A Shift In Focus From Foursquare Swarm 5.0
A new update brings life-logging front and center while emphasizing search
There’s much to love about today’s update to the Swarm app, which is now entering its fifth generation. There’s enough here, in fact, to not only appeal to current users, but also bring new ones to the geo-location service. The primary value? Life-logging, much like a digital diary with a location attached, certainly rests high on the list. This has always been Swarm’s strength—even back when it was interwoven with (or defining) Foursquare before 2014. Looking through one’s own check-in list reveals adventures at home and around the globe; it tracks past behaviors and future desires. Now, a new map feature, two clicks away from the app’s main screen (and on user’s profile page), also maximizes this point with visually-stunning simplicity.
More important than the games that remain—from the leaderboard to stickers—search makes for the second most useful factor. It’s now also featured on the app’s landing page, just above the timeline. It has long been handy for locating a place to recommend to a friend—from a city or neighborhood you can place but a name you can’t. Or to find for yourself. Altogether, this isn’t just an update or a refresh, it’s rethinking the way users use Swarm. It’s personal. It’s private. There’s information to be used in a thousand ways (with additional insights from Swarm). And don’t worry, they’ve kept mayorships intact if that’s your thing, too.
Swarm 5.0 for iOS is available for free download.
Images via Swarm
