Foursquare today updated its iOS app with a very interesting feature addition: the ability to check-in your friends. You can download the new app now directly from Apple’s App Store.
Up until now, Foursquare let you mention your friends, but not actually check them in (though a third-party app did offer the functionality). Apparently the company has decided that it’s time to bridge that gap.
The app’s changelog explains how the feature works:
Less tapping, more exploring! Save time while you’re out with friends with the new option to check them in (only with their permission, of course!).
The permission part is key here: you may be able to check-in your friends now, but they still have to go into Foursquare and approve your request. This is a small change, but it does have a lot of potential.
If you have to launch the Foursquare app anyway, you might be wondering what the whole point of all this is. First of all, tapping once to approve a check-in is a lot less hassle than the whole process of a normal check-in.
Yet there is more at stake here. Foursquare is essentially increasing the chances of more people checking-in, which is still the biggest obstacle for people using its app. This feature should be particularly useful for big groups, as one person can do the majority of the “work.”
As such, this is actually a brilliant play on Foursquare’s part. It’s easy to see how this change could significantly boost the number of check-ins the service sees, and also pave the way for another future feature that would automatically approve check-in requests from (some of?) your friends.
See also – Foursquare reportedly keen to sell advertisers check-in data for targeted ads on other platforms and Foursquare adds location filters by price, hours, and friend check-ins to its website and apps
Top Image Credit: Andrew Beierle
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