Foursquare is saying goodbye to its long-standing city guide application. In its update, the company announced that it decided to close the city guide application in order to provide a better experience for the Swarm application. In this context, the application will be completely closed on December 15, but the web version will continue to be used until the beginning of 2025.
This decision is considered a significant step back in two implemented strategies that Foursquare launched a decade ago. In 2014, in a much-discussed step, the company separated the check-in service and launched the Swarm application. The Foursquare brand had become a city guide full of local recommendations and reviews created by users.
Although the company did not fully explain the reasons behind the decision to re-focus on the check-in experience, it stated that new features and functions will be added to Swarm throughout the year. According to the company’s statement, these updates will include innovative usage areas that aim to meet the different needs of users. Some of these features may also bring back elements familiar to Foursquare users in the past.
This change in Foursquare’s strategy will become clearer with the new updates that the company will announce at the beginning of 2024. However, this decision of the company may also be related to the significant workforce losses it experienced last year. Foursquare, which laid off more than 100 employees earlier this year in a bid to “make operations more efficient,” is undergoing operational changes.
Foursquare’s founder, Dennis Crowley, evaluated these developments in a personal post. Crowley, who serves as co-chairman of the company’s board of directors, expressed his regret for this decision, although he emphasized that the company was in “good shape”. Crowley expressed his personal feelings in his post on the Threads platform, saying, “I have been really depressed for the last few days because of this news.”
Foursquare may reunite its audience
This move by Foursquare stands out as a restructuring that aims to adapt to new user demands in the rapidly changing world of technology. This return to check-in app Swarm could be a step towards reuniting the user base that has been divided between these two applications in the past.