Loopt 4.0 introduces automatic mobile check-ins

Location-based social mapping service Loopt launched version 4.0 of its mobile application, introducing a series of new features promising to more effectively leverage smartphone communication and discovery capabilities. Chief among the Loopt 4.0 enhancements: New location-sharing options designed to simplify the check-in process. Users can now turn on background location sharing to constantly update close friends and family on their whereabouts, even if the Loopt app isn't open--others see your location only after formal check-in. Loopt also unveiled Ping, touted as an all-encompassing location-based text message. According to a Loopt consumer survey, location-centric messages like "Where are you?," "I'm here" and "Be right there" rank as the most common texts sent by users--Ping mass-messages all friends checked in at a site, also alerting other contacts to a user's current location and activities.

Loopt 4.0 also boasts Notifications, an activity feed spotlighting nearby places your friends like to visit, as well as a Places button at the center of the homescreen that incorporates check-in functionality as well as new friend- and place-finding tools. In addition, rewards from the Loopt Star initiative will migrate to the primary Loopt app; introduced this summer, Loopt Star gives consumers coupons, full-track downloads and related perks for checking in at real-world destinations.

Loopt 4.0 is available now for Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone, and will roll out across Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android platform later this month. Loopt now boasts more than 4 million registered users as well as partnerships with all major U.S. mobile operators.

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