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Found footage: Automate Foursquare with Future Checkins



I'm a fan of Foursquare, the social networking app that allows you to check into locations that you visit. Don't ask me why -- I find it to be somewhat intrusive, but I love the fact that I can be the mayor of a number of places I frequent. The only problem is that if I'm running a lot of errands, pulling out my iPhone to check in at each location can be annoying and time-consuming.

Enter developer Tim Sears, who has come up with the perfect solution for Foursquare aficionados. His new app, Future Checkin (US$0.99 introductory price), uses the backgrounding features of iOS 4 on the iPhone 4 and 3GS to constantly check your location and then automatically check you into Foursquare locations that you frequent. No longer do you have to remember to check in -- your iPhone will do it for you.

Sears does warn you that using Future Checkin will reduce your battery life as it constantly checks your location. I can see where the app would be very useful if you have your iPhone plugged in while running errands, as the battery concerns would be minimized. Future Checkin is definitely a unique solution to a rather silly problem, and I love the fact that I now have one less thing to remember to do.

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iPhone

I'm a fan of Foursquare, the social networking app that allows you to check into locations that you visit. Don't ask me why -- I find it...
 

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Damien

Gowalla? I want a Gowalla version. :(

August 04 2010 at 2:57 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ryan Sandberg

I bought it. Within the time I was at Walmart (about 15 minutes) my battery dropped 3% just from keeping it in my pocket, no calls, no texts, nothing. Great idea, not so great implementation.

August 03 2010 at 5:28 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Unknown

Or it could just be a way to get mayorships automatically. In an urban area, you could just check into dozens of things quickly. Seems like a dumb thing to want to do, until you realize some establishments have deals and free stuff for their mayors.

August 03 2010 at 4:10 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Unknown's comment
Frank

Well it will only check you in if you've spent 3 minutes minutes in the location so it's not like driving thru a city would work. 3 minutes is more than enough time for you to manually check in anyway so I don't believe this would help "cheating" much more than the regular app would.

August 03 2010 at 5:21 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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