Big changes coming to Foursquare app

Five years and over 4,000 check-ins later big changes are coming to Foursquare, a cell phone app that helps subscribers locate friends or family in the local area. Whether you're setting off to Velocity Wings, Giant Food, 7-Eleven, McDonald's or Harris Tetter, the new Foursquare app will tell you if your friends are at the location, known as a “check-in.”

New York-based Foursquare Labs, Inc. announced Wednesday they will be rolling out a brand new version of Foursquare in a couple weeks. This means a few changes are coming.

Starting Thursday, the company is moving all check-ins to their new app Swarm. “Don’t worry; all your past check-ins, all your friends, all your photos, they’re all automatically in Swarm,” the company said in an email to users. Over three quarters of Foursquare users are already on the new app. “For everyone still using Foursquare to check in, you’ll need to download Swarm to keep checking in.”

If you build a totally new app, you need a totally new logo, the company said. “Our logo is changing from the check-in checkmark to something representing the new Foursquare. It's coming soon to a homescreen near you.”

No two people view the world exactly the same, so no two people will have the same experience with the new Foursquare app. Once you teach Foursquare a couple things about you – add tastes, follow experts, or even just walk around for a few days – the app will be 100 percent yours. This is the beginning of the ‘personalized local search’ future the company has been talking about since they started Foursquare.

The town council in Purcellville, Va., recently granted permits to the Purcellville Gateway shopping center allowing it to open two drive-thru restaurants. It remains to be seen who will be the first user to check-in at these locations on the new Foursquare. Will it be you?