About Great Clips
I switched to this app because my old haircut appointment app turned to garbage after a bad update. Great Clips isn’t reinventing the wheel here. It’s a straightforward tool made by the chain salon company to help you skip the lobby wait. After using it for several months on my Google Pixel 7, I can say it works for the basic stuff—finding a shop, seeing how busy they are, and getting your name on the list before you walk in. It doesn’t try to be a fancy salon management suite, which is honestly fine with me. But the lack of polish and occasional weirdness bugs me, especially when I’m in a hurry on a Saturday afternoon and the wait time jumps around like crazy.
Features & Highlights
The main feature is the check-in system, and for the most part, it gets the job done. You open the app, it shows nearby locations with current wait times, and you tap to add yourself to the waitlist. That’s the core of it. You can save favorite salons and stylists, which is handy if you’re like me and always go to the same spot on Market Street because Jenny actually knows how to handle my thick hair. There’s also a profile where you save your haircut preferences—I have mine set to “clipper comb over, number 2 on the sides”—so you don’t have to explain it every time. The app offers reminders for your next cut, which I actually use because I always forget until I look like a hedgehog. You can also prepay through the app, which I tried once and it worked fine, but I usually just pay in the chair because I’m old school like that. Some locations let you track stylist wait times individually, not just the salon, but that feature seems hit or miss depending on which Great Clips you’re heading to.
User Experience
Here’s where things get a little frustrating. The app works most of the time, but I’ve hit some annoying bugs that make me wonder if the developers actually use it. On a Tuesday evening around 6 PM, I checked in from my car, drove five minutes to the salon, and my name had disappeared from the list. The receptionist had to manually add me back, and I ended up waiting 25 minutes anyway. That’s the opposite of what this app is supposed to do. The wait time display sometimes freezes and shows the same number for 20 minutes, then suddenly drops by 40 minutes, which makes me paranoid I missed my spot. The map feature for finding locations is fine, no complaints there. But the app crashes on me about once every two weeks, usually right when I’m trying to check in. Not a huge deal, just annoying. I’d say it’s a 3 out of 5 for reliability. Good enough to keep using, but not good enough to fully trust.
Pricing
The app itself is free, which is expected. You’re not paying for the app, you’re paying for the haircuts. Great Clips prices vary by location, but in my area a standard adult haircut runs about $19 before tip. The app doesn’t add any fees for checking in or prepaying, so that’s a plus. Sometimes there are coupons or promotions available in the app, like $3 off a haircut, which I’ve used a couple times. Nothing groundbreaking, but it’s free money so I’ll take it. You can also load a gift card into the app and pay that way. Overall, the cost here is just the cost of your haircut. No hidden fees, no monthly subscription nonsense. I appreciate that.
Updates & Support
The app gets updated maybe once every couple months. I’ve seen a few updates that fixed bugs and a couple that seemed to just change the icon color. Support contacted me once when I reported that disappearing name issue I mentioned earlier. I sent a message through the app’s help section on a Friday, and someone replied the following Tuesday. The response was polite and they said they were “aware of the issue” and working on a fix. I appreciated the human response, but waiting several days for a reply to a simple bug report is not great. I haven’t seen that specific bug fixed yet, so I’m not holding my breath. For a free app from a national chain, the support is decent but slow.
Security & Privacy
The app asks for location access to show nearby salons and for notifications to alert you when it’s your turn. That’s pretty standard. You create an account with an email and password, and you can save your payment info if you want to use the prepay feature. I haven’t seen any red flags, but I also wouldn’t store my credit card in here unless I had to. The app doesn’t ask for anything weird like contacts or camera access, which I appreciate. It’s a simple haircut app, not a data harvesting machine. But it’s owned by a big corporation, so assume they’re tracking your visits for marketing purposes. Enable two-factor authentication if you care about that kind of thing. I don’t lose sleep over it.
How does the Great Clips app check-in system work?
You open the app to see nearby locations with current wait times, then tap to add yourself to the waitlist before arriving. You can also save favorite salons and stylists, and set haircut preferences like 'clipper comb over, number 2 on the sides' so you don't have to repeat them each time.
Can I prepay for my haircut through the Great Clips app?
Yes, the app allows you to prepay for your haircut, and it works without adding any extra fees. However, if you prefer, you can still pay in the chair at the salon.
Why did my name disappear from the Great Clips waitlist after I checked in?
This is a known bug where your name can vanish from the list, especially if you check in from your car and arrive a few minutes later. If this happens, ask the receptionist to manually add you back, though you may still face a wait.
Why does the wait time in the Great Clips app freeze or jump around?
The wait time display sometimes freezes for up to 20 minutes and then suddenly drops by 40 minutes, which can make you worry about missing your spot. This is a common glitch, so it's best to arrive a bit early or call the salon to confirm your place.
How does the Great Clips app compare to other salon check-in apps?
Unlike fancier salon management suites, Great Clips is a straightforward tool focused on skipping the lobby wait—no extra fees or complex features. It's reliable for basic tasks like finding a shop and checking in, but it lacks polish and has occasional bugs, making it less trustworthy than some competitors.
