Thanks so much @gillianim! ✨ PH very special offer on 20 June: test any (1) city guide for free! Log in (main menu) with user "producthunt" and password "localsdoitbetter". 📖 OUR STORY I'm pretty sure I'm the luckiest guy in the world. In 2008 @sannevanpoll (my wife & co-founder) and I invested our life savings to travel around Europe to find people who wanted to join the Spotted by Locals adventure. Since then we have traveled 6 months a year to meet the nicest people in the world - our local writer ("Spotters") - in person in their city. We're still bootstrapping, often struggling financially, but we can keep expanding to new cities. That's all that matters now. Our vision is long-term - very long-term... (for more about our personal story: https://medium.com/p/95fce2483b78) 🌍 OUR VISION We believe many of the problems the world currently faces are rooted in cultural misunderstandings. We are not Mother Theresa, but we are driven by helping to make the world a better place by expanding the worldview of as many travelers as possible by allowing them to see ever more cities from a local’s perspective. We help cities cope with "overtourism", by spreading tourists (and locals!) around areas and spots fewer tourists visit. We help awesome, but less known European capitals (like Skopje, Podgorica, Prishtina & Yerevan) attract more visitors and much-needed tourist dollars. We recommend locally owned & operated spots and help them survive, which is increasingly hard in this rapidly "starbucksifying" world. 👉 CONTENT, CONTENT, CONTENT Travel guidebooks were behind the times (even in 2008!) and they drove us crazy. On city breaks, the outdated paperbacks brought us to touristy highlights, last year’s nightlife venues and defunct spots that no longer existed. Not much has changed, surprisingly, even after (or maybe because of) the huge rise of user-generated travel content websites & apps. Many travelers still find it difficult to find out where locals really hang out, and to find out which sources are reliable for guaranteed up-to-date tips. We handpick our writers (430 today) and meet all of them to make sure that we know they live in the city they write about, speak the local language, write only about their favorite spots and keep their tips up-to-date and up-to-season. Our editor checks all articles before they go online, and our Spotters check their articles regularly. 🚀 SPOTTED BY LOCALS APP VERSION 2.0 Yes, as I think I must have mentioned somewhere we're all about content. But as you're on Product Hunt, you must be curious about the technical side of things... 9 months ago we started one of our biggest projects ever: a complete overhaul of our apps. The app has been newly designed & re-built from the ground up. We think it looks better. It’s easier to navigate. It works a lot faster. And so far we haven't succeeded in making the 2.0 version crash - we dare you to try :) Features include 👉 100% offline - tips as well as maps 👉 Add your own spots (like your hotel) to the map 👉 See which recommendations were newly added recently 👉 Search all articles for keywords (for example “brunch”) 💰 REVENUE Our city guides cost US$3.99 to download. And we have a couple of ads on the website. That's how we generate enough revenue to keep expanding to new cities. 🔒 PRIVACY We do not store or have access to any personally identifiable information of users. Our dream is to remove all ads on our website and remove all tracking. 💚 THANK YOU For the last 10 years we've put our life into this product. We are so grateful to our 430 Spotters for believing in our project, sharing their favorite spots in their city and for being part of our awesome community. 😒️🙄️😀 QUESTIONS / FEEDBACK Please let us know what you think! We focus on great content. There are so many talented people on Product Hunt who know much more about design, user interface and technical performance than we do - we'd love to learn and improve! 🛎️ Disclaimer: Spotted by Locals has curated a "list" in the awesome Hitlist app. Hitlist was founded by @gillianim, who has been so kind to hunt us! 📌 I loved your story about Nomad List (and the amazing product!) @levelsio and hope it's ok I copied your setup!

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love the app, can't wait to try the new version but really 👎 for this video

One of the coolest apps out there :) A traveler's must have local guide!

Spotted By Locals it’s an amazing app. By using this you could find really hidden jems and amazing places while travelling! Why spending money on something touristy and without real value? Better to focus on the real stuff! That is the way of travel nowadays!

It has changed the way I travel and enjoy new urban destinations.

