Citysearch now has an iPhone app. It looks a lot like Yelp’s iPhone app, which came out two months ago looks and is currently the third most popular travel app (after Urbanspoon and Google Earth). Both tap into the iPhone’s GPS to let you find nearby restaurants, bars, clubs, hotels, and stores. Both let you rate and review the places you visit.
Both even share the exact same navigation buttons on the bottom: Nearby, Search, and Bookmarks. Only the first button on Citysearch is different. It shows Featured editorial content from Citysearch editors for the city you are in. Yelp opted for a Recent button instead, which Citysearch places on its Bookmarks page.
The two apps are really similar in look and feel (see screenshots above), but under the hood they are different because they are pulling from different databases. Citysearch is taking advantage of its recent overhaul, which reclassified every piece of data by neighborhood. That helps when you search for a place to eat nearby. You still can’t search by neighborhood (only zipcode and city), but that is coming soon. Also coming soon will be the ability to upload photos and other multimedia along with your reviews.
What is powerful about both of these apps is giving people the ability to rate or review a restaurant or a store right as they are eating or having whatever experience they want to share. Ultimately, the one you prefer will boil down to the one whose reviews you trust the most. (Correction: The Yelp app actually only lets you upload photos, not reviews. So advantage, Citysearch on that one).
But next time you have an amazing meal or have a nasty run-in with a waiter, just whip out your iPhone and tell the world.
“Citysearch Vs. Yelp On The iPhone: Can You Tell Them Apart?”
Uh yeah, they’re different colors, fonts, and have their brands there.
ummm… Corporate espionage?
Stupidest. Post. Ever.
The sites only look similar in the way you would expect them to. Nothing to see here.
Agreed. You could say that about a bunch of iPhone apps!
Turn the page…
This is not a stupid post. It displays the lack of originality and innovation that some of the top websites have.
The author alludes to reviews on the Yelp app, but there is currently no way to submit any review on the Yelp app. The Citysearch app, however, does include this functionality. Since this, in both the author’s estimation and my own, is a pretty big deal, I would say that this is a huge difference between the two apps.
“What is powerful about both of these apps is giving people the ability to rate or review a restaurant or a store right as they are eating or having whatever experience they want to share”
I don’t think you can write reviews using the Yelp app, unless I’m missing something really obvious
Nope, you can’t write reviews on the Yelp app (can you imagine trying to tap a Yelp review out on the iPhone? Oy.).
I’ve been using the Goodrec app…140-character reviews are super-quick…easier to write on the phone and their interactive maps rock. I haven’t found either Yelp or CS to have that level of interactivity.
OK, I don’t know how this got by the writer, but…nah. Let’s just say there’s one big difference that puts Yelp on top and the Citysearch one in the mediocre pile, and you can see it in the screenshots above. See if you can guess what it is.
Actually I just found a second difference that would cause me to regret paying for the Citysearch app.
Yelp tells you if the place is open, which is super key information.
Also, Yelp tells you what public transit you can use to get there. Another key difference. Plus Yelp tells you the price range of the restaurant. Yelp is also easier to consume in terms of readability.
Little things make a big difference!
Well good things its free or else you would regret it
Apple has a very good and detailed set of guidelines on how to develop the user interface for iPhone Apps.
It should be no surprise that two apps that do very similar things look similar, mainly because both of them followed these guidelines.
There are no obvious differences. The thing is the web applications themselves are similar as they are addressing a similar issue…user generated reviews.
Sorry, but you’re wrong.
i only wish yelp will implement fb connect!
“The two apps are really similar in look and feel (see screenshots above), but under the hood they are different because they are pulling from different databases.”
Erick, for fvck’s sake, will you ever write a decent post while not smoking?!
Peace,
P2
Yelp is crap. A bunch of thugs writing crap about great companies.
yeah just talking bs about companies, nothing new…
Check out the iPhone app called “Places”: http://is.gd/b7l9. It’s the only one besides Urbanspoon that lets you find restaurants by cuisine. You may like its interface better than Citysearch or Yelp’s own app.
Sushi Wabi rocks!
The implication in this post is that Citysearch has carbon-copied Yelp’s app. I don’t see a shred of evidence of that in the screenshots.
You are right that the button at the bottom are exactly the same. Well, except for the one that is not.
The “exact same” icons are the same because they both borrowed them from Apple UI elements already on the iPhone. Anyone who uses anything other than the crosshairs for “current location” is not an original innovator – they’re an idiot.
Andy is right on point.
They are common UI elements that allow all well-designed iPhone apps to look familiar.
So many Websites do this. Just look at the information available online. Little of it is original. It’s all just a rehashing of what already exist. Everything online is just a copy of a copy of a copy. BUT every once in a while someone comes up with something new and fresh – then they are copied over and over.
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I think the Yelp one is better designed. Cleaner, with the text being more readable against the white background, and the all-important dollar sign scale in the search results.