What changed, and when

Paying for a seat ends with your seat, not a balanceImproved

• After paying for a seat, the confirmation no longer shows a zero balance next to "Payment successful".
• Checking out with just your email now says your booking and receipt are kept in one place.

Your basket shows the dinner and its priceImproved

• Booking a seat for the first time, your basket now shows the dinner, the date and the price in pounds, with one total to pay. It used to show a balance pack and a list of balances.
• Checkout shows the dinner you're paying for before it asks for your email.

Try it: book a seat on any dinner page.

Dinner pages price your seat in poundsImproved

• The price at the top of a dinner page is now the price of the tickets on sale. It could show a cheaper price that had already sold out.
• Each ticket shows its price in pounds next to the credits, and how many are left at that price.
• The button now says what it does and what it costs, such as "Book a seat · £18".

Try it: open any dinner on your phone.

The bar under a guide says the price and seats leftImproved

• The bar that follows you down a guide on your phone now gives the next dinner's price in pounds, or how many seats are left when only a few are.

Try it: open any guide on your phone and read a third of the way down.

Dinner pages say how many seats are leftImproved

• Under the price, a dinner page now shows the seats still free, such as "7 seats left of 12 at the table", where it used to show the size of the table.
• On a phone the price and seats sit side by side. The date is already at the top of the page, so it and the countdown no longer take up a screen of their own.

Try it: open any dinner on your phone.

A smaller cookie notice on phonesImproved

• On a phone the cookie notice is now about a third smaller, so you can start reading straight away. It has the same three choices: Reject, Choose and Accept all.

Dinner prices in the list match the dinner pageFixed

• When the cheapest tickets for a dinner sell out, the dinner list and the homepage now show the price of the tickets still on sale, the same price you'll pay on the dinner page.

Try it: Events.

Dinner pages say what the evening is, and the price in poundsImproved

• The top of every dinner page now says how big the table is, that most guests come alone, and what a seat costs in pounds.
• On a phone it all fits on the first screen, above the Book your seat button.

Try it: open any dinner on your phone.

Guides end with the dinners, and what guests sayImproved

• The end of every guide now starts with what a Dinners With Friends evening is, and two guests on what it was like to come alone, then the next dinners.
• Each dinner there opens on its own date.

Try it: scroll to the end of any guide.

Hear about new dinner dates by email, on your phoneNew

• No date that suits? At the end of every guide you can now leave your email and we'll tell you when new dinners go on sale.
• The dinner cards in our guides link straight to it.

Try it: the end of any guide, on your phone.

The next dinner stays one tap away while you readNew

• On a phone, a slim bar appears at the bottom once you're a third of the way into a guide, with the next dinner's date and one button to it.
• It steps aside while a dinner card or the end of the page is on screen, and closing it keeps it closed for your visit.

Try it: open any guide on your phone and read on, for example the Exeter pub quiz guide.

Guides start on the first screen of your phoneImproved

• On a phone, a guide now opens on its title and first lines, not a big header and picture.
• Long guides have a Contents list near the top: tap it to jump to the part you want.

Try it: open any guide on your phone, for example the Exeter pub quiz guide.

Upcoming dinners start with the ones you can bookImproved

• The dinners page now opens on dinners with seats left. Sold-out dinners sit underneath, each with its waitlist.
• The page says what the evening is in one line: one long table at a good restaurant, and most guests come alone.

Try it: Upcoming events in the menu, on your phone.

Every article shows you a dinner to come toNew

• Our guides now say what Dinners With Friends is while you're reading, not just at the very end: one long table at a good restaurant, and most guests come alone.
• You see the next real table, its date, venue and price, with one button to it. A guide that mentions a place where we're hosting a dinner tells you so.
• Christmas guides suggest a gift card instead, until Christmas Eve.

Try it: open any guide on your phone, for example the Exeter pub quiz guide.

Pages load more smoothly on your phoneFixed

• On a first visit, every page was being drawn twice: once by our server and again by your phone. It's drawn once now, so pages settle faster.

Dinners can show a "Good to know" boxNew

• A dinner can now list its must-knows (arrival time, anything paid on the night, what's not included) in a short highlighted box at the top of "About this dinner".
• The full description stays as it is underneath. Dinners without notes look the same as before.

Try it: open any dinner that has notes added.

Checkout stays on what you're buyingImproved

• Checkout now shows what's in your order and the total before it asks for your email.
• The step counter only counts steps you actually do, so it reads "Step 1 of 3", not 4.
• No more gift banner at the top or "Book your seat" band at the bottom while you pay.
• The "install our app" pop-up is gone from the whole site.

Try it: add a dinner to your cart and go to checkout.

Sign-in says what happens nextImproved

• If you're asked to sign in partway through something, the page now says it'll take you straight back there, and that joining takes a minute if you're new.

Try it: open Buy credits while signed out.

