HappyCow
This app is a bit dumb. I'm on the west coast but when I type in a specific restaurant name, it shows me restaurants from all over the country. why? why would I care? the app has location access granted so it's really is strange that it does that. the issue is, I might not pay attention to the city and tap to see more info and decide that's what I want only to realize it's not even in my city. this needs to be addressed. i don't see myself using this app much longer if this isn't addressed.
//edit: response to developer asking me to send email... I did that already but no reply telling me message was received. not sure why you need a screen cap, I clearly described the issue. the ball is in your court. rating/review stays as is for now.
//edit: response to developer asking me to send email... I did that already but no reply telling me message was received. not sure why you need a screen cap, I clearly described the issue. the ball is in your court. rating/review stays as is for now.
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Response from developer
Hi, rather than leaving a bad review here, we encourage you to reach out to support and send a screenshot of your search field so we have an example of what you are seeing. Our team can then look into this further - ios@happycow.net
Wish I hadn’t paid for this
I’ve been vegetarian for 30 years and vegan for about 15. During this time, I heard about this app but always managed fine in the various places I lived and traveled (international and domestic).
I finally ended up paying for the app about 2 months ago when I found myself in a village in Basque country where there was rarely vegetarian food on menus and a number of restaurants that did have more veg options were closed. No options were listed on HappyCow. Walking around, I eventually found a restaurant that offered a salad that could be made vegetarian or vegan and it was delicious. I took the time to submit this restaurant and meal to HappyCow, as I was very thankful to have found it and wished it had been something I’d found when checking the app. My submission was rejected because the restaurant serves primarily non-vegetarian food, which was disappointing.
I continued to try to use the app in France and Spain over the next several weeks. HappyCow never once helped me find a vegetarian or vegan place to eat. There were either 1–2 listings with one or two bad reviews or there were simply no listings.
I felt like I was using an app that had been abandoned. It was a ghost town.
I’ll keep using Yelp and Google to find vegetarian/vegan food — I’ve had much more luck with these free tools.
I finally ended up paying for the app about 2 months ago when I found myself in a village in Basque country where there was rarely vegetarian food on menus and a number of restaurants that did have more veg options were closed. No options were listed on HappyCow. Walking around, I eventually found a restaurant that offered a salad that could be made vegetarian or vegan and it was delicious. I took the time to submit this restaurant and meal to HappyCow, as I was very thankful to have found it and wished it had been something I’d found when checking the app. My submission was rejected because the restaurant serves primarily non-vegetarian food, which was disappointing.
I continued to try to use the app in France and Spain over the next several weeks. HappyCow never once helped me find a vegetarian or vegan place to eat. There were either 1–2 listings with one or two bad reviews or there were simply no listings.
I felt like I was using an app that had been abandoned. It was a ghost town.
I’ll keep using Yelp and Google to find vegetarian/vegan food — I’ve had much more luck with these free tools.
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Best Search Tool for Vegan places
It’s easy to be mislead by ads or SEO’s that some restaurants have and then when you check them they barely have more than one vegan option in their menus (when they have any). Also, to be honest, most of us vegans prefer to be patrons of restaurants 100% vegan, and thats what makes HAPPY COW app vegan’s best friend. It’s worth it the small fee that actually supports the app development and is more than worth it to have it available for any time you decide to explore new cities and new vegan food places worldwide. Yes, the collective contribution to add as much information about vegan places is real. The beauty of the app is also that it takes in consideration the differences between restaurants with vegan or vegetarian offers, restaurants that are vegan and vegetarian friendly and the ones that are 100% vegan that very often accommodate people that are also gluten-free, soy free, etc. I’m happy that I’ve been using it for a year now and I’ll keep using it because it rocks !!!
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Response from developer
Thank you for the detailed review Mel! We are happy to have to in the community 🐮💜
Scam
I want my refund . i wasnt not told there is fees associated I want my refund back right away
Response from developer
Hi, HappyCow is a one time fee. Please reach out to iOS/iTunes directly and they can help issue you a refund.
