{"id":66869,"date":"2014-05-20T15:09:02","date_gmt":"2014-05-20T13:09:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onsoftware.en.softonic.com\/?p=66869"},"modified":"2025-07-02T00:41:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T07:41:09","slug":"foursquare-swarm-division-standalone-apps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/foursquare-swarm-division-standalone-apps\/","title":{"rendered":"Foursquare and Swarm division points to new trend for standalone apps"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five years after it was founded, <\/span>Foursquare<\/strong>, the social network based on geolocation, has split its main functions into two apps. An updated version of\u00a0Foursquare remains, but the new addition, Swarm<\/strong>, brings the social aspect of Foursqaure to a standalone app. <\/span><\/p>\n

As Facebook’s ramping up to\u00a0offer more and more standalone\u00a0apps for all of its various services, most notably Messenger<\/a>, it looks like the newest trend is to separate apps based on\u00a0one main function.<\/p>\n

Swarm<\/strong> will serve as a way to keep\u00a0in touch with friends so that you can share your location or let them know where you’re going, while Foursquare\u00a0will remain an app to help you discover\u00a0new places to eat, drink, or hang out.<\/p>\n

So, why exactly\u00a0did Foursquare founder\u00a0Dennis Crowley <\/strong>decide\u00a0to gamble on a successful product by splitting it into two? What’s the reasoning behind having two separate apps instead of one? I’ll take a closer look at the Foursquare division to get a better idea about the trend, asking why two apps are really better than one<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Foursquare and Swarm<\/h3>\n

\"FoursquareThe new Foursquare, still available on Android<\/a> and iOS<\/a>, serves as more of a city guide<\/strong>, a way to discover new places around a city. In a way, taking out the functions that have been transferred to Swarm make it more of a competitor to Yelp<\/a>, the “online urban guide”.<\/p>\n

Foursquare, however, takes into account where you’ve been, what you’ve liked before, and what your friends have liked<\/strong>, providing reviews by friends and contacts; this means more personalized guidance, which can be\u00a0much more relevant<\/strong> and reliable<\/strong> simply because it’s based on the opinions of people you trust, as opposed to Yelp, which gives reviews from random users.<\/p>\n

\"Swarm\"Swarm<\/strong>, which launched for iOS<\/a> and Android<\/a> late last week, offers some additional privacy <\/strong>compared to similar functions that were removed from Foursquare. By default, Swarm doesn’t give your exact location to others. Rather, it gives your friends a rough idea of where you are, letting you choose whether or not you want to share your exact location.<\/p>\n

Swarm also functions in a more immediate way, meaning that you can automatically provide your location to friends, without having to check in.<\/p>\n

Of course, separating into two apps doesn’t mean that the services don’t work together; in fact, Foursquare and Swarm are meant to co-exist, forming a consistent and fluid mini-ecosystem that makes it easy to switch from one app to the other.<\/p>\n

Why separate?<\/h3>\n

The decision to create two different apps, as explained on the official Foursquare\u00a0blog\u00a0and in\u00a0an exclusive interview with The Verge<\/a>, was made following observations of user behavior where, 19 times out of 20<\/strong>, users only used the app to either<\/em> check-in or find new locations.<\/p>\n

Only 5% of the Foursquare users opened the app to find a friend\u00a0and<\/em> <\/strong>find a restaurant,<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

says\u00a0Noah Weiss, <\/strong>Vice President of the company.\u00a0He adds:<\/p>\n

We were thrown into a sort of mission impossible: to have a single function <\/em>mobile app\u00a0that actually held two different functions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jon Steinback, <\/strong>VP of Product Experience, says:<\/p>\n

The use of mobile technology has expanded and evolved.\u00a0When you open an app, you do it to\u00a0perform a specific action<\/strong>, not to access something that’s\u00a0more detailed and complicated.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As a result, \u200b\u200bseparating the two services and improving the individual function of each service was actually bringing them closer to providing apps that served the needs of the user.<\/p>\n

Cutting out the clutter<\/h3>\n

The “simplification” of apps is becoming more of a trend.\u00a0Increasingly, while apps may be integrated into an ecosystem of products, they’ll have a standalone and specific function.<\/p>\n

The same thing’s been happening at Facebook<\/strong> and Google<\/strong>. Facebook’s already made Messenger a standalone app, with plans to discontinue the service<\/a> in the Facebook mobile app completely, while\u00a0Google Drive<\/a> for Android\u00a0recently lost the function to edit documents, which was transferred into two new apps:\u00a0Docs<\/a> for text documents, and\u00a0Sheets<\/a> for spreadsheets.<\/p>\n

\"LocationIt’s almost as if\u00a0users have less time to spend using an app, <\/strong> and if whatever they need to use it for takes longer than a few seconds, the app ends up in user oblivion. As a result, the “Swiss army knife” of apps, with many different integrated functions, has suddenly become obsolete, slow, and undesirable because they take\u00a0time, something that users no longer have.<\/p>\n

We can also take a look at the\u00a0modular trend<\/strong>, which can be considered a response to the increasingly urgent demands for personalization.<\/p>\n

Users create a network of apps on their smartphones based on their specific needs, made up of individual apps that perform useful functions and make their mobile digital world more streamlined and easier to use.<\/p>\n

\"FoursquareWith our own app ecosystems, there’s no need for the excessive: if\u00a0I need an app to edit text documents, but I don’t need\u00a0one for spreadsheets, why would I choose a product that offers both? It’s cutting out the clutter and only getting what you need.<\/p>\n

So, Foursquare adapts…<\/h3>\n

In short, the trend has changed.\u00a0While all-in-one products used to be the most popular in the market, the new trend is towards fragmentation, which generates a greater, more conscious choice.<\/p>\n

Space and time<\/strong> are becoming less and less available, and we’re less and less willing to sacrifice\u00a0them for something we don’t\u00a0really need. Technology, it seems, is adapting\u00a0accordingly, and the\u00a0Foursquare\/Swarm division<\/strong> is the perfect example of this shift.<\/p>\n

When apps like Foursquare, Facebook, and Google start separating their services, it’s probably a sign that this “trend” is quickly becoming the norm. Pretty soon, we’ll find out if users really do relish these separations.<\/p>\n