A clearer booking cardImproved

• Ticket prices on a dinner now read in credits ("18 credits"), the same as everywhere else on the site, instead of "18.00 balance".
• Each ticket shows its name once, without a second label repeating it.
• The date and time fit on one line ("Thu 25 Feb 2027 · 19:30").
• On your phone, the "Book your seat" bar steps aside while the booking card is on screen, and tapping it takes you straight to the card.

Try it: open any dinner on your phone and scroll to Reserve your spot.

No gift banner on the gift pageImproved

• The "Send a gift card" strip at the top of the site no longer shows while you're already choosing a gift.

Try it: open the gift page.

The dinner's write-up moves below the booking detailsImproved

• On a dinner page, the date, venue and price now come first, and the host's write-up follows under "About this dinner", just above what to expect on the evening. All of it is still there.

Try it: open any dinner.

Dinner descriptions are easier to readImproved

• A dinner's write-up now opens with its first paragraph as a short introduction, and the rest is set in clear paragraphs with room between them. Every word is still there.

Try it: open any dinner on your phone.

Tidier dinner pagesImproved

• The button that follows you down a dinner page on your phone now says "Book your seat".
• The venue line no longer puts a stray space before the comma ("Lympstone Manor, Exmouth").
• The dinner's name is now the page's main heading, so search engines and screen readers read it first.

Try it: open any dinner from Events on your phone.

Guest rating shows five starsFixed

• The homepage's "4.9 from our guests" line showed four stars with the fifth greyed out, which read as a 4. It now shows five.

Try it: the top of the homepage.

The gift page helps you chooseImproved

• The gift page now shows what you're really giving: an evening at a hosted table, in photos and in our guests' own words.
• Each gift says who it covers ("Them and a friend") and the bonus credits it includes: 5 with the £35 gift and 25 with the £75.
• Lost for words? Pick an occasion, like a birthday or "New to Devon", and we start the note for you. Change every word, or send it as it is.
• Picking Christmas sets the gift to arrive at 8am on Christmas morning.
• On a phone, a bar along the bottom takes you back to the form from anywhere on the page.

Try it: dinnerswithfriends.co.uk/gift

Gift cards are easier to findImproved

• "Gift cards" is now in the menu at the top of every page and in the footer.
• When every dinner is full, the homepage says so under the dinners and points to a gift card, next to the waitlist.
• A shared link to the gift page now shows a picture of a gift card, and the page tells search engines what each gift costs.
• Our Christmas guide and our guide for people new to Exeter now mention gift cards.
• On a laptop-width screen the top menu stays on one line. When you're signed in, "My library" is in your account menu there.

Try it: "Gift cards" in the menu, or dinnerswithfriends.co.uk/gift.

Open a gift card in the appAppNew

• Got a gift card? Credits now has "Open a gift card". Type in the code from the card or the email, see the card with its note, and add the credits to your balance in one tap.
• A code with spaces or small letters still works. One that can't be a gift code is caught before anything's looked up, and a gift that's already been opened says so.
• "Give a dinner" on Credits and Account opens our gift page, where gift cards are bought. While every table's taken, Home offers it too.

Try it: version 1.1 after it updates itself, then Credits, then Open a gift card.

A gift that hasn't been opened gets a nudgeNew

• If the person you gave a gift card to hasn't opened it after a week, we send them one reminder with the code, in case the first email went to spam.
• If it's still unopened a week after that, we let you know, and you can send it to a different address. The code stays the same.
• Gift went to the wrong address? You can now send it again, or somewhere else, from your gift page yourself, even after it's gone out.

Try it: the "Open the gift page" link in your gift receipt, then "Didn't reach them?".

We can fix a gift that went astrayImproved

• Typed their email wrong, or the gift never arrived? Get in touch and we can correct the address and send it again, or send a dated gift early. The code stays the same.
• Lost your receipt? We can send it again, gift code included.

Try it: reply to your gift receipt, or email [email protected].

Give a gift card by handNew

• When you buy a gift card, you can now choose "I'll give it to them myself". We don't email them, and you don't need their email address.
• Once you've paid, you get a card to print on A4, cut and fold: your note on the front, and the credits, the code and a QR code that opens the gift on the back. The inside is left blank for you to write in. The link to the card is in your receipt too.
• Holding a card but no link? Type the code in at dinnerswithfriends.co.uk/gift/claim.

Try it: dinnerswithfriends.co.uk/gift, then "I'll give it to them myself".

Choose the day a gift arrivesNew

• When you buy a gift card, send it now or pick a day up to a year ahead, like a birthday or Christmas morning. It arrives at 8am, UK time, and they hear nothing before then.
• Your receipt says when it arrives and has a link to change the day, fix their name or email, or send it straight away, any time before it goes.
• A gift needs opening within two years of arriving. Once it's open, the credits stay in their account for good.

Try it: dinnerswithfriends.co.uk/gift, then "On a day you choose".

