Foursquare Checks Out of the Check-in Game, Reveals New Logo

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Image: Mashable Composite, Foursquare, Getty Creative, crossroadscreative

By Christina Warren2014-07-23 16:56:22 UTC

Foursquare's attempt to transform itself from a check-in app into Yelp continues with a new app and a new logo.

Back in May, Foursquare announced that it was taking the check-in out of the main app and wrapping it into Swarm, a new distinct app. When Swarm was released, users who didn't download the app could continue to use Foursquare to check-in to their favorite locations.

See also: 6 Uses for Foursquare You Never Considered

Starting Thursday, that will no longer be the case. If you want to check-in, you'll need to install and use Swarm. The official Foursquare app will have check-ins removed and focus primarily on local discovery and recommendations.

In addition to a new app, Foursquare is getting a new logo. The checkmark that punctuated Foursquare's identity for much of the last five years is gone, replaced with a stylized "F".

Foursquare also released a preview of the new app's look. Rather than seeing check-ins from your friends or a list of places you've been, you're now directed to a screen that lets you find places nearby.

From the preview Foursquare offered on its blog, it looks a lot like a prettier version of Yelp.

Swarm with the tide

So what about check-ins? Foursquare says that if you have both Swarm and Foursquare installed, the two work seamlessly together. If you visit a venue page and you have Swarm installed, a "check in" button appears underneath the rating. If Swarm isn't installed, you just see buttons for "Rate," "Save" and "Share."

Foursquare says that over 75% of users that check in have already moved to Swarm. It has also released a roadmap of new features coming to Swarm.

In an interview with The Verge , Foursquare co-founder and CEO Dennis Crowley concedes that the company could have done a better job with Swarm's launch and managing expectations.

Still, he says splitting the apps in two "wasn't a mistake." That said, there are going to continue to be challenges involved in explaining how the two apps work together — and separately — to new and existing users.

Foursquare and Swarm will soon have two different friends lists. On Foursquare, a friend or follower will be able to give you recommendations. Swarm, however, will be relegated for the people whom you want to share your location with so you can better make plans.

Having those separate lists is actually a great idea — but the problem is that coming five years into using the service — and a few moths after the Swarm app was released (which by default takes all of your Foursquare friends), integrating and managing those friends is going to be painful.

I have more than 1,000 unapproved Foursquare friend requests built-up over the last four or five years, unapproved largely because I didn't necessarily want every person on the Internet to know where I was or have access to some of my check-ins. But I would be just fine with the general public seeing my reviews and ratings for a place. Finding a way to neatly separate these two groups is going to be a struggle. It also adds a layer of complexity to the split-app syndrome.

Growing pains

A few years ago, Foursquare was often mentioned in the same breath as Twitter and even Facebook, when it came to hot social media companies and platforms. The check-in was supposed to change the game. But as its competitors such as Gowalla, Loopt and BrightKite learned, scaling the check-in is difficult.

That's why it makes sense for Foursquare to pivot away from being all about the check-in and try to morph itself into more of a better recommendation and discovery platform.

The new Foursquare app.

Adding recommendations from friends and people you trust to the mix, in addition to the general public, would make it even better. There's just one problem: Since Foursquare debuted, the services that focus on location ratings and discovery — such as Yelp — have become better.

Yelp can pull in reviews from your Facebook friends, too. Plus, Yelp is ubiquitous. No matter how good Foursquare might be at recommendations — and in my experience, it is often quite good — Yelp is often where I turn first when looking for a place to eat or drink. Why? For starters, I feel confident that more people use Yelp. For another, I often feel like the information on Yelp is updated more quickly.

The one thing that really made Foursquare special, to me, was that I could open up the app and see who was in the area and where they were. That often gave me great real-time suggestions for where to go. By removing that from the core app experience and forcing users to use both, a lot of the value I get from Foursquare disappears as well.

Long-term, the more general shift to recommendations versus the check-in is probably a smart business move. Still, the fact that this move comes years after every other check-in service folded or was sold and shut-down, indicates that it may be too late.

The shiny hotness of Foursquare as a startup and service has waned. I'm not sure if a new app and a new brand identity will change that.

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Topics: Apps and Software, check-ins, Foursquare, Mobile, Startups, Swarm, Tech