6 Great Apps to Help You Find Local Events
LoyalFree founder Sophie Hainsworth picks her favourite apps for finding local events, including Skiddle and Eventbrite…
With new technology, finding out what is going on in your local area has never been easier. This is great news if you don’t want to hear about a great local event after it happened, or you have moved to a new area and want to tap into what’s happening around you. Or perhaps if you just want to get out more and meet new people.
Here are some great apps to help you find the events that are perfect for you:
Fatsoma
Fatsoma lists thousands of events in nineteen countries. It is essentially a self-service ticketing website that allows event organisers to sell tickets – and customers to search and buy. You can search for events, find out more details, keep up to date with friends, see special offers, and organise your next social gathering based around a forthcoming event.
Available in many cities across the UK, the app has a directory of local events covering a vast variety of categories, such as Food & Drink or nightlife. You can also buy your event tickets from within the app. Find out more here: https://www.fatsoma.com/
Skiddle
Preston-based ticketing firm Skiddle is great for music fans; it can be used to find and buy tickets for clubs, gigs and festivals. Skiddle’s aim is to get “more tickets to real fans who deserve a better experience.”
If you’re hosting an event, you could advertise it on this platform. Good music, good food, plenty of alcohol, and portable toilet hire… you’re good to go!
Within the app you can search in a variety of ways – for example by location or genre. Tickets can be bought within the app – with 10 million tickets already sold.
Skiddle is run by music fans and has raised over £200,000 for a variety of charities. Find out more about their app here: https://www.skiddle.com/aboutus/
Meetup
Meetup gives you the option to join existing local meetups or better still, to create your own. The premise of Meetup is to connect people with local groups to try new things, find support or pursue a passion.
The app shows events which are hosted locally and is perfect when looking to meet new people in an area. For example, local groups may learn to cook together, arrange group walks or plan a visit to an outdoor cinema.
The app now enables people to set up meet ups and manage them from a phone – ideal for planning on the go. Find out more here: https://www.meetup.com/
Often overlooked as an events platform, Facebook has an amazing directory of events, uploaded by businesses and event organisers. It has the handy functionality of letting you click ‘interested’ to store the event for future consideration and can also let you know which of your friends are attending events.
Furthermore the ‘invite’ and ‘share’ functionalities can easily let you share the event with your Facebook friends by inviting them along or posting about the event. Search for upcoming events here: https://www.facebook.com/events/
Eventbrite
Eventbrite is the world’s largest event technology platform, powering millions of events in 180+ countries and territories – and it now has an accompanying app to the popular website.
It’s well established – so it has a LOT of events to choose from. You can find popular local events, search your local area by category (e.g. networking, bookclubs, music, etc.), buy tickets and see which events your friends are going to.
If you choose to buy your tickets via the app you can store these digital tickets directly on your phone. You can get the app and start exploring here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/eventbriteapp/
Once you know where to look for it, you’ll be able to see just how much there is going on. With these apps you’ll never miss another event again. More likely you’ll have difficulty choosing what to go to and what to miss!
LoyalFree
Our app, LoyalFree, is available in 15 towns and cities in the UK – with more areas being added all the time. The app not only helps you save money when you shop locally by providing a variety of discounts, it also has a handy events feature. So you can search for events and activities close to you. In addition, a Local Guide gives you information about the area – and is automatically updated to show you what’s close to you. So it’s ideal for locals and visitors, and great to help you find what’s going on when you arrive in a new town or city.
The events can be filtered by type, for example, ‘Family Friendly’. As an added bonus there are also regular giveaways held within the app.
You can download the app for free on iOS and Android by clicking here: www.loyalfree.co.uk/download or searching for LoyalFree on the app store.
Sophie Hainsworth is co-founder of LoyalFree, an award winning innovative mobile phone app which helps connect people to special offers in their area.