Give someone a dinnerNew

• Buy one of our credit bundles as a gift card for someone else, add a note, and pay on the same page with a card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or Klarna. No account needed.
• We email them the gift straight away, and email you a receipt with the gift code.
• They open the email, sign in or sign up, and the credits land in their account in one tap. You get an email when they've opened it.

Try it: the "Send a gift card" link at the top of any page, or dinnerswithfriends.co.uk/gift.

Checked on Android, large text includedAppFixed

• When the app opened straight onto a screen, such as a review from a link, part of it could stay blank on Android. It now fades in as it should.
• The credits pill at the top shows "32 credits" on Android, not just "32".
• With large text, a ticket's running order and a stay's plan put each time above its step instead of cutting it in two.
• With large text, the review's 0 to 10 buttons widen for "10", and the next-table rows show the whole price.

Try it: version 1.1 after it updates itself.

Credits says what your balance buysAppImproved

• Under your balance, Credits now says how many seats it covers at the cheapest price on sale, or how many more credits you need for one.
• While every table's taken, it says your credits keep for the next date, as Home does.

Try it: version 1.1 after it updates itself, then the Credits tab.

A review you can finishAppImproved

• The review asks about the evening overall first, then the venue and the company.
• Submit review always does something: with a question left blank, it says which ones, marks them and takes you up to the first.
• Answering a marked question doesn't move the rest of the form, so your next tap lands where you aimed.
• The comment box and the Submit button stay above the keyboard while you type.

Try it: version 1.1 after it updates itself, Reservations, a past dinner, then How was it?

After the night, your ticket points to the next tableAppImproved

• A ticket for a dinner that's over no longer says "Confirmed". It says when it was: "Last night", "Yesterday", "Last Saturday", or "Past dinner" after a week.
• Under "How was it?", it shows your next two tables: dates at the same place first, then others in the same town, leaving out the ones you've already booked.
• It no longer offers to invite a friend to a dinner that's already happened.

Try it: version 1.1 after it updates itself, Reservations, then a past dinner.

Said right on the dayAppImproved

• A lunch is "today", not "tonight": the ticket's running order and the games screen now say tonight only for something that starts at 5pm or later.
• The refresh wheel shows only while a refresh you pulled for is running. Before, the dinners list and your bookings could sit under a spinning wheel after you signed in.
• Fixing a field clears its error straight away, on sign-in, sign-up and the password reset.
• Your ticket says what you paid once: "15 credits, paid".

Try it: version 1.1 after it updates itself, Reservations, then pull down to refresh.

A weekend away gets its own ticketAppImproved

• A ticket for a weekend or other event over several days now shows its dates ("Fri 13 – Sun 15 Nov"), when you arrive and leave, each day's plan, where you're staying, what to do before you come and what's included, in place of a dinner's running order and tips.
• While it's on, the ticket marks today's part of the plan, and Home says "On now" and "Day 2 of 3" with today's plan underneath. It never calls Saturday morning "Tonight".
• Exclusive events keep their dark and gold.

Try it: version 1.1 after it updates itself, Reservations, then your weekend.

The note for your dinner, on your ticketAppImproved

• When we've written a note for a dinner (what time to arrive, where to find the table, who to ask for), your ticket now shows it, in our words, under your door code. It's the same note the reminder emails carry.
• From the day before, it's on Home too, on your next dinner's card.
• Adding a dinner to your calendar now puts your door code and the note in the entry, and an Apple or other calendar reminds you two hours before.

Try it: version 1.1 after it updates itself, Reservations, then your next dinner.

Your town stays in sight, and buttons keep their roomAppImproved

• The row of towns now opens with your town in view. Before, a town further along the row sat off the edge, so it looked as if All towns was picked.
• Picking a town on Home moves the dinners list's row to it too, and the other way round.
• At the largest text sizes, button labels no longer touch the edge of the button.

Try it: version 1.1 after it updates itself, Events, then a town near the end of the row.

Share a dinner with a friendAppNew

• Every dinner page has a Share button at the top. It sends the dinner's name, date, place and a link to it on our website, open on that date.
• Signed in, your friend code rides along on the link, so a friend who signs up from it counts as yours. On a dinner you're going to, it says "I'm going… come along".
• Invite a friend on your ticket now opens the dinner on its date too.

Try it: version 1.1 after it updates itself, any dinner, the share button top right.

Errors say what happened and what to do nextAppFixed

• When something doesn't go through (booking a seat, joining a waitlist, posting to your table, sending a review), the app now says so in plain words and what to do next, instead of a technical message.
• No connection reads "Couldn't reach us. Check your connection and try again."
• If your sign-in has run out, the app shows you as signed out, with buttons to sign in again, instead of failing screen by screen.

Try it: version 1.1 after it updates itself.

Join a waitlist before you have an accountAppFixed

• On a sold-out dinner, Join the waitlist showed an error if you weren't signed in. Now it says a waitlist place needs an account, with Create account and I already have an account.
• Either brings you back to the same dinner on the same date, ready to join.
• On Home, a sold-out dinner has Join the waitlist under it too, signed in or not.

