Swarm by Foursquare (commonly known as Swarm) is a

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a smartphone, phone, tablet computer, tablet, or smartwatch, watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop appli ...

that allows users to share their locations with their friends and create a record of their experiences in a personal

lifelog A lifelog is a personal record of one's daily life in a varying amount of detail, for a variety of purposes. The record contains a comprehensive dataset of a human's activities. The data could be used to increase knowledge about how people liv ...

. Swarm launched for

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

and Android devices on May 15, 2014. A spin-off from and former companion app to

Foursquare City Guide Foursquare City Guide, commonly known as Foursquare, is a local search-and-discovery mobile app developed by Foursquare (company), Foursquare Labs Inc. The app provides personalized recommendations of places near a user's current location based ...

, Swarm allows users to

check-in Check-in is the process whereby people announce their arrival at an office, hotel, airport, hospital, port, seaport or event. Office check-in Many offices have a reception or front office area near the entrance to greet or assist visitors arriv ...

to a given location, and see who is nearby. These check-ins are chronologically listed to create a personal lifelog for each user, which serves as a digital library for all the places they have been, in a searchable database that can be revisited and shared. Location and check-in data collected in Swarm are used to improve a user's recommendations in Foursquare City Guide. Splitting check-ins and general location sharing into the separate Swarm app was designed to let the main Foursquare app focus on exploring and discovering information on locations in a

Yelp Yelp Inc. is an American company that develops the Yelp.com website and the Yelp mobile app, which publishes crowd-sourced reviews about businesses. It also operates Yelp Guest Manager, a table reservation service. It is headquartered in S ...

-like fashion. Swarm supports checking in with photos or stickers attached and allows broadcasting of check-ins to other social networks including

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

and

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

. Swarm features include a shareable personalized map, unique stats like total lifetime check-ins, number of unique categories visited, and data on streaks and 'mayorships' (a feature of the platform's gamification elements). In 2024, the Foursquare Labs company announced that the Foursquare City Guide app would be sunsetted, with remaining features being merged into the Swarm app.

Features

Swarm 5.0, released on iOS August 8, 2017, and on Android August 16, 2017, was the most significant update to the app’s core functionality since launching in 2014, focusing more on lifelogging. Major features include check-ins, messaging, stickers, challenges, 'mayorships', history search, and merchandise.

Reception

CNET described the app as a "bold move", and praised it for removing some of the "clutter" of Foursquare and focusing on letting the user "quickly see where

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...

friends are and make plans". The redesign was unpopular with some existing Foursquare users, who complained about its lack of gamification elements, and the need to download two apps for what used to be contained in a single Foursquare app.

References

External links

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What is Swarm?
Foursquare Help Center {{Online social networking IOS software Android (operating system) software 2014 software Windows Phone software Geosocial networking