# Kauai Audio Tour Guide — user reviews > 205 indexed App Store user reviews of Kauai Audio Tour Guide by Shaka Guide, rated 4.80/5 from 4,920 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/kauai-audio-tour-guide/id1070908001/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/kauai-audio-tour-guide/id1070908001.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 4,508 · 4★ 243 · 3★ 46 · 2★ 33 · 1★ 90 ## What do users think of Kauai Audio Tour Guide? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 🚀 Seamless GPS integration - 👍 Entertaining and informative narration - 🤙 Flexible self-guided experience - 💰 Great value for money - 📍 Accurate directions and recommendations - 🎶 Enjoyable background music **Cons** - 🐛 Occasional app crashes or glitches - ⏱️ Narration not always timed perfectly with location - 🔋 High battery consumption - 🚧 Some outdated or blocked off points of interest **Commonly reported bugs** - Connectivity issues when using CarPlay or Android Auto - Inconsistent audio volume levels **Most requested features** - More language options - Ability to customize music playlist - Improved navigation warnings and timing - Offline map caching ## Newest reviews (17 of 205) ### 5/5 — ❤️ Fun and interesting *2026-04-19, version 9.1.3* We loved the music and Hawaiian “Casey Kasem”. Lots of fun and learned a lot. ### 3/5 — Not a smooth experience *2026-04-04, version 9.1.3* Very frustrating. Sometimes the sound came through our car’s speakers, sometimes it came through my iPhone speakers, and sometimes it changed to a local radio station. I deleted the app and reinstalled it, this didn’t help. A waste of my money. 😕 ### 5/5 — Great app for roadtrips *2026-03-08, version 9.1.3* We love having these Driving tours to improve our trips. So many interesting tidbits and love the Hawaiian tunes ### 5/5 — better music *2026-02-07, version 9.1.1* excelente tour i just wish the music would be more upbeat not so much elevator music ### 5/5 — Great as always! Monks Now Need Reservation *2026-01-11, version 9.1.1* Loved this tour as always from Shaka. Only small piece of feedback is that you now need a reservation for the Indian monastery, and that’s not called out in the tour yet ### 5/5 — Waimea Canyon - Amazing!!! *2025-12-31, version 9.1.1* This was a really well thought-out tour that followed our driving location with no need to skip from track to track. We learned so much not only about the landscape but about cultural experience and legends in the area. It was great to avoid going on google rabbit holes or wondering where the best viewpoints and hikes were, especially since much of the park is outside of cell service range. Thank you!!🤙🏼 ### 5/5 — Pleasantly surprised *2025-11-24, version 9.0.9* Wasn’t sure what to expect but, this app was one of the highlights of our trip. It’s an engaging way to tour Kauai and learn a little history at the same time. Kids were entertained for the whole 4 hrs on the road seeing the sights around the island. ### 5/5 — Kauai *2025-10-12, version 9.0.8* Fantastic ### 5/5 — Lots of fun to listen to. *2025-10-10, version 9.0.9* We used this at the end of September 2025 and it was very entertaining. It gives you lots of history of the Island and I feel we saw about everything we could by using this app. Also, when the person is not talking it plays Hawaiian music which was nice when our radio stopped working and we had no cell service. ### 5/5 — Super fun and helpful! *2025-09-18, version 9.0.8* Uncle Shaka was the soundtrack of our trip. Without it we would have missed so much scenery and history. Even the background music is pleasant and far from annoying. My husband is not a “tour” guy but he was super impressed with this and cannot wait to use it in the National Parks. Keep up the good work. ### 5/5 — Informative and entertaining *2025-08-14, version 9.0.8* Bought the whole 4-tour Kauai collection and it really enhanced our appreciation of the beautiful signs and scenery of Kauai. App is very easy to use and also provided very clear instructions. Will definitely buy other tours in the future! ### 5/5 — Perfect *2025-08-02, version 9.0.8* Clear, never got lost and only missed going to suspension bridges they mentioned but didn’t navigate too for the Weilea Canyon tour. Loved everything about it. What a great value to do this on our own timeline, not some company’s. And the price compared to a tour guide? No brainer, get all 4 tours. ### 4/5 — Added so much to our trip *2025-05-15, version 8.4.5* This was our first time on Kauai, and the Shaka Kauai Audio Tour Guide was a great supplement to our trip of 10 days. We bought the package of all 4 guides for Kauai and used it both when just driving around and also for 2 half-day trips (to Waimea Canyon & to the Kailua area). We learned so much about the island’s history and culture but also got great tips on restaurants. Would definitely recommend! Only critiques are that the app tends to close