Try it: version 1.1 after it updates itself, signed out, a sold-out dinner.

Save your town to your profileAppNew

• Pick a town on the dinners list and, if your profile doesn't have one yet, the app asks once whether to save it. Saving tells us where you'd like dinners, so we can plan more near you.
• Not now means it won't ask again on that phone. Picking a different town later leaves your profile as it is; you can change it in Settings.

Try it: version 1.1 after it updates itself, Events, then a town.

Chips and buttons hold stillAppFixed

• Picking a town, a filter or a dietary need no longer nudges the other choices along the row.
• With large text on Android, a button's label no longer loses its second word ("Add to calendar" read "Add to").
• With large text, Directions and Add to calendar on your next dinner sit one above the other, so neither splits mid-word.

Try it: version 1.1 after it updates itself, Events and Home.

See what's new since you last lookedAppNew

• Dinners you haven't seen on the dinners list before carry "New" there, until you next come back to the app.
• Home says how many there are, your town's first ("2 new dinners in Exeter since you last looked"), with a tap through to the list.
• The first time you open the app nothing is marked new, so you start with a clean slate.

Try it: version 1.1 after it updates itself, Home and Events.

See every waitlist you're onAppNew

• Reservations now has "Waiting for": the sold-out dinners you're queued for, each with your place ("You're 2nd in the queue") and a tap through to the dinner.
• A seat held for you comes first, with Claim your seat, so you don't miss the hold.
• Leave a waitlist from the same list. We ask first, since joining again puts you at the back.
• Fixed: a dinner's page gave your place in line counting people who'd already left the queue.

Try it: version 1.1 after it updates itself, Reservations.

Sold out? Join the waitlist right from HomeAppImproved

• When every table's taken, Home says so ("Every table's taken, for now") and what happens next: new dates go on sale a few weeks ahead, and the waitlist hears first if a seat opens up.
• Each sold-out dinner on Home has Join the waitlist, one tap. Once you're on it, Home and the dinners list both say "On the waitlist".
• The credits card reminds you credits never expire, so they're ready for the next date.
• Earn free credits now names the rewards there are: finishing your profile, the table quiz, and inviting a friend.
• Fixed: a dinner's page kept saying "You're on the waitlist" after you'd left it.

Try it: version 1.1 after it updates itself, Home.

Your town's dinners come firstAppNew

• Pick your town on the dinners list and its dinners lead, with the rest under "Elsewhere". The app remembers it on your phone, so the next visit opens on your town.
• If your profile names a town where we hold dinners, that's where it starts. Topsham, Exminster and the villages nearby count as Exeter.
• Home follows the same pick, and before you've signed up you can choose your town right on Home. "All towns" is one tap away.
• No dinners in your town just now? The list says so and shows the nearest ones elsewhere.

Try it: version 1.1 after it updates itself, Events → the towns under Upcoming dinners.

Rate any dinner you've been toAppFixed

• After a dinner, your ticket asks "How was it?", and so does Home for a week. Until now it only asked guests the host had checked in at the door, and hosts rarely do, so almost nobody was asked. The website's Reservations page offers Leave review the same way.
• It asks once the dinner's over, not while you're still at the table.
• A past ticket no longer shows Table talk and the table games: they're for the run-up and the night itself.
• The figures at the foot of a ticket fit on a small phone ("Standard" no longer splits in two), and stack one under another when your text is large.

Try it: version 1.1 after it updates itself, Reservations → a dinner you've been to. On the website: Reservations.

Your dietary needs, on your booking and your ticketAppNew

• Booking a seat now shows what you've told us you eat ("Vegetarian and nut allergy"), before you confirm. Nothing set yet? It asks "Any dietary needs?" with Add.
• Change them right there, or from your ticket until the dinner: the same choices as in Settings, saved to your profile for every dinner.
• It's your profile, not a message to the venue: for an allergy, please tell the venue too.
• On Android with the largest font size, the tab names at the bottom now show in full.

Try it: with version 1.1 of the app, after it updates itself, open a dinner and tap Book, or open a ticket under Reservations.

The app reads well at any text sizeAppFixed

• If you've set your phone's text larger, the app now follows it without breaking. Headings no longer split words across lines, your credits and picture stay in view at the top, and the Book button no longer runs off the edge: at the largest sizes it sits under the price, full width.
• Changing the text size while the app is open no longer cuts lines in half until you restart it.
• At the standard size nothing changes.

Try it: on iPhone, Settings, then Accessibility, then Display & Text Size, then Larger Text. On Android, Settings, then Display, then Font size. Then open the app (version 1.1, after it updates itself).

Sign-up says when you already have an account, under your emailAppFixed

• If you try to create an account with an email that already has one, the app now says so under Email ("There's already an account with this email. Sign in instead."), not under the password. An email that doesn't look right is flagged under Email too, when signing up or signing in.
• In your table's game, when nobody else is in, the line above the games now reads "Just you for now", instead of saying you're the first here after a game has finished.

