# Roots Albania and SmartGuide: the facts

Canonical: https://rootsalbania.com/compare/smartguide
Published: 15 September 2026

Roots Albania is an app for iPhone and Android with audio stories about 211 places in ten Albanian cities, in 28 languages, 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 16 September 2026, and is listed under Sources.

## How do Roots Albania and SmartGuide compare?

| Fact | Roots Albania | SmartGuide |
| --- | --- | --- |
| What it covers in Albania | 211 places in ten cities, each city with its own map of places | 11 entries for Albania in the destinations index |
| Cities and places, where published | 10 cities and 211 places, all in Albania | "100k" places of interest (home page); "over 800" destinations (Google Play) and "over 1000" (App Store) |
| Languages | 28 languages, with a male and a female voice in each | "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 | iPhone (iOS 16.0 or later) and Android | iOS, Android and a web app opened from a QR code |
| Store links | [App Store](https://apps.apple.com/app/id6761542889) and [Google Play](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rootsalbania.app) | [App Store](https://apps.apple.com/app/id318062323) and [Google Play](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.smart_guide.smartguide.T_00007) |

This page is about Roots Albania, and [What Roots Albania is](https://rootsalbania.com/app) describes the app in full.

## Every row in full

### What it covers in Albania

Roots Albania: 211 places in ten Albanian cities: Tirana 39, Vlora 34, Saranda 33, Durrës 23, Berat 15, Gjirokastra 15, Korça 15, Pogradec 15, Shkodra 12 and Kruja 10. Every city has its own map of places.

SmartGuide: The destinations index lists, for Albania: Albania, Berat, Durrës, Fier, Gjirokastër, Korçë, Krujë, Sarandë, Shkoder, Tirana and Vlora. No stop or place count is published per destination. Source: 2.

### Cities and places, where published

Roots Albania: 10 cities and 211 places, all of them in Albania. Every place has two audio stories: a short introduction and a story of about six minutes.

SmartGuide: The home page counts "6k" local guides, "100k" places of interest and "10k" titles. The Google Play description counts "over 800 popular destinations around the world" and the App Store description counts "over 1000". Sources: 1, 3, 4.

### Languages

Roots Albania: 28 languages: Albanian, Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Macedonian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish and Ukrainian, with a male and a female voice in every one.

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

Roots Albania: No account is needed: open a city, pick a place and play.

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

Roots Albania: Yes. Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection.

SmartGuide: Yes. The home page lists "offline access" and "Offline maps and itineraries". Source: 1.

### Who writes the content, where stated

Roots Albania: The stories are written by local people.

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.

### Platforms

Roots Albania: iPhone with iOS 16.0 or later, and Android.

SmartGuide: iOS, Android and a web app opened from a QR code. Sources: 1, 3, 4.

### Store links

Roots Albania: App Store: [https://apps.apple.com/app/id6761542889](https://apps.apple.com/app/id6761542889). Google Play: [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rootsalbania.app](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rootsalbania.app).

SmartGuide: App Store: [https://apps.apple.com/app/id318062323](https://apps.apple.com/app/id318062323). Google Play: [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.smart_guide.smartguide.T_00007](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 16 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. The Roots Albania column is from the Roots Albania catalogue and its store listings, counted on 12 September 2026.

1. [https://www.smartguide.app](https://www.smartguide.app): SmartGuide home page, read 16 September 2026 at 06:49 UTC; read again in a browser at 06:52 UTC, because the page renders with JavaScript.
2. [https://www.smart-guide.org/en/destinations/](https://www.smart-guide.org/en/destinations/): SmartGuide destinations index, read 16 September 2026 at 06:49 UTC.
3. [https://itunes.apple.com/lookup?id=318062323&country=us](https://itunes.apple.com/lookup?id=318062323&country=us): SmartGuide App Store listing, read 16 September 2026 at 06:49 UTC; Apple's own lookup service for the App Store listing, which returns the listing's published fields.
4. [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.smart_guide.smartguide.T_00007&hl=en&gl=US](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.smart_guide.smartguide.T_00007&hl=en&gl=US): SmartGuide Google Play listing, read 16 September 2026 at 06:49 UTC.

## Roots Albania in short

- 211 places across 10 Albanian cities
- 10 cities, each with its own map of places
- 28 languages
- 2 stories for every place: a short introduction and a story of about six minutes
- No account
- Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection
- The stories are written by local people

Get the app on the [App Store](https://apps.apple.com/app/id6761542889) for iPhone and on [Google Play](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rootsalbania.app) for Android.

Roots Albania for iOS and Android is made by ROOTS SHPK, Rruga Zef Jubani, Nd. 4, H. 1, Ap. 3, Njësia Administrative Nr. 5, 1000 Tiranë, Albania, NUIS M61803028A, D-U-N-S 631176123, +355 69 443 8348, hello@rootsalbania.com, [roots-shpk.com](https://roots-shpk.com) and [rootsearth.com](https://rootsearth.com).

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- [Roots Albania and Audio Guide Albania: the facts](https://rootsalbania.com/compare/audio-guide-albania)
- [Roots Albania and TEA (Tourism Events of Albania): the facts](https://rootsalbania.com/compare/tea)
- [Roots Albania and Audiala: the facts](https://rootsalbania.com/compare/audiala)
- [All comparisons](https://rootsalbania.com/compare)
- [All ten cities](https://rootsalbania.com/cities)
- [What Roots Albania is](https://rootsalbania.com/app)
- [Questions travellers ask](https://rootsalbania.com/faq)
- [The 28 languages](https://rootsalbania.com/languages)
- [Events and activities](https://rootsalbania.com/events-and-activities)
- [About Roots Albania](https://rootsalbania.com/about)
- [Press and facts](https://rootsalbania.com/press)