Swarm‘s latest update to the Android and iOS app today brings a new(ish) feature: Swarm Perks. Now, when you check into certain stores or national chains, you may be eligible for discount codes to present to the cashier for instant savings.
For example, checking into places like Home Depot or Target may earn you 15 percent off a particular product type for a limited time.
There’s also Swarm Challenges, which some users may have seen for a few weeks now. The weekly giveaway challenges users to check in to different types of locations to be qualified to enter a sweepstakes. Prizes include an all-inclusive trip, concert tickets, a spa day, or straight cash for your own vacation.
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If the former half of the new features remind you of something, it’s because that’s exactly what Foursquare used to offer before it split off into Swarm. The Specials feature on Foursquare let users check-in into specific venues to unlock deals.
2014 was a big year for app unbundling, which saw Google split Drive into Sheets, Slides, and Docs and Facebook spinning out Messenger as a standalone app. For the most part, these splits made sense as it allowed the apps to grow as its own. Swarm, however, started bringing back features that were originally on Foursquare, such as mayorships, badges, leaderboards, and now, “Perks.”
Since their return in 2015, Swarm says the number of check-ins per user have tripled. It’s hard to say what that actually means without knowing how many users the company had after the split, but the return of familiar features seems like maybe the apps never needed to unbundle in the first place.
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