Try it: with version 1.1 of the app, after it updates itself (close and reopen it once), go to Account, then Create account.

Your dinners, counted, and a sample ticket before you sign upAppNew

• Reservations now keeps a record of the dinners you've been to: how many, at how many places, and since when, newest first.
• Each dinner shows what you said about it in your review. If you haven't reviewed it yet, it asks how it was, and one tap opens the review.
• With nothing booked, the record ends with the next dinner at a place you haven't been yet, with a button to book a seat.
• Cancelled and missed bookings are folded away under their own heading.
• Signed out, Reservations shows a sample ticket and what comes with one: the door code, directions, table talk and games.

Try it: with version 1.1 of the app, after it updates itself (close and reopen it once), open Reservations.

Return moves you on, and sign-up asks for your password onceAppImproved

• Press return (Next on the keyboard) to move to the next field in Settings, both for your details and for changing your password. On the last field, return sends the form.
• Sign-up asks for your password once. Tap Show to check what you typed.
• If your phone's notifications are off, the switches in Notifications are faded, with a note that your choices still save and start working once notifications are on.
• Hosts: return on a message's title moves on to the message itself.
• On Android phones, the keyboard no longer covers the field you're typing in or the line under it, including when return moves you down the form.
• Tap anywhere in a bigger text box, like About you, to start typing.

Try it: with version 1.1 of the app, after it updates itself (close and reopen it once), go to Account, then Settings, and press return on First name.

See what credits cost, and find help, before you sign upAppImproved

• Signed out, the Credits tab now explains how credits work and lists the packs with their prices, so you know what a dinner costs before you make an account.
• Signed out, Account now has What's new, Contact us, the code of conduct, and our privacy policy and terms.
• Earn credits no longer offers credits for rating the app in the store. App stores don't allow rewards for ratings.

Try it: with version 1.1 of the app, after it updates itself (close and reopen it once), sign out and open Credits.

Claim a seat held for you, in the appAppNew

• When a seat comes back on a sold-out dinner and we hold it for you off the waitlist, it's now the first thing on Home: the dinner, the date, the price and how long it's held.
• That dinner's page shows the held seat in place of "sold out", and the date is marked Held.
• Claim your seat books it at the price on the hold, though the date is sold out. Short of credits? Get them on our website; the seat stays yours until the hold ends.
• If the hold runs out while you're claiming, the app says so and doesn't spend your credits.

Try it: with version 1.1 of the app, after it updates itself (close and reopen it once), join the waitlist on a sold-out dinner. When we hold a seat for you, open Home.

The keyboard stays out of the way, and venues come with a photoAppImproved

• The keyboard no longer covers the field you're typing in, or the line under it that says what's wrong. That's on sign-in, sign-up, password reset, your profile, Settings and Send feedback.
• On Send feedback, the Send button stays above the keyboard while you type.
• Venue details opens on a photo of the place, or of the dinner when we don't have one of the venue yet.
• The venue's pin on a dinner's map, and the dinner you've picked on the dinners map, are now in the app's green.

Try it: with version 1.1 of the app, after it updates itself (close and reopen it once), open a dinner and tap Venue details and directions.

Notifications that ask first and open the right screenAppImproved

• The app no longer asks to send notifications the moment you sign in. It asks after you book, when a reminder is obviously useful, and only if you tap Turn on.
• Tapping a dinner reminder opens your ticket. Tapping a note from your host opens your ticket at Table Talk. A waitlist seat or a new date opens that dinner on that date.
• Notification settings now says whether notifications are on for your phone, and turns them on or opens your phone's settings if they're not.
• After a five-star dinner review, the app may ask you to rate it in the store. It won't ask more than once every three months.

Try it: with version 1.1 of the app, after it updates itself (close and reopen it once), book a dinner, or go to Account → Notifications.

Add a friend's code in the appAppNew

• Signed up in the app without a friend's link? Add their code under Bring a friend, any time before you buy your first credits.
• It counts the same as signing up with their link, so you both get the referral reward. Today that's 5 credits each, straight away.
• If a code can't go on, the app says why: it's your own, you've already joined through a friend, or you've already bought credits. Once a code is on, the screen says whose link you joined through.

Try it: with version 1.1 of the app, after it updates itself (close and reopen it once), go to Account → Bring a friend.

Bring a friend from the appAppNew

• Account → Bring a friend shows your invite code, says what you and a friend each get, and sends your link with one tap. Friends who join show up there by first name, with the credits each one earned you.
• "Invite a friend" on your ticket, and on the screen you see straight after booking, sends the dinner with your code on the link, so a friend who signs up from it counts as yours.
• Earn credits now lists bringing a friend too.

Try it: with version 1.1 of the app, after it updates itself (close and reopen it once), go to Account → Bring a friend.

