Yelp Check for Me: How Yelp's AI Wait-Time Calls Work

Yelp Check for Me is an AI phone agent that calls a restaurant for you, asks about the current wait for your party size, and texts you the answer, which Yelp says arrives within minutes. Yelp announced it on October 20, 2026, as part of its Fall Product Release. It is rolling out “in the coming months” on eligible restaurant pages and in Yelp Assistant, in the US, on iOS.

This guide explains how Check for Me works, what you need to use it, what happens with your phone number, and what restaurant owners and service businesses should expect, including Yelp’s new $30-a-month Smart Lead Reply agent.

Before you start

You need the Yelp app on an iPhone in the US. Yelp’s announcement does not mention Android for Check for Me.
Not every restaurant will have the option. Yelp says it will appear on “eligible” restaurant pages and has not published the criteria.
You’ll enter your phone number so Yelp can text you the result.
Check for Me reports a wait time. It does not book a table or put you on a list.

How Yelp Check for Me works

Based on Yelp’s description, the flow has four steps:

Open a restaurant’s page in the Yelp app, or ask about the restaurant in Yelp Assistant.
Tap Check wait time now.
Enter your party size and your phone number.
Yelp’s AI agent calls the restaurant, asks about the wait, and sends you a text with the answer.

The answer is whatever the host tells the agent at that moment. A quoted 20-minute wait can be 40 minutes by the time you arrive, and nothing in Yelp’s announcement says the call holds a spot. If you want a confirmed table, use one of the booking options Yelp already offers: Yelp Reservations, Yelp Waitlist (which you can now join from the Yelp Assistant chat), or OpenTable booking inside Yelp Assistant on iOS.

When you’ll get Check for Me

Yelp has not given a date. The press release says the feature is rolling out “in the coming months,” so most people won’t see it right away. If a restaurant page doesn’t show a Check wait time now option, the feature hasn’t reached that restaurant or your account yet.

Everything else Yelp announced on October 20

Feature	What it does	Availability
Check for Me	AI agent calls a restaurant and texts you the wait time	Coming months, US, iOS
OpenTable in Yelp Assistant	Find and book tables at “tens of thousands” of restaurants from the chat	iOS
Yelp Waitlist in chat	Join a restaurant’s waitlist and get updates when your table is ready	Yelp Assistant
Keep Me Posted	Scheduled recommendations, such as weekly date-night ideas, sent as push notifications	Yelp Assistant
My Lists	“Been Here” and “Want to Go” lists you can filter and share	iOS and Android; viewable on desktop
Smart Lead Reply	AI agent that answers Request a Quote leads for service businesses	November 2026, $30 per month

Yelp Assistant now also saves your chats and uses past conversations, reviews and real-time weather in its answers. TechCrunch reports that you can see the past 30 days of chats, with full history “available soon.” Weekly personalized recommendations based on your “Been Here” list start in November 2026.

Your phone number and privacy

Check for Me needs your phone number to text you the result. Yelp’s announcement does not say whether the restaurant receives your number, how long Yelp keeps it, or whether it is used for other messages. Until Yelp publishes those details, assume the number is stored with your Yelp account under Yelp’s privacy policy, and use the feature only if you are comfortable with that.

The saved chat history in Yelp Assistant is a separate privacy question. If you’d rather an AI assistant didn’t remember your conversations, check its settings the same way you would for other chatbots. For the chatbots you already use, see our guide to stopping AI training on your chats.

What restaurant owners should expect

Once Check for Me rolls out, some calls asking “How long is the wait for a party of four?” will come from Yelp’s agent rather than a person. Yelp’s announcement does not say how the agent introduces itself. Answer with your real current wait, because the diner sees exactly what you say in a text.

TechCrunch pointed out a practical problem: restaurants that use their own AI phone agents could end up with two bots talking to each other, and those conversations may break down. Yelp itself has sold a voice agent to restaurants since 2025. If you use one, call your own number and ask for a wait time to hear how it responds.

If your restaurant uses Yelp Waitlist, diners can now join it from the Yelp Assistant chat, which gives them a live estimate without a phone call at all.

For service businesses: Smart Lead Reply at $30 a month

Smart Lead Reply is Yelp’s AI agent for service professionals. After a customer sends a Request a Quote, it replies, answers questions, gathers project details and qualifies the lead. Owners can set how the agent should handle the conversation. It launches in November 2026 at $30 per month for businesses in eligible Request a Quote categories, including movers, roofers, plumbers, home cleaners, contractors and electricians.

Whether it pays off depends on how fast you reply now. If you are often on a job site and answer quote requests hours later, an agent that responds right away may keep leads from moving to the next business on the list. If you already reply within minutes, $360 a year buys little. Either way, read the agent’s first few weeks of conversations yourself before you trust it with every lead, and treat any AI tool connected to your business accounts as a security risk to manage. Our report on AI agents that hacked 100+ online stores shows how quickly automated tools find weak spots in small-business setups.

Yelp also added scheduling integrations with ServiceTitan and Housecall Pro, lead management integrations with Jobber and Workiz, and a redesigned Leads Center for businesses with several locations.

FAQ

Is Yelp Check for Me free?

Yelp’s announcement does not mention any charge for diners.

Does Check for Me work on Android?

Yelp’s announcement lists only iOS in the US for Check for Me. It has not said when, or whether, Android will get it.

Does Check for Me reserve a table?

No. It reports the current wait. To hold a table, use Yelp Reservations, Yelp Waitlist or OpenTable booking where the restaurant supports them.

Will the restaurant know an AI is calling?

Yelp has not said how its agent identifies itself on the call.

How we checked this: details were checked on October 20, 2026, against Yelp’s Fall Product Release press release and TechCrunch’s report. Yelp had not published eligibility criteria, a release date for Check for Me, or how it handles diners’ phone numbers, so those points are listed as unknown.

Next step: update the Yelp app and check a favorite restaurant’s page for a “Check wait time now” option. If you run a service business, decide now whether your current reply time justifies testing Smart Lead Reply when it launches in November.