Verithiathe honest score on any app
Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

Dianping vs Reco

Dianping 4.7★ · Free + IAP 75
Winner Dianping
Reco 4.3★ · Free to download 60

Dianping is the better choice for users seeking a comprehensive local guide with discounts in China, while Reco is a promising option for organizing personal recommendations and discovering new places, especially for travel, despite its current bugs.

Full reviews: Dianping · Reco

Dianping offers extensive local information, discounts, and user reviews, making it a powerful tool for daily life and travel within China, though it struggles with international user accessibility and some technical issues. Reco, while newer and buggier, excels at helping users organize and discover recommended places, particularly for travel and local exploration.

Head to head

Features and Content edge: DianpingR11R17R25R33
Dianping Dianping is praised for its extensive information on dining, shopping, and entertainment, offering coupons, discounts, and free trials R11R33R43. Users find it indispensable for finding places to eat and play R17R25. It also allows users to watch videos and check reviews before making decisions .
Reco Reco is valued for its ability to organize favorite places, create custom lists, and discover new spots based on recommendations . Users appreciate features like marking places as 'been there' and getting directions . It's seen as a tool for exploring new cities and finding hidden gems .
Ease of Use tieR12R13R21R25
Dianping Dianping is generally considered easy to use by its core user base , with many finding it a convenient daily assistant R25. However, some recent updates have made certain features, like map filtering and collection browsing, less convenient R12R13R21.
Reco Reco is described as easy to use and navigate by many users . Its aesthetic design is also a plus . However, some users report issues with pins not saving and a lack of options to edit or delete pinned items R63R64R67.
Reliability and Performance tieR6R7R20R22
Dianping Dianping users frequently report significant bugs, including content not loading, network errors, and the app not working half the time . Issues with dark mode R6R20R22 and photo uploads are also mentioned. Some users also face aggressive user blocking and repeated verification requests R7.
Reco Reco suffers from significant reliability issues, with multiple users reporting the app is laggy, buggy, and often shuts down R64R67. A common complaint is that pinned locations do not save or disappear randomly R63R64R67.
International Accessibility edge: RecoR1R9R10R14
Dianping Dianping faces major challenges for international users, with many complaints about the inability to translate the app into English R1R9R14R15. Users also struggle to register with non-Chinese phone numbers R10 and find the app unusable outside of China .
Reco Reco is primarily used by US-based users, and there are no specific complaints about international accessibility issues in the reviews. Its focus on organizing personal recommendations and travel suggests it's designed for a global user base, though evidence is limited.
Value and Pricing edge: DianpingR11R33R43R72
Dianping Dianping is a free app with in-app purchases, and users frequently highlight its value through discount packages, free trials, and cash cards R11R33R43. It helps users save money by checking for deals before consuming R33.
Reco Reco is free to download, and reviews do not mention any in-app purchases or specific pricing. Users perceive it as a valuable tool for organizing recommendations and discovering new places, comparing it favorably to Yelp or Google Maps for personal organization R72.
Pick Dianping if

you are in China and need a comprehensive local guide for dining, shopping, and entertainment, including discounts and user reviews R17R25R33.

Pick Reco if

you want an aesthetically pleasing and easy-to-use app to organize your personal recommendations for places to visit, especially for travel or exploring your city, and are willing to overlook some initial bugs .

Evidence note: Reco has significantly fewer reviews (55 vs. 7010) and a lower lifetime rating, which makes direct comparison challenging. Many of Reco's reviews are highly positive, but a cluster of negative reviews highlight critical bugs, suggesting a potential divide between early adopters and those experiencing issues. Dianping's negative reviews often focus on international user friction or technical glitches, while its positive reviews emphasize its utility within China.

