AppleInsider Staff
In the buildup to Apple Watch's debut next week, Yelp on Thursday updated its app with support for the wearable, bringing direct wrist access to tentpole features like nearby businesses, reviews, address lookups and more.
Yelp version 9.7.1 appears to be a special update dedicated to adding support for Apple Watch, a device primed for use with retail discovery and navigation services.
With Apple Watch compatibility, Yelp helps users find nearby hotspots like restaurants, bars, coffee shops and other businesses without having to pull out their iPhone. In addition, a search feature can locate specific businesses, complete with vital information like phone numbers, hours and even maps.
The usual customer reviews and ratings are included as scrollable onscreen text, though the font looks to be quite small. Users can rely on Handoff to jump on iPhone to add reviews, take photos or make a call. Checking in to a business also requires an iPhone.
Yelp is a free 45.1MB download from the iOS App Store.
Marko Zivkovic
Malcolm Owen
Andrew Orr
Christine McKee
Andrew O'Hara
9 Comments
until the watch is stand-alone I dont think there's much point in apps like these, when the phone in pocket is a superior UX. I think we'll learn over time that the AW is best for authenticating and doing certain mini-tasks, not interacting with detailed apps.
[quote name="NolaMacGuy" url="/t/185827/yelp-comes-to-apple-watch-in-latest-app-update-brings-nearby-business-discovery-search-ratings-more#post_2711345"]until the watch is stand-alone I dont think there's much point in apps like these, when the phone in pocket is a superior UX. I think we'll learn over time that the AW is best for authenticating and doing certain mini-tasks, not interacting with detailed apps.[/quote] Well, you're not wrong. This is absolutely a mini-task. Makes it quite convenient actually.
A quick nearby snack search? Totally mini and on a city street a watch is a lot easier to deal with than dragging out a phone.
Like another commenter alluded to - yelp shouldn't be treating the watch as a mini-iphone. The screenshots provided show quite a bit of redundant information which is cluttering and distracting. I'm not seeing value in using this app on the watch versus the iphone. Instead they should complement the Yelp app, for example. After leaving a venue the watch could ask for a simple 1-5 star rating (and nothing more.) This could help provide more balanced reviews instead of the human tendency to mostly comment when angry/disappointed. Or some intelligence could be involved - an "I'm bored" button could allow the app to notify the user when events that align with their interests are nearby.
Yelp abuses it's power and boosts negative reviews until the business in question buys ad space. I won't use them.