There are two big questions people ask every weekend: where are we eating, and what are we doing after? There are tons of apps out there that aim to help people find good food and fun events, but fewer that let you do both in one app. If you don’t want to spend another night at home watching Netflix, Gravy provides a great listing of local events that can keep you entertained.

What is it and what does it do

Main Functionality

Gravy is a helpful app that lets you find fun events near your home or office. Events are sorted by your mood, making it easy to find an event that matches your interests and your energy level!

Pros

• Helps you find stuff to do
• Sign up with Facebook or create a new account with your email
• Tons of events to browse, with multiple ways to filter your search results
• Finds tons of relevant events for residents of big cities and smaller areas
• Great to use at home, or while on vacation

Cons

• App needs to access Calendar and Current Location, also well the ZIP codes for where you live and work…you sort of expect that in this kind of app, but some people will likely still balk at the idea of sharing so much personal info
• Limited International event listings. The focus of this app is definitely the US, though I did manage to track down some events in Canada and along the US-Mexico border

Discussion

To find an event in your area, simply tap on an icon that matches your mood/inclination. These include Lively, Classy, Brainy, Playtime, and the nebulous “Whatever.” After you make that selection, you can peruse your results, making adjustments to the date or desired location to filter your results further.

Want to see where all the action is? Tap the button for “Trending” and see what the most popular events are in your area, regardless of your “mood” setting.” I did note that this setting had a lot of duplicate events for a particular film– not for various show times, mind you, but multiple events for the same time.

There’s also a “Channels” tab that allows you sort events by categories like food, free/discounted, the arts, “get fit,” sports, live music, and family-friendly events. I like that there are so many ways to filter events, particularly in a large city. You can also add custom channels related to city-specific events, events for moms, LivingSocial deals, and farmer’s markets!

The latest version of Gravy is version 1.6.1. This release has a really nice improvement over past versions: you can now browse anywhere using a map. This is particularly nice if you live in the suburbs or a smaller city, and want to see what’s going on outside your little corner of the world.

Conclusion and download link

If you want an app that’s simple to browse and packed with ton of fun events, Gravy is a really great option. With a great interface and a broad array of events and deals, you can easily find something to eat and something to do. This is a great app to use the next time Friday night rolls around and you’re bored.

Price: Free

Version reviewed: 1.6.1

Supported OS: Requires iOS 5.0 or later

Download size: 22.4 MB

Gravy on Apple App Store