Foursquare Swarm: Check-in App

I am going to be in the process of contacting 4square support about this. I think I got the email right. If not you can tweet them
@4sqsupport
regarding this matter. I did a last minute demo on the app how ever I was asked to do this by a friend. here it is. I hope this helps somewhat.

Hello to all. I and some others have gotten a response from 4sq support. I gave them a link to my demo and told them about what was going on. They passed the demo and documentation on to their dev team. I can't way when we'll see a fix, but that response wasfast as always withthem. HOPe that update is some encouragement. I want to do a tffp podcast on sworm, but not when it's like this.

I know a few people here have commented that they've contacted Foursquare Support, but the link that is provided in the comments is NOT a direct link to be able to contact them.

Since it is often difficult to find a place to contact support on web sites, I was wondering if someone could please provide me with a direct link where I can contact Swarm/Foursquare Support about their major accessibility issues.

One major concern I have about this app is that, by default, it appears to make your location available to Swarm/Foursquare friends at all times. The way that sighted users can turn that off is to "swipe across" the profile picture. There does not seem, however, to be a way for VoiceOver users to accomplish the same task accessibly with VoiceOver.

Has anyone yet found any work-arounds for this? If not, this should be a huge concern for all of us, especially those who are concerned about privacy.

The tabs along the bottom row is a bit odd to use. As you will have to use your fingers to touch across the bottom to find out what the tabs are for. Some reason you can't just simply swipe or flick to the left and right through the tabs. It is good to see that most of the tabs and buttons are now labeled for the most part. There are a few unable buttons to be found but they are very few to be found.

What's New in Version 1.0.6
Thanks for all your feedback so far. We're building your requests as fast as we can. New in this version:

- More mayor: in each and every check-in, you can now see a leaderboard of your friends that shows who has been there the most, and who is the mayor amongst
your friends.
- Easier sharing: you've asked for an easier way to send check-ins to Facebook and Twitter. This update has them.
- Better check-ins: we made a bunch of improvements on the backend, so check-ins should be faster and more accurate.
- More about the place you're at: now, when you check in, you'll see a couple great place photos of the place you're at.

Thanks for using Swarm. Keep sending your ideas to swarmfeedback@foursquare.com. We have a lot more improvements coming your way!

I seem to get stuck in a loop when using this new application. Can someone help? When I open it, how can I search for where I want to check in. i just don't see this anywhere.

Actually there's an easier way.

1. launch swarm.
2. tap check in on the upper right.
3. make sure yoru location is right by touching the top oart of the the screen.
4. tap check in right above p.
5. tap tweet or post. Those you have to flick to but over all I can check in in about 15 seconds.

Take care.

updated
July 28/ 2014
version
1.0.7
I haven't play allot on the app, so I understand who has some accessibility issues and I don't know if fix some with the update
on this moment all the rest works good voiceover read most of the screen just exeption of some bottons.
some improvements is faster location service.
What's New in Version 1.0.7
Thanks again for all your feedback; we're updating the app as fast as we can. In
this version, we have:
- Spent a ton of time improving location in the app. You'll notice getting locations
is faster and more accurate.
- Moved your profile to the navigation bar at the bottom, so you can quickly tap
and take a look at your past check-ins (and a bunch of other stuff). Notifications
are tucked comfortably in your profile.
- Made it way easier to add a photo to your check-in. Tap the photo icon when you're
checking in to try it out.
- And made it even easier to share your check-ins to Facebook and Twitter.
Keep sending your thoughts to swarmfeedback@foursquare.com!

No accessibility issues as far as I can find. the app is 95 percent perfect.

hi all, I just got this app, how do i check in with this app? I've gotten the check in screen to come up once with a list of places, but i can't figure out for the life of me how to check in. could someone please explain how to do this? Brandon

Does anyone know how these stickers work?
Also, when you are on the checkin screen places aren't shorted by distance.

One of the issues I'm having with this app and Checkie is that when I check in, they're not being picked up by either Twitter or Facebook, even though my apps show that the accounts are connected. Has anyone found a way to get these to work? My regular Foursquare app worked fine and did post to both services.

No wonder my tweets and posts aren't going through. Thanks for the help. Hopefully, we'll all get this figured out, and why the big change was necessary in the first place.

Hi,
To the 2 people that responded right below me I know how to check in. What am trying to do is find a place. For example, in the old application at the top once you hit check in was search. If a place you know you are close to was not in the list you could search for it. At times in this new one, things don't pop up where I am but I know they exist. Sorry if this is confusing.

