Vivino Just Removed Their Ads — What This Tells Us About the Future of Wine Apps

Have you heard the news? The CEO of Vivino recently made a huge announcement. They are removing all ads from their app. For years, Vivino has been the biggest name in the world of wine apps. Millions of people use it every day to scan labels, check prices, and read ratings. But for a very long time, those users had to deal with pop-up ads, banner ads, and sponsored content. Now, that is changing. Vivino is shifting its focus. They want to make money through their Premium subscription and their wine marketplace instead.

This is a massive shift in the tech world. But why does it matter to you? If you just enjoy drinking a glass of wine on the weekends, why should you care about a tech company changing its business model?

It matters because it shows a big change in what people want. It tells us a lot about the future of wine apps. People are tired of being treated like walking wallets. They want tools that actually help them. They want apps that respect their time, protect their privacy, and offer real value.

In this post, we are going to look at why ads in wine apps were a bad idea to begin with. We will explore what wine drinkers actually want from their screens. And we will share why we built our own wine journal app, Vinoh, to be completely ad-free from the very first day.

The Problem with Ads in Wine Apps

Imagine this scene. You are at a nice restaurant. The lights are low. Soft music is playing in the background. You are with good friends or maybe on a romantic date. The waiter brings over a bottle of wine. You taste it, and it is amazing. It is one of the best wines you have ever had.

You want to remember this bottle. You pull out your phone to scan the label. You open your wine app. And suddenly—BAM! A loud video ad starts playing. It is an ad for car insurance or a noisy mobile game. You scramble to turn the volume down. The mood is broken. The magic of the moment is gone.

This is the reality of ad-supported apps. Ads are designed to grab your attention. They are loud, bright, and annoying. But wine is the exact opposite. Wine is about slowing down. It is about relaxing. It is about taking a moment to enjoy life. Mixing loud ads with a quiet glass of wine just does not make sense.

When an app relies on ads to make money, its main goal changes. The app does not want you to quickly scan your wine and put your phone away. The app wants you to stay on the screen for as long as possible. The longer you look at the screen, the more ads they can show you. The more ads they show you, the more money they make.

This means the app becomes cluttered. It gets filled with useless articles, sponsored posts, and endless feeds. It stops being a helpful tool. It becomes a billboard.

For a long time, we just accepted this. We thought, "Well, the app is free, so I have to put up with the ads." But that mindset is changing. We are starting to realize that our time and our attention are valuable. We do not want to trade our peace of mind for a free app.

The "You Are The Product" Problem

There is an old saying in the tech world: "If you are not paying for the product, you are the product."

What does this mean? It means that if an app is free, the company is making money by selling your data and your attention to advertisers. Every time you scan a bottle, every time you rate a wine, the app learns about you. It uses that data to show you targeted ads.

This might be fine for a simple game or a weather app. But a wine journal is personal. Your taste in wine is unique to you. When you write down your tasting notes, you are keeping a diary of your experiences. You are tracking your memories.

Do you really want a giant tech company selling those memories to the highest bidder? Most people would say no.

Vivino's decision to remove ads shows that they finally understand this. Users were getting frustrated. The app was getting too heavy and too slow. By removing ads, Vivino is trying to clean up their app. They are trying to make it a better experience for the user.

But this pivot also reveals a deeper truth. It shows that the old way of building apps is dying. People are willing to pay for quality. They are willing to pay for a clean, fast, and private experience.

What Wine Drinkers Actually Want

So, if people do not want ads, what do they want? What is the perfect wine app?

We have spent a lot of time talking to wine lovers. We talked to beginners who just want to know what to buy at the grocery store. We talked to experts who have cellars full of rare bottles. And we found that most people want the same basic things.

First, they want a simple way to remember what they drank. Human memory is not perfect. You might have a great bottle of Pinot Noir on a Tuesday night. But a month later, you will probably forget the name of the winery. A good wine app should make it incredibly easy to scan a label, save the bottle, and add a quick note.

