Yelp Finally Gets Personal With a Much-Needed Redesign
The venerable local-reviews app is being overhauled, and everyone will see it differently
The Internet has changed a lot in the past five years. Yelp hasn’t — until now.
The local-reviews company on Monday launched a new version of its app that will tailor results and recommendations to the tastes of each user. That means two people searching for, say, Mexican food from the same location will now see different results, based on a set of preferences they’ll be given the option to enter when they update the app to the latest version. They’ll also see a different home screen, highlighting businesses that Yelp’s algorithms think will appeal to them based on their preferences and how they’ve used the app in the past.
So if you let Yelp know you’re a vegetarian, you probably won’t see many steakhouses in your search results anymore, even if they get 4.5 stars from local carnivores. If you have young kids, you might see family activities like a children’s museum featured in the app on a Saturday morning instead of, say, boozy brunch spots. If you need gender-neutral bathrooms, Yelp will highlight businesses that offer them over those that don’t.
The changes will come as part of an update to Yelp’s Android and iOS app that…
