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Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

Smartify vs Connects

Smartify 4.5★ · Free to download 55
Winner Connects
Connects 4.8★ · Free to download 70

Connects is the better choice for guided museum experiences and virtual tours, offering more reliable content and navigation, while Smartify struggles with inconsistent scanning and a limited database.

Full reviews: Smartify · Connects

Smartify aims to identify artwork via scanning but frequently fails to recognize pieces, even well-known ones, and users report a clunky interface. Connects, on the other hand, excels as a comprehensive audio and virtual tour guide for museums and cultural sites, though it can suffer from performance issues and a lack of offline functionality.

Head to head

Artwork Identification & Database edge: ConnectsR3R4R12R13
Smartify Smartify's core feature, artwork scanning, is highly inconsistent; many users report it fails to identify well-known paintings, personal art, or even common objects R4R13. While some users find it works beautifully , a significant number are frustrated by its limited database and inability to recognize art from various collections or artists R3R12.
Connects Connects does not offer an artwork identification feature like Smartify. Instead, its content is curated and provided by partner museums and cultural institutions, focusing on audio guides and virtual tours . Users generally praise the quality and depth of information provided for the sites it covers .
Ease of Use & Interface tieR1R9R18R20
Smartify Smartify's user experience is frequently criticized for being clunky, unintuitive, and frustrating R1R9R18R20. Users report issues like losing scans, difficulty favoriting, the app reloading from scratch, and a search function that can be confusing R1R18R20. Some find the UI design appealing , but overall, navigation and core functionality are problematic.
Connects Connects receives mixed reviews on ease of use. Many users find it easy to navigate and intuitive , praising its interface for enhancing museum visits . However, a significant number of reviews highlight frustrating design flaws, such as frequent reloads when switching apps, slow performance, freezing, non-responsive buttons, and a lack of essential features like search or saving favorite guides .
Content & Features edge: ConnectsR7R8R12R20
Smartify Smartify offers information about artists and works, sometimes with blurbs and display locations R20. It includes audio tours, although some users find them hard to locate or access . The app struggles with content diversity, with one user noting an algorithm fixated on a single artist R7 and many complaining about missing works or artists R12R36. There's a desire for features like searching by location R8, grouping favorites by museum , and a map R21. The photo upload feature was removed, frustrating users .
Connects Connects provides rich content including staff-narrated audio tours, videos, and text for museums and cultural sites R87. It's praised for enhancing visits and offering virtual tours . Users appreciate the ability to explore globally from home . However, some content is criticized for being too political or lacking detail . There are requests for more museums , a map feature with location numbers R75R78, and the ability to save favorite guides . The app also faces criticism for not having an iPad version .
Reliability & Performance tieR6R9R27R36
Smartify Smartify's reliability is a major concern; users frequently report the app not working, struggling with focus, or failing to scan R6R9R27R36. Some reviews mention the app closing immediately after opening or being slow . While some users report it works perfectly , the inconsistency is a recurring theme.
Connects Connects also suffers from significant reliability and performance issues. Users report the app freezing for 5-10 seconds upon opening, frequent crashes, non-responsive audio players, and slow loading times . A common complaint is that the app reloads entirely when switching to other apps, losing the user's place in a guide R87.
Pick Smartify if

you are primarily interested in a quick, on-the-spot art identification tool and are willing to tolerate its frequent inconsistencies and limited database .

Pick Connects if

you want a comprehensive, curated audio and virtual tour guide for museums and cultural sites, and are comfortable with potential performance issues or the need to restart the app frequently .

Evidence note: Both apps are free to download, so there is no free-vs-paid asymmetry. Recent reviews for both apps show a negative skew, indicating ongoing issues despite higher lifetime ratings. Smartify's core scanning feature is a frequent point of failure in recent reviews.

