Hidden Florence vs Discover Rome
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Hidden Florence
Explore Renaissance Florence with this pocket guide. Discover hidden stories and lesser-known attractions through audio-guided tours from historical characters. Dive deeper into the city's past with insights from history experts and interactive maps.
- Audio-guided tours from historic characters
- Discover hidden parts of the city
- Trigger stories with GPS
- Interactive historical maps
- Insights from history experts
- Visit points in any order
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This is your pocket guide to the history and people of Renaissance Florence. Hear the lesser known stories about the major historic attractions of the city, as well as finding adventures off the beaten path. - Audio-guided tours from historic characters Take a stroll alongside your guides from the past - wool workers, policemen, bankers and matriarchs are waiting to take you by the hand through this historic city. - Discover more of Florence You can use this app as you move through the streets of Florence and trigger stories with GPS - or - sit back and let your fingers do the walking by tapping on story points. - Insights from history experts Based on authentic historical documents, this app will take you places that other guides don’t reach. Stories have been created by researchers and leading experts on Florentine history, Including extra insights at every point. - Features - Audio-guide tours to hidden parts of the city; - Switch between interactive historical maps and modern day; - Visit points in any order or follow recommended routes; - Get deeper information from the scholars behind the app at every point; - Two stories available in Italian ----- Hidden Florence is the result of a collaborative research project led by Fabrizio Nevola (University of Exeter), with Donal Cooper (University of Cambridge) and Nicholas Terpstra (University of Toronto), and project team members Daniel Jamison and David Rosenthal. The project has been funded by Arts and Humanities Research Council, UK (award: AH/R008086/1), the University of Exeter and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Canada (grant: 435-2015-097). This app contains content produced for Hidden Florence, a project originally created in 2013-4 by Fabrizio Nevola with David Rosenthal and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, UK (award: AH/K005138/1), the University of Exeter and the HEFCE Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) for Open Innovation.
Discover Rome
Explore Rome with up-to-date recommendations for sights, food, and shopping. This app provides offline maps and curated tips from a local expert, making it easy to navigate the city like a true Roman.
- 170+ local recommendations
- Offline maps
- Custom text, photos, and reviews
- Favorites list
- Local tips and FAQs
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While guidebooks are heavy and quickly outdated, Discover Rome provides tips on what to see, do and eat in Rome that is constantly updated and available at your fingertips. With easy-to-use offline maps, exploring Rome like a local has never been easier. Discover Rome offers nearly 200 suggestions on Rome's best monuments, restaurants, street food, bars, shopping and more - all tried and tested by the author behind the popular city blog An American in Rome. Features include: · 170+ recommendations of restaurants, shops, sights and museums categorized by interest · Offline maps for all locations · Custom text, photos and reviews of all recommendations · “Favorites” feature to create your own list · Tips for what to order or see · Answers to frequently asked questions about what to pack, how to use public transportation, city safety and more
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Hidden Florence at none against Discover Rome's 1. Hidden Florence also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 75%) and rating (4.8 vs 4.6). Discover Rome's advantage is ratings volume (38 vs 5) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 15.5). On price, update cadence, ads and device support 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. Discover Rome sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Hidden Florence asks for nothing beyond the download.
Hidden Florence holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Discover Rome has 38 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Hidden Florence's written reviews are positive against 75% of Discover Rome's.
Hidden Florence ships an update every 3 months, Discover Rome every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on August 20, 2026 and September 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Hidden Florence | Discover Rome |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (5 ratings) — better | 4.6 (38 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 75.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 5 | 38 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months — better | Every 6 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.5 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 46 MB | 46 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | University of Exeter | Anton Eregin |
Customer experience
Hidden Florence
Discover Rome
In-app purchases
Hidden Florence
No in-app purchases
Discover Rome
- Rome City Guide - full version$4.99







