# Places: Curated Travel Guide — user reviews

> 44 indexed App Store user reviews of Places by Raya App Inc, rated 4.30/5 from 175 ratings.

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/places-curated-travel-guide/id6446208302/reviews
- App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/places-curated-travel-guide/id6446208302.md
- Rating breakdown: 5★ 137 · 4★ 6 · 3★ 1 · 2★ 1 · 1★ 30

## What do users think of Places?

Overall sentiment: mixed

**Pros**

- ✨ Beautifully curated suggestions
- 👍 Essential for travel and local discovery
- 🌟 Best among travel apps
- 💯 Human curation is a highlight
- 🗺️ Useful for navigating new cities
- ✅ Great filtered suggestions
- 👍 No spam
- 💡 Finds great places
- 💯 Amazing recommendations
- ✨ Finds unique places
- 👍 Saves places and creates archives
- 👍 Excellent for finding restaurants
- 👍 Filters out noise for decision paralysis
- 👍 Well-curated places
- 👍 Good recommendations for travelers
- 👍 Finds perfect suggestions for restaurants, hotels, nightclubs, museums
- ✨ Incredible photos and user experience
- 👍 Simplifies finding cool new spots
- 👍 Lists saved places by location and shareable
- 👍 Better recommendations than other apps
- 👍 Helps plan weekends and trips
- 👍 Can see friends' profiles for recommendations
- 👍 Discovers fabulous new restaurants
- 👍 Perfect and needed app
- 👍 Sexy places for sexy people
- 👍 Useful for work travel and meeting clients
- 👍 Changed travel perception and city experiences
- 👍 Great for finding restaurants and making reservations
- 👍 Finds amazing new spots and shares favorites

**Cons**

- ❌ Outdated information (closed businesses)
- ❌ No way to report outdated information
- ❌ Dark-pattern onboarding flow
- ❌ Forces annual membership purchase
- ❌ Cannot see service without paying
- ❌ Extracts personal details before revealing paywall
- ❌ Misleading onboarding
- ❌ Awkward interface
- ❌ Too long setup
- ❌ No option to delete profile
- ❌ Requires invite code
- ❌ Waitlist for access
- ❌ Misleading advertisements
- ❌ Poor user experience
- ❌ App is trash
- ❌ Not useful
- ❌ Pretentious app
- ❌ Data collection galore
- ❌ Unbelievable business practice
- ❌ Waste of money
- ❌ No real connections
- ❌ Racist and discriminatory (unsubstantiated)
- ❌ No real curation
- ❌ App not functional
- ❌ Scam
- ❌ Useless
- ❌ Cannot login to lifetime free account
- ❌ Impossible to use on new phone
- ❌ No way to contact support
- ❌ Appalling photographs for curated places
- ❌ Requires phone number before invite code
- ❌ Don't understand its purpose
- ❌ Doesn't help choose destinations
- ❌ Not needed, lacks features
- ❌ Requires membership fee after complimentary email
- ❌ Needs more special features to retain users
- ❌ No social dating aspect
- ❌ No exclusive access/discounts for influencers

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Businesses listed as open are actually closed
- Cannot report outdated information
- App crashes or is not functional
- Cannot log in to previous accounts (lifetime free)
- Login screen freezes
- Incompatible with older devices
- Phone number box fails to work
- Issues with invite codes and waitlists
- App asks for personal info then paywall

**Most requested features**

- Ability to report outdated business information
- Option to delete profile
- Dark mode
- Advanced analytics dashboard
- Incentives for trying businesses (like Neon Coat or Beauty Pass)
- Social dating aspect or meetups
- Exclusive access/discounts for influencers

## Newest reviews (10 of 44)

### 3/5 — Major Drawback

*2026-06-11*

Very useful app when navigating a new city with great filtered suggestions and non of the spam. Unfortunately some of the bara on here have been closed months or years ago and there is no way to report this to the developer.

### 2/5 — Membership is mandatory

*2025-10-17*

You can’t use anything in this app unless you pay for the yearly subscription. I don’t see the point of that.

### 1/5 — Umm

*2025-04-26, version 1.42.0*

Can’t even open the app. The devs have given up on making a functional product it seems.

### 1/5 — Steal all my information first before paywall, got it.

*2025-03-09*

Absolute scum of the earth developers. They take all your personal information and right before you enter the app it won’t let you in unless you pay. Scam. Reviews are probably fake too.

### 1/5 — useless

*2025-03-01, version 1.38.2*

insane to take all of my information and THEN tell me I need an invite or to buy a membership.

### 1/5 — Not work on new phone

*2025-02-08*

I have changed my IPhone and now they ask me for invite code or to pay but my previous account was a lifetime free account and I can’t login on it again now. Please fix it

### 2/5 — Impossible to join the support

*2024-11-20*

I used to have this app and it had good recommendations for my city but since my phone got stolen, it’s impossible to use it again on a new phone, it asks me an invitation code that I don’t know where to find and no possibility to contact the app’s support. It’s very sad and I see no solution

### 5/5 — Fantastic app

*2024-09-24*

Very well curated places. 
For those who love to find truly amazing restaurants and for those who are traveling and want a good recs from a friend

### 5/5 — I travel the world

*2024-08-31*

Places has been an amazing source to find the perfect suggestions for places of all kinds: restaurants, hotels, nightclubs, museums

### 1/5 — Meh

*2024-06-09*

I recently saw an advertisement for Places on the high street and was intrigued. I promptly downloaded the app, excited to explore what it had to offer. However, my excitement quickly turned into frustration when I discovered that I needed an invite to access the app.

