• Pack size uploaded:
• Accepted or rejected:
• If rejected, what the app did (greyed share button, silence, other):

Notes