The invite page says when referral credits arriveFixed

• The invite page, your profile and the welcome you see when signing up with a friend's link said credits arrive with a friend's first purchase. They now follow the programme: today, you both get them as soon as your friend signs up.

Try it: dinnerswithfriends.co.uk/invite.

The app tells you when something won't loadAppImproved

• When a screen can't load, it says so and gives you Try again, instead of a blank page or "No dinners booked" when you have.
• Your credits, tickets, reviews, membership plans and settings each wait for your details before showing them, so you never see a zero balance or an empty form by mistake.
• A link to a dinner or ticket that's gone says so, with a way back to all dinners or your tickets.
• If a screen breaks, you can head Home and carry on, as well as trying it again.

Try it: with version 1.1 of the app, after it updates itself (close and reopen it once).

The app is easier to see, tap and use with a screen readerAppImproved

• Text fields, tick boxes and the search bar have a clearer outline, so it's easy to see where to type. The names under the tabs you're not on are darker and easier to read.
• Small controls are easier to hit: closing a sheet, clearing a search, removing a filter, your credits and the small buttons all take a fingertip-sized tap.
• With VoiceOver or TalkBack, buttons now say what they are and what they do ("Close", "Clear search", "Filters, 2 on"), tabs say which one is selected, and the questions on a page say whether they're open or closed.

Try it: with version 1.1 of the app, after it updates itself (close and reopen it once).

A new icon, and the app you can feelAppImproved

• The app icon and the screen you see while it opens now match the website: the wordmark on aubergine for the icon, and on the app's own pale pink while it opens.
• Booking a seat, sending a review and checking a guest in each give a short tap you can feel.
• In a timed game, Got it taps too, and every phone at the table buzzes when the time is up, so nobody has to watch the clock.
• The screen stays on while a game is open, so it doesn't lock between turns.

Try it: this arrives with version 1.1 of the app, as an update from Google Play.

You can send us feedback from the appAppNew

• Account → Send feedback takes a message of up to 2,000 characters and sends it straight to the team. We reply to the email on your account.
• It tells you when it's sent. If it doesn't go, it says why and keeps what you wrote, so you can send it again.
• It sends which version of the app you're on with your message, so we can track down bugs faster.

Try it: open the app after it updates itself (close and reopen it once), then Account, then Send feedback.

What's new is in the appAppNew

• Account → What's new lists every change to the app, newest first, with what's different and where to try it.
• A dot on Account tells you there's something new, until you've had a look.
• The website's What's new page marks changes to the phone app with an App label.

Try it: open the app after it updates itself (close and reopen it once), then Account, then What's new.

The table games are easier to play with one handAppImproved

• Icebreakers lists the five games with how many players, how long and how lively each one is. Each game opens on one page of rules, then straight into play.
• The buttons now sit at the bottom of the screen, where your thumb is, and the cards are set big enough to read across the table.
• On the day of your dinner, Icebreakers opens with your table's game first.
• The shared table game says when it's reconnecting, who else has joined, and when a tap didn't get through. It no longer offers to deal a new game before it has checked for one already running.
• Home on the day of your dinner no longer shows the games twice.

Try it: open the app after it updates itself (close and reopen it once), then Home, then Icebreakers.

When something goes wrong in the app, it says so and we hear about itAppImproved

• If a screen in the app can't open, you now see "Something went wrong" with a Try again button, instead of the app closing on you.
• When that happens, or the app does close unexpectedly, we're sent a report that says which version of the app you had, so a bad update gets spotted and fixed quickly.

Inbox, free credits and the dinner personality quiz read like the websiteAppImproved

• Inbox lists messages from the team with how long ago each arrived and a dot on the new ones. A message opens on its own page, with any quick question and link underneath.
• Earn credits puts the ones ready to collect at the top, says how many credits are still waiting, and tells you what unlocks each of the others, with a button that takes you there.
• The dinner personality quiz is eight questions, one per screen, with a bar showing how far you are. Finish it and your result shows a link to collect the credits it unlocked.

Try it: open the app after it updates itself (close and reopen it once), then Account, then Inbox, Earn credits or Dinner personality.

Earn credits and message dates behave properlyAppFixed

• Earn credits no longer loads forever when it can't reach us, or when you're not signed in. It says what happened, with a Try again, or asks you to sign in.
• Finishing your details or the quiz shows the reward ready to collect straight away, instead of after you leave and come back.
• Message and Table talk dates are in UK time wherever your phone is set.

Your account in the app reads like the websiteAppImproved

• Account opens with your name, then plain lists: your reservations, credits and inbox; your dinner personality, notifications and settings; then help, the house rules and our policies.
• Notifications has one switch for all of them, then one for each kind. Switches move the moment you tap them. If your phone blocks notifications from us, the screen says so and opens your phone's settings.
• Settings keeps your details, your password and deleting your account on one page.

Try it: open the app after it updates itself (close and reopen it once), then Account.

