How it works · BiteScout

Download and make an account

Grab BiteScout from the App Store and sign up with your email. You'll get a verification email, tap the link in it and you'll be signed straight in, no need to type your password again.

Choose "Food Lover" when you're asked what kind of account you want. You can always list a business later from the same account.

Tell us your suburb

This is the one that matters most. Your suburb is what the whole home screen is built around, it decides which spots count as "local" to you and which ones get filed under worth the drive.

You can change your suburb any time in Profile → Edit Profile. The home screen updates straight away, so it's worth changing if you move or you're staying somewhere else for a while.

Read your home screen

The home feed is split into sections that each answer a different question. Local Around [your suburb] is everything within five kilometres, closest first. Tonight's Picks puts places that are open right now at the front. Worth the Drive is the well-rated spots further out.

The round icons along the top filter everything by cuisine. Tap Pizza and the whole feed becomes pizza. Tap All to clear it.

Search or browse the map

When you already know what you're after, use Search, it looks across dish names, suburbs and business names. The Map tab shows every spot as a pin, so you can see what's around a particular area rather than around you.

Search and Map show every listed spot, including ones outside your local radius. Handy when you're heading somewhere else for the day.

Save the ones you like

Tap the heart on any spot to save it to your favourites. If it's somewhere you haven't been yet, use Want to Try instead, it keeps your "one day" list separate from the places you already love.

Use Add to List to build your own collections, late night eats, spots for when family visits, whatever's useful to you.

Leave a review

Open a spot, scroll to Reviews, pick your star rating and write what it was actually like. Your review shows up straight away and the spot's overall rating updates across the app.

You get one review per spot, and you can edit or delete it whenever you want. Reviews you've written show up under Activity on your profile.

Go Insider, if you want to

Everything above is free and stays free. Insider adds early access to spots that have just joined, plus the Hidden Gems and Insider Picks feeds. It's $2.99 a month, or $19.99 for a year.

Not sure? Skip it. The app is genuinely useful without it, read what's included and decide later.

Download and choose "Business Owner"

Install BiteScout, sign up with the email you want linked to your business, and pick the Business Owner account type when you're asked. Verify your email and you're in.

Use an email you check often, that's where approval and review notifications go.

Apply to get listed

Fill in your business details, name, what you make, and where you're based. This goes through to us for a quick check so the app doesn't fill up with duplicate or fake listings.

Home kitchens and market stalls are welcome. You don't need a shopfront to be listed.

Wait for approval

We review applications manually. When you're approved you'll get a notification on your phone and a message in the app, and the Owner Dashboard unlocks.

Most applications are looked at within 48 hours. If something's unclear we'll email you rather than reject it outright.

Build your listing

This is the part that decides whether people tap through. Add a strong main photo, your opening hours for each day, a few menu items with prices, your best dish, and a short description of what you're about.

The main photo does most of the work. Use a clear, well lit shot of the thing you're best known for, it's what shows up on the home feed, in search and on the map.

Go live

Once you publish, your spot appears in Search and on the Map immediately. On the home feed, new listings are shown to Insider members first for the first seven days, then to everyone.

That early window means the people who care most about new openings see you first, and it gives you a week to collect a few reviews before the wider audience arrives.

Keep it current

The Owner Dashboard is where you edit everything, hours, menu, photos, description. Keeping your opening hours accurate matters more than anything else, because the app uses them to decide whether you show as open right now.

Changed your hours for a public holiday or a quiet week? Update them. Tonight's Picks pushes open venues to the front.

Boost when it counts

Boost is optional. It lifts your spot to the top of the home feed for a set window, 24 hours, 3 days or 7 days, which is useful around a launch, a new menu item, or a weekend market.

You don't need Boost to be found. Free listings appear in search, on the map and in the local feed like everyone else.

Start your listing →

While you're setting up

Things people ask early on.

Two likely reasons. It might be outside your local radius, in which case it'll be under Worth the Drive rather than Local. Or it joined in the last seven days, which means Insider members see it on the home feed first. It's always findable in Search and on the Map.

No. BiteScout works out what's local from the suburb you set in your profile, not from tracking your phone. If you'd rather not share location at all, the app still works exactly the same.

Yes. You can apply to list a business from an existing account. Once you're approved, the Owner Dashboard appears on your home screen alongside everything else, you can still save spots and leave reviews as normal.

It's the average of every review left on that spot, and it updates the moment someone posts, edits or deletes a review. Nothing is weighted, boosted or bought, Boost affects where a spot appears, never its rating.

Listing is free, no fee, no commission, no contract. Boost is the only thing you'd ever pay for, and it's entirely optional.

Yes. Deleting your account from Settings removes your profile, your saved spots, your lists and your reviews permanently. It can't be undone, so we ask you to confirm first.

Pick your side, and we'll walk you through it.