Sample Ox vs Blackbird
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Sample Ox
Discover and rate various products like beer, coffee, and spirits. Compare your tasting notes with friends and experts, and track your palate's evolution over time. Participate in special tasting events to evaluate new products.
- Rate products with friends
- Build and track your palate
- Use industry-standard flavor terms
- Compare results with experts
- Join special tasting events
- Evaluate new products
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Join us for a Tasting! Rate products with friends, and build your palate. Describe what you’re tasting, and compare yourself against friends and experts. Use a wide range of industry standard flavor terms to test your palate and teach yourself to become a better taster. Join special tasting events to help evaluate new products as well. HOW IT WORKS • JOIN: Find an event or product on the main screen or enter in a join code for a private event • RATE: Describe what you’re tasting and give feedback on products • RESULTS: See how your results compare to others • TRACK: View your tasting history and see how your palate evolves over time PRODUCT CATEGORIES • Beer • Cider • Hard Seltzer • Chocolate • Coffee • Malt • Hops • Spirits • Kombucha Sample Ox is a trademark of Lean Sensory Systems, Inc.
Blackbird
Earn significant rewards on dining spend with a unique payment card and reservation tool. Discover new restaurants, book tables, and enjoy exclusive perks as you dine more.
- Earn up to 7X dining rewards
- Discover and reserve tables
- Pay with FlyCard anywhere
- Exclusive Blackbird Club perks
- 10X rewards at participating coffee shops
- NFT and token features
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Blackbird is the restaurant lover's way to pay and earn. Get up to 7X on your dining spend. And have fun while you're doing it. Featured in The New York Times, TIME, TechCrunch, Fast Company, and Fortune. DISCOVER SPOTS. RESERVE A TABLE. Meet Birdie, a ground-breaking new search and planning tool. She learns what you like, sees your status, and books your reservation. PAY ANYWHERE. EARN EVERYWHERE. FlyCard is the rewards card for restaurant lovers. Earn 2X at any restaurant, bar, cafe, or takeout spot. Our points are called Fly, and you spend them anywhere you dine.* DINE MORE. GET BETTER REWARDS. Every meal you pay for with Blackbird moves you up in Blackbird Club. Start at 3X Dining Points at select spots and earn more with each Level, all the way to 7X, plus priority reservations, Members' Nights, and a private concierge text line. And your morning coffee earns 10X at participating coffee shops. Night moves, day moves, Fly moves. Questions? support@blackbird.xyz Know a restaurant that should be on Blackbird? restaurants@blackbird.xyz Restaurant Lovers Unite. *The FlyCard is a debit card powered by Rain and issued by Cross River Bank, Member FDIC, pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A.. FlyCard is accepted wherever Visa is accepted.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Sample Ox at 100% against Blackbird's 36%. Sample Ox also leads on device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). Blackbird's advantage is ratings volume (13K vs 5) and update cadence (weekly vs every 5 weeks). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Blackbird holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Blackbird has 13K ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 100% of Sample Ox's written reviews are positive against 36% of Blackbird's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Sample Ox ships an update every 5 weeks, Blackbird weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Sample Ox | Blackbird |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (5 ratings) | 4.8 (13K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 35.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 5 | 13K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 10 MB | 185 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Lean Sensory Systems, Inc. | Blackbird Labs, Inc |
Customer experience
Sample Ox
Blackbird
Bugs and requests
Sample Ox
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Blackbird
Reported bugs
3 issues- Authorization process not working
- Inability to update account information
- Inconsistent check-in and payment experience
Requested features
4 requests- Ability to view list of available restaurants
- Improved restaurant search and discovery
- Better integration with restaurant systems
- Clearer explanation of rewards and payment process
In-app purchases
Sample Ox
No in-app purchases
Blackbird
No in-app purchases
