Foursquare for iOS 4.0 introduces Radar local alerts tool

Foursquare continues its efforts to expand its location-based mobile social platform beyond consumer check-ins, rolling out version 4.0 of its iOS application and introducing Radar, a new tool that recommends nearby points of interest based on the user's existing contacts list, To-Do list and related app features.

Foursquare's Radar alerts tool does not even require the app to be open.

According to foursquare, Radar leverages its Explore algorithm as well as features in Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) new iOS 5 to more efficiently connect consumers with sites and activities likely to interest them--for example, if the user follows a list like TimeOut New York's 101 Best Dishes of 2011, foursquare will alert them when they're within close range of a restaurant offering one of those dishes, or notify them when friends are meeting for drinks somewhere nearby.

"We call it foursquare Radar, because it finds things nearby that you normally wouldn't know about," the foursquare Blog states. "The app doesn't even have to be open, it just works."

Foursquare for iOS 4.0 is available for download from Apple's App Store. It is uncertain when or even if foursquare will extend Radar to other operating systems.

Foursquare surpassed the 1 billion check-ins benchmark last month, three months after reaching 750 million check-ins. Foursquare's 10 million worldwide users now check in at local venues more than 3 million times each day.

For more:
- read this foursquare Blog entry

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