Spotted by Locals City Guides

• Membership — $29.99/year ($2.49/mo) (derived from the IAP title)
• Berlin city guide by locals — $9.99
• London city guide by locals — $9.99
• Lublin City Guide by Locals — $9.99
• Madrid city guide by locals — $9.99
• Paris city guide by locals — $9.99
• Porto city guide by locals — $9.99
• Rome city guide by locals — $9.99
• Travel Pack — $14.99
• Valencia city guide by locals — $8.99

Last verified 28 Jul 2026

• Free download · core features require a paid plan
• In-app purchases
• Subscription

Last verified 31 Jul 2026

3.7 106 ratings · App Store

1. 4/5Good idea — but not easy for me to use

   Updated: I received a nice, helpful email from one of the developers after my review, which urged me to take another look at the app. I also had an opportunity to visit another city covered by the app. My impressions on another look: The free version on the App Store gives you only a taste of how the app works. To get a real idea if it will work for you, you need to gamble the cost of buying it. Without purchase the downloaded version isn’t very useful. It becomes far more useful when you can read entire entries, filter more, and map locations. So I will bump my original review by a star. I hesitate to award the app a full five stars at this time because I still think it’s important to know more about the “spotters” and their qualifications. The vast majority of the spots listed in the city I just visited were written by just two spotters. Either by accident or design, there was absolutely no overlap in their recommendations. Maybe that will change as more spotters come on board though with the developers’ intention to meet each spotter personally and given that the app has been available for years, that does not seem likely to me. No offense to the spotters who have labored to provide content for this app, but It still is not clear to me from the spotter bios that they know their coffee or old-school local music or whatever. I like the concept of the app. I know people who devote themselves slavishly to the big crowdsourced apps that start with T and Y and the places recommended here are too small to rank on apps like those. All good. I’m looking forward to future versions of this app.

   SteveinMN · 28 Jul 2026

2. 5/5Perfect way to explore a city

   I first heard about SpottedbyLocals when I was studying abroad in Paris in 2009. I usually like to collect recommendations from friends before visiting a new city but in this day and age with social media, people end up seeing certain places on Instagram and Facebook and then just go where they see their friends go. This works sometimes but the problem is that you end up being directed to the same place that all the other people are going to which in effect ends up being touristy. If you’re like me and want to explore a city as someone who lives there would, then this is the app for you. The app itself is nothing special. Basic map with some highlighted spots but the content and curation is what is so key. We went to at least 10 of the recommended places in Mexico City and they were all spot on. You can’t get fair assessments of where to go on sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor anymore because their ranking systems have become biased towards the places that pay them. SpottedByLocals is a neutral assessment of amazing places in cities by the people who are proudest to live in them.

   L-tone · 28 Jul 2026

3. 3/5South Seattle Doesn’t Exist

   Imagine my disappointment, $3.99 for an App that reviews less than half of Seattle. If it’s South of I-90, there’s virtually no reviews. Undoubtedly the Northern half is the easy pickings for reviewers, but what about the rest of the city? There’s all sorts of great & quirky places around Seatac, Georgetown and Black Diamond, to name a few. Nearby small towns like Enumclaw-a mini Telluride- go completely ignored. It’s lazy reporting, and it’s dishonest to charge for an App that is only focused on one small part of the city. There’s a lot more to Seattle than what’s in Spotted By.

   Call Me Ted · 28 Jul 2026

4. 1/5*UPDATED* annoyed

   I wrote a review about a month ago about this app and how it didn’t work while I was on vacation. Their response team sent me back an email with a handful of excuses how it was my fault because I downloaded it wrong and asked if I would remove my review. I asked for a refund and he told me the only way I could get a refund was if I had PayPal. I received a total of SIX EMAILS from this guy asking me to remove my review. Not once did he take ownership for the app not working or gave me any other resolution other than to re-download it again (pay for it) and hope it works on my next vacation. He continually blamed me for downloading it incorrectly. By the last email this morning, it felt like harassment and I am so annoyed with this guy I could scream. Don’t download this app unless you are fully confident in your skills to DOWNLOAD AN APP or have the extreme patience and extra time to deal write emails back and forth for over a month about a $4 product and a bad review.

   Roroirene · 28 Jul 2026

5. 5/5My Favorite Travel Buddy

   I’ve been lucky enough to travel to quite a few of the locations Spotted By Locals has city guides in, and I without fail always turn to them first for recommendations. From cozy coffee shops in Madrid, to a tucked away brewery along a canal in Paris, I have found THE BEST places through SBL. My friends think I’m a genius traveler, but it’s SBL who do all the work. I’ve even been introduced to incredible places in my own city! Definitely give them a try the next time you’re planning a trip.

   Aa_Seattle · 28 Jul 2026

4.1 558 ratings · Google Play

1. 1/5

   For some reason my original review has disappeared after the developers response. But no. I am not willing to change my review. Forcing people to pay to use your app in 2026 is ridiculous. A trial version should be free, subscription after 24 hours or so is fine.

   Kevin Rose · 31 Jul 2026

2. 1/5

   Seriously, who thought a subscription and a pay wall was a good idea? That's why nobody knows your app it makes total sense now.

   Katerina Halvatzi · 31 Jul 2026

3. 1/5

   doesnt work on Android any more, I paid for the guide and dont have access very dissapointed

   Matthew Robinson · 31 Jul 2026

4. 2/5

   Are individually purchased guides only valid for 1 year after purchase now? Not *everything* needs to be a subscription you know? It is possible to focus on service over profits.

   Dan Ef · 31 Jul 2026

5. 4/5

   the idea behind this initiative is great. can't fault it. but the app is so buggy. it's useable but there's clear room for improvement.

   Dom Mitchell · 31 Jul 2026

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• 7.0.33513 · 19 Mar 2026