Social Bicycles vs TAP LA
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Social Bicycles
Locate, reserve, and ride shared bicycles using your smartphone. This app allows you to find available bikes on a map, manage your account, and pay for rides. Return bikes to designated hubs or public racks.
- Find bicycles using map
- Create account and pay
- Reserve bicycles wirelessly
- Manage your account
- Contact customer support
- Sync with Health app
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Social Bicycles (SoBi) provides innovative bike share technology to municipal, university and private programs around the world. Find, reserve, ride, and return bicycles with ease. Our bikes are GPS enabled and can be rented with your smartphone. You can return bicycles to hub locations or lock them to public bike racks for a small fee. Use our mobile app to: - Find bicycles using map - Create an account and pay through the app - Reserve bicycles wirelessly - Manage your account - Contact customer support Public programs powered by Social Bicycles: - SoBi Hamilton, Hamilton, ON, CA - SoBi Long Beach, NY - Coast Bike Share, Tampa, FL - GRID Bike Share, Phoenix, AZ - Juice Bike Share, Orlando, FL - Topeka Metro Bikes, Topeka, KS - Boise GreenBike, Boise, ID - University of Virginia UBike, Charlottesville, VA - Mountain Rides Bike Share, Ketchum, ID - Reddy Bike Share, Buffalo, NY - Breeze Bike Share, Santa Monica, CA - VeloGo, Ottawa, ON, CA - Share-A-Bull Bikes, University of South Florida, FL - Monash University, VIC, AU - Curtin University, VIC, AU - Bay Bike, San Mateo, CA - Long Beach Bike Share, Long Beach CA - Beverly Hills Bike Share, Beverly Hills, CA - WeHo Pedals, West Hollywood - BIKETOWN, Portland, OR - UHBikes, Cleveland, OH - Relay Bike Share, Atlanta, GA - Velonet, Czech Republic - Bruin Bike Share UCLA, CA - Bike Share Connect, Los Angeles, CA Social Bicycles (SoBi) integrates with the Health app to sync your bicycle trips. Enable integration in the Account tab.
TAP LA
Pay for transit fares across Los Angeles with your mobile device. This app allows you to purchase passes, manage multiple cards, and use touchless payment on numerous bus and train systems. It also offers trip planning and access to multimodal programs.
- Touchless payment
- Add TAP card to iPhone/Apple Watch
- Purchase transit passes
- Manage multiple TAP cards
- Add TAP card to Apple Wallet
- Trip planning tools
- Reduced fare support
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Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority ("LACMTA"), a government agency, is the owner and developer of this app. TAP is your ticket to ride transit in greater Los Angeles! It is accepted on 27 systems including LA Metro, providing a vast network of buses and trains. - Make your travel safe and easy with touchless payment and card management. - Add a new TAP card to your iPhone and Apple Watch and use your fare immediately. - Use your iPhone (8 and above) and Apple Watch (Series 3 and above) to tap with Apple Pay when boarding a bus or train. - Enjoy flexible payment options including credit/debit cards, account cash and Apple Pay. - Purchase a transit pass or Stored Value for any agency in Los Angeles County. - Manage multiple cards in your TAP account (iPhone 5 and above). - Add your TAP card to Apple Wallet, enable Express Transit and quickly tap and pay when you board. You don't even have to wake up your phone! - Supports reduced fares for seniors, students, persons with disabilities and low-income riders. - Transfer a TAP card in your account to your Apple Wallet and leave the plastic at home. - Access multimodal programs such as Metro Bike Share. - Use Trip Tools to plan trips, find nearby transit options, view real-time arrivals and save favorite destinations and stops. - Enjoy the benefits of a TAP account, such as Balance Protection, card management, discounts, promotions, transaction history and friendly customer service. - Accepted on 27 transit systems in LA County including: Angels Flight Railway Antelope Valley Transit Authority (AVTA) Baldwin Park Transit Beach Cities Transit Burbank Bus Carson Circuit Compton Renaissance Transit System Culver CityBus Foothill Transit Gardena GTRANS Glendale Beeline Glendora Transportation Division Huntington Park Transit Unlimited LA County Department of Public Works LADOT Transit Lawndale Beat Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) Long Beach Transit Metro Montebello Bus Lines Monterey Park Spirit Bus Norwalk Transit Palos Verdes Peninsula Transit Authority Pasadena Transit Santa Clarita Transit Santa Monica Big Blue Bus Torrance Transit
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Social Bicycles at 4.4 against TAP LA's 1.9. Social Bicycles also leads on update cadence (every 4 weeks vs every 5 months) and review sentiment (27% vs 12%). 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.
Social Bicycles holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 1.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Social Bicycles has 6.8K ratings behind it against 856, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 27% of Social Bicycles's written reviews are positive against 12% of TAP LA's.
Social Bicycles ships an update every 4 weeks, TAP LA every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 11, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Social Bicycles | TAP LA |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (6.8K ratings) — better | 1.9 (856 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 27.5% of reviews — better | 11.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 6.8K — better | 856 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 weeks — better | Every 5 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 13 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 49 MB | 84 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | MobilityCloud Inc | Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority |
Customer experience
Social Bicycles
TAP LA
User reviews
Social Bicycles
From 6.8K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Convenient bike access
- 👍 Easy to use app
- 💡 Great bike sharing community
- 🚲 Comfortable bikes
Room to improve
- 🐛 App crashes and glitches
- ⚠️ Unreliable bike availability
- 💳 Confusing payment system
- 🔑 Difficult bike unlocking process
- 🏪 Uneven bike distribution
TAP LA
From 856 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Easy to use
- ✨ Convenient digital tap card
- 💳 Ability to load funds
- 🗺️ Trip planning functionality
Room to improve
- 🐛 App crashes and glitches
- 💰 Charges money without adding funds
- ⏱️ Slow load times and processing
- 🤷♀️ Confusing user experience
- 🚫 Doesn't work for tourists/visitors
Bugs and requests
Social Bicycles
Reported bugs
4 issues- Account login issues
- Incorrect bike charges
- Broken bike sensors
- Unresponsive bike keypads
Requested features
4 requests- Improved app navigation
- Better bike status information
- Streamlined payment options
- Expanded service area
TAP LA
Reported bugs
3 issues- Card registration and activation issues
- Disappearing funds and balances
- Inconsistent app performance
Requested features
4 requests- Allow multiple devices for one account
- Improve reliability of fund loading
- Provide more transparent transaction history
- Integrate with more payment methods
In-app purchases
Social Bicycles
No in-app purchases
TAP LA
No in-app purchases









