People once battled their friends to become the mayor of the local dive bar on Foursquare, a social app that let users “check in” at various locations, leave reviews, earn badges and discounts, and become the “mayor” if they were the most frequent visitor.
The gamified app was silly and fun, but also useful for keeping up with friends or exploring new places.
It’s probably news to you that it wasn’t already dead, but now the end is nigh, per TechCrunch. Well, sort of.
Foursquare launched…
… in 100 metro areas in 2009 before expanding globally in 2010.
In 2011, it crossed 10m users — among them: President Barack Obama — and 30m+ in 2013.
In 2014, it split into two apps:
- Foursquare City Guide, featuring local reviews and recommendations.
- Swarm, for location sharing and check-ins. It now bills itself as a “lifelogging” app.
Usage petered out with the rise of other platforms — Instagram, Twitter, etc. — and amid privacy concerns over sharing your location with the internet at large.
Yet on Dec. 15, it’s City Guide that will be taken offline (the web version to follow in 2025) while the company shifts focus to Swarm.
So, what’s next?
The company still has $100m+ in revenue, per co-founder Dennis Crowley, who no longer works with Foursquare full-time but is co-chair of the company’s board.
It’s Foursquare’s data that has proven valuable; in 2017, it began offering Pilgrim SDK, a software development kit that other companies — Uber, Spotify, Airbnb, Twitter, etc. — have used for location-based features, including those that automatically know where a user is.
The company’s plans for Swarm, besides updating it in 2025, are unclear, but there’s been some speculation that:
- Swarm isn’t sunsetting because it’s the better app for collecting location data.
- The apps will re-merge. The company hinted that its updated Swarm may have “familiar” features.
Whether there’s a market for a new Swarm remains to be seen. People are staying home more, but inflation also drives customers to loyalty and rewards programs — part of Foursquare’s early success.