Frequently asked

Can Dianping be used in English?
Dianping users frequently report that the app has no way to translate into English or that translation features are inadequate, making it difficult for non-Chinese speakers to use R1R9R14R15.
Does Reco have problems with saving pins?
Yes, several Reco users report that pinned locations do not save or disappear randomly, making the app buggy and difficult to use R63R64R67.
Is Dianping useful for finding discounts?
Yes, Dianping is highly praised for offering various discounts, coupons, free trials, and cash cards, helping users find good deals for food, hotels, and experiences R11R33R43.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 96 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. [R11] Dianping 5/5 · US Dianping constantly brings surprises! Discount packages, free trials, cash cards... · translated
  2. [R17] Dianping 5/5 · US Dianping brings convenience to everyone: I've been using Dianping for many years. In the early days, I used the paper version of the "Beijing Handbook." Now with Dianping, no matter where I go, I can always find good food and fun places. · translated
  3. [R25] Dianping 5/5 · US My Dianping: After the pandemic, I hadn't used Dianping for a long time. With the arrival of summer in Chengdu, there are more opportunities to work outside, which means more chances to eat out. Dianping has once again become an indispensable assistant and expert for us. With its guidance, I know where to find good food, beautiful scenery, great entertainment, good friends, a good mood, and good results! All good things will come! · translated
  4. [R33] Dianping 5/5 · US Good app for your daily life: Recommended by my friend, I installed it and found it offered too many choices for your daily spending, great fun and good discount, including free charges for your well planned food, hotel or experience. I got used to check in this app before I move to consume, online order helped me a lot.
  5. [R12] Dianping 3/5 · US Please improve the favorites browsing rules: In the old version, if I was located in Beijing, opening favorites would default to only showing Beijing restaurants. Now, all saved items from across the country are displayed, and I have to filter by city myself, which is very inconvenient. I hope this can be improved. · translated
  6. [R13] Dianping 1/5 · US New version is really hard to use: The new version removed the ability to open the map for detailed filtering, which is very difficult to use. The interface design is unreasonable. Many users open the map to view areas and then apply detailed filters, but the detailed filter function cannot be used when the map is open! · translated
  7. [R21] Dianping 4/5 · US Can you optimize the favorites feature?: 1. I hope to add a "view this group only on map" function within individual favorite groups. 2. I hope the function to group items immediately after favoriting them returns (or long press the favorite button to group), including attractions, exhibition halls, etc. (Previously, some attractions and art museums couldn't be directly categorized). 3. I suggest learning from Google Maps' grouping method, which is concise and clear, and also allows for notes (I want to note recommended dishes for various restaurants). · translated
  8. [R6] Dianping 3/5 · US Dark mode not working: The latest version has a bug, dark mode is not working 😡😡😡 · translated
  9. [R7] Dianping 1/5 · US Way too aggressive in blocking users: Can’t access a ton of pages when visiting China, and many places only have a dianping page. So I can never find good places to eat.
  10. [R20] Dianping 1/5 · US Where is night mode? · translated
  11. [R22] Dianping 2/5 · US It doesn't even support dark mode: Opening this app at night is blinding. It's the only mainstream app that doesn't support dark mode! · translated
  12. [R1] Dianping 1/5 · US No way to translate: No way to translate app into English
  13. [R9] Dianping 3/5 · US Translation: The App needs improvement for the translations, not all verbiage will translate.
  14. [R10] Dianping 1/5 · US Can’t even register: Can’t even register with an American phone number
  15. [R14] Dianping 5/5 · US English version: Cannot find where to change language to english. Is there a separate english version app?
  16. [R43] Dianping 5/5 · US Positive feedback: Very useful information about dinning and shopping. Sometimes you can download the coupons for more discount. Recommend!
  17. [R72] Reco 1/5 · US Terrible UX: App is useless stick to Google maps or Yelp
  18. [R15] Dianping 3/5 · US Good but not language friendly: I like the app, when I first downloaded it, it says English and simplified chinese but I still can’t figure out where or how yo switch the language and same for my friends who also downloaded. I think this feature should be accessible easily because I believe many foreigners do use this app in china
  19. [R63] Reco 3/5 · US Pins not saving: I really like the potential of this app but I tried to pin my first pin and it said it saved but then when I go to my pins there is nothing listed and it says zero pins. When I go to Phodega as a pin, it shows my profile as one of the 3 profiles that pinned it. But I can’t see that on my profiles end. If this is fixed then I would love to try this app again.
  20. [R64] Reco 1/5 · US pins not saving: Pins aren’t saving and the app itself is extremely buggy. Can’t even use!
  21. [R67] Reco 1/5 · US Buggiest app: Buggiest app I’ve ever used. Pinned locations don’t save and often disappear randomly. Love the idea but it needs a lot of work.

Synthesized from 96 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store