Foursquare logo

Foursquare for iOS

By Foursquare Free Editors' Rating

Editors' Review

shelbybrown Aug 8, 2014

Foursquare is now a recommendations app. It initially won popularity for its location-based check-ins, but users began checking out once Facebook and Twitter rolled out their own check-in tools. Foursquare's check-in feature moved to new sister app, Swarm, and Foursquare has been reinvented as a crowdsourced recommendation app like Yelp. What sets Foursquare apart: Recommendations are based on your and your friends' tastes.

Pros

Your tastes: The new Foursquare is all about your tastes. Click the Foursquare icon and select your favorite items, moods, and locations from the myriad options, such as roast beef, romantic spots, dive bars, zoos, and sunsets. Foursquare uses these tastes to suggest places to explore.

Intuitive: Foursquare offers appropriate suggestions for the time of day. If you log in in the morning, you automatically get breakfast suggestions, and in the evening you see dinner and nightlife options. Swipe right to move through headings for Breakfast, Brunch, Lunch, Coffee, Dinner, Dessert, Nightlife, Shopping, Fun, and Sights. Scroll down through Foursquare's suggestions based on your proximity and tastes, as well as the tastes of your friends.

Customizable: If you're looking for a restaurant or boutique in a different location, tell Foursquare which area you're looking to explore.

More visual: One of the original Foursquare's greatest drawbacks was its lack of enticing visuals. The new Foursquare has many more photos from local businesses to decorate your screen and whet your appetite.

Check-ins: You can still check in to your favorite places directly from the app.

Cons

Distasteful recommendations: Foursquare's recommendations algorithm is not perfect. For example, if you click vegetarian or vegan items under Tastes, Foursquare should display only those options. Unfortunately, during testing the app kept showing us recommendations for hamburger joints or the best bacon and eggs, along with plant-based fare.

Quantity over quality in recommendations: Just because a business is highly rated by a bunch of strangers or even your friends does not mean that you're going to enjoy your experience there.

Expertise: Users are encouraged to leave tips about businesses to gain "expertise" in those areas. So, if you leave a lot of tips about sushi restaurants, Foursquare soon regards you as the maki master. But as we know, just because you're talking a lot doesn't mean you're making sense.

Tips glitches: The Tips section is a little confusing. The Staff Picks subsection should include Foursquare employee picks. Instead, it lists selections from a variety of businesses and media organizations, and some of these picks appear to be plugs and announcements rather than objective recommendations. The Following section showed us our own tips rather than those of individuals we're following. Your Tastes and Popular both show users what others are saying about the businesses near them, so those subsections should probably be combined under one heading.

Bottom Line

Foursquare 8.0 brings a lot of wonderful new features to the once-stale check-in app, including Tastes and a more enticing, photo-driven interface. However, Foursquare's recommendations algorithm is not up to the mark, often showing inappropriate suggestions, and still relying too heavily on crowdsourced tips that may not serve users well.

Full Specifications

What's new in version 8.0.0

Our tastes are different, so why should we get the same search results? The new Foursquare learns what you like and leads you to places you'll love.

General

Release August 8, 2014
Date Added August 8, 2014
Version 8.0.0

Operating Systems

Operating Systems iOS
Additional Requirements iOS 7.0

Popularity

Total Downloads 102
Downloads Last Week 0
Report Software

Related Apps

Map My Walk - GPS Walking & Step Tracker logo

Map My Walk - GPS Walking & Step Tracker

Free
Map My Walk - GPS Walking & Step Tracker
Hair and Beard Styles - Try On Men's Hairstyles logo

Hair and Beard Styles - Try On Men's Hairstyles

Free
Hair and Beard Styles - Try On Men's Hairstyles
Yummly Recipes & Recipe Box logo

Yummly Recipes & Recipe Box

Free
Yummly Recipes & Recipe Box
Bumble - Meet New People logo

Bumble - Meet New People

Free
Bumble - Meet New People

Developer's Description

Our tastes are different, so why should we get the same search results? The new Foursquare learns what you like and leads you to places you'll love.

Foursquare is all about searching and discovering great places, wherever you are in the world.

  • Tell Foursquare your favorite things and it gets to know you. Every search is tailored to your tastes, your past ratings, and picks from friends and experts you trust.
  • Your tastes can be very specific like "whiskey" or "salted caramel." Or more general like "outdoor seating" or "used bookstores."
  • Leave tips to share your best discoveries. Pay it forward and earn expertise.
  • Search for restaurants, coffee, nightlife, shops, and more. See what's nearby or plan ahead.
  • When you arrive at a place, see insider tips: what's good to order or something not to miss.
  • Follow people and influencers whose tastes you trust, and their tips show first. Connect your Facebook and twitter accounts and see spots your friends have liked nearby.
  • Promo image for CNET Shopping

    Get the best price on everything

    Shop your favorite products and we’ll find the best deal with a single click. Designed to make shopping easier.