TheFork

Is TheFork safe?

Booking a table through TheFork is low-risk: there is no chat with strangers, reviews come from people who actually ate there, and we found no reported breach of its accounts. The weaknesses are quieter. The app tracks what you book for advertising, your profile is public until you change it, and Italy's consumer authority made TheFork rewrite terms that let it suspend accounts and change its loyalty scheme with little explanation. We score it 58/100.

TheFork is a big app in southern Europe, with about 522,000 App Store ratings in Italy alone. In October 2026 it was in Apple's Food and Drink top 100 in nine of the 24 large markets we checked. Its publisher, La Fourchette SAS in Paris, belongs to Tripadvisor, which agreed in August 2026 to sell it to American Express for US$700 million.

What TheFork tracks

Apple's privacy label is more candid than most. Purchases, contact info, identifiers and usage data may be used to track you across other companies' apps and websites. Linked to your identity are those plus location, user content, search history and diagnostics. Google Play adds that device IDs, app activity, email address and phone number are shared for advertising or marketing.

The privacy statement, last updated on 24 August 2026, explains how. TheFork may share device identifiers, cookie data and "in some cases, hashed contact details" with ad partners, and uses your searches and bookings to show you retargeted ads on social media. With your consent it can read your phone contacts to find friends. It also shares "risk parameters based on restaurant reservation history" with restaurants, which in practice tells a restaurant something about your record before you arrive.

The newer social features add exposure. Since TheFork added follows, public lists and badges, your name, photo, profile URL and activity are "publicly visible" by default. You can change that in your privacy settings, but few people look.

Account suspensions and the Italian case

Most complaints about TheFork are about losing an account, not about scams. In August 2025 Italy's competition and consumer authority, the AGCM, opened case CV272 into possibly unfair clauses in TheFork's terms of use, its Yums loyalty scheme, TheFork PAY and gift cards. Consumer groups told the authority they had collected 153 complaints in 2024 and 2025 about sudden, poorly explained suspensions or deactivations, 12 about lost points and 14 about technical faults such as gift cards being blocked.

TheFork offered commitments, and on 26 May 2026 the AGCM made them binding and closed the case without finding a breach or imposing a fine. TheFork rewrote its terms to list the specific reasons for unilateral changes and suspensions, to give at least 45 days' notice before changing or closing the loyalty scheme, and to narrow its broad exclusions of liability. It said the new wording would apply in every market, not just Italy. It also agreed to refund all users hit by a gift card fault between 29 June and 2 July 2025 in full, plus an extra €10 or €20 gift card.

Some suspension rules remain. Four no-shows in 12 months suspend an account, and the privacy statement says TheFork may suspend accounts automatically when its systems suspect fraud. Unspent Yums disappear with a closed account.

Account security

TheFork asks you to confirm your phone number once with an SMS code, which helps it block fake accounts. TheFork runs its own public bug bounty on Bugcrowd, separate from Tripadvisor's, which covers the TheFork apps and website and pays $50 to $3,500. We found no two-step login on sign-in, though. A reused password is therefore the main way into an account, and with it the stored Yums, gift cards and payment details.

Reviews and other users

Content risk is low for an app with user posts. The terms only allow a review from a diner who booked through TheFork and turned up, or who paid at least €5 through TheFork PAY. Photos are screened automatically, and flagged reviews go to human moderators. TheFork's EU transparency report for February to December 2025 lists 6,662 notices from users, including 117 for harassment and 102 for discrimination, and no orders from national authorities. One gap: Apple rates the app 13+, while the terms require users to be at least 18.

How to use TheFork more safely

1. Use a unique password, because sign-in has no second step.
2. Open your privacy settings and limit who can see your profile and activity.
3. Do not sync your phone contacts unless you want friend suggestions.
4. On iPhone, tap "Ask App Not to Track", and refuse advertising cookies on the website.
5. Cancel bookings you cannot keep. Four no-shows in a year suspend the account.
6. Spend Yums and gift card balances before you close your account.

How we scored it

Regulatory record (75) is the strongest factor: one Italian consumer case that ended in binding commitments, with no fine. Privacy (42) is the weakest, because bookings and contact details feed advertising and profiles are public by default. Security (65) reflects a clean breach record and a paid bug bounty but no two-step login. For a food app that collects less, see Too Good To Go (62).