Untappd - Discover Beer

In the beginning, it took me a while to get into this app. I didn’t get the point. I don’t think anyone would ever classify me as a “beer geek” and I can’t exactly handle more than a couple beers in a given day (albeit the latest “session” beer offerings are delicious and confess I do take advantage of that!) It was on my phone for a good 6 months before I started “checking in” my drinks. Fast forward several years and I love it! It’s great to discover that have or have not imbibed particular one and what I thought of it in the past and compare that to what I think of it now. One of the new features I really like is it’s easy to find out what my friends thought of a particular beer, in addition to the whole untappd world. It’s great that I can see what “my local” is offering even when I’m still 25 miles away trying to get out of the office. As the app designers added new features its stability experienced ups and downs. Lately, they are all ups and continue even farther upward! (Keep up the good work!) Anyway, if you like trying new venues and new beers, or are curious what the beer world is excited about, you’ll love this app! I highly recommend.

I love this app. It’s a great way to see new beers, stay up to date with local watering holes’ selections (as long as they update periodically) and see what my friends are drinking. Good for casual and those “hardcore” aficionado drinkers. You can take pictures of your drink, rate it from 0-5, say how it was served, where you bought it from and even where you’re drinking it at. If your friend is nearby you can get notifications and pay a surprise visit! Two major downsides: 1. If you want to know what your favorite bar/brewery/establishment has you need to hope they have updated the app recently (such as that day). 2. The direct messaging function is hidden and unless you really search around you friend’s profile you may miss out. Yes, you could always text them, but maybe you just met a new coworker and never got their phone number, the app is a nice way to reach out and ask if they want to meet up for a drink. Maybe even create a new friendship. All in all, it’s a wonderful app, give it a try!

Untapped is the perfect beer log. I love checking into the beers that I drink. It’s really helpful when I visit a different area to see what breweries are nearby or what venues that serve craft beer. I enjoy seeing what my friends on untapped are drinking to see what’s available. I check in all the time to keep track of how many times I drink. I also love the numerous amount of badges you can get. The badges can be from different styles of beers, to venues, to even the time of day or even a special holiday or event badge. So always make sure to check in. I’m hitting myself over the head over the fact that I was in Germany for a long period of time and never checked in enough to earn the “Das Boot” badge. I just kept forgetting to check in while there. It just gives me another reason to go back! For any craft beer lover this is a complete must have!

Without going extremely into detail, this app is amazing and I absolutely love that a database like this exists to help me on my journey to trying new and delicious beers. I also very much love the social media aspect to it and my ability to cheers my friends and see what they are having these days. It’s a very useful app I find myself using quite often. HOWEVER, it really needs an update. I have had this app for probably 3 years now, and it hasn’t changed. The reason I think it could use an update is because the app itself feels slightly outdated. It is glitchy sometimes when uploading photos or navigating through. One thing hat especially annoys me is how to difficult it is to find where you add friends or even view your existing ones. To truly take this app to the next level, it’s developers should redesign the app to flow more smoothly and have less bugs and freezes.

Full disclosure I don’t use Untappd that much, and I imagine not for its intended use. But certain changes could rope me in- I like keeping track of what I’ve had and keeping notes. That’s how I use my check-ins, as a kind of beer journal. Untappd is great for this because everything under the sun is listed and it’s easy to find more info, other beers from the brewery, etc. the downsides are 1- the character limit on comments, I’d like to be able to describe my experience in detail and there generally isn’t enough space for that. 2- sometimes I want to take notes that I don’t necessarily want to be public, and I don’t think there is a way to do this. The badges are kind of fun. Its cool that there’s ways to find beers in your area but honestly it hasn’t worked well for me so I don’t really use it. And while it can be kind of fun to see what friends and others are drinking it’s definitely not my focus when using the app.