Clearer messages in your account and when something won't loadAppFixed

• Changing your password with the wrong current one, or on an account that signs in with Google, now says so in plain words.
• A mobile number we can't read is caught before saving, with an example that works.
• If your account can't load, Sign out and Help are still there, with a Try again. Home has a Try again too when your bookings can't load.
• Short of credits, the booking screen says how many more you need once, by the button.
• The delete account check no longer squeezes its buttons on a small screen.

Getting started in the app looks like the website, and keeps your placeAppImproved

• The welcome, sign in, create account and reset password screens use the website's photos and wording.
• Sign in or create an account from a dinner, a ticket or your account, and the app takes you straight back there. A new member who books from a dinner lands back on that dinner's booking screen once their name is in.
• Setting up your account is two short steps: your name, then a mobile number you can skip and add later. Numbers written like 07700 900123 are fine.

Try it: open the app after it updates itself (close and reopen it once), sign out from Account, then open any dinner and tap Book your seat.

Signing in no longer loses your place or shows confusing errorsAppFixed

• Signing in used to drop you on Home, whatever you were looking at. It now takes you back.
• Setting up your account asked you to agree to things that read against our booking policy. Now you agree to the Terms once, when you create your account, as on the website.
• A mistyped email address now says so in plain words, as do too many attempts and a lost connection.
• Your initials on the Account screen were cut off at the bottom. They show in full.

Booking a seat and your credits in the app read like the websiteAppImproved

• Booking a seat shows the dinner's photo, then when, where, the price and how many credits you'll have left, with one button to confirm.
• Short of credits? The booking screen says how many more you need and opens our website to get them. Come back and your balance is up to date.
• Once you've booked, Your ticket comes first, then Add to calendar (with the venue on the invite), then back to the dinners.
• The Credits tab shows your balance, your recent activity, how credits work and the packs. Every pack opens our website, where credits are bought.
• Credit history is a plain list, page by page, with a Try again if it can't load.
• An exclusive dinner you've booked says "You're going" and opens your ticket, and date pills mark the date you're going to.
• Long dates read "Monday 16 November 2026", without the stray comma.

Try it: open the app after it updates itself (close and reopen it once), then Credits, or any dinner and Book your seat.

The Credits tab no longer promises refunds it can't giveAppFixed

• It said you could cancel in time and get your credits back. A booked seat is held for you: if plans change, we can move you to another date, or you can pass your seat to a friend. The app now says exactly that.

A new guide to eating in Tiverton and the Exe valleyNew

• Thirteen places: the wood-fired Lost Kitchen on the Knightshayes estate, Frou Frou's Parisian bistro, small plates at the Peryton, a bookshop café, the floating bar on the canal, and the Exe valley pubs and plates at Bickleigh, Bampton and Sampford Peverell, each checked against the Food Standards Agency register and a second source before it was named.

Try it: dinnerswithfriends.co.uk/blog/best-restaurants-tiverton-guide

A new guide to eating in Okehampton and on the edge of DartmoorNew

• Eleven places: the town's curry houses and pubs, the café at the station, and the moorland inns worth the drive: the Oxenham Arms at South Zeal, the thatched Bearslake and the eccentric Highwayman at Sourton, the Dartmoor Inn at Lydford and the Taw River Inn at Sticklepath, each checked against the Food Standards Agency register and a second source before it was named.

Try it: dinnerswithfriends.co.uk/blog/best-restaurants-okehampton-guide

Browsing dinners in the app looks like the websiteAppImproved

• Events is now a column of photos, each with the dinner's name, date, time, venue and price on the picture, the way the website lists them. A line at the top says how many dinners are on.
• Dinners you've booked say "You're going", and the dinner's page opens your ticket instead of offering another seat.
• A dinner's page leads with its name and a short list of when, where and the price, then how the evening goes and the venue.
• A sold-out dinner says so once and tells you where you are on the waitlist.
• If nothing matches your filters, or the dinners can't load, the screen says so and offers to clear the filters or try again.
• Two of Table Talk's ready-made messages are reworded.

Try it: open the app after it updates itself (close and reopen it once), then Events.

A new guide to eating in and around CreditonNew

• Twelve places: a tapas wine bar in the old bank, the Three Little Pigs on the square, Middle Eastern plates at Baobab, the bikers' café, and the village pubs worth the drive at Sandford, Coleford, Yeoford and Morchard Road, each checked against the Food Standards Agency register and a second source before it was named.

Try it: dinnerswithfriends.co.uk/blog/best-restaurants-crediton-guide

On the day, the app shows your nightAppImproved

• On the day of your dinner, Home switches to Tonight: the start time, your door code, Directions first, and Play together for the table game. Below it, how the evening runs, from arriving and meeting your host to when the table wraps up.
• Your ticket shows the same running order on the day.
• For a week after a dinner, Home opens by asking how it was. Rating it takes two minutes.
• Once you've rated it, the app suggests your next table, starting with dinners at the same venue and in the same town.
• Stars you pick when rating now fill in, so it's clear what you chose.