Second, people want to learn. The world of wine is huge. There are thousands of grape types. There are hundreds of wine regions. It can feel very confusing. When you look at a wine menu, it can feel like reading a foreign language. People want an app that helps them understand what is in their glass. They want to know why a wine tastes the way it does.

Third, they want to track their own palate. Your palate is your sense of taste. Everyone's palate is different. Some people love sweet, fruity wines. Other people love dry, earthy wines. A great wine app should help you figure out what you like. It should help you see patterns in your drinking habits.

Finally, people want to share their journey with friends. Wine is a social drink. It is meant to be shared. People want to see what their friends are drinking. They want to get recommendations from people they trust.

Building Vinoh from Day One

When we started building our own wine app, Vinoh, we looked at the market. We saw the big apps filled with ads. We saw the cluttered screens. And we made a firm decision.

Vinoh would never have ads. Not ever.

We wanted to build a quiet, beautiful space for wine lovers. We wanted to build an app that felt like a high-quality leather journal, not a noisy billboard.

Because we do not rely on ads, our goals are perfectly aligned with your goals. We do not need you to spend hours scrolling through a feed. We want you to scan your bottle, log your notes, learn something new, and then put your phone away. We want you to get back to enjoying your wine.

Vinoh is a pure wine journal. It is designed to be your personal companion in the world of wine. You can scan bottles using our smart AI label scanner. Or, if you prefer, you can manually enter the information.

Once a bottle is in your journal, the fun begins. You can log your tasting notes. You do not just give it a star rating. You can break down the whole experience. What color was the wine? Was it a deep, dark purple or a bright, clear red? What did it smell like? Did you smell fresh strawberries, or did you smell old leather and smoke? What did it taste like? Was it sour, sweet, or bitter?

By writing down these details, you train your brain. You become a better taster. And the best part is, Vinoh saves all this data. Over time, you will start to see trends. You might realize that you always give high ratings to wines from the Rioja region in Spain. Or you might notice that you really dislike wines that have a strong oak flavor. This knowledge is power. It saves you money because you stop buying wines you do not like.

But we did not stop there. We wanted to make Vinoh the ultimate learning tool. So, we added features that let you learn facts about the wine. You can read stories about the winery. You can see what foods pair best with that specific bottle. You can even compare your own palate with expert reviews. If an expert says a wine tastes like blackberries and leather, you can see if you taste those things too.

Meet Soma, Your AI Sommelier

The biggest difference between the old way of doing things and the future of wine apps is Artificial Intelligence (AI).

In the past, apps could only show you static information. They could show you a rating out of five stars. They could show you a short description. But they could not talk to you. They could not understand you.

That is why we created Soma.

Soma is the AI assistant built right into Vinoh. Think of Soma as your own personal sommelier. A sommelier is a wine expert who works in a fancy restaurant. Their job is to help you pick the perfect wine for your meal. They ask you what you like, and they guide you to the right choice.

Soma does exactly that, but right in your pocket.

Soma is not just a search engine. Soma actually learns your palate. Every time you log a wine, Soma takes notes. Soma learns that you love bold red wines from Italy. Soma learns that you do not like sweet white wines.

Because Soma knows your taste, Soma can give you personalized recommendations. If you are standing in the wine aisle at the store, you can ask Soma, "What should I buy for a steak dinner tonight?" Soma will look at your past favorites and suggest the perfect bottle.

Soma turns every pour into an adventure. You can ask Soma questions like:

• "Why does this wine smell like green peppers?"
• "What is the difference between Syrah and Shiraz?"
• "How long should I let this wine breathe before drinking it?"

Soma answers in simple, easy-to-understand language. No snobby wine jargon. Just friendly, helpful advice. This is the future of wine apps. It is not about showing you ads for things you do not want. It is about giving you a smart, helpful guide that makes your life better.

Wine Journeys: Learning Made Fun

One of the biggest pain points for wine drinkers is that learning about wine feels like going back to school.