There was no mention of this requirement in the advertisement. It’s quite disappointing to see such a crucial detail omitted. I hope the developers consider making the app more accessible in the future or at least inform potential users about the invite requirement upfront.

Until then, I’m giving it one star for the misleading advertisement and the poor user experience.

## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated)

### 1/5 — Contact please

*2026-07-28*

I was always unsure how to give sufficient feedback for the app, I loved it. However, now, from 5 stars to one. 

Ending my Raya account disabled access to this and asking to subscribe. How might I get the account back i had before?

### 1/5 — Dark-Pattern App That Should Never Have Passed App Store Review

*2026-03-07*

Yet another app on the App Store that should never have been approved.

You cannot use it unless you purchase an annual membership. You cannot even see a glimpse of what the service actually is.

And you only discover this after the app has already extracted most of your personal details.

This is a textbook example of a dark-pattern onboarding flow: force the user to surrender personal data first, reveal the paywall later.

Relevant rule (App Store Review Guidelines)

The practice conflicts with the spirit of:
	•	App Store Review Guideline 5.1.1 – Data Collection and Storage
Apps should only request user data that is necessary for the app’s functionality and should do so transparently.
	•	Guideline 3.1.2 – Subscriptions
The value of a subscription must be clearly explained before asking the user to subscribe.

Requiring personal information before showing the core service or its value proposition is generally considered misleading onboarding and a form of dark pattern design.

### 1/5 — Gets sensitive info > hard paywall

*2026-01-17*

They paid for the app to get built, now they want the money back from you.

### 1/5 — Hmmm

*2025-12-24*

Some really terrible selections, very awkward interface, way too long set up and no option to delete your profile.

### 1/5 — Sandra

*2025-09-20, version 1.52.0*

Someone should please send me an invite code. Thank you

### 1/5 — Not useful

*2025-08-31, version 1.51.0*

What a pretentious app!

### 1/5 — Data collection galore

*2025-07-11*

This app asks for all your info upfront such as date of birth, phone number, email, full name location, contacts etc. only for the last page to be a prompt for a full paid subscription! Unbelievable, this sort of business practice should not be allowed anymore.

### 1/5 — Waste of money

*2025-06-14*

Don’t do it. You feel special for getting approved (after several months) but after $$$$$$ most of the time no real connections. Save your time and money.

### 1/5 — Racist and discriminatory

*2025-05-31, version 1.45.0*

Self explanatory title.

### 1/5 — No Real Curation

*2025-04-26*

In my city, the app lists a hotel that’s been closed for *six years* as a top pick — alongside an outpost of a mediocre chain bakery. Clearly no one has reviewed any of these places with any depth or thought!

## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated)

### 5/5 — Essential travel app

*2026-05-18*

Absolutely beautiful. Love the human curation. I find myself depending on it with travel as well as locally. In a sea of sameness among travel apps, this has to be the best one.

### 5/5 — Real good app

*2025-12-07*

What’re we talking about. This is obviously the best app to find great places.

### 5/5 — Download this right now

*2025-07-31*

I actually use this app everyday. You need to find a cool place to eat? Something exciting to do? Want to find some culture in a new place? Or looking for a last minute reservation? This is the place to find it. Everything on the app is curated and recommended by professionals, you will only have good experiences at the places it recommends. You can also see where your friends go, save places you look or want to go, and create a digital archive of all the places you go on life’s journey!

### 5/5 — Didn’t know I needed it

*2025-02-24*

Honestly the best app for travel—and doing it well. Has helped me find incredible new spots and share my favorites. Use it regularly and there’s no going back.

### 5/5 — Vibes

*2025-01-19*

Sexy places for sexy people

### 5/5 — Love the App

*2025-01-17*

I travel a lot with work to places I don’t know well, and it’s become my most useful resource for figuring out where to meet clients etc. I use few Apps very regularly - perhaps 15 in total - and this is has become of them.

### 5/5 — The Best App Around

*2025-01-16*

This app has changed my life when it comes to travel. The hours I would spend looking for somewhere to eat has been reduced and now I can remember that amazing restaurant I ate at in Rome. Thank you Places.

### 5/5 — This app is so amazing!

*2024-11-23*

Places really changed my perception and how I’m experience city’s while traveling. It opened for me the doors in different city’s like Tokyo, to get straight up to unique places.

Thanks to you guys, really amazing work - your def making my experiences better ❤️

### 5/5 — NOTE: five stars are qualified in their entirety by my narrative review below

*2024-11-16*

A thoughtful and promising concept – immediately undone when my attempt to tap into the phone number box failed 🙃 

My five stars are dedicated either to the (a) IT folks, if this is a bug, as a token of appreciation in advance for their prompt attention, or (b) creators, if this is a feature, for brilliance in ensuring even basic UI reflects the cohesive canon of discernment required of the Service,‡ including Raya,† to curate not only a “collection of global destinations” but also membership in the community with privileged access to that collection. 

‡ As defined in this app’s Terms of Use as currently in effect, subject to which †Raya, ”another mobile application included in the Service,” is provided. Who says the App Store isn’t flexible? ❤️

### 5/5 — Best way to book restaurants

*2024-11-02*

I love this app for finding restaurants nearby and making a reservation on the app. Cures the decision paralysis by filtering away all the noise for you. Love it.

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*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 2026-09-04.*