Saved Spots for Your Favourite Bars
RoundFair feature · By FairLead
Most groups go to the same handful of places. Save them once and start the next session in seconds.
How it works
- Save a place the first time you go, or add it from the session.
- Pick it from your list when you start the next night.
- Rounds are logged with their location, so you can look back at where the night went.
What are saved spots for bars and restaurants?
Saved spots are a short list of the places your group actually goes: the local, the pizza place, the bar near the office. Instead of entering a venue from scratch every time you start a night out, you pick it from your list. RoundFair then records rounds with that location, so you can look back at where the night went.
That is the whole idea, and it earns its place because most groups are creatures of habit. If you drink at the same three places most months, typing a venue name each time is friction you do not need. Saved spots make starting a session a few taps rather than a small form.
How to save and use your favourite spots
There are two natural moments to save a place, and both are quick.
- The first time you visit, save the place from the session you are already running.
- Later, when you plan a night, pick it from your list as you start the session.
Once a place is in the list, choosing it is all that is needed. Rounds you log during the session carry the location with them, so the history builds up on its own without extra work.
If you move on halfway through the evening, rounds can be recorded with a different location, which is exactly what you want on a bar crawl. See below for how that works in practice.
A worked example: one bar crawl, three spots
Imagine a Saturday with four friends and three stops: the Crown for the first two rounds, a cocktail bar for three rounds, and a late-night place for one last round. That is six rounds across three venues.
With saved spots, the Crown, the cocktail bar and the late-night place are already in the list from previous weekends. When you arrive at each, you choose it and log the rounds there. At the end of the night the history reads: Crown, 2 rounds; cocktail bar, 3 rounds; late-night place, 1 round.
The value shows up the following week. A friend says the cocktail bar was where the trouble started, and you can look at the record instead of arguing. It also helps with planning: if the cocktail bar accounts for half the rounds, that is worth knowing before you suggest going back.
Common problems with saved places
Nothing here is complicated, but a few situations come up.
- Two venues with the same name. Chains and generic pub names cause confusion. Give each a name you will recognise, such as the branch or street.
- A place closes or you stop going. Tidy the list occasionally so the ones you use are easy to find.
- A one-off venue you will never visit again. You do not have to save it. It is fine to log rounds for a single night without adding a permanent entry.
- Different groups, same places. If you go to the same pub with work friends and old friends, the venue is the same but the session is separate. The list stores places, not groups.
These are the sort of small tidy-ups that keep any list useful, and none of them is urgent.
Saved spots vs notes apps, maps and bookmarks
You could keep a list of favourite bars in a notes app, star them in a maps app, or bookmark them in a browser. All of those work as memory aids, and if you already have a starred list you like, there is no need to abandon it.
The difference is what happens after you arrive. A maps list tells you where a place is, but it does not know you have started a night out there. A saved spot in RoundFair is connected to the rounds, so the place and the drinks live in one record. You do not have to remember to match them up later.
There is also a privacy angle. Location history in general-purpose apps often lives on someone else's servers. RoundFair has no accounts and no servers, and your saved spots stay on your device and in your personal iCloud.
Tips for getting more out of your saved spots
- Save the place the first time you enjoy it, while you are already there and thinking about it.
- Use short, obvious names. If you have to think about which entry is which, the list is not saving you time.
- Keep the list short. Ten places you actually use beat fifty you visited once.
- Use the location history when planning. If you want to try somewhere new, the history shows you what you have been doing lately.
- Pair spots with the turn order tracker, so each place has a clear record of whose round it was.
For a wider look at running a night with several stops, see our guide to how to run a bar tab with friends.
Who saved spots are for
Saved spots suit regular groups: the Friday crowd, the after-work regulars, the friends who always end up at the same two places. If you go out often, the time saved per session is small but adds up, and the location history becomes an interesting record over months.
They also help groups planning a bachelor or hen party, where there are several venues in one night and a lot of rounds to keep track of. Every stop can be picked from the list rather than typed while everyone is already thirsty.
If you go somewhere new every time, or only go out a few times a year, saved spots matter less. You can simply log the venue for that night and move on.
Why the venue matters for a fair night out
It is easy to think of a venue as background, but the place shapes the night. Prices differ from bar to bar, some places run tabs and some do not, and some are cash-only or have a minimum card spend. Knowing that you were at the cocktail bar rather than the local explains why a round felt so much more expensive than the last.
A location attached to each round turns a vague memory (we were out on Saturday) into a usable record (two rounds at the Crown, three at the cocktail bar). When the group looks back at where the money and the rounds went, the answer is concrete, and it helps if you are ever trying to work out how a night got away from you.
It also supports fairness over time. Groups often rotate who chooses the venue, and the chooser can drift towards places they like. A history of where rounds happened gives you an easy, non-confrontational way to notice that, and to vary the plan.
How saved spots fit with the rest of RoundFair
Saved spots are the starting point of a session rather than a feature on their own. Once you have picked a place, the rest of the tools follow: turn order tells you who buys next, who drank what shows consumption, and Split the bill handles shared costs such as the taxi home.
If your evening is a dinner rather than a pub stop, pick the restaurant and switch to restaurant mode, where you can add items and share tip and tax. Because both bars and restaurants are places, your list can hold both, and the session type decides how the money is worked out.
Because RoundFair has no accounts and no servers, your list belongs to you. It lives on your device and in your personal iCloud, which means it is there when you open the app in a place with no signal, and it is not something a company can mine for advertising.
Planning questions for regular groups
Regular groups often ask how to keep things tidy over months. A good rule is to save a place once you have been twice, not once, so the list reflects real habits rather than one-off experiments. If a favourite closes, drop it from your own habits, so you do not scroll past ghosts.
Another common question is whether to name places by area or by name. If your group refers to the pub by a nickname, use it. The list is for you, and the name that comes to your mind fastest is the right one.
For groups who travel, saving the venues you liked on a trip is optional. Many people prefer to log the rounds for that night only. If you are planning a longer stay, our guide to splitting costs on a group trip is a useful companion, and group trips shows how RoundFair is used away from home.
Why it helps
Less setup means the app stays out of the way. You spend the time with friends, not filling in forms, and your history of rounds and locations builds up by itself.
Frequently asked questions
Can I log rounds at more than one place in a night?
Yes. Rounds are recorded with a location, so a bar crawl is tracked bar by bar.
Are my saved spots shared with anyone?
No. They stay on your device and in your personal iCloud. RoundFair has no accounts or servers.
Is there a limit to how many spots I can save?
The site does not set a limit, but a short list is more useful than a long one. Keep the places you actually visit.
Can I look back at where I logged rounds?
Yes. Rounds are recorded with their location, so your history shows where each round was bought.
Do saved spots work offline?
Yes. RoundFair works offline and keeps your data on your device, so your list is available in a bar with no signal. See [live sharing and offline](features/live-sharing.html).
Can I use saved spots for restaurants as well as bars?
Yes. Bars and restaurants are both places, so you can save either. For a restaurant meal, [restaurant mode](features/restaurant-mode.html) handles the bill.
Will my friends see my saved spots?
Not unless you share a session with them. Your list stays on your device and in your personal iCloud.
Should I save every place I visit?
Not necessarily. Save the places you go back to. A short list of real regulars is quicker to use than a long one, and one-off venues can simply be logged for that night.