Frequently asked

Can Smartify identify any artwork?
No, Smartify frequently fails to identify many paintings, even well-known ones, and its database is reported to be limited to certain partnered museums and collections R3R4R12R13.
Does Connects work offline?
Connects offers an offline mode for downloaded guides, but users report that finding and opening content for a museum still requires an internet connection, and the app frequently reloads and needs to go online again if switched out of memory R87R93R119.
Are there maps available in these apps?
Smartify users have requested a map feature and zoom capabilities R21. Connects provides gallery maps for some institutions R92 and has a new map view on its Explore screen , but users often wish for more comprehensive map features, including location numbers and nearby museum identification R75R78.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R3] Smartify 3/5 · US Lovely when it works: Very cool when it happens to have a painting in its database, which it usually doesn’t. E.g. some paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, but none of its Canalettos.
  2. [R4] Smartify 1/5 · US Can’t identify a lot of paintings: Corn poppy kees von dongen and a mattise with a cat i have could not identify
  3. [R12] Smartify 3/5 · US Many works and artists missing :(: I love the concept, I love the interface, but unfortunately so many works and artists that I would like to favorite are not among the collections on this app. For example, I just recently saw a wonderful exhibit with a hall of María Berrío works at the ICA in Boston, but I could not find them here.
  4. [R13] Smartify 1/5 · US Won’t recognize anything: Attempted to identify a painting I have had for years. Using the scan it just states cannot recognize. So I used it on some well known paintings and artists, get the same response.
  5. [R1] Smartify 1/5 · US Keep losing the scans and having to rescan.: Keep losing the scans and having to rescan. Favoriting is and holding onto museum is hard. Keeps sending me back to new museums in other parts of the world when trying to be present. not obvious. Poor UX
  6. [R9] Smartify 3/5 · US Review: I’ve only used it, or rather tried to use it 3-4 times but it has never “worked”. Not sure where I’m going wrong. Frustrating.
  7. [R18] Smartify 3/5 · US App Reload: When I go away from the app it reloads from scratch every time, making it take longer to scan the next image. This is a freedom choice that needs removing or ax way around the behavior needs to be executed.
  8. [R20] Smartify 5/5 · US Good job dev team 👏: I like this app! The scanner works, I get to save my favorite paintings and artists… many paintings come with a blurb, even shows where they’re on display, plus the app looks good :) The search function did take me a few tries to figure out. Say I look up Monet, then Fragonard, the app would search for Fragonard in Monet works 😅
  9. [R7] Smartify 1/5 · US Art Bias: Sounded like a great app. I used the widget thinking I would see new works of art every day and have an opportunity to explore diverse artists and pieces. However, the widget algorithm seemed fixated on and promoted one artist who I would see invariably 80% of the time both on my iPhone and on my iPad when I looked at the widget, a Kristina Belkina. I didn't find her works that remarkabl
  10. [R8] Smartify 4/5 · US Super cool!: I am new to this app but I really like it already - what an awesome way to explore lots of cool places, exhibits, and experiences! Only suggestion - I wish you could search by location (e.g. “London”) and have everything come up. Sometimes it’s hard to figure out where things are located (e.g. there are several “National Gallery” listings and it’s hard to figure out which is in Londo
  11. [R6] Smartify 3/5 · US Will work great: Idea is great. Software will be neat when it works more than once or twice
  12. [R27] Smartify 3/5 · US Not perfect!: Sometimes we give up after 5 to 10 minutes on focus! Quite frustrating.
  13. [R36] Smartify 3/5 · US Lacking many artists: Lacking many artists and struggling to detect art. I have a Francis bacon art work book and it can’t recognize any of the photos. There’s a painting at my local library I’ve always liked but the librarians don’t know where it’s from, and the app doesn’t even detect it as a painting. The system linking artists to art and recommending others is excellent though so the functiona
  14. [R87] Connects 2/5 · US Great idea, poor execution: Excellent idea to allow downloadable guide content for visiting museum, and rich with text and videos. However, you DO have to have internet (wifi or cellular) to find and open the content for the museum you are visiting. Why? Also, very annoyingly, each time the app gets switched out of memory (because you've launched other apps, etc.) you have to get online again to s
  15. [R93] Connects 2/5 · US doesn’t work well offline: The app downloads guides very slowly. The app can cache only 1 guide, so forget about downloading multiple guides for a city in advance, not that any seemed very useful or informative.
  16. [R119] Connects 5/5 · US Great museum app: I’ve been a fan of this app for sometime now. I especially like the offline mode it offers. Definitely recommend it
  17. [R21] Smartify 3/5 · US Map: Map would be helpful with zoom in features
  18. [R75] Connects 3/5 · US Good app, could be better: I loved using the app to learn more about Central Park. But I could only access the audio clips as I came across signs in the park telling me the location number. I wish the app had a map showing all the location numbers.
  19. [R78] Connects 3/5 · US Location location location: Really love what this app is offering, and will definitely continue to use it but I have two critiques: the first, it’s clunky when you nav back to the list of museums, bc you have to scroll down to find where you left off. Second, I’d use the app twice as much, if there was a map feature so I could identify museums near me.
  20. [R92] Connects 5/5 · US So grateful!: This app connected me with the gallery maps for the Detroit Art Institute and I am FOREVER grateful because I have limited time to spend at the museum and thanks to this app I actually created a plan so I could see all the works I wanted to. 🥲

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store