Restaurant and business recommendation site Yelp is back in a major way with a sleek Android app redesign that could see it reach the heights of popularity that it once had. The app improves the user experience on just about every level, putting local businesses front and center while providing updates on things like menu additions and other service updates. Although a lot of the information can be found in other places, the new and improved Android Yelp app consolidates it all into easily digestible pieces for easy viewing and quick searches.
In addition to providing official updated information from local businesses, the new update makes it easier than ever to find and leave user reviews thanks to the map feature that uses your phone’s location to list all nearby businesses. This means that you can easily go from looking at a restaurant’s hours, writing a review about it, and finding new places in your neighborhood — all in a few taps.
While the actual feature enhancements are a major draw to the update, improving things behind the scenes has been a major priority for Yelp as well. The company has put a lot of time into improving the app’s load times, making it faster than ever to navigate and use. Significant time was also spent on improving the app’s overall stability to reduce errors and crashes.
Yelp used to be a giant in the space of business recommendation, but as the internet took a more social media focus and things like Google reviews began to fill the space, Yelp’s popularity seemed to dwindle. Now that it’s putting a major focus on its Android app, it could be just the thing Yelp needs to be a major force in the space once more.
The update has been live for iOS users for quite some time, as it’s been the platform that Yelp has been slowly experimenting on by releasing regular updates and tweaking things to pilot ideas. The Android version, however, will be rolling out to all users in the coming weeks later this month.
