Untappd is a
geosocial networking service and
mobile phone application
A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...
founded by Greg Avola and Tim Mather that allows its users to
check in as they drink
beer
Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...
s, and share these check-ins and their locations with their friends. It incorporates aspects of
gamification
Gamification is the strategic attempt to enhance systems, services, organizations, and activities by creating similar experiences to those experienced when playing games in order to motivate and engage users. This is generally accomplished thro ...
.
Untappd provides a platform for users to rate the beer they are consuming, earn
badge
A badge is a device or accessory, often containing the insignia of an organization, which is presented or displayed to indicate some feat of service, a special accomplishment, a symbol of authority granted by taking an oath (e.g., police and fi ...
s, share pictures of their beers, review tap lists from nearby venues, see what beers their friends are drinking, comment on checked-in beers, and ask the app to suggest similar beverages. In 2016, an updated version of the application allowed users to find a beer by scanning its
barcode
A barcode or bar code is a method of representing data in a visual, machine-readable form. Initially, barcodes represented data by varying the widths, spacings and sizes of parallel lines. These barcodes, now commonly referred to as linear or o ...
and hail an
Uber
Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), package ...
directly to the venue they had checked into to reduce
DUIs.
Untappd can share checkins with
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
and
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
accounts of its users, and can pull in locations from
Foursquare
Four square is a ball game.
Four square may also refer to:
Internet and entertainment
* Foursquare City Guide, a local search and discovery app
* ''4 Square'' (game show), a British game show
* ''4 Square'' (TV series), a Canadian children's s ...
.
Badges
As a user checks in different beers, they receive different badges. These badges are divided into beer badges, venue badges and special badges. Beer badges, for instance, are based upon how many different beers a user has consumed (for example 100, 500, 1,000), five different beers from one country, five of a type like amber or
wit, or it can be six check-ins of one beer. Venue badges are for checking in at locations such as different bars, different bars in one night, sport venues and so on. Special badges are available when a beer is checked in on special days like
National Beer Day, Christmas, New Year's Eve, or Untappd's anniversary.
History
Untappd started in 2010 at Fathers Office in
Santa Monica
Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...
, California. On January 17, 2014 it was announced that Untappd had passed the 1 million user mark and by April 2016, they had 3.2 million users.
On January 15, 2016, Untappd announced that it would become a subsidiary of
Next Glass, a beer and wine rating and suggesting application. Both companies indicated their applications will remain independent, but will benefit from increased data integrations.
It was included in the "Top 50 Apps of the Year" of 2016 by ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
''.
At the start of the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
on March 25, 2020, the Untappd at Home campaign was launched, so users could check in to drinks from home, without having to be in the same physical location.
As of September 4th, 2020 Untappd reported 820,000 unique users checked-in at least once from almost 180 different countries.
In 2021, a ''
Sacbee'' article reported that a local brewery's business was impacted by low ratings on the app.
See also
*
Beer rating
Beer rating is assessing and evaluating beer using a point system. The process is similar to that used in beer judging competitions, such as those organised by the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) in America, though the participants are cons ...
References
External links
Official website*
*{{Facebook , Untappd
Software companies of the United States
Beer culture
IOS software
Android (operating system) software
Geosocial networking
Windows Phone software