For those of you lucky enough to have an iPhone or Android powered smartphone, a new version of our CaskFinder app was released today. So this seemed like a good time to tell you what has changed and how we have worked to address some of the valuable feedback we have received from our app users since the last release.
What’s new?
– The most requested item for a new release was the facility to tell the difference between pubs which you have scanned on your ale trail, and those which you have not previously visited. These are now differentiated on the Pub Map by red logos if you have visited, blue if you are still due to visit.
– If you change phones you can now restore your ale trail scans to your new phone. Just reinstall the app on the new phone and go to ale trail. It will ask you to register but will give you the opportunity to enter your username and password. If you can remember your email address then you can reset your password if you have forgotten it. If you can’t remember which email address you registered with then please contact us and we can find out for you.
– If you visit a pub or drink a beer you like you can now add them to a favourites list, so you can remember what they were in the morning!
– You can rate pubs when you visit them on the pub details page. Let us know about beer quality, the welcome you received and whether you had the option to ‘try before you buy’. It’s a chance to have your say!
– Also on the pub details page, you can let us know if you had problems scanning a certificate during the ale trail. We will then add the certificate manually to your ale trail. It saves you time contacting us by email.
– Beer festivals are now displayed on a map as well as in list form. This should help you see what is happening near you. (Currently iPhone only).
– Lots more bottled beer codes have been added to the list so if you are in a supermarket you can scan a beer using the ‘beer codes’ button and view the tasting notes. There are now over 300 beers on this list.
Further update
There will be a second update coming out in the next month or so which will allow you to:
– Share on Twitter and Facebook when you have visited a pub, drunk a great beer or scanned a certificate – great for building a community with other like minded people
– Search for pubs with WiFi so you can go and enjoy a beer whilst playing on your laptop
How many people are using the app?
The app is used over 50,000 times each month and we now have well over 9,500 people registered for the ale trail.
I don’t have an iPhone or Android phone
Some people have requested the app on Blackberrys and Windows phones. At the moment we do not have any plans to release the app on either of these formats. It is not because we don’t want to, we would just rather make sure the iPhone/Android version is as good as it can be, rather than spending some of the money making a mediocre app on all different formats.
Pubs Not Displaying Certificates
One of the biggest frustrations for ale trail users (and us) is pubs not displaying their certificates. All pubs are sent certificates with a letter explaining why they should display it. Some however choose not to put them up even though they know it may frustrate some customers. If you let us know where you have experienced a problem using the link on the pub’s page then we will send them another certificate. Our assessors also explain to the pubs about how the app works when they do their visits to check the beer quality. Please continue to ask the staff where their certificate is and hopefully this will push them to display it!
Using the Ratings Information
If you rate a pub we will use this information to speak to the pubs to let them know public opinion. We cannot act immediately on every rating, but will gather information over a period of time and then target the bottom percentage to see if we can help them improve.
Love the app? Then shout about it!
And finally, if you enjoy using our app please can you rate it for us on either iTunes or Android Play Store? If you have negative feedback we would rather you contacted us directly so we can address it – on these sites we are not able to respond to each comment.
We hope you have lots of fun with the app, please let us know what you think!
How do I download the app?
Visit either the iTunes App Store or the Android Play Store and search for “CaskFinder”. Alternatively find it directly from www.cask-marque.co.uk/find-real-ale-pubs/mobile-phone-app