We're a consulting startup who recently released our first iOS app to help you manage shared tabs and save some cash on those long nights out, check it out here http://drinklistapp.com/<p>I would love to hear everyone's feedback, also if anyone is interested I have a few promo codes around so you can download it for free.
As nice as it's presented, I can't imagine going on a night out with my mates and spending more time keeping an app on my phone up to date. I'd be too busy getting drunk and enjoying myself to be arsed about what drinks I had and how much they cost.
I'd say it was a solution in search of a problem. And the better alternative, I would say, is to not share your tab if you're a bit of a penny pincher.
Seems like something my mom or the local news would mention when talking about how phones can "do just about everything these days" but wouldn't actually get used.
"Well Cathy, theres even an app to keep track of your tab when your out on the town! Isn't that something John, now off to Simon for the weather"
That said, you are obviously talented designers - the site & the app look really nice & will definitely make a great portfolio piece.
Actually, I think it would be a good idea to go drinking with someone who uses this app. Since they'll invariably forget X number of drinks throughout the night, you can offer to settle up the next day. "See? I only had two beers."
If you and your friend don't have the kind of relationship in which either of you can trust each other or forgive a beer or two, then you don't have the kind of relationship in which you'll automatically trust each other to have pushed the buttons on an app correctly.
But really - would YOU ever use this app in the intended social setting?
The horse is getting beaten to death already, but the last thing people out drinking want to do is log their drinks in their phone.
If you're out drinking so much that you have to keep track of how many drinks you've had, I doubt you're going to care about being charged for an extra drink or two when you and your buddies split the bill at the end of the night.
Looks great, but agree with most points made around how folks might be perceived using this (unless in a group of finance/accountant types).
Maybe a slight repositioning as something 'practical' that considers responsible folks consume at different rates - have it know who is in the group, who is 'in' for each round (as folks consume at different rates), then when final bill comes in, it will do a proportional split of final tab based on who is in each round, (also potentially relative drink pricing if different costs beer/mixed/wine), and tipping suggestion for each based on a value you set (18% / 20% / ??). Then app is more friendly to the group, and benefit is you don't overpay/overtip individually or as a group when maybe not thinking clearly when you settle.
You could even add a game element on who's paying the round, or based on random, ongoing bets, ??
The presentation here is nice but it doesn't fit the reality of social drinking, as other commenters have noted. Long nights out involve free-flowing liquor and some give-and-take in buying rounds, sometimes eating a loss, sometimes getting many free drinks.
Drinking is about loosening up. The use of this app would seemingly inhibit that.
Definitely see your points (and everyone else's) the app started out as a proof of concept and wanted to get some more feedback if there was a valid market.
I think it's curious that at the top of the page it says "requires iOS 5" and at the bottom it says "iOS 5 ready."
It's a beautiful landing page, but I'm not quite sure I understand the problem.. Is this to split tabs? Or to show the bartender, "Hey, I only ordered these drinks, don't charge me for more!" The latter doesn't sound like it'd go over well. Confused.
The use case is more for splitting tabs between large groups of people.
Also cross reference what the establishment is charging you vs what you actually had, you'd be surprised how many bars and places are willing to overcharge you once you've had a bit too many.
So when I'm at a bar and I order "2 Whiskey Sours, a Budweiser, an Amstel Light, a Heineken, a Sapphire Gimlet and a Knob Creek neat," and the bartender charges $50 (or whatever), do I stand there asking how much each one was?
Even if you ask, I've had cases where they just don't know (Everything gets entered into a computer, computer does some magic math to come out with your total)
It would probably be better served to just keep track of how many drinks you have. I would be more likely to use it if I wanted to quickly calculate calories, drinks, estimated BAC, etc. The estimated BAC could be pretty cool - it could do calculations based on weight and alcohol processing based on when you click a +1 or something.
The only thing on your website that suggests that is this brief sentence "just pay for what you had".
If I saw my friend taking out this app and being a miser about something like this, I'd probably not drink with them again. Hell, I wouldn't drink with myself again if I pulled out this app. I seriously can't imagine someone using this in a social setting and not being ridiculed for it.
Could you imagine at the end of the night, pulling out your phone and saying... "hey everyone, look, I only drank this much and I'm not going to put any more money towards the whole tab."
Most of the time, the people who would even care about the tab are the people who aren't drinking! Why would they even need this app?
Really, I hope my friends are honest enough to put their share of the tab up or suck it up and just pay a bit more knowing that the next night of drinking maybe they save a bit. It all evens out in the end between friends.
Spending time and money implementing ideas like this are exactly why we are in a bubble right now. If someone is going to pay $0.99 for this app, but be worried about paying too much for drinks in a group setting, something is really wrong with that person.
It seems like you got downvoted but you're pretty much on the dot. The people I go out drinking on long nights with are friends and we're all fairly honest. A lot of nights that I go out with non-friends, those people are either taking care of the tab or I've decided to take care of it. The first impression created by pulling out an drink-accounting app will probably not be a good one.
On the very few occasions I go out in groups large enough to make getting a round in difficult, we'll either go separate, break into smaller rounds, or just put a certain amount into the kitty at the start of the night.
Plus, in a large round, who can ever remember what everyone ordered and put it into an app?
Nice looking and all that, but there's no problem here to be solved by an app.
Do you go out and drink much? Seems nice but in the night life the last thing people are going to be doing is using an app to find out the cost of the drinks, then adding them in. Understand its hard enough to get a drink in crowded bars, it may help with costs, but that person may look like a cheapass with his little app. _Hey everyone my app says I didnt drink those beers and its off 50 cents, can I have the costs again to every drink i bought to I can add them into my app..... If I didnt buy a certain drink I just tell the waiter, I didnt drink that and they take it off.
I'd say it was a solution in search of a problem. And the better alternative, I would say, is to not share your tab if you're a bit of a penny pincher.