Yelp just gave its app a heavy dose of AI in what it’s calling its biggest update ever. The 2025 Fall Product Release adds more than 35 features designed to make finding local businesses feel more like chatting with a friend than typing keywords. The company’s new Yelp Assistant can now answer any question about a restaurant, bar, or shop by drawing from reviews, menus, and photos. Users can even point their phone cameras at a menu to see what dishes look like and how people rated them through a feature called Menu Vision.
The update continues Yelp’s shift toward AI-powered search and automation. For small businesses, especially restaurants, Yelp is rolling out two new AI call-answering tools called Yelp Host and Yelp Receptionist. These services handle routine calls, take messages, and even book tables or appointments, saving staff from constantly picking up the phone. Yelp Host integrates directly with Yelp Guest Manager and starts at $149 per month ($99 for existing Guest Manager customers), while Yelp Receptionist starts at $99 per month for local businesses.
Yelp’s chief product officer Craig Saldanha said the company is combining large language models with Yelp’s “massive trove of authentic human content” to make recommendations feel more real and grounded. In short, the app is learning to talk and listen more like a person. Users will notice a new “Ask Yelp Assistant” button on business pages, complete with suggested prompts. Best of all, Yelp Assistant can now talk to you more like a person, giving straight answers instead of just dumping a list of links.
Other updates include AI-grouped before and after photos for businesses that offer visual services, expanded Popular Offerings across more categories, and AI-generated video previews stitched together from user reviews and photos. Yelp is also integrating RepairPal’s booking system, acquired in 2024, into auto shop listings to make car service scheduling easier.
For diners, Menu Vision may be the standout. It uses AI and augmented reality to recognize menu items through a phone camera, instantly surfacing photos and snippets from reviews. It’s rolling out now on iOS and Android, with a more immersive version planned for early 2026. The company is also expanding Review Insights, which analyzes user sentiment around pricing, service, and experience, and introducing AI badges that highlight responsive businesses.
All told, Yelp is positioning itself less as a static directory and more as an AI-powered concierge that sees, hears, and speaks your local language. Whether that improves trust or just adds another algorithm between people and real experiences remains to be seen.
