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Foursquare To Kill Its City Guide App

(Wednesday October 23, 2024 @05:22PM (msmash) from the end-of-an-era dept.)


Foursquare, one of the App Store's earliest success stories, will shut down its flagship city guide app on December 15 to focus on its check-in service Swarm, the company [1]said . The move reverses Foursquare's controversial 2014 decision to [2]split its platform into two apps : Swarm for check-ins and Foursquare for local recommendations and reviews. The strategy shift comes months after Foursquare laid off over 100 employees. Engadget [3]adds :

> Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley, who is currently co-chair of the company's board of directors, said in a post on Threads that the company is "doing fine," though he expressed disappointment with the news. "I would be lying if I didn't admit that I have been in a real funk these last few days over this news," he wrote.



[1] https://foursquare.com/city-guide-sunset/#accordion_v2-a30f4962-5e8c-4db9-94d5-9d979522154c

[2] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/05/04/1644206/foursquare-splits-to-take-on-yelp

[3] https://www.engadget.com/social-media/foursquare-is-killing-its-city-guide-app-to-focus-on-the-check-in-app-swarm-191054153.html



Warning sign (Score:2)

by sunderland56 ( 621843 )

So the founder and chair of the company expressed "disappointment with the news"..... it should not be news to him. He should have been in on the decision, or at least have known about it well in advance.

Big layoff and board not being informed.... not good signs.

Re: (Score:3)

by ack154 ( 591432 )

I don't read that as him (or the board) not being informed... just that they are publicly commenting on the news story for the thing that they already knew about.

Sill hiring for 2 dozen jobs (Score:1)

by Anonymous Coward

Someone forgot to check in? [1]https://location.foursquare.co... [foursquare.com]

[1] https://location.foursquare.com/company/careers/view-all/

I remember the split, it was bad. (Score:1)

by mastazi ( 10280392 )

Foursquare was big in the early days of mobile apps. It was regularly in the top 10 apps in App Store and Play Store. The check-in and gamification (badges) features were what gave it traction as a social. Then the split came and most popular features were removed from the main Foursquare app. I remember opening Foursquare one day and I could not check in, there was a notification saying I had to download another app. After downloading Swarm, all my badges were gone. Most of my friends quit around that time

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