Developer: Forkly
Price: Free
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Device Reviewed On: iPhone
Food connoisseurs, meet Forkly.
Forkly promises users a platform for sharing their favorite places to eat and drink, as well as a way to find new restaurants and bars along the way. The app requires a Twitter account to get started, though there’s no further Twitter integration than that. Once users have logged in, they can report whatever they’re eating or drinking, rate it and upload a picture to Forkly.
The experience is seamless and the app sports a slick interface. Users can browse through their friend’s food and drink ratings or browse a “featured” list of uploads from other users. Here they’ll see pictures, descriptions and ratings for each upload. The app’s rating system is simple but clear – choices include “Loved It,” “Liked It,” “It’s OK,” and “Not For Me.” I can’t help but appreciate that its developer opted for this approach, rather than employing the generic and vague numerical/star-based system every other app uses.
Another useful feature of Forkly is its “Discover” section, which searches nearby for ratings of restaurants and bars in the area. It’s a great way to discover something new. Being able to see pictures of meals and drinks is especially valuable.
Forkly works quite well, but its usefulness will depend a lot on the size of user’s Twitter friends list. For those who don’t have many connections on Twitter, a sizable chunk of the app’s functionality can’t be enjoyed, which is unfortunate. But I guess that’s true for any app like this, really.
The idea for Forkly was probably born out of the popular trend of people posting pictures of whatever they’re eating or drinking on their Twitter or Facebook. It certainly seems like it, which is fine by me. It was a smart idea to take that aspect of Twitter and Facebook and create a platform designed specifically for it. People clearly have the desire to share their food and drink taste with one another – why not have a dedicated platform for just that?
As someone who loves to discover new places to eat and drink, I’m looking forward to using Forkly. And considering it’s free, there’s not much users can lose for checking it out for themselves.