Essential Location Based Apps for Android Mobiles

Everyone is used to taking their mobile with them, so that means location based apps for mobiles will start to become more popular. A recent issue of Wired noted that it was thanks to Foursquare & Gowalla, that people are now getting more used to sharing their location. On a fun side, many of the new location based mobile apps have games or allow you to collect rewards for visiting new places. Here’s an essential list of location based apps for Android mobile.

Foursquare

Foursquare is one of those mobile games that just isn’t a mobile game - you get points for visiting new places, collect Pins and can get some good rewards for being the most frequent visitor called Mayor.

For those switching from iPhone to Android - the hidden setting for Quick Checkin is great and by default it doesn’t tell Twitter you’re at Starbucks getting another Double Cream Double Ice Coffee thing.

It’s addictive and not very nice on a dinner date to say ‘Sorry, I’m just checking in’ makes you sound like you need a Chaperone.

Gowalla

Gowalla was a late comer to the international scene, but in recent months the number of users has increased and that means there are more venues to checkin, more Badges to collect and of course you can be the Founder of new venues.

It can be very slow to load - and prefers to have GPS turned on. I like it for the variety of badges.

Google Places

Google Places is free and much faster than other location and search apps. If your business is included Google Maps or linked to some of the top review sites (like Qype) then you’ll be listed in Google Places.

The neat thing is you can create a list of your favourite places. Expect to be able to checkin soon! but right now you can’t vote or rate any business.

Rummble

One to watch - Rummble is location based and provides reviews about places. You can checkin and score points. Right now as a UK Startup much of the usage will be over here, though if you’re using this in the US or else where let me know

Meet the author

Damien Saunders
An experienced management consultant and business leader interested in digital transformation, product centred design and scaled agile. If I'm not writing about living with UCTD (an autoimmune disease), I'm probably listening to music, reading a book or learning more about wine.
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