when using other apps on the phone & that it would be nice to have more songs on the soundtrack. Mahalo for making a great app! ### 5/5 — Amazing app *2025-05-05, version 8.4.5* We came to Kauai for the first time and stumbled upon this app and it was such a great tool for us to explore the entire island. We managed to do 4 of these tours, the narration and facts were so fun! Highly recommend. Maps seemed to be very updated to current construction and closures. One thing that could be improved on is the navigation some turns seemed to come quick due to the map being a little too zoomed in. Zooming out could help see further down the road. No android auto support however. ### 5/5 — 10/10 Recommend *2025-05-03, version 8.4.5* We got this app expecting to do only 1 tour and ended up doing them all we loved it so much! Easy to follow with some local secluded areas to check out that we wouldn’t have found with this app. Great recommendations for hikes that are family friendly as well. Made our trip to Kauai so fun and enjoyable! Highly recommend! ### 5/5 — Excellent App *2025-04-21, version 8.4.4* We loved the stories! Excellent app and tons of great info. ### 5/5 — Love this App *2025-04-04, version 8.4.4* We enjoyed Shaka so much as we drove the islands of Kauai and Maui! ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Difficult to use *2026-08-17, version 9.1.8* I bought this guide because it was advertised as a GPS guided app. The app did not know where I was after I selected my tour and I could not alter the starting point. Finally, I gave up and used my map to scope out where to go. ### 1/5 — Cuts out *2025-07-14, version 9.0.7* This is a terribly expensive app to be unusable. It would just cut out and I would have to reload it. After several tries, I finally just quit using it. ### 1/5 — Disappointed *2025-01-06, version 8.4.4* Used Shaka 5 years ago with 0 problems and LOVED it. This year I could never get it to work properly. Very frustrating. Could get most of the narrative but not the driving map (it was a black screen with an arrow). It was difficult to know where we were. Had to constantly fiddle with it ### 1/5 — Junk. *2024-05-06, version 8.3.4* Hire new developers who know how to write code, otherwise it’ll ruin your vacation like us. ### 1/5 — Lost all my purchases *2018-09-19, version 1.5.1* Updated the apps and lost all my previous map purchases. Restore purchase function does not work. Apps crash without the update. What a waste of money!!!!! ### 2/5 — Mixed results *2026-09-05, version 9.1.9* Started out loving the app and how well it worked, but the more tours (4total) we did on Kauai the more trouble we had My biggest aggravation is that the tour never ends even if you turn off navigation Will I use the app on another vacation ? Right now I’m at 50/50 Wish I could give a better review, but a lot of little annoying things just added up ### 2/5 — So Frustrating *2024-09-30, version 8.4.3* The stories are interesting. I kept expecting it to give instructions. Like if I passed the turn, tell me. Instead it just went to the next. I’ve just apparently reached the end but only saw one thing. ### 2/5 — False Starts, Then All the Trails Useless for Mobility-Limited *2023-09-06, version 8.2.5* Though we are mobility limited seniors, we are tech savvy. After comparing this to other purchase candidates, we bought thinking our version of Shaka was tour vs. trail focused. Not so. I can’t tell you how frustrated we were, time after time when at each trail, we were told what we’d see just beyond sight, 1/3 mile, a 30 minute walk, etc. if we couldn’t see it already, we knew we couldn’t get there. If up hill / down hill, even worse, even if we could see it. To add insult to injury, the guide asked how we had enjoyed the view after we drove by without stopping. Really!?! Worst of all, we wasted half of our available light trying to get to the starting point of our tour, getting more & more frustrated at the endless music without a bit of narration. Most frustrating of all, somehow our requested tour of Waimea Canyon somehow morphed into a north shore tour, & the app never told us we were NEVER going to arrive at the starting point unless we turned around. (If it had, we could have gotten our direction & hoped-for tour in sync much earlier.) Only when we stopped some time after the expected tour start & expanded the map to see what was going on did we discover the problem. We had started from Kapaa Shore & expected the narration to start somewhere on the way to Lawai. Nothing happened. 2 suggestions. 