The Social Drinking App – Beerby Vs. Untappd

A few months back I noticed on Facebook that my bro Rafi started using a beer drinking app for the iPhone called Beerby.  It was similar to Foursquare and keeps tabs on what you were drinking and you could even let your friends know where you were enjoying it at.  After watching him post for a week I decided to dive in head first and try the app for myself.  A couple of weeks went by and I noticed that John from NewBrewThursday.com and Eli from beertap.tv were using a similar app called Untappd.  So I figured, “two apps wow” and decided to try that one as well.  I have been experimenting with both over the last few months and decided to do a comparison review of each and tip my hat to one or the other as to which on I prefer.  I am reminded of the wars of Coke vs. Pepsi, Chevy vs. Ford and least us not forget Cubs vs. Sox and now I bring you Beerby vs. Untappd.

Both of these apps are used via my iPhone and are very similar in functionality but are very different in the interface.  Each app starts with an opening screen as seen above.  Once the app loads you reach very different home screens:

As you can see the layout of each are different, Beerby starts you off at your history of beers consumed whereas Untappd starts you off on your “friends” page where you can see their activity and can view yours.  I have to give the win to Beerby on the load time to get to the home screen, Untappd seems to take a little longer to load.  When it comes to adding your beer, both interfaces are similar but I have to give the tip of the hat to Untappd as they seem to have a larger selection to browse through.  I’ve had to add some very popular beers to Beerby that it would have been assumed would have already been loaded but they weren’t.  As you track or add your beers consumed both apps let you add your location but for some reason Untappd won’t allow me to add my location when I am at my favorite local craft beer establishment.  So for adding location I give the edge to Beerby at this point and can only assume that it is a glitch in the app that I can’t add my location on Untappd.  Beerby also gets my win vote due to the fact that it allows you to give up to a 5 star rating whereas Untappd doesn’t allow you to rate the beers you consume.  Both apps allow you to provide a comment on the beer being consumed so it’s a dead heat on that one.  What I really enjoy about each app is that they both have achievements you can reach based on what beers you consume, what day they are consumed and how many beers you consume.  On Untappd when you reach 50 unique beers consumed you get a “Journeyman” badge, on Beerby you are considered a Beginner when you enter 50 beers.  There are different categories for which you can obtain badges on Beerby such as an Uncle Sam badge for consuming 100 different beers from the USA, an All Hopped Up badge for drinking 12 different IPAs and one of my favorites, the Imperial Stormtrooper badge for drinking 10 Imperial IPAs.  Untappd has badges for accomplishments such as the Take It Easy badge for consuming 12 beers in one day, the Heavy Weight badge for drinking 10 dark beers and their Weekday Warrior badge for drinking 5 beers after 10:00 pm during the week.  Untappd also has badges for drinking at different venues and special badges such as the To Infinium And Beyond! badge for drinking a Sam Adams Infinium and one that I am hoping to get soon, the New Brew Thursday badge for drinking a new beer on three Thursday’s in 30 days.  Yes John, I am dying to get that badge.  When it comes to the achievement badges both have great ones to get but I have to say that I give the advantage and the win to Untappd.  Both apps allow you to share your consumption via social websites Facebook and Twitter but both deliver the content in different ways but either way be aware because my friends are beginning to think that all I do is drink.  When posted to Facebook, Untappd posts look like this:

and Beerby posts look like this:

I definitely give the win to Untappd on the presentation, it is visible and easier to read and when trying to market your app you want people to see it and think, “wow, that’s pretty badass.”  Beerby on this one is rather blah and not very visible at all.  Now these are just your regular consumption posts, when it comes to Achievement posts on Facebook we have very opposite and different ways achievements are represented:

The edge again goes to Untappd for presentation of Achievements.  When it comes to Twitter, both apps are pretty much the same and again it goes to a tie on this one.  Last, both have websites but the advantage goes to Untappd as the Untappd website is interactive and you can log beers via the website and track what beers you've consumed and your badges.  The Beerby website is nothing special nor does it let you login and track from the web.  Win goes to Untappd on this one.

Both Beerby and Untappd are great apps and I have to say that I think it is great that us Craft Beer lovers have a means to share what beers we consume with one another.  Not to mention, it’s about whose has the largest array of beers consumed and is challenging to see who can get which achievements first.  Plus, there’s nothing like a little friendly competition between bros.

When it comes to which app I prefer, I have to say that Untappd gets my vote as the winner of this battle.  I prefer their interface, their badges and the way that they display your achievements.  I find that more of my friends prefer Untappd as well as some of the other guys within the Craft Beer community.  That being said, I’d recommend that you give each a try and see which one works best for you.

Jason