A location-based social application

Foursquare is a location app that allows you to check into locations, compete with friends, and find places to go.

Available for more platforms than competitor Gowalla, and having a larger community, Foursquare should be the best of the location based apps. However, when you first install it, it can be hard to see what to do with it. Once you’ve found or invited some friends, and checked in at a few locations, Foursquare begins to make sense.

Foursquare allows your to post mini reviews of places you’ve been to, and collect badges – like achievements in video games. You can see where your friends are too, and as checking in to locations gives you points, you can see who’s winning. Foursquare is a mix between a social game and useful tool. This type of app only works if you can get enough of your friends to use it. You can find places to go and things to do, read user recommendations and sometimes even get free gifts from places you check in.

The interface is simple to navigate, although it’s a bit dry in its design. Competing app Gowalla looks much better. Despite this, as long as Foursquare’s community is larger there are more places to find, with more user tips and more incentives to become the mayor of your favorite spots. Competing with your friends can be fun, even if it might feel like you’re turning your entire life into an RPG.

As it’s community grows, Foursquare is becoming a really useful service, great for finding friends and things to do wherever you are.

Look out for check-in highlights under your friends’ check-ins. Try some recently opened places nearby. Enjoy speedier check-ins, plus a shiny new check-in screen. Search for ‘peppermint’ or ‘cider’ for some holiday treats!

Changes

• Look out for check-in highlights under your friends’ check-ins. Try some recently opened places nearby. Enjoy speedier check-ins, plus a shiny new check-in screen. Search for ‘peppermint’ or ‘cider’ for some holiday treats!