Pros:

Genuine tips by real locals, great offline functionality

Cons:

Limited to larger cities

The killer-feature is that everything is renewed all the time. So if a spot closes (it happens a lot in my part of the world), tip becomes hidden. I hate coming to highly-recommended-but-already-out-of-business spots.

Pros:

Spots I'd never discover myself in many cities. I even download cities I know well to find out things I haven't noticed

Cons:

These are people-curated tips so every tip is based on the personal opinion of a spotter (and it may be different from mine)

I love this app! Because of it I've discovered some off the beaten path, awesome locations while on holiday!

Spotted By locals changed the way we travel ! Our trips to Lisboa , Warsaw and Stockholm became much more beautiful by using SBL app ! Really looking for our next trip to discover the hidden gems of the cities, especially to cities like Yerevan or Tbilisi !

Pros:

Marilena

Cons:

Travel Agent

I found the app to be very useful, especially the possibilty to use it offline. Big advantage is the user generated content which is reviewed by spotted by locals on a regular basis and makes the spots pretty accurate. Those locals really know their cities. A must have tool for planning your travel and city spotting. Love it ❤️💯

Had a great experience in Amsterdam thank to Spottedbylocals, good think that the app can be used offline. Still I wonder how to do make sure writers stay commited to update the locations they share? And that the tips they share are actually places people would like to go to?

It could be nice to have the option of selecting some spots on the map and then creating a printable PDF that you can print and have with you with all the spots and information so that you don't have to have your phone in your hand as you walk around, visiting the spots.

Pros:

Most, if not all, of the spots I visited in Prague, Budapest and Lisbon, were really really one-of-a-kind spots.

Cons:

Nothing major. Works just fine and I was able to use it without internet as well.

I found SpottedbyLocals in their early stages several years ago. I met with their founders and became a witness of their expansion and improvements. Wherever I travel, I make sure I download that city if it is available.

I almost stopped visiting places, which are not listed on SpottedbyLocals.

The latest version of the app has great improvements in design and stability. Their content is the king anyways.

Pros:

Completely changed the way I travel. Offline maps is a good plus.

Cons:

Although it is very rare, I have ended up at closed spots. After my feedback, they were removed quickly.

If one is interested to see where the locals are hanging out and to check the cities more than tourist books are suggesting - then this is a must have app.

Pros:

up-to-date, unique tips to dicover cities from a not touristic perspective

Cons:

dont know of any

@bartvanpoll This is awesome. Bought few city guides a year back to have a look and as a founder of travel start-up, I know how helpful and how awesome this is. Only thing is I have not been able to use it till now as it was limited to EU. I see you have expanded a lot. Kudos.

So hard to really get to know proper local places when trawling through the internet before visiting a city. You end up with the same list which has been usually published by some 'what's hot' list. The recommendations from locals on the app are much more personal. The app is so helpful in getting me to places I would never be able to without help from the Spotters!

So it's midnight in Athens 🇬🇷 where we currently are. We have to stop refreshing this feed after 14 hours and get some sleep... Thanks for all your feedback - tomorrow morning we'll back to answer you questions 😴

@bartvanpoll how do you makse sure that spotters have a good taste and have no deals with the locations that they suggest?

This is a great alternative for travelers, because it includes real places locals like instead of the ones that pay more to the guide.

Pros:

Authentic valuable info provided by actual people living in the place

Cons:

You have to find a spotter with whom you have taste and interests affinity

I found this app when planning a trip to Istanbul. Really worth the download cost!

I loved it so much that I downloaded the guide for my own city, discovering lots of cool spots.

I knew some more good spots, so I told Bart and Sanne. They suggested I could become a Spotter. I did a nice Skype "interview" with them and they picked me!

Bart and Sanne are great and met the majority of the spotters in person, as they travel when they have the opportunity, meeting everyone. I met them too!

The Spotter by Locals community is also great, helping each other when traveling. Every year spotters are invited to meet for a weekend, looking forward to go myself!

You won't regret getting the app, if you don't like it, which I doubt, you can always ask for your money back.

Happy Spotting!

Pros:

Map and Spots available without Internet. "Secret" tourist-free spots hand-picked by local people. No typical tourist spots. Great Value!

Cons:

Small con: Only one picture available per spot.