1) The 4-tour package has info almost anywhere we go. Why not give it to us as we travel, on or off a tour? 2) If we select a tour, why not tell us to start it, then help us navigate to the tour starting point? (We got no such help & set google maps to go to the starting point ourselves.) ### 2/5 — Glitchy glitchy glitchy *2023-04-04, version 8.1.5* The information provided is fine. But I wanted to throw my phone out the window every time I tried to get it to work and wasted precious vacation time. Even with good Wi-Fi at the hotel, I couldn’t get downloading to start. It wasn’t the Wi-Fi. The app just wouldn’t respond. I’d press it over and over and it would just “think” then do nothing. Turned off phone, shut down app, closed everything on my phone, MORE than enough storage on my phone…and nothing. Finally after an hour or two I had three of the four I paid for downloaded. So we left. Then in the car trying to start a tour and it wouldn’t start 😤 THEN it suddenly said I still needed to download them!! I have gotten one to work so far. I’m not going to sit on the side of the road for hours trying to download AGAIN. I’d love the info, but time is too precious on vacation. Too expensive for the hassle. ### 2/5 — Review *2019-09-22, version 2.0.8* It was SO disappointing to get to the Hindu Temple at 12:10 and hear the guide say the temple itself closes at noon!!! Just as we are pulling into the driveway. Big error... because there are TIPS to review for all the stops and that is where it should be stated that the temple closes for viewing at noon. It would have been very easy to plan around that. There is very little architecture to view on the island and I really wanted to see the temple. So... next I was looking forward to number 52. Where I was going to see the pristine white Mormon temple.... thought we must have passed it and even turned around to no avail because the Mormon temple described is NOT even on Kauai. It is on Oahu so that was extra irritating after just coming off the disappointment of not seeing the inside of the Hindu temple. Two huge errors. (Also no wind turbines here those go with the Morman Temple too probably). I enjoyed checking out Gaylord’s in Kilohana which was not on the tour but was in route. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — So much fun *2026-09-03, version 9.1.9* Loved every minute. We thought we had seen everything on the island…. But nope! So much to see and awesome history and music. Highly recommend! ### 5/5 — Great buy! *2026-08-25, version 9.1.8* I completely failed to plan much beyond a luau for our first trip to Kauai. I stumbled into this and got a deal on the package of four tours. This plus a rental car and Google is really all you need to make the most of your time on the island. The tours were organized, easy to follow, and offered a mix of hikes, swim spots, stops in towns, and cultural sites and stories. We were able to easily skip sites we weren't interested in and spend more time at others. Included information about local eateries and restrooms also came in clutch. Pretty much the best money we could have spent on this trip! ### 5/5 — Fun stories *2026-08-19, version 9.1.8* It was fun listening to the guide talk stories while driving up and down Waimea Canyon. It was great hearing about the flora and the history of this part of the island. ### 5/5 — North Shore tour *2026-08-05, version 9.1.7* We love the tour and particularly the fact that you could drive down to any particular beach and the tour picks you up and tells you all about it. A really nice feature. ### 5/5 — Super helpful *2026-07-11, version 9.1.7* We really enjoyed using this app. We learned lots about the island and visited beautiful beaches and landmarks. The best way to have a day to explore at your own pace. ### 5/5 — Excellent Guide *2026-06-19, version 9.1.7* We’ve used Shaka on other islands and have been very happy with it. It worked well for the Kauai tours. ### 5/5 — New treasures found! *2026-05-17, version 9.1.6* We’ve been to Kauai many times and thought we knew it well. The Shaka guided tours took us to new sites and gave us very interesting Hawaiian history along the way. We love the ability to go at our own pace, spending more or less time at locations vs the schedules of much higher priced guided bus tours. We have the Kauai bundle as well as tours covering all of Oahu and the Maui Road to Hanna. 5 stars for customer service as well. We had an issue with the download to a second, backup phone. I chatted from the app and had immediate contact with a real person. Solved in 2 minutes. Thank you Shaka!! ### 5/5 — So great! *2026-05-16, version 9.1.6* So informative and helpful to make the drive come alive! ### 5/5 — Wimea canyon private guide *2026-05-11, version 9.1.6* This app was great!! First time trying a tour via app. We had a excellent organized tour. Great history and tidbits about the area we were visiting. It was fun too. Loved the control. I’m still learning all the capabilities. Can’t wait for my next tour with this App ### 5/5 — Shaka Driving Tours Rock! *2026-04-22, version 9.1.5* We have loaded the driving tours for all the islands. Taken on Oahu, Maui and Kauai so far. The best tour ever found. I love the history and all the sights. --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-08.*