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.