Try it: open the app on the day of your next dinner, or after one you've been to.

Your ticket in the app has the whole night on itAppImproved

• Open a booking and the first screen shows the venue, the date and time, your door code with its QR, and buttons for directions and your calendar. Below sit the table chat, the games, the menu and a button to call the venue.
• A ticket you've opened once still opens with no signal, so the door code is there at the door.
• The Reservations tab is now a wallet of your upcoming tickets. Past dinners fold away beneath them, with the ones waiting for your rating marked.
• After the night, the ticket asks "How was it?" in place of the door code.
• Can't make it? One tap starts an email to the team, who can move you to another date or pass your seat to a friend.
• A dinner stays on Home and in your wallet until it ends, so you can still find your door code if you're running late.

Try it: open the app after it updates itself (close and reopen it once), then Reservations.

Tickets in the app show the venue and directions againAppFixed

• Tickets opened from the Reservations tab were missing the venue's address and the Directions button. Both are back.

Try it: in the app, Reservations → your next dinner.

A new guide to eating in and around HonitonNew

• Twelve places, from the High Street cafés and a Portuguese family kitchen to the Heathfield Inn, The Pig at Combe, the thatched Drewe Arms and ice cream in a field at Monkton, each checked against the Food Standards Agency register and a second source before it was named.
• The Honiton town guide no longer recommends a pub whose latest hygiene inspection fell to the lowest grade, or a Thai restaurant that is no longer on the register; both are replaced.

Try it: dinnerswithfriends.co.uk/blog/best-restaurants-honiton-guide

The Teignmouth and Dawlish guide is now linked from the day-trip guidesImproved

• The Dawlish and Teignmouth day-trip guide and the best day trips from Exeter guide now point to the new restaurants guide, so you can get from "what to do" to "where to eat" in one click.

A new guide to eating in Teignmouth and DawlishNew

• Thirteen places across the two towns and Shaldon, every one checked against the Food Standards Agency register and a second source before it was named: Back Beach pubs, Greek on Station Road, the Ness across the river, French breakfasts on the Strand and the beach pub at Dawlish Warren.

Try it: dinnerswithfriends.co.uk/blog/best-restaurants-teignmouth-dawlish-guide

The app's Home starts with your next dinnerAppImproved

• Open the app and your next dinner comes first: how long until it, when and where, and one tap to your ticket, directions in your maps app or your calendar. Other dinners you've booked sit just below it.
• Nothing booked yet? Home shows the next few dinners with their prices, and your credit balance.
• Not signed in? One line on what Dinners With Friends is, then the next dinners you can book.
• Venue names no longer repeat the town, as in "Rockfish Exeter, Exeter".

Try it: open the app after it updates itself (close and reopen it once).

A public "What's new" pageNew

• Every change you can see on the site now has a dated entry on one page, newest first, with a New, Improved or Fixed label and where to try it. The same list feeds the app's "What's new".

Try it: dinnerswithfriends.co.uk/changelog, also linked from the footer.

The app now looks like the websiteAppImproved

• The Android app wears the same colours, type and buttons as dinnerswithfriends.co.uk: cloud pages, pine text, mint buttons, Neue Montreal headings with a Pangaia italic accent.
• Buttons are rounded pills in plain sentence case, cards sit flat on a fine rule, and the tab bar shows a mint pill behind the tab you're on. Tab labels no longer get cut off.
• Every text colour in the app now passes accessibility contrast against the surface it sits on.

Try it: open the app after it updates itself (close and reopen it once).

Signing in with email on the app keeps you signed inAppFixed

• Signing in or signing up with email and password on the Android app now keeps you signed in. Since July the app accepted your details and then carried on as if you were a guest. Google sign-in was not affected.

Try it: in the app, Account → Sign in.

Guides now show when they were last checkedImproved

• Every guide that has been re-verified against primary sources now says so at the top: "Reviewed 18 September 2026" next to the original publish date, or "Updated …" when a later edit came after the check. 232 posts carry a review date today.
• Search engines get the same date: the article's modified date and the sitemap now use the review date rather than only the publish date, so a 2026 guide no longer looks untouched since March.

Try it: open any guide at dinnerswithfriends.co.uk/blog and look under the author.

Guides now tell search engines exactly what they listImproved

• Every local guide ("best pubs in Exeter", "restaurants in Sidmouth") now carries a machine-readable ranked list of the places it names, with a jump link to each one, so Google and AI answer engines can show the list itself rather than guess at it from the prose.
• Every article, category, tag and author page now carries a breadcrumb trail for search results (Home › Blog › Guides › the article), matching the trail you see at the top of the page.
• Venue pages with a menu now say so in their structured data, with the menu link.

Try it: open any guide at dinnerswithfriends.co.uk/blog and view the page source, or paste the URL into Google's Rich Results Test.