A free Jewish app. Yes, we know. Enjoy it.
Right. Joking aside, the question is legitimate, and you are right to ask. When something is free, you always wonder who pays. Often the answer is “you, another way”: through your data, advertising, or a subscription that appears unexpectedly after three months. Here is how Keila works, plainly and without an asterisk.
Free for people looking for food. Full stop.
Keila is free for people looking for somewhere to eat. Explore, filter, open a listing, save favourites, read guides, leave a review: none costs anything, now or in future. No “Plus” version unlocking the pareve filter. No limit of three searches a day. No “free trial” that turns into a charge.
The account is optional too. Explore and save favourites without registering. An account is for syncing favourites between devices and writing reviews, that is all. Sign in with Apple or by email with a code, with no extra Keila password alongside your forty others.
Why does this matter so much to us? Because the app you open at 1 pm on Friday to find lunch before Shabbat cannot ask for your payment card. That would be absurd. And honestly, a little embarrassing.
So who pays? Restaurants that choose to
The model is simple. Restaurants are in Keila for free: listed places paid nothing to be there. Those wanting to go further can choose an offer:
- a complete, checked listing, paid once without a subscription;
- subscriptions for more visibility, with tools to come: a dashboard, promoted placements, notifications before Shabbat or holidays;
- photo and video packages for those without time to create their own images.
Everything, including prices, is detailed on the restaurant owners’ page. No hidden price list. If you know an owner who might be interested, you know where to send them.
Why this model? Because the restaurant’s interests align with yours: it wants to be found by people looking for it; you want the right place without spending the whole evening searching. As long as the listing tells the truth, everyone benefits. The day it lied to please a paying customer, the app would become useless to both of you.
What we will never sell: certification
This is the line we will not cross. Paying for an offer changes nothing about the dietary status displayed on a restaurant listing. No “kosher” label in exchange for a subscription. No certification appearing because a cheque arrived.
In any case, Keila certifies nothing. Certification comes from an organisation: Beth Din de Paris, Rabbinat Loubavitch de France or another. Keila checks sources, dates them and displays their nature. A restaurant declaration stays a declaration, certification stays certification, and money has no button that turns one into the other. Details are on the method page, with a step-by-step check in Beth Din de Paris certified restaurant: how to check.
The same goes for ratings. A paying restaurant cannot remove a review because it is negative and gains no bonus stars. We explain ratings in why Keila does not mix ratings.
And your data? It stays yours
Keila does not sell your data. Written plainly in the privacy policy. Here are some concrete facts to go with that:
- no personalised advertising or audience tracking tools are integrated into the app;
- Keila does not ask your religion;
- your dietary preferences stay on your phone and reach your account only with separate consent;
- your precise location is neither recorded in your Notebook nor sent to the catalogue;
- your dietary choices are not shared with map providers.
Why stress this? Because saying “I eat kosher” can reveal beliefs. We do not monetise that kind of information. We do not even keep it without your consent.
Paris first, then the next places
Today, Keila covers Paris and part of Île-de-France, from Boulogne to Sarcelles, and nowhere else. We prefer a careful catalogue in one city to an approximate one in ten. Eighteen arrondissements already have at least one place, with a strong concentration in the 17th and 19th, and Île-de-France followed, from Levallois to Saint-Mandé and as far as Sarcelles. The next planned cities are Strasbourg, Lyon and Marseille. When? We have no date to announce, and will not invent one to sound good.
What we can say is that opening a city does not mean importing a list found online. It means cross-checking directories, checking certificates, locating every address and crediting every photo. It takes time, and that time is precisely why you can trust the filter. In Strasbourg and impatient? Write to thomas@keila.app; we would love to hear from you.
And yes, the app also covers vegan and vegetarian places. For your colleague, girlfriend or cousin who has “stopped eating meat since January”. Places are in vegan and vegetarian restaurants in Paris.
Keila is coming soon to the App Store. Until then, everything is on the home page. Free. We told you.