Comparison
Roots Earth and SmartGuide: the facts
Roots Earth is an app with audio stories about 5,665 places in 130 cities, 25 countries and 6 regions, written by local people. SmartGuide is an app for iOS and Android with a web app opened from a QR code; its home page says "SmartGuide helps tourism organisations guide and engage visitors at scale." The table puts the facts of both side by side; every SmartGuide fact on this page comes from SmartGuide's own pages, read on 15 September 2026, and is listed under Sources.
Published 15 September 2026. Markdown: smartguide.md
How do Roots Earth and SmartGuide compare?
| Fact | Roots Earth | SmartGuide |
|---|---|---|
| What it covers | 130 cities in 25 countries across six regions | Over 800 destinations around the world (app description) |
| Cities and places, where published | 130 cities and 5,665 places | "100,000 places of interest" (home page); over 800 destinations (app description) |
| Languages | 7 languages: English and German in all 130 cities; Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian in 126 | "30+ languages" (home page); the App Store Languages field lists 13 entries |
| Account needed | No account | Not stated on their site |
| Plays offline | Yes, once a city's audio is downloaded | Yes (home page) |
| Who writes the content, where stated | Local people write the stories | Not stated as one sentence; the home page says content is made "with the help of AI" and the app description says the narratives are "from local guides" |
| Platforms | Android (Google Play) | iOS, Android and a web app opened from a QR code |
| Store links | Google Play | App Store and Google Play |
This page is about Roots Earth, and the Roots Earth home page describes the app.
Every row in full
What it covers
Roots Earth: 130 cities in 25 countries across six regions. Europe: 10 countries, 55 cities and 2,313 places. North America: 2 countries, 10 cities and 467 places. Latin America: 4 countries, 20 cities and 892 places. Africa: 3 countries, 15 cities and 650 places. Asia: 3 countries, 15 cities and 705 places. Oceania: 3 countries, 15 cities and 638 places.
SmartGuide: The app description counts over 800 destinations around the world. The destinations index lists destinations by country; for Albania, for example, it lists Albania, Berat, Durrës, Fier, Gjirokastër, Korçë, Krujë, Sarandë, Shkoder, Tirana and Vlora, with no stop or place count per destination. Sources: 2, 3, 4.
Cities and places, where published
Roots Earth: 130 cities and 5,665 places, counted from the live Roots Earth catalogue on 12 September 2026.
SmartGuide: The home page states "6,000 local guides", "100,000 places of interest" and 10,000 titles. The app description counts over 800 destinations around the world. Sources: 1, 3, 4.
Languages
Roots Earth: Audio stories in English and German in all 130 cities, and in Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian in 126 cities; Cannes, Marseille, Nice and Monaco have English and German only.
SmartGuide: The home page states "30+ languages". The App Store Languages field lists 13 entries: Catalan, Czech, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, Chinese, Slovak, Spanish. Sources: 1, 3.
Account needed
SmartGuide: Not stated on their site. The home page states "No installation required" for the web access opened from a QR code. Source: 1.
Plays offline
SmartGuide: Yes. The home page lists "offline access" and "offline maps and itineraries". Source: 1.
Who writes the content, where stated
SmartGuide: Not stated as a single authorship sentence. The home page says content is produced "with the help of AI, incl. multilingual audio" and calls the product an "AI-powered audio guide app"; the app description says the guide plays narratives "from local guides". Sources: 1, 3, 4.
Store links
SmartGuide: App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id318062323. Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.smart_guide.smartguide.T_00007. Sources: 3, 4.
Sources
Every SmartGuide fact on this page was read on 15 September 2026 from a page SmartGuide publishes itself; times are UTC. Where a page counts its own audio items, this page gives the number and calls them titles. Where the record of the read does not name which SmartGuide page a statement is on, the row cites every SmartGuide page it could be on. Roots Earth facts: its live catalogue on 12 September 2026, and Google Play.
- https://www.smartguide.app: SmartGuide home page, read 15 September 2026 at 18:03 UTC.
- https://www.smart-guide.org/en/destinations/: SmartGuide destinations index, read 15 September 2026 at 18:05 UTC.
- https://itunes.apple.com/lookup?id=318062323&country=us: SmartGuide App Store listing, read 15 September 2026 at 17:57 UTC; Apple's lookup service, which returns the listing's published fields.
- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.smart_guide.smartguide.T_00007&hl=en&gl=US: SmartGuide Google Play listing, read 15 September 2026 at 18:02 UTC.
Roots Earth in short
- No account
- Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection
- Audio stories in English and German in every city, and in Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian in 126 of the 130 cities
Roots Earth for Android is available on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rootsearth.app.