Hi I would try to describe to you how to search a place.
according to your post you know already how to check in but any way I will give all the steps since launch the Swarm app
1 after launch the app in the main screen there are some unlabeled button to the left side of check in,
I will tell how many unlabeled buttons are to evite get confuse.
2 hit on the check in button
3 in this new screen will bring up some edit fiel, how ever go to the top of the screen,
swarm will show up the current location and just below is some line that say
change location
NOTE; this line for some reason voiceover doesn't announce as button
hit in this line
4 after hit on the change location will bring a new screen
where you are able to see the list of places
starting with some unlabeled buttons,
in total are 2 unlabeled buttons.
5 starting from top to bottom
the first is the back button / in other words back to the previous screen
6 the second unlabeled button next to select a place.
is the search button.
7 type the place and hit on the list of places
8 hit the check in button
ready I hope this worth for you.

After I check in, it brings up a window with comments people had made about the venue and even adds for that venue. I do not know how to bet passed this window as there is no close or next button anywhere that I can see. When I try double tapping anywhere on the screen, it launches the 4square app. Anyone know how to get passed this window?

Hmm. I don't have that issue at all. Mine just goes away.

There syoudl be a button in the left corner where a back button shoudl be though.

take care.

I was out yesterday and checked into a few places, an I also noticed the lack of a back or close buttons after a checkin. The only way around this that I know of is to close the app and re-open it. I also find sometimes that you have to double-tap on a place twice. Swarm is usually smart enough to tell where you are so sometimes double-tapping on that will allow you to check in, but if it's not, you have to double-tap on select a place, and then scrole through the places nearby til you find the one you want to check into. This probably sounds more confusing than it actually is. Swarm is an app that does take a bit of getting used to, for sure. But it is mostly accessible.

Actualy simply hit leader board then the back button.

Here is a podcast demoing the interface, or what I could do of it in the time I had.

So why do we need both apps, or do we?

I explain that in my podcast which you can find in one of my comments above the one I just made. I use both apps and they both come in handy.

Think of the new and improed 4sq like yelp, except 4sq is accessible, even more so. Swarm will help you check in and make plans with other people and let you see plans in your area. I personally use both, and used both to pick up my bf at the bus station by usign swarm to view his check in, and 4sq for the address and location of the place.

You can check in via blind square by shaking the phone so I understand but since I don't se blind square I use swarm instead as it helps.

I also add places that don't yet exist using 4sq and it links up via swarm.

Hello,
I believe you can check in using BlindSquare, however, I cannot confirm that, as I do not own the app yet. You cannot check in with the main Foursquare app, since they recently divided the apps in to two apps, Swarm, and Foursquare. This is basically Swarm's purpose, to check you in and to find out where your friends are. I noticed that when traveling, sometimes the main Foursquare app will come up with a notification of nearby places, depending on what's good around me, or what I'm interested in.

There are still some accessibility issues, but the app works...

The March 20 update, version 8.02, introduces the ability to message nearby friends. There is no way to dismiss this message to use the app for anything. I have emailed Foursquare. Their response claims that the message should go away "in a few days." Reeally? For how long is it okay to render an app totally useless?

Actually yes you can. Just swipe tot he left with 3 fingers 3 or 4 times. I did this successfully every single time I had to reinstall the app which was last Monday.

Take care.

What's New in Version 3.0

Wait for it… Wait for it…

• The leaderboard is back! Compete with your friends to see who’s having the most interesting week. Every check-in will earn you coins. You’ll get more
coins when you check in with friends, become the Mayor, extend streaks… and more! Finish near the top of your leaderboard to earn sweet prizes. Remember,
taunting your friends is encouraged... “O’Doyle Rules!”

• Messages and notifications have been combined into one easy to access inbox. In the words of Outkast, so fresh and so clean clean!

• Looking for your friends? We’ve combined the worldwide and nearby views into one “friends” tab. Keeping up and meeting up with friends just got a whole
lot easier!

• And finally, we added a new “here now” section to the nearby view. At a packed restaurant, bumping club, or raucous sports stadium? Now you can see everyone
who’s checked in with you. Man, this place is swarming!

Wow! This latest version is so much better/easier to use/more intuitive, particularly, I think, for VoiceOver users! The only issue that still remains is, after you check in, there is no "close" option for the next screen that pops up, though, I suppose, as has been said, you can just do the VO pass-through gesture and swipe left-to-right to get out of it, though, sometimes, I have to do that a few times before it works.

After pressing add friends it brings my phone contacts plus an "invite" button next to each of them. How can I add twitter or facebook contacts? I only see the phonebook.