NEEDS TO BE ABLE TO SEARCH BY ADDRESS
I absolutely love this app it really comes in handy but i can’t stand the fact that i cant search up addresses. only cities so i cannot plan in advance:/
Response from developer
Hi, thanks for your support! Please consider swiping down on the search screen so you can view results in full map mode and zoom into specific neighborhoods/areas. Let us know if you need help - ios@happycow.net 😊🐮
Decent app, needs bug fixes
This app is great for what it does, although as another reviewed posted 4 years ago, it’s better in some ways to “just use google” since the data is so much more updated and robust (very unfortunately, since google is a horrible company).
I could describe other bugs but most prominently I wanted to ask the developers to please allow the app to display in Landscape (horizontal) mode on iPads! It is very irritating to have to use the app only in vertical portrait mode, especially when using an attached keyboard to type such as I’m doing now.
Further, the map when zooming in and out and clicking “search this area” is very buggy too, it often zooms out again so it’s like playing back and forth tug of war, this applies to the iOS HappyCow app as well as this one on the iPad.
Thank you, despite the above requests/criticisms I appreciate the app, and hope you can keep improving it, it still needs a lot of work to be viable as an option / alternative to Google in many ways. I will keep using it when I can, since I appreciate its potential…
I could describe other bugs but most prominently I wanted to ask the developers to please allow the app to display in Landscape (horizontal) mode on iPads! It is very irritating to have to use the app only in vertical portrait mode, especially when using an attached keyboard to type such as I’m doing now.
Further, the map when zooming in and out and clicking “search this area” is very buggy too, it often zooms out again so it’s like playing back and forth tug of war, this applies to the iOS HappyCow app as well as this one on the iPad.
Thank you, despite the above requests/criticisms I appreciate the app, and hope you can keep improving it, it still needs a lot of work to be viable as an option / alternative to Google in many ways. I will keep using it when I can, since I appreciate its potential…
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Great app!
I’ve love the user generated content. I have traveled an found it super helpful in cities and countries I am not familiar with.
Response from developer
We are happy to help during your travels! Thanks for the awesome review! 🐮💜
Vegan Necessity
Love this app and use it every time I travel and even in my home country.
It’s perfect for finding new restaurants and a great tool for people who are vegan or working on eating more vegan options.
Filters are great you specific dining needs (if the place is fully vegan, vegetarian or has meat and vegan options) and people reviews are great to know what to try when going to the restaurants.
You can highlight trips and save locations so you can plan vacations in advance. All in all if you eat plant based or are working towards a plant based lifestyle you NEED Happy Cow.
It’s perfect for finding new restaurants and a great tool for people who are vegan or working on eating more vegan options.
Filters are great you specific dining needs (if the place is fully vegan, vegetarian or has meat and vegan options) and people reviews are great to know what to try when going to the restaurants.
You can highlight trips and save locations so you can plan vacations in advance. All in all if you eat plant based or are working towards a plant based lifestyle you NEED Happy Cow.
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Response from developer
Thanks for the amazing review! 🐮💜
Great for travelers
I was first told about this app by someone who works in tourism in a city where it is often difficult to locate vegan and vegetarian options and said that her vegan and vegetarian guests use it to great success. Since then I’ve used it so much when traveling and also sometimes to find places in my own city that I hadn’t previously known about. I’m perplexed that the second most helpful review on here is a 5-year-old review telling people to just use Google Maps as I am traveling presently and today thanks to this app I visited a takeaway/takeout veg place that isn’t even listed on Google Maps. The only thing that personally frustrates me about the app is what many other reviewers have mentioned, that it would be great if it were clearer in the app that only veg places can get five stars and only non-veg places can get one star, as I personally only found that out by reading reviews within the app where people said they would give X stars if they were allowed by the app. However it is a great app regardless.
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Great app!
This is a great app to find vegan restaurants. I hear people complain about this app tho saying it does not have much and would rather use other apps. Well they do name streets after people like them. ONE WAY>>> Places don’t magical appear on Happy Cow. The users need to help out by adding places and pictures. BTW, how do you think places show up on other sites? HC has made it easier in the last couple years. Yeah, they have a couple stupid pop ups asking if a place serves animal products, then asks again, are you sure. It’s annoying but if your serious about adding a place just go with it. I’ve used this app all over the world and found some great restaurants. I also add places all the time.
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Response from developer
We appreciate your contributions and support Don! 🐮💜