If you want to learn about wine, you usually have to buy a thick, boring book. You have to memorize maps of France and Italy. You have to learn complicated words in other languages. It feels like work.

We believe that learning about wine should be fun. It should be as enjoyable as drinking the wine itself.

That is why we created Wine Journeys in the Vinoh app.

Think of Wine Journeys like Duolingo, but for wine. Duolingo is a popular app for learning languages. It uses bite-sized lessons and fun games to teach you. We took that same idea and applied it to wine education.

Instead of reading a long chapter about the Bordeaux region, you can take a quick, three-minute Wine Journey. You will learn the basics in a fun, interactive way. You will learn how to hold a wine glass. You will learn how to swirl the wine to release the smells. You will learn the difference between a light body and a full body wine.

These bite-sized courses are perfect for when you are waiting in line, sitting on the bus, or relaxing on the couch. You can slowly build your wine knowledge over time, without ever feeling overwhelmed.

And to make it even more fun, we added a country map. Every time you log a bottle from a new country, it lights up on your map. It turns your wine drinking into a global adventure. You can travel the world, one glass at a time.

Sharing the Journey

Wine is meant to bring people together. Think about the best bottle of wine you ever had. Chances are, you were not drinking it alone in a dark room. You were probably sharing it with friends, family, or a loved one.

Your wine app should reflect that social spirit. In Vinoh, you can easily share your wine journal with your friends. You can see what they are drinking. If your best friend tries a new sparkling wine and loves it, you can add it to your own wish list.

It is like having a private club where everyone shares their best discoveries. But unlike social media apps, there are no ads interrupting your feed. It is just you, your friends, and great wine.

The Value of a Premium Experience

Now, let us talk about the cost.

As we mentioned earlier, Vivino is shifting its focus to its Premium subscription. They realized that to provide a good service without ads, they need to charge a fee.

At Vinoh, we have had this model from the start. The basic Vinoh app is completely free to download on iOS. You can use it to scan bottles, log your notes, and track your journey.

But for those who want the ultimate experience, we offer Vinoh Plus. Vinoh Plus costs just $4.99 a month, or $44.99 for a whole year.

What does that get you? It gets you unlimited access to Soma, your AI sommelier. It gets you full access to all the Wine Journeys. It gets you deep insights into your palate and expert comparisons.

Think about it this way. A single glass of wine at a restaurant usually costs between $10 and $15. For less than half the price of one glass of wine, you get a full month of a premium, ad-free, AI-powered wine journal.

We think that is a very fair trade. It allows us to keep the app clean and beautiful. It allows us to pay for the advanced AI technology that powers Soma. And most importantly, it means we never, ever have to show you an ad.

We work for you, not for advertisers. Our only goal is to make an app that you love using.

The Future is Bright (and Ad-Free)

Vivino's decision to remove ads is a big moment in the wine tech world. It is a sign that the era of cluttered, annoying apps is coming to an end.

Wine drinkers have spoken. They want apps that respect their time. They want apps that protect their privacy. They want tools that help them learn, remember, and enjoy their wine.

The future of wine apps is personal. It is about AI assistants that know your taste better than you do. It is about fun, interactive education. It is about beautiful, quiet spaces where you can log your memories without being interrupted.

We are thrilled to see the industry moving in this direction. It proves that the choices we made when building Vinoh were the right ones. We built Vinoh for the modern wine drinker. We built it for people who want to explore the world of wine with confidence and joy.

If you are tired of loud ads and cluttered screens, we invite you to try a different path. Download Vinoh on iOS today. Start scanning your bottles. Start logging your tasting notes. Meet Soma and see how AI can change the way you drink wine. Try a Wine Journey and learn something new.

Share your journal with your friends. Watch your country map fill up with colors as you taste wines from around the globe.

Wine is an adventure. Every bottle has a story to tell. Every pour is a chance to learn something new about the world and about yourself. You deserve an app that makes that adventure even better. You deserve an app that is as refined and enjoyable as the wine in your glass.

Welcome to the future of wine apps, Welcome to Vinoh.