Think it, book it, do it: Vurb app eases the work of going out

Get ideas for where to go or what do to, then make suggestions and chat with your friends in order to decide — all with the same app.

Name: Vurb

What it does: Combines service apps such as Google Maps, Foursquare, Yelp and Lyft to help you find destinations, restaurants, movie theaters, trending videos and more. Get reviews of the place you want to try, directions and even a ride all with the same app.

Available: iOS, Google Play, Amazon.

Cost: Free

What’s hot: If you already use apps such as Yelp as well as group chats and list makers, Vurb turns deciding what to do into a much more efficient and fun process. My favorite part was the ability to quickly create “decks” or collections of places I wanted to save and easily share them with friends from my contacts or Facebook list. I’ve also never had a quicker or smoother experience researching local movies and showtimes, with the ability to book on Fandango.

What’s not: There was a small time lag in getting my friends to join my group chat but not because of the app. My friends aren’t tech progressive enough to want to add an app to their phones just to talk to me about what we’re doing Saturday night when texting has always worked just fine for us. Ticktock …

— Jen Leo